First week in London

Welcome to my London blog, about my move from Utah to London. I arrived on 14 July 2008 and Stephanie will be over in about two weeks. The purpose of the move over was to take a position as associate editor for climate science at Nature.

I arrived two hours late into Heathrow due to an overbooking of planes in Chicago. I missed the taxi that Nature had booked for me and got one on my own. Usually I would have taken the tube but I had a bike box, two huge rolling bags, and a backpack. The cab ride was $140. When I interviewed for the job back in March I of course noticed that London is expensive but the scope of things is really breathtaking. Here are prices I've come across. Pint of ice cream in a grocery store, $10; pint of beer in a pub, about $6.50; fish and chips, $30; cup of drip coffee, $4. The list could be endless but it's too depressing to contemplate. Onward!

I'm staying in a temporary accomodation in the Marleybone neighborhood. It's a fine, very small apartment. The washing machine is very thorough, taking 2 1/2 hours to run, but the dryer merely transmits a fleeting sensation of warmness to the still drenched clothes. Interesting. The flat is on the fifth floor of the building but the lift is a bit dodgy. I was stuck in it for about five minutes on my first day and discovered a strong tendency towards hysterical claustrophobia. The elevator was a bit small though.

So far the best meal I've had was pizza at the Italiano Coffee Company at 62 Goodge Street. The place crawls with people like roaches in a crumb factory but the pizza is somewhat affordable and good. They cut the pizza is a downright eccentric way - merely scoring the top with no real intention of piercing the crusty underbelly.

Bicycling is sweet. I haven't really ridden in a city since Vienna 2000. It's a bit like bumper cars where you back off at the last second. I forgot my pedals and shoes back in the states so I've been riding on these terribly embarrassing cheeseball flats. It's shocking. I'll try to get some photos coming soon.