Anyway, I haven't joined yet, I still have one more free tryout. I think this is the only way I could get my work out in. Morning gym session before work. The gym doesn't open until 6.30AM, that's so late, and other gyms are like that too. I guess Brits are not morning people. I have to be on 6.15AM train. That means I have to leave the house by 5.50AM to walk and catch the tube to the train station. 5.50 AM is actually not that early for an American standard but here is a different story.
Back to moving day, I went home first and ate lunch. The next thing I knew it was 2 o clock. I told the agent that I would pick the keys at 2:15. It's close. By a car, it takes 5 minutes, maybe 10 with traffic but I walked. I was late but it wasn't a big deal for them because I came to their office, not meeting them at the flat. I thought I knew how to walk from their office to the flat, but apparently not. I ended up on Bond street. Bond street is full of stores, a place to go shopping. At one point, when I was still lost and looked like an idiot because I was walking while staring at my blackberry to watch the little green triangle (which was me) moving to the direction that I need to go, I was caught in a total obscene mobscene. I was walking on a sidewalk across the street from a theater. In a minute, it was getting crowded and more crowded. Suddenly people in front me just stopped and people behind just kept pushing. I was sandwiched and inched slowly. People closer to street didn't move. It looked like they were waiting on a celebrity appearance. Finally after 8-10 mins, I got out, then somebody said Paul McCartney was in that theater. I was not scared but just very uncomfortable. I just kept saying to myself, watch the purse and don't get trampled.
I finally got to the flat. I opened the door and saw the furniture rental, which is a double bed in the bedroom, a sofa bed in the living room and a round glass breakfast table along with two chairs in the kitchen. So minimalist. Believe me it's not by choice but by budget conscious mind. I pick an expensive flat and I sacrifice on the rest. I didn't want to pick an expensive place but I only had 6-7 places to choose from because a lot of flats are not dog friendly and I didn't want to wait any longer since I had 2 days to do flat hunting. This is the best place and location.
I don't even have a TV or microwave because I don't want to spend more on rentals. I will survive. I just need an internet, broadband is what they call home wireless internet. I can watch NBC shows on my iPad, so far they don't block NBC app. I watch Parenthood and the biggest loser. Plus when I watched TV here, I ended up watching TLC channel. It's either Honey Boo Boo, Toddlers and Tiaras or Cake Boss reruns.
This is my evidence that Honey Boo Boo came to UK. I couldn't believe it when I saw that on TV. I guess that's the other side of America, right? Not everybody looks like a Kardashian, oh that show is on also. I can watch Top Chef on TVseries.net. So excited! UK TV shows, even the morning news, are so boring. That's why I don't need a TV here. By the way, I have to go to Ikea tomorrow to buy bed sheets, blanket, kitchen stuff, towels etc.
I was meeting Larry and Lynne at the flat. This is to do the walk through. Larry represented the property management and Lynne represented me as a Spencer How client, the company that UPS used. My first impression of Larry is, this guy is nuts, super intense. He started going through the inventory and pointed little scratches on the cabinet and floor, while recording himself on a tiny recorder. He was moving so fast and at one point Lynne said that she wanted to take a picture of a scratch. He sounded offended and said he had done this job for years and he knew what he was doing. Lynne didn't say or do anything wrong and was very apologetic. Several minutes later he was a little calmer and told us that he has done this for 14 years and he could count with his fingers how many tenants that he met. I was like, what? He said people normally are not present during the walk through, they just want to move in and out. He was so appreciative that we were there during this process. Larry became a bit softy later and explained that he came from a military background so he came off arrogant (that's the word he used) and very methodical in his process. Whew! I thought Lynne and Larry were going to get into an argument 10 minutes ago.
Since the building is so historic and original, Larry pointed to us the chair moulding in the hallway was shaped by a small horse shoe or something like that. He showed us where the bath area was, which was by the window (outside of my flat). My living room doesn't have a fireplace but there was a bump on the wall where it used to be. Only two flats kept the fireplace which was used to cook. The fireplaces have an official antique stamp on them. They are worth a lot of money.
Larry was very informative. He educated us on the history of the property. This area in Marylebone is owned and managed by Howard de Walden Estate. There are 3 sisters who run the company, they inherented the business from their father, grandfather and great grandfather. Before the war, around 100 years ago, these Ossington Buildings were a Jewish slump. He asked me to guess how many people lived in one flat. He said 7 families. Holy cow! This is a 650 square feet flat. The building was never demolished but it was refurbished and it's now very nice. The wall is still the original brick and mortar. In the hallway, the corner edges are round or bull nosed. The chair molding also has the same design. It's because back in the days they used a small horse shoe to smooth out the edge. The Howard de Walden family was a nice family. They replaced the slump with affordable flats for working families.
I woke up at 4AM on Saturday. I couldn't go back to sleep. I did more packing. This is dejavu. I'm tired of thinking how do I pack such and such into these suitcases. My stuff grew since I came. Mostly groceries and cleaning supplies. I didn't go shopping but I did buy a pair of boots out of necessities. I bought walking shoes but they are Summer/ Fall shoes so they get damped when it rains.
Chloe whimpered for an hour. She wanted to take a walk. I took her to Regents park. This would be the last time we go here. The new place is a bit further away from this park. It was still pitch black outside. After I moved my stuff, I have to go to Virgin mobile store. I need to get home broadband. The website was weird. I kept referring me to a phone company to sign up for a phone line even though Virgin mobile doesn't need a phone line to get the broadband service. More than one person warned me about the quality of customer service in UK, it's just not the same as US, which was surprising to me. We'll see.
Talking about customer service, I actually had a pretty good experience yesterday. So... I live in a serviced apartment. It's like a flat except fully furnished and twice a week maid service on Tuesday and Friday. And I met them before, when they came to clean the first week I got here. They always locked the gate and the front door. I know their routine. Last Wednesday and Thursday, I came home and found the gate was wide opened, the front door wasn't double locked. I had a piece of plastic bag on the floor, the bedroom's night light was turned off (I turned it on on purpose because Chloe was in her crate in the bedroom). I was spooked. Who had been in the flat? Obviously not the maids, not their cleaning day, even thorough they switched days, nothing was cleaned. I emailed the sales manager, whome I booked the apartment with. I started nice, told him what happened, and ended with a sentence that basically said I didn't appreciate if they just came in without notice. Back in my mind, what if the neighbor upstairs because my keys could open their door the first day I got here. Why wouldn't it work the other way around? He came back to me within an hour after talking to the front office manager. He was so apologetic and told me that a basket of goodies was going to be delivered before I checked out. There was a box of chocolate on the kitchen table.
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