Celebrating the "Holidays" in England

One thing I forgot to mention in between all of my moaning and complaining in my last post was how wonderful and friendly my new co-workers are.  I also forgot to mention that they don't celebrate the holidays here.  They celebrate CHRISTMAS.

I grew up in a very diverse area, at least in terms of ethnicity and religion.  And I went to a very diverse and also a very politically-correct university.  Until I moved south of the Mason-Dixon line, I was used to generic Happy Holidays and Seasons Greetings that wouldn't potentially offend people or make them uncomfortable if they weren't Christian.  All celebrations and decorations were carefully crafted to be inclusive and respectful of all world religions.  Living in the south was the first time things bent more strongly towards Christmas, but even at work, people were always sure to include the other holidays, too.  From what I've seen here in the north of England, that is not the case at all.  There is no mention of any other religion or any other holiday.  I haven't seen a single menorah or any symbols of Kwanzaa.  It's the Christmas season, and everyone is celebrating Christmas.

I'm not passing any judgement on right or wrong, worse or better; it's just a difference, and to me, it's a very noticeable one.  I got to thinking about it, and pondering on it, so I looked up some demographics.  The area where my plant is located is ~96% white British.  As far as I can tell, with a few Welsh exceptions, just about everyone is English.  In the area, 75% identify themselves as Christian, and 19% claim no religion, but it's probably a safe bet that most of the No Religion people were raised with Christian traditions even if they don't "practice" today.  Representation of any other religion is negligible.  More people refuse to answer the question than identify themselves as any other religion.  When you think about how relatively homogeneous everyone is, having everyone celebrate Christmas together makes a lot more sense.

Everyone in the office area where I work collaborates to put up a ton of fun Christmas decorations.  It makes the office area look wonderfully festive.  Of course, there's the enormous stash of goodies and sweets that everyone shares.  Whenever you're craving sugar, there is some kind of chocolate or a mince tart to be had.  I've also been introduced to Mr. Kipling's exceedingly good treats.  Mr Kipling seems to be sort of like a British version of Little Debbie snack cakes, only much, much better.

One thing I was not prepared for was the giving of Christmas cards to each other.  My co-workers kindly included me in their Christmas card giving, even though I was brand new.  This practice caught me by surprise, because I don't think I've experienced that kind of card giving since we used to hand out Valentines to classmates back in secondary school.  I was caught flat-footed by receiving cards, but a little birdie told me that a charitable donation was a socially acceptable alternative, so I made a Christmas donation to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) on behalf of my team members, since we are all animal lovers.

Each department or team also gets to have its own special Christmas Dinner together in the canteen.  The canteen staff pull out all the stops to do a full 4-course turkey dinner, served at the table, complete with Christmas Crackers to share.  My new co-workers had thoughtfully made sure to include me in the headcount for our team, so I was able to join in the fun.  I failed at pulling the cracker properly, so our cracker didn't make a snap, but I won the side that had the little toy prize in it, and I was a good sport about putting the paper crown on my head.

Since I work in the Procurement/Supply Chain department, many of the suppliers send in Christmas gifts.  All of the gifts are shared and doled out fairly so that everyone gets something.  I got a handy utility knife, screwdriver, measuring stick (all with a supplier's logo on it) and a nice bottle of red wine, a 2009 Casa Luis Reserva Cariñena from Spain.

The people that I work with have all been nicer to and more generous with me than I deserve, and celebrating the run up to Christmas with them has really helped balance out some of the other, stressful stuff.

(My desk with Christmas cards from new co-workers and a tin of delicious gingersnap wafers from a supplier.)

By the way, I shared this video with my co-workers explaining British Christmas to Americans.  They all laughed and agreed that it was totally accurate, even down to serving Brussels sprouts with Christmas dinner even though most everyone hates them.

A week of ups and downs, but mostly downs (Dec 8-11)

(I should preface this by clarifying that I figured out over the Dec 12-14 weekend that some of my perhaps hyper-emotional reactions to the happenings of the week were undoubtedly due to a certain time of the month for women when hormones tend to produce hyper-emotional reactions.  With everything else going on, I had lost track of time and was unaware of what was happening until the evidence was at hand.)

