More uninteresting crap… Now from England!

The sunset at 3:51pm here today… The days continue to get shorter until the 22nd but today is the earliest setting.

I think our apartment now fully qualifies as charming. In addition to being of brick & flint construction and being surrounded by verdant countryside, on Monday we had 3 pheasants in the front garden. One who seemed keen to see what was behind our partially opened front door.

I've been suffering with insomnia since I got here. I first blamed all the tea, then the bed (bought a memory foam topper, even though we have a memory foam bed in transit.) Nothing seemed to save me from nights of tossing and turning, accomppanied by hot/cold-sweats.

Contrary to the conventional wisdom that British Telecom has notoriously bad/unreliable customer service, the Royal Mail delivered our internet access gear as promised. We plugged it in, and hazah! We had internet. The integrated WiFi/ADSL modem is a bit lame (can't change SSID or WEP key) but it was working a few momements after it was plugged in.

Interestingly, last night I had the best sleep since I've been here. I could have blissfully slumbered for another 3 hours if not for work. Clearly, I was suffering from a lack of WiFi at home.

We actually arrived in the UK on Saturday. Unfortunately, the neighbors enabled security on their WiFi, and we do not have internet access at the house yet. It's only been about 4 days without access but that's about a month in internet time. Right? (If I go for a walk I can leech access for limited periods.)

Short summary update:

Flight uneventful (although Deb used 3 airsick bags, having got what I had earlier in the week.)

Alfa delivered on Sunday, car insurance arranged on Monday. It kicks ass. Pictures and more raving to follow in a few days.

The new apartment is better than we could have hoped for. It is already beginning to feel like home.

Exchange rate: kicking my ass. I lost 5% in real salary last week. We need to re-index it to the pound, soon/regularly. I don't think the dollar is going to recover anytime soon.

Bonus: Pheasants in our front yard!