Archive Page 20

US: In Vogue Again

Published April 8, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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img_2983 It’s a great feeling to have the US admired again. After eight years of living out of the US, timed perfectly to coincide with the Bush presidency, I am proud to say I helped to vote Obama into office.

I do wonder sometimes whether Americans living abroad will confront angry questions from Europeans like I did about why the US is so aggressive in its foreign policy; the legality of holding prisoners in Guantánamo Bay; and why the World Series is called that when only the US partakes.

It’s fantastic to see a US First Lady on the cover of Vogue (and Oprah’s magazine! And Essence! And People!). And to see almost as much coverage of Michelle Obama’s visit to a London girls’ school as the world leaders’

Healthcare Explainer

Published April 8, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment

This Wouldn’t Happen in Atlanta

Published April 6, 2009 Uncategorized 1 Comment
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<a href=”“>My friend’s mom emailed me this link, so it has clearly permeated several layers of pop culture. My favorite part is when the 60 something woman joins in the line dancing in Liverpool Street Station.

Obviously, T-Mobile is behind it. But mass dancing would have been cool to witness. During my eight years in London, I saw many news reports about spontaneous eruptions of dance from crowds in train stations and other public places. But I never witnessed them myself.

Maybe it’s a trend I’ll have to start here. But I think it would be tough to get enough people to have the awe-inspiring effect.

It dawned on me during the Atlanta Marathon last month how much smaller our new city is than London. It was always tough to get a spot of ground to stand on during the London Marathon — rain or shine (usually rain). And despite the reasonably good weather here, we only saw two spectators on one spot along the Atlanta route.

I hope there were more at the finish.

Country Sick

Published April 2, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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I would say I was homesick, but the UK was only a temporary home. But I miss it still. Watching video of the G-20 protesters by the Houses of Parliament, overlooking the Thames, I got huge pangs for London.
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When you leave a place like London, it’s easy to forget why you left: the lack of space, the traffic, the soaring prices…and remember just the fun parts: walking by Buckingham Palace on your way to a show in the West End; strolling along the river on a cool summer’s evening; catching a Shakespearean show at the Globe…
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It’s also easy to romanticize the past when you’re facing an eviction from a landlord whose house is about to go into foreclosure. I had some nutty housing situations in London (sleeping on friends’ futons…. living in a tiny studio flat without a washing machine… sharing a three bedroom flat with five people who smoked…) but nothing like this.

But when you go to Holland Park on a sunny day, and the light just illuminates the trees. The sunshine rarely means oppressive heat — or even any heat. On those days when it’s not raining (few and far between, it’s true) it’s idyllic. You feel like you’re in a quaint English garden when you walk down the stairs through the manicured flower gardens.

And your kids are delighted by the wild peacocks who roam randomly through the park. They insist on going back again and again, to see the big blue birds.

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And you wonder why you ever left.
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Surprise Activism

Published April 1, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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Soccball

Published March 31, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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img_2511Whenever I wonder whether we did the right thing by moving here, I think of this photo.  It was taken in late February, which is a beautiful fact in itself.  There aren’t a lot of places I’ve lived where you can be outside, dry and reasonably warm in February — certainly not the UK, where we lived until November.  

During the dead of winter in London, the sun started going down before 3 PM, so soccer (ie football) would not have been an option in the late afternoon.  That makes a difference, because my husband can catch part of the class on his way home from work.

As a Brit, he is a big football fan, so he is especially enthusiastic about our daughter’s interest in soccer.  The coach told us that she handles the ball well for a two-year-old. True, he probably would have said the same thing to any parents — especially because we hadn’t paid for the classes yet, and hadn’t decided at that point whether we were going to — but it was still thrilling to hear.

She calls it Soccball — a fusion of “soccer” and “football.”  I think she might be onto something — a new language that unites British and American English.

Which Economy Are You In?

Published March 30, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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We are looking at houses that seem to be over-priced, even for a normal market. A newly-renovated house, admittedly big (five bedroom), which is on a busy street and overlooks a somewhat seedy apartment buildings carries a nearly one million dollar price tag.

My husband was annoyed that we even bothered to look at it.  I explained my plan, which was to submit an offensively low bid. It was explained to me that by our realtor that this would not fly.

Of course, the realtor has a second agenda.  And a career that until the past year has been quite lucrative.  She drives a Jaguar and a Lexus. I suppose she could be forgiven for trying to hang on to the glory days.

But I am confused about why, amid sweeping layoffs, huge stock market dives and several local foreclosures, house prices still seem to be inflated.  

The near-million dollar price tag on the house we saw was a *newly reduced* price.

We’re Not in London Anymore…

Published March 25, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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I am no longer a true Londoner.  I realized this when I was on the tube during a visit to our old city last week.

Headed east on the Circle Line, the tube driver announced that we would not be stopping at the next stop — Great Portland Street. That was my stop, so I was irritated.

But then, I grew anxious. As we passed through the station, alarms blared. A monotone recorded voice droned: “Exit the station immediately.”  

Our driver repeated that we would stop because of a “security alert.”  

Was it a bomb threat? A terrorist attack? A mad gunman? I swore under my breath, and looked around the carriage.

No one even batted an eye. People yawned, turned pages in their newspapers, even slept.

And I realized, by panicking, I reacted like a tourist. Londoners experience these scares every day. They’re completely immune, like I used to be.

I never found out what the issue was with Great Portland Street. Like most of these alerts, it probably was nothing.

House Hunting

Published March 24, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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Looking for a house in this market is enjoyable. I had heard that in order to make your house more palatable, you should pull a batch of cookies out of the oven just as the prospective buyers come in.

One of the owners of a house I saw today did even better — she offered up those freshly baked cookies to me and my realtor.

Rather than the scent of baked goods, I smelled desperation.

At another house, a woman was baking a lasagna. It smelled delicious. But it was 3:00 in the afternoon. Who really bakes a lasagna at 3 PM on a Tuesday?

Someone who really wants to sell their house, I think.

House Affairs

Published March 23, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment

People here in Atlanta love their homes. And with good reason — most I’ve seen are beautiful. They are freshly painted, with manicured lawns, cute lanterns adorning front doors, often set off by faux Roman columns.  They are filled with massive appliances, and every imaginable convenience: from room-to-room intercom systems to fire places that create fires with the flick of a switch.

So as we search for a new rental house, we are not surprised to find that people are moving, but renting out their old house simply because they want to keep it in the family.  But it makes me wonder whether their emotions will render them unable to leave the premises.

At the house we viewed on Friday, the father stroked the built-in stair gate and explained how they put that in themselves when they first bought the house. Never mind that their children are now too old to require a stair gate.

And a framed photo on their refrigerator showed how the house looked 15 years ago when they first bought it, before they extensively renovated it. Their basement was filled with so much junk (an empty jar; a string of light up jack o’ lanterns; reams of packing material) we didn’t think they’d be able to move, even if they wanted to.

They explained that they wanted to be closer to the children’s school, which makes sense.  But they, like the owners of another house we saw, were willing to pay two mortgages so that they could hold on to the house for sentimental reasons. 

It’s a touching concept, and one I never experienced in London. Most people were flat ashamed, rather than house proud. We only had one closet in the flat we own in London, so we found storage wherever we could.  Moving to a place with more space was a relief.

And yet, I do find that I miss that flat sometimes.  Even the ruckus called by the trains that raced by on the tracks adjacent to the building.  So if we had had a massive house with all of bells and whistles, I would probably love it too much to ever leave.

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