Teen survives academic encounter

Tuesday morning all three of our alarms went off within one minute of another in a cacophony of sleep-shattering sound at 7 am.

Teen was ready to in a timely fashion. Hubster made a pot of coffee. I had a bowl of low-fat granola and was fortified to begin my day.

We crossed Abbey Road at the famous zebra crossing just before 8 am. The crossing re-enactors were already out, trying in vain to be the only ones in the crossing so their compatriots could take their photos. The people who actually NEED to use the crosswalk face the dilemma.

Do I just go ahead and cross, probably ruining this person's photo op, or do I wait? Meanwhile, the heavy traffic at that hour becomes impatient with all the unnecessary to-ing and fro-ing.

The traffic laws here require the vehicles to stop and yield to anyone who puts even their big toe into a pedestrian crossing. So these drivers have to slow down and assess whether any of the assembled crowd had the Intention of setting a big toe into the crosswalk. Many times people just stand there gawking, or do not understand that their stationary presence at the margins of the crossing is confusing the driver, or are waiting for the cars to stop. Of course the drivers do not have to stop for people *waiting* at this particular crosswalk, but they do have to stop if you make a motion of moving *into* the crosswalk. Such drama for a simple act.

We chose to just go for it, deeming being on the way to school MUCH more important than anyone's holiday photos.

After dropping off Teen's medication with the school nurse, and putting money on her lunch debit account, I headed out to the grocery store. I had armed myself with three large plastic shopping "sacks" from our last trip to Waitrose, and took the bus up Finchley Road.

I arrived at 8:25 am, which was BEFORE the store was open. There was a gaggle of women near the door waiting for the manager to unlock for the day. It was a first for me, being at a food market before it was open. I am used to markets that open at 6 or 7 am.

I commenced my shopping, and was very careful to only place items on the floor of the smallish carriage, so that I wouldn't buy too much and not be able to lug it home. Alas, I failed.

Once I had paid (and bagged it myself, haven't seen so much as a bagger yet) I realized that it was going to be a challenge to lift it all. I wished that I had invested in a shopping Trolley, a wheeled contraption that even trendy young folk like me use. I hefted my bags across the busy road intersection and waited for the southbound bus, which came immediately. I had to park my three bags in the area reserved for wheelchairs/strollers, and hovered nearby. There were no seats on the bus at that hour anyway. I hefted the bags off at the St. John's Wood station, and juggled them from right hand to left hand about every fifty feet, trying to find the most comfortable weight distribution. The bags seemed to have the uncanny ability to change weight once they had been placed in the opposite hand.

I struggled along for a few minutes, then decided to call Hubster to see if he was still at the flat. I parked myself in a bench at the Crosswalk Intersection and watched the photo-re-enactors. He was! After dressing, he made his way down and escorted me and the heavy bags back to the flat. Hooray for Hubster! Who needs to pay for a gym when there are activities like shopping in which to engage?

After all this strenuous early-morning activity, I was quite exhausted and did the most decadent thing I can imagine. I took a nap. My excuse was that I was waiting in for the third of our Mailed boxes to arrive. In addition to the 21 boxes sent by freight shipper, two days before we left we had more stuff than would fit in our alottment of luggage, so I mailed it via the US Post Office. The two large boxes had already arrived, but the third smaller box, which contained useful kitchen things, including salt and pepper shakers and lots of small spice containers, was stil AWOL. That of course, was the one box that contained things I wished I had had. Yes, I know, they sell spices over here, but the cost of sending that one box was less than buying a whole shelf full of flavourings.

So I camped out on the sofa and waited for the bell to ring. Two hours later, I got up, completely forgetting that I was waiting for the postman, who Only Rings Once. While I was getting ready to go, 'Brrrrring', the bell rang and the delivery man's profile appeared on the door/cam thingy. I successfully used the intercom/phone on the first try. Up came the delivery man in the lift, and voila! Our spices and salt and pepper shakers had arrived. Yes, we've been cooking without any flavorings at all since arriving.

I went out for stamps, and then waited for Teen E to come home from her first day at school.
She called to say that she was going to Starbucks on St. John's Wood High Street with Teen A and Teen K, whom she had met during orientation. A little while later she called and asked if they could come over. Of course they were all welcome.

Later that evening, we went out to eat with Hubster's colleague T. and his wife J. The last time we had seen them was in Boston, when we had driven them around Medford, where they had lived 30 years ago on their first international posting. It was wonderful to see them as they are preparing to leave London now that they are OAP's (Old Age Pensioners) and they are moving back to their home country to farm a tree plantation.

All in all a very good First Day of School.