Regent's Park on a Sunny Afternoon

Why I Want to Move to the Country

#2

There will be fewer people in the country.

Generally speaking, I don't mind people on an individual basis... but dealing with lots and lots of people, like on London pavements, really isn't up my street (excuse the pun).

One thing that always baffles me is why, when there are three or four people waiting at a pedestrian crossing, everyone assumes that it means that someone has pressed the button. IT DOESN'T. If no-one presses it, it doesn't press itself... the machine does not know that you are there. It's not magical. And it certainly does not mean if three or four people are already waiting patiently at the crossing for the lights to change, that one of them managed to pull their finger out to press the button. They probably assumed the first person who arrived did that, so don't bother checking. Instead they stand there like little lemmings waiting for the intelligent lights to telepathically clock that they are there and change.

The number of times I've arrived at a pedestrian crossing and the button hasn't been pressed despite a number of people waiting for the lights to change. I always wonder how long they could wait there like that before either thinking about checking whether the button has been pressed, or jump out in front of traffic regardless.

Jumping out in front of traffic seems to be a favourite pedestrian pastime at the busy crossroads near Angel Tube Station. Some people must have had the most dreadful days at work for them to want to commit suicide on their way home by throwing themselves under vans, cars, scooters or bikes. Poor souls, especially as none of them succeed. They do however scare themselves, so maybe a near death experience is traumatic enough to convince them that it's too soon to jack all in and life isn't really that bad. Next time they'll wait that extra 17 seconds for the Green Man to appear. Or, maybe not... some of them don't seem so smart.

Not that I can talk - I've had my far share of near misses whilst crossing the road. But I'd like to think that I learn from these - at least as far as I don't make the same mistake twice on the same road or crossing.

I'm sure in the country there are people who are just as annoying, but at least there will be fewer of them, and more space between us.

Why I Want to Move to the Country

#1

 London

Yes, true the sky is pretty impressive... but look at the the lanes of queuing traffic! Arrrgh!

The Country

Promenade

Pure mountain air, blue skies, trees and nothing to do but go for a walk. Can't beat it.

To the countryside and beyond!

Ah ha! So after the non-starter offer that was put in on our flat before, we've now had another one... after a few days of negotiation. So, now with what seems to be a genuine offer in place (the buyers are due back tomorrow to measure up for furniture... so fingers crossed they still like it just as much!) we can start seriously thinking about moving.

So, the first step is finding a conveyancer... hmmm, easier said than done it seems. We've had a couple of high(ish) quotes, both of which have been from conveyancers recommended by estate agents, who I'm assuming get a fair chunk of the money we pay as a thank-you for the referral. This is obviously something we want to avoid... the estate agents will milk enough money from the sale of our flat as it is.

So, tomorrow we're off to have a look around a couple more houses - one we've already seen once (which needs a lot of work and is a bit too pricey - especially when you take into account how much the work will cost to have done, but, on the other hand, has beaucoup de potential) and the other house is smaller but in the centre of the town meaning it will take half the time to walk to the station (and as my boyfriend will be commuting to London everyday, this is a big consideration).

So, recommendations will be very welcome for any good conveyancers! In the meantime, we'll wait to see if this time the offer stays standing - if it does and we find somewhere we like, then we could be out of London within the next 3 months - yippee!

Police bus in Paris

The police in Paris have a bus! Yes, a bus. A real public transportesque bus. 

Now that's très cool.

Crêpilicious!

Right, I know I have already talked about the gorgeously wonderful versatile foodstuffs that are crêpes in a previous post, but as it was recently Shrove Tuesday (or mardi gras as it's called in French) I had to make some more. I had to, it would have been rude not to.

So, to spice things up a bit I recorded, well photographed, the whole process from start to finish. For those 'Shake to Make' addicts out there you will see how easy it is to make them yourself.... and therefore avoiding spending an obscene amount of money on some kind of half-arsed lazy alternative.

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