My first full week at my new job was less than ideal.  My position has been needed for months, and now that I'm on board, it feels like everybody needs something and like I'm being pulled in a million directions.  Everyone is really nice, but the work stress is piling up quickly.

I discovered that the location of my temporary apartment is terrible for the commute to Runcorn.  Under normal conditions, the commute should be ~30 miles and 35 minutes.  During Rush Hour, it takes over an hour due to traffic and road construction.  Add in the time it takes to walk to the parking garage, pay for the parking and exit the structure, and it's up to an hour and a half.  It doesn't really matter when I leave either.  I tried leaving at 6:45 am one day, and it still took forever.  Starting out your day wishing you had a flash of whiskey in your purse to take a nip by the time you get to the plant is not a good start to a work day.

The best part of Monday (8 Dec) was trying Booth's market, which is walking distance from my temporary apartment.  It's an upscale food market with regular groceries but also wine, craft beer, prepared foods, etc.  I was happy to find a ready-to-cook meal of bacon loin encrusted with panko crumbs, mustard and other yummy goodness.  Yes, I said bacon loin.  It was basically a really thick slice of that meaty, salted pork cut the English call bacon.  Oh my goodness, it was SO delicious.  That combined with some quickly cooked green beans and broccolini, and I had a meal in 30 minutes.  Booth's is one of the best parts about the temporary apartment.  Being able to pop in after work and then walk back to my apartment with the groceries is wonderful.

Tuesday (9 Dec) I had a really unpleasant day.  I started the day by trying (unsuccessfully) to open a bank account.  Being an American with no National Insurance number, no credit history in the country, renting a property and no telephone number doesn't make things easy.  At least we figured out exactly what documentation would be acceptable to be allowed to open an account, and I was able to make an appointment for Thursday afternoon.  At the plant, when I finally got to sit down with my Human Resources Manager to cover payroll and benefits stuff, everything was confusing and all messed up.  They hadn't been able to set up my payroll, so they estimated everything for December in order to try to ensure I got paid, and they estimated a tax withholding of 52%, which had me struggling to maintain some semblance of composure.  I then got handed a large packet of health insurance stuff, which really set me off, because it had all of this information about monthly costs and out-of-pocket expenses that I was not expecting.  So Tuesday night was my first meltdown of the week.  Fortunately, the meltdown did not start until my drive home, so at least I was able to lose it in private.

Wednesday (10 Dec) was a less stressful day.  My HR Manager gave me the "UK Health Care for Dummies" explanation of my different health care options, which made me feel better.  I can stay 100% under the National Health System plan and do nothing else, and that is all covered by the taxes.  Because of my income level, I will have to pay for my prescriptions, but she said that would normally be £8.  Also, the NHS does not cover vision or dental, so that will all be out of pocket.  I also have the option to accept a private health care plan (SimplyHealth) which is only available to employees of a certain job band or higher, and that is paid for entirely by the company, but it is considered a taxable benefit of £701/year.  That is an alternative to the NHS if I don't like the wait times.  So for major emergencies, I'd use the NHS, but if I needed say a hip replacement (anything considered a non-urgent treatment), I might choose to go through SimplyHealth private insurance in order to have that done faster.  The last option is the health cash plan, which is offered to all employees regardless of job band.  That's the one that has a monthly payroll deduction, and it reimburses you for out-of-pocket medical expenses, including vision and dental.  So if I want any kind of vision or dental "coverage", I'd need to sign up for the health cash plan.  What I need to figure out is if I'll save money with the cash plan (or maybe just have an easier time budgeting) versus just paying for vision and dental costs out of pocket.

The best thing about the health plan options is that there is no annual enrollment period and I don't have to wait to have a "qualifying life event" to sign up for them.  I can try just the NHS for starters and add the other plans on whenever I want to.  I figure I will go ahead and take the SimplyHealth private care option no matter what, because that doesn't cost me anything out of pocket.  I can decide later on whether or not the cash plan with a monthly cost makes sense for me or not.

