Settling in...

A couple of small tasks accomplished today have resulted in me feeling a bit more like a resident here, albeit a temporary one.

First, and probably most important to me, is that I bought a hot water bottle at Sainsbury's. As the weather has gotten cooler (highs in the 50s, lows in the 30s) I have been flashing back to the winter months in Stillwater where I would wear three pairs of my fuzziest socks, wrap up in our coziest blankets, and sit on the couch with our microwavable heating pad on my toes. Seeing as how we do not have a microwave here, I couldn't use such a convenient rice pillow heater for my poor frost-bitten toes. We have yet to turn the heat on in our flat - partially because we don't want to pay for it, partially because it seems complicated to operate the radiator system, and partially because we don't want to admit that we are cold enough to need it, knowing that it is only going to get colder from here on... so, I have been browsing different options in anticipation of the inevitable chilliness headed my way. I settled on the hot water bottle.

Mine looks like the cream colored one. I just love cable knits of all sorts. Doesn't it just convey "warm and cuddly"?

It's a bit like a whoopee cushion filled with hot water, then just screw on the cap, and you have a lovely insulated source of warmth for a few hours. I'm sure these things have been around forever, and all the (cough) 'older' people reading this are probably chuckling at my novel discovery of such an item. Either way, I'm excited, and I have a feeling that it will end up being the best 10GBP I spend. I might even try it out tonight. Apparently, people put them in their sheets before going to bed in order to avoid the shock of cold cotton. Seems like a good idea to me! I think the cashier (or "till worker") at Sainsbury's could see how enthusiastic I was about my purchase as he was swiping the bar code, and he told me that he has a few four-legged hot water bottles called cats. Thought that was clever and so true. Made me miss puppy. Not that he would ever be allowed to sleep on our bed, of course. (Wink, wink.)

Second, we set up a British bank account. Still need to have the money wired over from our US account, but hopefully this means that we will finally be able to buy our groceries online! Yet more wonderfully good news for my cold-weather-hating self. No trudging a mile in the snow uphill both ways to get my poor starving family some milk.

Like I said, these are only small but necessary things that will facilitate a smoother transition into winter. It's for real. We are living here through the changing of seasons. No turning back now!

Additional and completely random other thoughts for the day:
1. Colonel Gaddafi is dead? Confirmed yet? Seems like a major movement is washing over the Middle East these days.
2. I attached a link to a news article about the protests we saw in London on Saturday. I guess the protesters weren't just drawing attention to higher education alone. They appear to be like the Occupy Wall Street group, attacking the greed of capitalism as a whole. They were trying to make their way to the London Stock Exchange, but were held off, so they settled on the steps of St. Paul's and haven't moved since. http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/news/uk-england-15380205
3. I've noticed a few more catch phrases of British English:
~ "Can I help?" = British version of American "Can I help you?" just without the "you."
~ "trousers" = pants
~ "trainers" = tennis shoes or sneakers
~ "jumper" = sweater
~ "bap" = bread roll

Pip pip cheerio!