This week has definitely been a roller coaster. Hang on for the recounting.

Monday morning, we got up first thing and headed for Basingstoke to look at homes. The first place we looked at was, well, kind of a dump. 

I mean, Kyla was ok with it, and it wasn’t the worst place I’ve ever lived, but it definitely would have been for the girls, and I want to give them a little better.

We were on the way to the second place (which looked and sounded PERFECT, right down to the location), when we got a phone call that it had been taken. We had the taxi driver drop us at the mall, so we could regroup and make a new game plan. They do Christmas “bigly” over here, so of course, we got some pictures of the girls while we were there: 

We then went to visit a second place, which was ok. It was on Elizabeth Road, which we thought was auspicious. We liked the house, but the layout was very weird. To get to the master bedroom, you had to go THROUGH another bedroom. The other alternative was to turn the living room into a bedroom and that bedroom into a living room. Possible, but not ideal. We were mulling it over when we asked the realtor if he had any other properties with three bedrooms. Luckily we did, because this place is everything I pictured in our little English home.

I didn’t really get good pictures of it because I was so excited, so I’ll post some when we take possession in a few days. But it is perfect. Good neighborhood, nice sized living room, all-new kitchen (with dishwasher, clothes washer AND dryer, the latter of which is not a given in this country). Two and a half bathrooms, which is unheard of. Two good sized bedrooms and a Molly-sized bedroom (meaning tiny). I instantly fell in love with the place. The price is within our range. The only downside is it’s across town from the hospital. Public transportation is not ideal to get Kyla to work, but it’s adequate, so we took it.

By Monday night, we were living large.

On Tuesday, Kyla had to go take her big test. The girls and I just hung around the hotel and rested.

On Wednesday we had to pick up what’s called our “BRP cards”. They’re basically our visa/identification card and they can only be picked up at certain post offices, the nearest of which was Reading. And they couldn’t be picked up by one of us, all four had to be present. So, on a train, and then a bus, we went…which was actually kind of fun when you’re not worrying about eight suitcases. Being from the Midwest, public transportation was not really something we had a lot of experience with, but we’re picking it up quickly.

Reading is a cool OLD town. It was settled in the 9th century and was granted “town status” in 1086. We didn’t get a lot of chance to sightsee, but just taking a bus through city center was fantastic. Also, it has a road called “St. Mary’s Butts”. The 12 year old inside me is still chuckling three days later. 

Thursday was NOT a good day. We began by going to the hospital for Kyla to meet her new boss and fill out any paperwork they needed…only to find out that they didn’t have the paperwork in order. No one had done it and apparently it hadn’t occurred to anyone that it needed to be done. So, instead of starting work on December 17th, she’ll be starting on January 1st. Not devastating, but definitely a bigger hit to our bank account then we’d planned. I was stewing on that most of the day, when we found out that Kyla failed 1 of the 6 stations of her test. It’s common (the test only has a 56% first time pass rate), but still frustrating. She only has to re-do that one station, but at a cost of about $700 USD.

On the plus side of Thursday, we also got to really explore Basingstoke for the first time, and the city center is gorgeous. A high street full of shops and pubs that sits on top of a hill coming up from the train station and mall, brick paved streets in the town center, just everything I imagined in an English city. We had supper in a little pub on the high street before returning to the hotel. 

Today was a mixed bag. It began by finding out that the public schools here don’t have to accept every student in their “catchment area” if they don’t have room. Children are guaranteed a place in A school, but it can be anywhere within the borough (which for us is a city the size of Evansville). The school closest to our house has a spot for Molly, but not for Lizzy. They have someone who’s moving over Christmas break and they are “fairly confident that we will be able to offer Elizabeth a place when we return to school of the 8th January”, but man, that has me nervous. The day redeemed itself by finding out that all our rental paperwork went through. All we have to do is go into the office tomorrow to pay the deposit and the place is ours. We also walked to a park down in Fleet today, so it was nice to get out of the hotel in a way that wasn’t running errands or spending money.

So, like I said, a whirlwind of emotions this week. I’ll admit that I’ve been discouraged and wanted to give up numerous times, but Kyla keeps pulling us through. Her sheer, cussed, Neff-stubbornness is actually being put to good use for a change. 

I know this has been a long post, but to wrap up, here’s your random Life in England trivia for today: beds don’t have sheet sets like we do in America. The mattress has a fitted sheet over it, of course, but that’s it. The only other blanket on the hotel beds has then been a duvet. I don’t like it. I want my fitted sheet, then a sheet over me, then a blanket, THEN a duvet or comforter. I want to be able to control the amount of coverage over me depending on how hot or cold I am. I’m going to have to import a proper sheet set and blanket when we get into the house.