The big success for Thursday (11 Dec) was finally being able to open up a bank account.  I think a rectal exam would have been easier than what I had to go through to get a basic bank account with a £500 line of credit.  I mean, it got personal.  But in the end, I got the account, and I cannot fault the banker who helped me.  He was super-nice, friendly and great about explaining everything.  In the end, I had to kick myself, because he said if I had just opened up an account with HSBC America before moving over, there would have been no problem whatsoever in transferring my account.  Well, I wish I'd know that *before* I came over!

I made a shopping stop at Tesco before driving back up to Salford.  Shopping continues to be a learning experience.  This time, I needed to pick up some supplies to make coffee in the apartment.  "Half-and-Half" as we know it in the US doesn't appear to exist here.  Instead, I had to choose from a dizzying array of creams -- single cream, double cream, whipped cream, clotted cream, etc.  I finally settled on single cream as being the closest approximation to what I typically would use for coffee in the US, but it is much thicker and creamier than Half-and-Half.  It also has to be used up within 3 days of opening.

My Quays apartment doesn't have a coffee maker, just a kettle.  So I decided to go with instant coffee, since I haven't figured out about buying a coffee maker yet.  Fortunately, I found a 24 serving tin of Starbucks Via coffee.  I've actually been so happy with it, I might not buy a coffee maker at all.  Maybe I'll just abide with an electric kettle and instant.  At 220 volts, those electric kettles boil water faster than you can prep the mug, and the water is so hot, you have to wait a few minutes before you can add the cream and take a sip.

RE: the electricity.  At first, I was finding the switches on all of the plugs annoying.  Not only do you need to ensure something is plugged in, you need to ensure the socket is switched on.  However, thinking about it, I realize that with 220-240 volts, having a live, empty socket is a real hazard.  The on/off switches make a lot more sense when you think about the safety aspect that way.

(Which plug is on, and which one is off?  At least the ones at our plant have a red color bar on them to let you know when they are hot.)

Thursday night I made my first attempt at doing some laundry.  It's a combination washer/dryer, and the controls were as comprehensible to me as hieroglyphics.

I finally figured out the washer part on my own, but I needed to call the lady at the front desk to come up to help me with the dryer part.  The dryer took FOREVER, too.  Maybe I just haven't figured it out right yet, but I had to do multiple drying cycles to finally get everything dry.

The laundry machine was an exercise in frustration for me.  At least Mona seemed to enjoy it.  Kitty TV.

Thursday night ended with my getting an unhelpful email from Deloitte about my tax situation which precipitated another meltdown.  When I worked in Mexico, Deloitte was wonderful, but in this case, they have been worse than worthless.  They provided me with bad information and then told me that I should have know the information they sent me was incorrect.  When I asked some questions, I was told they needed to get permission from my company before they could respond to me.  I ended Thursday night having to do my own estimated tax and payroll calculations to try to make sure my December paycheck was going to be somewhat close to accurate as opposed to the 52% withholding they had set up.  Then I finished off an open bottle of wine, because I was upset.  I went to bed miserable, frustrated and angry.

Finally, a (temporary) home - Sunday, December 7

One week and I'm already behind with this whole blogging thing.  Go figure.  :-)

Sunday, December 7 was the day I was finally able to move into my temporary apartment with Mona.  Housing is in high demand in the northwest, and wanting to have my kitty with me eliminated a lot of potential serviced apartments from consideration.  The ONLY place available was in the Salford Quays to the west of Manchester City Centre, and that place was only available beginning on Sunday.  Hence, the first four nights in a hotel with Mona's first three nights at the rental house.

I was pleased to discover that the Travelodge had a 12:00 pm check-out time, and I couldn't check in to the Salford Quays apartment until 3:00 pm, so I took my time in the morning.  I ate a full, hot breakfast and did some emails and other computer things.

