Before London and London Days 0-1

THB has been a stay-at-home kind of guy for a few months, so first a moment or two of catch-up

What's been happening in San Ramon:

Time for spring training to start and twins are getting ready

Twins working out: "tummy time"  exercising with a photo-hog dog

What's been happening in E-ville:

Something going on at Sherwin Williams; it's possible that construction might start at end of 2018 on what might eventually be 4-5 buildings, 500 rental units, and a new park

There's a 72 hour limit for non-moving cars; this one right outside the window of the loft had been closer to exceeding the 250 hour limit

What's been happening at the beach house:

This screw, which helps attach the frame of the dishwasher to the cabinet, fell out and was found laying in the bottom of the dishwasher 

THB actually had a European bit to screw it back in....except Old Shaky Hands let the screw fall and into the hole for the door hinge

OMG, now the dishwasher won't work!!

$630 later, THB hopes, the guy from Connors Appliance Repairs was able to get the dishwasher working

Now back to the modern era

Days 0-1: SFO - London

QOTD: How early did we leave?

Weather: Pleasant and cold in E-ville, cold and drizzling in London

We’re flying Virgin Atlantic business class and by far the best thing about VA’s business class is the lounge at SFO. You can order real food prepared when you order it off an interesting menu (instead of the usual heating trays and stale pastries). Plus, it is comfortable and spacious, near empty, with very friendly staff. Good news: we’re early enough at the airport to take advantage of the food and drink, figuring that with an 8:10pm departure we’re going to want to skip the on-board dinner and go right to sleep.

USE YOUR IMAGINATION HERE: VIRGIN ATLANTIC LOUNGE AND MORE PICTURES OF FOOD AND DRINK

What’s not so good about VA biz class: it’s an odd alignment of lots of seats at an angle to the aisles and the feeling is that they studied sardine cans for how close they can get the seats while not really allowing any interaction with your neighbors (okay, dead marinated sardines don’t really need to interact with each other). We selected seats “across the aisle” from each other…which doesn’t help communications since the angle of the seats means we may as well be on opposite sides of the fuselage. No idea if the dinner is any good, THB slept right through. Breakfast very mediocre.

Really amazing: the flight left SFO 25 minutes early. Guess all 135 passengers were aboard. Then, we taxied to the end of the runway and took off: usually at SFO you wait a half hour before getting clearance to leave. So, we’re in London an hour early. That’s so early that even with the usual passport delays…wait, there were no passport delays. We out of the secure zone an hour early, way earlier than our arranged ride has showed up.

USE YOUR IMAGINATION HERE: PICTURES OF DRIVER GUYS' BACKS  

We check in to the apartment early, we’re at 18 Cadogan Place, sort of in Knightsbridge, kind of in Belgravia, on the cusp of Chelsea, and very near Sloane Square, in the middle of Posh. 

We’ve booked through One Fine Stay (aka 1FS;  they were our rental agency for the apartment in Paris) and they have graciously showed up early as well to let us in. It’s a very nice two bedroom, two level place. Our friends from Yorkshire who we paired up with for S. Africa a few years ago are joining us in a few days.

Shopping at the local mini-supermarket, Waitross (all over London), gets us the essentials: wine, Grape Nuts, ravioli for tonight’s dine-in dinner, etc., $85 in US dollars, 60 pounds in pre-Brexit England.

First impressions of 18 Cadogan: It's really nice! Two spacious bedrooms on different floors complete with en suite bathrooms, 

We're having a few problems with 18 Cadogan (more like a house exchange, trying to get the obvious stuff functioning)

The apartment is cold, so we’re trying to increase the thermostat (now working on day 1.5)

·      The hot water isn’t working: talk to 1FS and there’s a spot to boost the heater, (now working on day 1.5)

·      The internet for accessing some sites (google?) is really slow. Most every program seems to be taking a lot longer than normal (THB netbook problem, not for DB's devices)

     Can’t figure out how to get the heated towel rack working (now working day 1.5)

·       Bathtub plug stuck, so 4 inches of water left in tub (not yet working on day 2)

Book Review:  The Boat Runner, Devin Murphy (novel): Maybe a better title would be Dutch Teen Comes of Age During the Rise of Hitler. Lots of remorse, lots of loss, and a few moments that defy credibility. Neutral