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Re: Blair's Official Everything London Thread
Well I am not sure how many people follow this thread and I guess I have not been keeping it up too much at the moment but I thought I would put a bit of a summary together as I have reached my 6 month anniversary of living here today. Overall I enjoy it a lot and do feel well settled in here, not really missing Calgary much at all, maybe the odd restaurant and of course friends and family, but London is quickly feeling like home.
The weather here is pretty mild, I have only had to wear my winter coat from Canada once so far and that was probably overkill. There is a fair bit of rain of course (2012 was the wettest on record for the country) but the lawn is still green and it has been below zero only on a few occasions. Things are supposed to cool off a bit next week and January is typically the coldest month so we will see what is in store over the next little bit, but hard to complain.
Sarah and I often feel that we have not done or seen a lot of London so far as we get set in normal life and with her she is especially busy with work most of the time. That being said we have explored a few areas and been to a few of the museums and galleries but as anyone who has been here will tell you there really is so much to do in this city, and if we have to move back to Calgary at some point that will be a major issue I think. We have been to an Olympic event, England International football match at Wembley, the NFL game at Wembley, (already have tickets to both games for 2013 as well) and Sarah went to a Chelsea Champions league match one night too. We are hoping to take in some theatre soon, James McAvoy in Macbeth is tempting and I am going to a concert at Royal Albert Hall in March which will be exciting.
Not knowing a lot of people is a bit challenging but we are doing ok and I have met a few people through other forums which is nice, especially since I am at home every day as I write my dissertation. Our neighbours are very nice though and have helped us feel welcome to the street and even after six months we already received Christmas cards from them which never happened after six years in Calgary.
Travel is of course a benefit of being here and I guess having been to Cardiff, Copenhagen, Paris, Milan and Essen is not bad after six months either. We are off to Paris Disneyland (well complete my travel to every Disney park in the world) in 10 days and after that the trips might be a bit scarce for a little while but we are thinking of an adventure to Moscow in the early summer, depending on work and school schedules.
London still is an exhausting city and some things do take a toll on you when you have to walk and take transit with millions of people anywhere you go and also share places with so many tourists but I am thankful to have the opportunity to live in such an amazing place. I would prefer to live a bit more central but with the location of my wife`s office and the rising costs associated with location I still think we have a good balance with where we do live. Speaking of costs I do think most things are still pretty reasonable here and some things are shocking compared to Canada, such as a full service bank account that has no monthly service charges, the cost of food, the cost of cell phones and being able to get a pint for less than the price of a Coke.
Anyway those are some ramblings about my time so far here, thanks for reading and if you have any questions do not hesitate to ask!
Well I am not sure how many people follow this thread and I guess I have not been keeping it up too much at the moment but I thought I would put a bit of a summary together as I have reached my 6 month anniversary of living here today. Overall I enjoy it a lot and do feel well settled in here, not really missing Calgary much at all, maybe the odd restaurant and of course friends and family, but London is quickly feeling like home.
The weather here is pretty mild, I have only had to wear my winter coat from Canada once so far and that was probably overkill. There is a fair bit of rain of course (2012 was the wettest on record for the country) but the lawn is still green and it has been below zero only on a few occasions. Things are supposed to cool off a bit next week and January is typically the coldest month so we will see what is in store over the next little bit, but hard to complain.
Sarah and I often feel that we have not done or seen a lot of London so far as we get set in normal life and with her she is especially busy with work most of the time. That being said we have explored a few areas and been to a few of the museums and galleries but as anyone who has been here will tell you there really is so much to do in this city, and if we have to move back to Calgary at some point that will be a major issue I think. We have been to an Olympic event, England International football match at Wembley, the NFL game at Wembley, (already have tickets to both games for 2013 as well) and Sarah went to a Chelsea Champions league match one night too. We are hoping to take in some theatre soon, James McAvoy in Macbeth is tempting and I am going to a concert at Royal Albert Hall in March which will be exciting.
Not knowing a lot of people is a bit challenging but we are doing ok and I have met a few people through other forums which is nice, especially since I am at home every day as I write my dissertation. Our neighbours are very nice though and have helped us feel welcome to the street and even after six months we already received Christmas cards from them which never happened after six years in Calgary.
Travel is of course a benefit of being here and I guess having been to Cardiff, Copenhagen, Paris, Milan and Essen is not bad after six months either. We are off to Paris Disneyland (well complete my travel to every Disney park in the world) in 10 days and after that the trips might be a bit scarce for a little while but we are thinking of an adventure to Moscow in the early summer, depending on work and school schedules.
London still is an exhausting city and some things do take a toll on you when you have to walk and take transit with millions of people anywhere you go and also share places with so many tourists but I am thankful to have the opportunity to live in such an amazing place. I would prefer to live a bit more central but with the location of my wife`s office and the rising costs associated with location I still think we have a good balance with where we do live. Speaking of costs I do think most things are still pretty reasonable here and some things are shocking compared to Canada, such as a full service bank account that has no monthly service charges, the cost of food, the cost of cell phones and being able to get a pint for less than the price of a Coke.
Anyway those are some ramblings about my time so far here, thanks for reading and if you have any questions do not hesitate to ask!
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