In general, I was really pleased with the Travelodge, and it was a very pleasant surprise.  I'd never stayed in one before, and I had no idea what to expect, but for a budget hotel, it was the BEST budget hotel I think I've ever stayed in.  The staff were all really friendly and helpful.  The room was clean, and the mattress was comfortable.  And the food and bar on the lobby level were convenient.  All in all, a good stay, and I would definitely recommend that hotel for anyone coming in to town.

Sunday looked like it was shaping up to be a nice day, in terms of the weather.  It was cold and clear, and I could see all the way to the Beetham Tower in downtown Manchester (the tallest building in Great Britain outside of London).

After check-out at noon, I headed over to the Oakfield house to load up Mona's things and to kill some time until I could check in at the other place.  Since I had time to kill, I decided to walk over to the 24-hour Tesco store to buy some groceries.  The Tesco is about a 10 minute walk from my house, so I think I will probably be shopping there often.  I picked up some pre-made food and a couple of other staples.  I didn't buy that much, but it still took about an hour, just because I was learning the layout of a new store.  The other thing is that a lot of the brands are different, so it takes longer to decide what to buy.

Shopping is something you never think about when you do it all the time at your one preferred store and you know your preferred brands.  British store layouts are totally different, and some things don't make sense to me at all - like eggs that aren't refrigerated.  Finding new brands is difficult, too.  For example, I've always used Crest toothpaste.  For my entire life, I've used Crest, but Crest doesn't appear to exist over here.  So then you stand in the toothpaste aisle, staring at the options for 10 minutes, trying to decide what you want to try for a new toothpaste and feeling like something is wrong when you pick Colgate.  I know it sounds like the littlest thing, but it throws you for a loop every step of the way.

Pete B. had told me that I would have to try Vimto, a type of mixed berry squash (predominantly black currant) that is locally made in Warrington, so of course, I picked up a bottle of Vimto.  The toad mascot is kind of weird, but when you mix this stuff up with sparkling water, it's actually quite good.  And yes, I did try it hot, too.

Okay, so you saw the photos of what the weather was like in the morning, right?  Walking home from the Tesco shopping excursion, it started to sleet.  SLEET.  I was prepared for rain, but I was not ready to deal with being pelted with sleet.  Bullshit weather.  The sleet stopped and the sun came back out by the time I got home.

It was time to go, so I loaded the Mona Kitty into the car, and we headed up Manchester Road (A56) towards The Quays.  The Quays originally were the Salford docks of the mighty Manchester Ship Canal, which allowed ocean ships to travel up the River Mersey from Liverpool to the manufacturing plants and warehouses in Manchester.  These docks were the heart of the Port of Manchester and the industry it supported from 1894 until it finally closed down in 1982.  After the docks closed, the entire area became derelict.  It was finally revitalized as part of a huge live/work/play development plan that today includes BBC studios.  My temporary apartment is part of The Heart apartment/condominium building in the MediaCity UK part of The Quays.

I checked in just shortly after 3:00 pm, but the sun sets early here, so the photos are already showing twilight (and the ever-present rain in the area).  My building looks out on the Imperial War Museum North, the ITV Coronation Street production centre, and Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium.

I've read that Coronation Street is the world’s longest running continuing drama, and apparently the studios and the set tour are a Big Deal, but I have to admit I don't know anything about it, so it all means nothing to me.  I gather it's a soap opera?

The apartment is okay.  It's clean and has a nice, modern decor.  The layout is weird, though, and thank goodness I insisted upon a 2-bedroom unit, because it's cramped.  The 2nd "bedroom" is currently being used as my walk-in wardrobe, because of course, there are no closets or dressers in the main bedroom.  The mattress is TERRIBLE, and I actually keep meaning to write to the management to tell them that it should be criminal to advertise such a lumpy rack as a real bed.  I'm right next to the elevator, so I can hear elevator noises.  The parking is also a 10 minute ordeal involving an outdoor walk and having to pay.  People actually own and live here in this building, and I can't imagine why.  At least I'm only here through the end of the month.

