The Tale of the Marvelous Journey – Part 8: Moving In and ASDA

Before I go any further, I must interject that I am totally and completely cheating. I don’t remember much from these first days, so I’m using Mom’s journal to help out. Since she flew out last week, I had to copy the last few pages so her journal could fly out too.

Thanks Mom!

It's Sunday the 9th and my goal is to get all caught up with the blog today. We'll see how this progresses...

So we get to the house and I just about break the key off in the lock trying to get inside the place. It took Steve about 10 minutes to jiggle and gently manhandle the thing out. Turns out I was turning it the wrong direction. Everything gets turned the wrong direction here. Like faucets.

We get in the house and the kids start running around yelling stuff like, “Stairs!” “Potty!” “Beds!”

Our landlady shows up shortly after and walks us through the house with a detailed inventory list. It even had the stained glass in the front door listed.

Downstairs we have a lounge, dining room, conservatory, kitchen, and “beauty shop” as Nana and the kids started calling it. Upstairs are the 4 bedrooms – 3 with only a twin bed each – and the 2 bathrooms. The kids’ bathroom has a claw-foot tub and a hand-held shower, and ours only has a shower. But my favorite room is the former cupboard under the stairs that is now the w.c. Note the very chic (or just weird) barbed-wire toilet seat and lid. The sink is teeny tiny and the kids get a kick out of washing their hands in marathon sessions.

After we got all the stuff in from the van, we headed back to the cottage for the rest of the stuff and to eat lunch. After lunch, we drove to the Mapledurham Estate to turn in our keys. It is a very pretty place.

I tried to upload some pictures, but amn't having any luck. I'll post this now and try to catch up on pictures later.

Then we went to ASDA. I had high hopes for this store. It is owned by Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart would be ashamed of this place. Cramped, dirty-feeling, no selection. So we left and went to another store I love: Sainsbury’s. We bought duvet covers and sheets for all the beds, as well as some other kitchen-y stuff. I love shopping! The coolest thing we got was a hot pink coffee press. Mom bought it for me because she knows I needed a coffee press. Plus it’s hot pink – could it be any better?

Next up: The Marvelous Adventures Continue – Part 1: The Phone In The Closet and Indian Food