Ex-pat kind of day

Didn't quite get to play tourist like I thought I would today, but I did have a very ex-pat kind of day.

Hit an aerobics class at the gym taught by Debbie, a very dark-skinned woman is all muscle and very serious about her aerobics class. You put in 45 minutes in that class, and you've gotten your money's worth. Then I showered and changed at the gym. I like to do that because the shower in the gym is nicer than the one in my house, and that's just one less layer of calcium build-up I have to scrub off my shower. And there are doors on these showers and changing rooms in the locker room. England is a much less naked place than Germany. I was always in some ways impressed that women in Germany were so comfortable with themselves that they could strip down and shower in stalls without doors and dress in a large common area. I never quite got there. I'm just not comfortable with being naked in front of strangers, or close friends for that matter.

We still don't have some things for the house that we need--like kitchen garbage cans and a few other odds and ends. And I promised myself we would would work at making this house a home, no matter how long or short we are here. So I went in search of an England institution--Tescos. One of the ones that carries food and housewares. I didn't have a specific address for the navi, but thought I could get there anyway. WRONG! Let's just chalk that adventure up to more practice driving in London. It is just crazy! I'm going to have to get friend Gina to show me where it is next time she goes.

I did stumble upon an Aldi on my way home. Now Aldi shopping IS something I mastered in Germany, so I stopped and got a few of the things we like from there.

At home, I almost took myself out with the vacuum cleaner trying to vacuum our carpeted staircase. When I was half-way down the stairs, I thought the hose was a little longer than it is and I pulled the whole cannister down the stairs and almost fell the rest of the way.

It's always such fun figuring out all the things you have to figure out in a new house and a new city.

Our bathroom is still not fixed. Apparently they part they needed got lost somewhere in the Royal Mail system. Since we rented a two-bathroom house and have only had one bathroom for about a month, how much reduction in rent should I ask for?

Skip is off in North England on a retreat with his team of guys. They are shooting things--only skeet, nothing live. They're only shooting things on the first day and the second day, they've got a big, long meeting scheduled.

Perhaps Friday can be my tourist day.