The most important thing was to be able to be together with Mona after two weeks apart.  She settled right in and seemed more comfortable than I.  :-)

A lazy, lazy Saturday (Dec 6)

Saturday was my first day in perhaps two weeks to sleep in without the stress and anxiety of the move hanging over me.  My body still woke me up at 8:30 AM, but I stubbornly continued to lie in bed until 9:30 AM, just because I could.  It was wonderful to have a slow, relaxing morning.  By the time I had showered and dressed, it was 11:30 AM, and I had missed the hotel's breakfast offering downstairs.  The weather looked pleasant, so I decided it would be a good day to try to walk between Town Centre and my new house.

Here's what the weather was like on Saturday.  It was fairly sunny and clear, but cold and windy, too.  This is the view to the east from my 8th floor hotel room.  The white on the tops of the buildings is frost.  The gray building with the curved roof just to the right of center is the ice skating rink.  The development where my house is located is just beyond that.

This is view more to the north-east.  The triangular roofline on the left hand side of the photo is the historic Market House, originally built in the 1880s.

Since I had slept and lazed through breakfast, I needed a stop at Costa Coffee along the way.  Costa is kind of like Starbucks, but better.  You don't see many Starbucks around the north of England.  They seem to be few and far between.  I don't know if it's because Costa has competed better in the marketplace or not, but I suspect it might have more to do with Starbucks having been absolutely vilified in the British press for what they call 'tax dodging', which is all perfectly legal tax planning, but which nonetheless is viewed as evil by all the screaming socialists obsessed with getting their 'fair share' of other people's money.  I can say vilified with confidence, because aside from reading the bashing in the press, I've actually heard people bad-mouthing Starbucks while they're standing in line in Costa, "Well, I'd never get my coffee from Starbucks!"

I mention that mostly because there was a very interesting interview last week with George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, after his Autumn Statement, in which he talked about wanting to encourage business growth and manufacturing out of one side of his mouth whilst he talked about cracking down on tax avoidance out of the other.  Here's the rub, for those who haven't already figured it out - in a global economy, the two are mutually exclusive.

Anyways, I've already fallen in love with Costa, mostly because they have a Christmas special that is a STICKY TOFFEE LATTE.  Starbucks' peppermint mocha or gingerbread latte can kiss my a$$.  Sticky Toffee Latte wins every time.

The Costa is located on George Street, which is the pedestrian street at the heart of the Town Centre.  From there, I walked across the railroad tracks over to the side of town my house is on.  Along the way, I stopped to admire the new public transportation hub which just opened up on Sunday.  The new Altrincham Interchange looks magnificent.

At a leisurely pace with a coffee in my hand, the walk takes about 15-20 minutes.  I hung out with Mona Kitty for a bit, and I chatted with the contractor who was there working on some of the repairs and maintenance to the house.  Although I was dissatisfied with the condition of the place when I arrived, I'm satisfied that the Property Manager has been working diligently to make things right.

After my visit with Mona, I walked back to the Town Centre and up to the Market to see what it looked like on Saturday during the day.  It was just as packed as Friday night, but it was a more normal weekly market with fresh produce, fish, beef and common household goods for sale.  I still enjoyed seeing everyone out and about doing their shopping, but this was just the usual weekly shopping, not so much for Christmas presents.  I peeked inside the Market House, and seeing that it wasn't quite as busy as the previous night, I scored a seat and tried one of the BlackJack Brewery beers (very good).  

Then I noticed that the Reserve wine shop was giving free sherry tastings, so of course, I had to try that, too.  It was a bodega I'd never tried before, so that was fun, and I bought a bottle of their oloroso for later.

After a pint and some sherry, I was ready for an afternoon nap.  On the way back to the hotel, I cut through a little alley and spotted a specialty beer bottle shop.  I didn't make any purchases here, but I made note of it for later.

Finally, I paused briefly on the pedestrian bridge just to admire the bustle of everyday life on George Street.  :-)

I went ahead and took my nap, and I was having a difficult time convincing myself to get up, when the hotel's fire alarm went off.  That got me up in a hurry.  It turned out to be a false alarm, but we all had to evacuate anyways.  Standing outside in the winter air for 15 minutes will definitely wake you right up.  After we were allowed back inside, I had a cup of hot tea and did some personal work (bills, organizing, updating accounts, etc.).

