Things are finally starting to come together a little faster now that we've been here for 5 days (It seems WAY longer). We are on the list for base housing even though we might get housing off base (because there is a waiting list and we'd never even have the option if we didn't go on the list). Yesterday, we wanted to stop in to the housing office and check if there was any way we could take a look at what on base housing looks like, but they told us we were only allowed to look once we were offered a place. My only hypothesis for this is if you looked at a nice place and were offered something of a lower caliber when your time came.
Last night, we decided to do some bowling and rent a movie from the "video store" (read: one wall of the shoppette here on base). The library also loans videos so we went there first, but they were closed. On Friday. The bowling alley seems to be the major source of entertainment here on base, and it was actually pretty nice. There were these bedpan shaped couches to sit on and they had the most comfortable bowling shoes ever! The "Pinspotter Cafe" is the little eatery that provides food like at any bowling alley, but here, they tout it as a place to eat even when you don't bowl. The options are that limited. There is a Subway, Anthony's Pizza (World's Grossest!™), the Daily Grind (a coffee shop), The Stukeley Inn (an upper scale place to eat), a pub on base and the bowling alley's cafe.
Anyway. I have a feeling bowling will become a major pastime. $10 on Friday nights gets us 4 games including shoe rental. [for the record, I won 3 of the 4 games] =)
Today we had the lofty goal to check out some more houses (we are required to check out at least 2 listings the first week, 5 the second week and 5 the third week). We have already looked at 4, but they are all owned by the same landlord and three of them essentially had the same floorplan and weren't special in any way. Everything about them was decent or tolerable or mediocre. Based on the several hundred house listings I've looked at while I was in Hawaii and Idaho, I know I can get something a lot better for our allowance, even in the area we want. The only thing holding us up is the fact that agents
not going through the housing office require up to two months rent for a deposit
plus the first month's rent! However, we found out we could get a loan for the deposit and not have to pay it until we left, but it sure would be nice to save that money if we could.
We went to the BX to buy a navigation system today so we could find our way to different houses (the roads and signs are not intuitive at all, you would never know where to go if you didn't already, just like Hawaii!). After that, we called some of the numbers and found out that out of our 6 listings left, 2 had bad phone numbers, 2 didn't answer, one scheduled a walk through for Sunday (tomorrow) and the other we left a message for called us back and scheduled a visit for Monday. So much for our productive day! So: we decided to check out cars with our rental car and brave the roads without help from anyone but the GPS. We got to the car sales place fine enough, and they had 4 cars we were interested in. The lot was completely different from the US in that the car guys don't come out to greet you when you get there, there is no pressure whatsoever (they actually seem to care less whether you buy a car or not). The guy we got I think was an anomaly beyond that, though. I think he wasn't British, but he barely spoke to us. We went inside and asked to test drive a car and he agreed and once we got in, he didn't say A WORD besides telling us the directions to turn on the test drive route. He didn't make a single bit of small talk, even about the car. It was so damn awkward. After the test drive, he just walks away without saying anything! No, "I'll let you look around or discuss more" or showing us what cars they had, he just walked off! Talk about low pressure buying! The weird thing is he didn't seem mean or anything and after we test drove a couple of cars and were sitting in the lobby talking, he offered us coffee. I have a feeling they don't get commission. ;)
One car we test drove was ok, the other was awesome EXCEPT for the violent shaking the steering column seemed to do once we hit 70. Needless to say, no suitors yet.
We decided to drive to Milton Keynes to the mall where Vic said they have awesome food and great stores. The GPS worked fine until we got into an area where a new freeway was put in less than a month ago, so it took us all willy nilly all over the place. Cameron was getting frustrated and I was scrambling to use the map navigation on my phone to help us figure out where the heck we were. We finally (probably accidentally) headed the right way and made it, but we were both beyond frustrated and aggravated (especially being our first time driving in EUROPE, not knowing anything about the system besides what we've observed as passengers for oh,
4 days. The roundabouts are both awesome and freaky because they keep the flow of traffic going (there are almost no stop signs or stoplights in England whatsoever). They are also awesome because if you miss your turn you can just go around again until you come back to the correct one. It's strange though, because the GPS phrases it as "second exit" in the roundabout which is the 12 o'clock position, so you're basically exiting the roundabout to go straight. There are also multiple lanes within the roundabout and the lines aren't terribly clear, so you just kind of weave in and out until you sort out where you need to be (this could not be done in a bigger city with heavier traffic in the circles). I'm sure we befuddled a lot of other drivers, but I'm sure they understood as there is a huge "CARL'S AUTOMATIC RENTALS" decal on the front and back window, hahaha. I also admire Cameron for braving the roads so readily, by the time we got home, he seemed to have it down.
In the mall, we ate at place called Giraffe which was a sort of natural foods restaurant, but carried all kinds of things like southwest dishes and burgers and salads and sandwiches. At the end of my meal, I ordered a single scoop of golf ball-sized ice cream for £1.75 [$2.84]. It was just chocolate, but it was the best damn chocolate ice cream I've ever had. It had tiny, tiny flecks of chocolate shavings in it and was probably about halfway in sweetness between a milk and a dark chocolate ice cream. My new favorite.
On the way out of the mall, we saw this chipped mosaic and looked closer, and the description said it was a 4th century Roman mosaic! Pretty fantastic for a shopping mall! I guess they're up to their ears in ancient artifacts, so they need
somewhere to put them. =)
Tomorrow we are looking at a house that has a CONSERVATORY, so wish us luck!
