We Made It!! Part 2: The "Flat"

Our apartment is really cute. I was pretty worried about what it would be like because Catherine kept apologizing in advance for how it looks, but I guess that is just her way. I think Charlie likes it a lot and feels pretty at home. He is already into a pretty regular schedule after one week of being in London which I find pretty impressive considering we had to get used to a new time zone. We are still settling in. I think I finally learned how to use hot water in the shower without asking Josh for help which is nice. Our toilet is different. It needs like a flush and a half to make it work and then it is uses an impressive amount of water. We don't have a door knob. We have a washing machine, but no dryer so there are two meat hooks in the ceiling and a long bar that the last people used to dry their clothes (I also have a drying rack). There is a laundromat around the corner, but it will be easier to do it this way since I have Charlie by myself most of the day. Hmm, what else... We were here for three days and someone buzzed our door to ask about renewing our TV license. In England, if you own a color TV, you have to pay for a TV license for each TV that can pick up British broadcasting stations. I told them that we didn't have a TV since we just got here and he said that he had to come in and search our apartment for unlicensed TVs. He looked in every room and gave me information about registering a TV if we buy one. It will cost us about $260 for the year if we get a TV. We are still undecided if we want to get one. I thought that was a little strange though. Apparently, we were in a database of apartments that don't have a license or who claim to have a black and white TV (there is a smaller fee if you have a black and white TV) so they inspect those places first. We love the bus system. I highly recommend the Number 12 Bus. You can walk to the stop in a couple minutes from our apartment and it will take you by all of the top tourist attractions. I appreciated that Josh's mom came to help us out and it was very useful for the first few days, but I am ready of have some privacy again. I don't feel like I can settle in completely until we are on our own. She is also driving me completely insane, but that is a whole other post that I will never write. This is such a rambling post, I am sure I will make more sense after I am here for a bit longer. I think we can all learn a lesson about getting making yourself comfortable in unfamiliar places. We just got back from dinner at Catherine's house. We looked over and Charlie had taken his pants off and had a big smile on his face.