I finally ventured back out for a late dinner at a burger bar I had seen earlier.  Burger bars seem to be a trendy thing in the Manchester area, and this place was obviously looking to cash in on the trend.  I had high hopes for a place called the "Urban Burger Bar"; however, I should know by now that I am always going to be underwhelmed by British beef.  The burger was OK, not great, and the service was wretched, so I won't be going back there anytime soon.  But that was the only tiny blemish in an otherwise perfect, perfectly lazy Saturday.

Thursday & Friday

Miss Mona Kitty arrived on schedule Thursday morning (Dec 4).  I was able to get her about two hours after flight arrival, just like they said.  She had obviously been well-cared for during her layover at Heathrow.  The crate and she were both clean, and her food was all gone, so I assume they fed it to her.  I dropped her off at the house and gave her fresh food and water.  She absolutely LOVES the new wet food I bought for her.  Of course she does; it's really expensive.  :-/

Some people have asked me why Mona couldn't travel with me.  The UK does not allow any animals to enter either in the passenger cabin or as checked baggage.  They only allow animals in as cargo.  Also, due to a change in FAA regulations about crew rest during long-haul flights, Delta converted the pet cargo space on all of their UK equipment to crew lounges.  So it's impossible to get any pets to the UK on a Delta flight.  I didn't know that when I booked my ATL-MAN flight.  Therefore, Mona had to fly British Airways with a connection through Heathrow.  She had to clear animal control at Heathrow, and BA requires a minimum 6 hour layover to make that happen, hence the extra day.  By the time she was cleared for entry, she had missed the last available cargo flight up to Manchester.  All very complicated, but she made it okay, and that's all that matters.

No sooner had I gotten Mona settled in then I had to take off for work.  She was pissed off when I left, but I didn't have a choice.  I made a quick stop back at the hotel to change into work clothes, since I was covered in cat hair at that point.  My first day at the plant was uneventful.  I got a desk.  I got a new work mobile phone.  I met some people.  The usual.  I worked late finishing up some things for my old job and had a chance to have a nice chat with the cleaning lady.  Her accent was difficult to understand at first, but I think I picked it up fairly well.  There was one funny moment when I thought she said she was going to duck-sit for her daughter.  I was wondering if her daughter had a pet duck, but then I realized she was saying 'dug' for dog.

I was pretty brain dead when I left work, so brain dead in fact, that I turned right out of the parking lot, into the right hand lane.  Fortunately, I realized my mistake quickly and backed up.  I looked up to see the security guard looking at me from across the street.  Embarrassing.  My other mishap on the way home was turning right in front of oncoming traffic, forgetting that they had the right-of-way.  I don't know how I escaped that one without an accident.  After visiting & feeding Mona, I went to eat dinner at a Thai restaurant called Phanthong.  It was absolutely wonderful - definitely some of the best Thai food I've ever had.  I started with Tod Man Kow Pord (sweet corn fritter served with cucumber, crushed peanut and sweet chili sauce), which was one of the best things I have ever eaten, seriously.  There were four fritters in the serving, so it was probably meant to be shared, but I ate every single one, and all of the sweet chili sauce, too.

My "WTF?" moment from Thursday came in the form of the bathroom toilet paper holder that was not a toilet paper holder.  Here is the fixture mounted next to the toilet in the WC on the ground floor.  Looks like it should somehow hold a roll of paper, right?

Wrong.  In fact, it is screwed in place firmly.  I haven't the foggiest idea what this fixture actually is supposed to be.  If it's a hand towel holder, mounting it next to the toilet is very strange.  So if anyone KNOWS what it's for or has any suggestions, please let me know.  I cannot figure it out.  It's too big to rest a roll of paper on top of it.

Friday morning, the jet lag hit me pretty hard, but I had to go to work, so I dragged myself out of bed reluctantly.  I swung by the house to feed Mona and then drove out to Runcorn.  Now, my GPS always routes me along the Daresbury Expressway (A558), which has been under construction and down to one reversing lane along one stretch since I was here in November.  This was my second time hitting the construction at a peak rush hour, and I sat for 15 minutes.  I determined that I *must* find an alternate route to avoid the construction.

