temperature rising

While the first few days back to the daily routine have been a shocking contrast in every possible way to the two sunny weeks of vacation I just finished, I'm nevertheless in a good mood. I'm on the current job for another month and a half (and the last half might just be vacation days left over), and I'm slowly getting into the London mindset. I found out that the move is going to be much less painful than I anticipated (and the thousand pounds I get will cover all of it). Up to the channel coast it's only a ten hour drive. I'll rent a van to fit all my stuff, drive up one Monday in July, take the ferry the next day, drive into London, unpack my stuff, help a friend put her stuff into the van, and hand her the keys to the van. It will then be up to her to drive the thing back down to Grenoble. I'll be done without much effort.

An important question is where I'll put my stuff once it's out of the van. Is there an apartment waiting for me? So far, no, and this question has been preoccupying me a bit. I'll be paid reasonably, but rent is outrageous, three times what I pay now will be a good deal. Today I discovered Gumtree, which, together with Craig's list, should give me enough offers to find the perfect place. In the first week of July, I'll probably fly out to go apartment hunting.

For financial reasons (and to keep my sanity) I might decide to live a bit outside of London. This afternoon, I remembered what I did when I was looking for a new place in Salt Lake. I took an area map and drew a number of concentric circles around the building I worked in. Within the circle corresponding to a three-mile radius I ended up finding a new home. London being bigger, more expensive, but also significantly flatter than Salt Lake, I might go with an eight-mile radius. That's cyclable on a daily basis. I better go get a London map to start planning.