Saturday, Max and I took Tony (the hubster) on a tour of the three top picks in our London flat search. Two were in Notting Hill and the other was in Kensington, but still very close to Notting Hill. It was a crazy snowy day and it was a good thing we were walking (from the Notting Hill Gate tube station) since the buses had all given up and were either off the road up on the curb (the unlucky ones) or just stopped in the street.

We saw the farthest away one first and Tony really liked it (especially the shower which is, I do not lie, the nicest shower I’ve ever seen anywhere). It’s actually in Zone 2, which we weren’t planning on going out into (we wanted to stay in Zone 1), but it’s actually very convenient to the Ladbroke Grove tube station and Tony can take the Circle line to Moorgate station and walk to his office from there. He’s been doing something similar right now while we’re staying near Buckingham Palace in the short term place. He takes the Circle line and gets off at Mansion House station and walks. The distance is the same (about .4 miles). The other really good thing about this one is that it has an actual private backyard/garden and outdoor space for Max is really important. All of my three favs have some kind of outdoor space.

We saw the other ones as well – one, at Arundel Gardens, has direct access to a communal garden. It is in the worst shape (though not bad) of the three, but has the largest reception area (but no separate dining area, which the other two have). The third is right at the corner of Portobello Road and Chepstow, so it is literally in the middle of things in Notting Hill. When we visited it, there were tourists everywhere standing outside and taking pictures. It had a nice private patio & high walls around it, but we were a bit concerned about the crime potential there and wondering if it would drive us crazy to be surrounded by tourists all the time.

So, if you couldn’t tell, we decided to make an offer on the farther away one up in Kensington. It’s not final yet, but hopefully we’ll get it. It does have a rather smallish reception room, but the outdoor space really makes up for a lot. And it’s still just about 2 and a half blocks to Portobello Road and lots of shops and things. Wish us luck. With the timing of the holidays and Tony’s upcoming trip to Wales (right before Christmas), I’m not sure how all the paperwork stuff will work out.

The bad thing is that there’s no way we can use any of the few pieces of furniture that we kept back in storage in Chicago (an antique hall tree, a double couch, a grandfather clock, two red leather tub chairs, and an antique case). The place does come furnished, though, albeit the lady had a serious penchant for pink (which is not even remotely my favorite color). So we have to figure out what we want to do as far as bringing other items over (like the rest of our clothes, personal stuff and Max toys). No idea what we’re going to do yet. We will be back in Chicago in March for a wedding, so we can take some things with us then.

The rest of the weekend we spent doing a bit of Christmas shopping. We went down Regent Street and took Max to Hamley’s, a 250 year old toy store. Wait, not a toy store. A toy extravaganza. It’s multiple stories and packed with every toy imaginable. We got him some things for Christmas and some things for now, since he’s got almost nothing with him.

The lights of Regent Street

We ate dinner at a place called Mother Mash. If you like mashed potatoes and sausage (English-style), you’d like it. You basically have three decisions to make: which style of mashed potatoes you want (Tony had a horseradishy one and I had it Irish style with butter and cheese), what kind of sausage or pie, and what kind of gravy. Very yum. I had to take a picture, though I’d already cut into my Cumberland sausage when I snapped it.

Dinner!

More shopping today over at Sloan Square, but not much as The Max is sick again with a fever. It’s been bouncing up and down, but has been rather bad all day today. We’re going to see how he’s doing tomorrow and if his fever doesn’t go down, we’ll either take him to a clinic (luckily, there’s one literally a block away) or have a doctor come visit the flat. He’s been rather fussy all week, which isn’t really like The Max at all. Hopefully he starts feeling better soon.

I still feel a bit like a fish out of water, but things are starting to calm down. I can’t wait to get into a permanent place so we can get on a schedule and really start figuring out where things are and how to get around. Mostly, I just want Max to get better and the weather to improve. It’s warmer than Chicago is right now, but still pretty nasty. We finally found a new jacket for Max (that he would wear, opinionated boy that he is) and I’m on the hunt for new boots since my favorite *sob* pair blew a hole out the side as soon as we got here…but I’ve been wearing them anyway since it’s the only remotely suitable pair of shoes I have with me.  I am the bum of London.

But, as Tony keeps reminding me, things will work out one way or another. Hey, maybe this week when he goes back to Wales for a couple of days, we’ll go with him and have a proper shower (the short let’s shower has the worst water pressure EVER).

Oh, and tonight we had our first real homecooked meal (okay, it was kind of a pre-packaged-y thing, but still).

Dinner, while looking out at Westminster Chapel.