(as an aside, the Daresbury Expressway is named for the adjacent village of Daresbury, the birthplace of Alice in Wonderland author Lewis Carroll.  There's a visitors' centre there that I should visit sometime.)

The security guard teased me about almost driving the wrong way the night before.  Thanks for rubbing it in, dude.  Work was very busy with a working lunch.  I barely had time to run up to the Canteen to grab something.  They always serve some foul smelling fish on Fridays, but they also had beef pasties, so I got a pasty covered in gravy.  Not at all healthy, but quite yummy.  You really can't screw up beef, potato and veg in a pastry crust.  All of the afternoon was spent conducting phone interviews for my replacement.  There were some great candidates, so hopefully my old position will get back-filled soon.

I used Google maps to try to find an alternate route to get me south to the M56 without having to get on the Daresbury Expressway.  At first, my GPS didn't like me, but after a while, it stopped telling me to make a u-turn and re-routed me the way I wanted to go.  I had to go a little bit west to hit the Central Expressway (A533), so it added mileage, but there was zero construction, so it saved me 10-15 minutes.  Feeling very pleased with myself, I was able to zoom home on the M56. The south Manchester traffic really seems to back up and get bad just after the J7 exit.  Fortunately, that's the Altrincham exit, so I got off the freeway just behind all of the brake lights of the traffic queues.  :-)

My first stop was the house to check in on and to feed Mona.  She continues to do just fine, but she's definitely lonely staying all by herself these past few days.  I feel really guilty, but then I remember that the only other option was to board her at a cattery for 3 nights, and I have to think she's better off at the house.

I tried to get Mona to take a selfie, but she's as bad as taking selfies as I am.

That photo is going to make me laugh for years.

Friday night I decided to venture over to the Altrincham Market.  They are doing "twilight" markets on Thursdays and Fridays during the Christmas season.  They also have the old Market House which was renovated into a kind of food court.  Here's a nice write-up of the scene:  Altrincham Market: Market House Reborn.

The place was packed!  I bought a mulled wine and browsed the stalls selling different arts & crafts.  There was an interesting selection of very unique products, many of them handmade.  There was a small stage where local musicians could get up and busk for tips, so we had live music to accompany the shopping.  Next, I squeezed into the Market House, which was absolutely mobbed.  I figured it had to work kind of like the Oktoberfest where you share tables, so I was able to find an open seat to get some dinner.  I ordered a pan-seared salmon with puy lentils and baby spinach from The Wolfhouse Kitchen.  It was PERFECT.  The salmon was absolutely luscious.  I paired a glass of French Sauvignon Blanc with it that I picked up from the Reserve market booth.  The wine was so good that I went back and bought a bottle to take home (Domaine de Bellevue Touraine Sauvignon Blanc 2013, Loire Valley).

The people I sat with were a very nice couple who had actually driven in from 20 miles away to come to the Altrincham Market on their date night.  The lady, Natalie, told me there was an adult women's social meetup group for the Altrincham/Hale area that I should join.  Her husband, Richard, told me that he thought I was brave to come over by myself.

I've had a couple of people tell me they think I'm brave, and although I appreciate the kind sentiment, I have to say I don't think I'm brave at all.  Bravery to me is when you don't want to do something, and you're scared to do something, but you do it anyway, either because duty compels to you or because it's the right thing to do.  Firefighters running into a burning building to try to save lives are brave.  Soldiers going into battle are brave.  Tugce Albayrak was brave.  I don't think I deserve that label for doing something I wanted to do.  Stress, anxiety, fear and any hiccups or issues along the way, I've always wanted to have an international job, and I'm lucky that I finally have the chance to do it.

Living in England, Day 1

I want to try to keep track of everything that happens with this adventure, and there is too much to capture in a Facebook status, so I'm going to try blogging it.

My flight arrived into MAN a few minutes early after an uneventful trans-Atlantic flight.  It felt weird explaining my situation to the border control officer, but she stamped my passport and let me in the country.  I went right to Hertz to pick up my rental car, and as soon as I saw what they'd assigned me, I had an "Aw, hell no!" moment.  It was a Ford Galaxy MPV - WAY too big for me to handle!  I had to go to the counter, but they were able to change me into a more reasonably sized Mercedes B180 diesel hatchback.  The car is fine, but it's a fuel-efficient engine that shuts off when you idle, and the first time it did that to me, I thought the car had stalled out.  After a day of driving around, I'm used to it.

I drove into Altrincham and after looping through the city once, was finally able to find a parking lot and get myself parked.  Waiting to cross Regent Road, a little old lady came up to me and said she would cross with me if I was going across.  I said I was, so without further ado, she linked her arm through mine, and I helped her navigate the curbs and the street.  Once across, she gave me a warm smile and said that was lovely and went on her way.

I went to the property management company's office at 11:00 AM to sign my tenancy agreement and pick up the keys to my new place.  The walk-through with the leasing agent afterwards was a disappointment.  The place was not "move in" ready; fortunately, the agent agreed with my assessment and said he would make sure everything got fixed.  So now we're working to a punch list of items that need to be addressed.  Good thing I'm not actually moving in until after Christmas!

I got to my hotel around 2:00 PM and was able to check in early for an extra £10.  I'm staying at a Travelodge for the next 4 nights, and it's a budget hotel with a £49/night rate, so I was totally comfortable paying that little extra to have access to a room sooner rather than later.  I chose this place just because it had the highest TripAdvisor ratings of all of the places in Altrincham.  It's not fancy, but it's clean and functional, and the staff are all super-friendly.

I broke my normal rule about not napping on the day of arrival and took an hour-long nap.  Then I took a really long, hot shower, and I felt 100% human again.  I headed out in the car again, this time hunting for and finally finding a small pet supply store that turned out to be right across the street from my new (rental) house.  The lady there was really nice and she helped me pick out new things for Mona Kitty.  Mona's regular brands of cat food and kitty litter don't exist in the UK, so we're going to be trying some new stuff that hopefully she'll like.  I'll find out tomorrow after she arrives.  I dropped the stuff off at the house and assembled her new scratching structure.  She has things from the USA coming over with my sea shipment, but I needed stuff now.

My next errand was my first shopping excursion.  I tried Sainsbury's this time.  I was able to pick up a few things I needed, like a 220-240V hair dryer with a British plug.  Sainsbury's was where I had my "WTF?" moment of the day when I saw an aisle labeled as "SQUASH".  I thought it was odd to have an entire grocery aisle dedicated to a plant, so of course, I had to walk down that aisle.  No, apparently in the UK, "squash" means concentrated fruit juice.  I don't think anything like it exists in the United States.  We Americans tend to like our fruit juices highly diluted with water and high fructose corn syrup.  ;-)  The SQUASH aisle was next to the "FIZZY DRINKS" aisle.  At least I could figure out what Fizzy Drinks meant without walking down the aisle.  Just what I need -- another word for pop/soda/coke.

My shopping excursion made me realize how hungry I was at this point.  I hadn't eaten anything since the breakfast served on the plane before landing.  I parked my car back at the Travelodge, carried up my purchases, and then headed out for food.  I chose a place listed in CAMRA's "Good Beer Guide 2015" (courtesy of Kristin P) that also had great reviews on Yelp -- PI, a small pub that serves savory Pieminister pies and mash (mashed potatoes).  The place was perfect!  Cozy, friendly, good beer selection, great mix of music and delicious pie.  I ordered the Chicken of Aragon, a free range British chicken, smoked bacon & tarragon pie.  SO YUMMY!  I washed it down with a pint of Stout No. 5 by Saltaire Brewery Ltd (Shipley, West Yorkshire).  Cheers!

And now I think I can safely go to bed with my internal body clock forcefully adjusted to GMT.  I'm looking forward to tomorrow morning when I'll be able to pick up Mona from her separate journey.

This picture is of the Altrincham town centre at night with their Christmas lights.