First Thoughts

We made it. We're here. Thanks to all the people who helped us through the last three or four days, and particularly to the fine folk at MooreWest who made evening meals for us in the week before we left, played tetras with our furniture and helped with some unexpected crises in the 24 hours before we left. The last stages of the job were bigger than we anticipated and what we had anticipated being a relaxed (and slightly smug) tying up loose ends in the two days prior to our departure turned into a 72 hour marathon that finished at 3:30am the morning we were due to fly out, starting the jet lag process some 12 hours early.

We were met at the airport by Michael Jensen and his daughter and he and his family took great care of us in the first jet-lagged weary day, even buying some groceries for us and feeding us! We hadn't thought much beyond leaving the country and flying to the UK, so it was a pleasant surprise to have these things taken care of.

We've settled into our new place, which we really like. It's bigger (almost double the size we expected), has more character (the view is tremendous - with an enormous tree directly in front of the lounge room and balcony and a great view out over Oxford around the sides of the tree) and is an easier place to live than we expected (despite the fact we're on the fourth floor, there is a lift, and a rubbish chute). But we've already been to London (to set up a bank account), and taken on British Telecom to get a landline connected (they're winning)... so being Baddeley's we've had heaps to analyse...

Three things stand out from our first couple of days in the UK.

1. When walking through London we came to an intersection where there was a 'no walk' traffic light and yet it was perfectly safe to go. The traffic moving parallel to us had right of way, and were not allowed to turn into our lane. Nonetheless, no-one walked across the intersection. We stood there for twenty seconds looking carefully at the traffic, trying to figure out where the cars might be coming from that would mean that no one would risk walking across the intersection. At the end of this process we concluded that our initial impressions were correct. It was safe to cross. Nonetheless, only we (and one or two other, presumably reprobate, English) jaywalked. The other thirty or so pedestrians on both sides of the road waited patiently and gave off a faint air of disapprobation in our direction as we passed them.

Then we came to several intersections where there were no signs for pedestrians. Having been lulled into a false sense of security by the previous encounter when the English wouldn't cross the road even when it was perfectly safe to do so, we followed the crowd of pedestrians onto the road. And almost died. Three times. Apparently people thought nothing of walking across the intersection despite the fact that the traffic travelling perpendicular to us had right of way and there were cars already entering the intersection. For their part, the cars tended to use the horn rather than the brakes as the instrument of choice to avoid collisions.


In Sydney people would have acted exactly the opposite in both cases. No self-respecting Australian would obey a 'do not walk' sign if it is safe to walk. And no Sydneysider with even nominal survival instincts would challenge Sydney traffic by walking into oncoming traffic just because there is no sign to say that they can't do that. We're glad we didn't die experiencing the many splendoured thing that constituted that little piece of cultural difference.

2. The bus from Oxford to London cost $45 each return for a 1 1/2 hour trip either way. However, the buses came equipped with a toilet, powerpoints for laptops, wireless connection and a hot breakfast served up until 8:30am. It's more expensive, but it has more 'bells and whistles' thrown in. I suspect a comparable Australian service would cost less but offer nothing but the trip and a seat (and maybe not even the latter). This seems to fit with the general shopping flavour here - a bit more expensive (at least with the exchange rate) but with almost as many "3 for 2" signs as there are standard signs for products.

3. The English shop differently. No shopping centres. Minimal restaurants of an ethnic flavour - both in London and in Oxford it has been a rare sight to see a Thai or Korean or French restaurant. Multiple versions of the same set of chain shops: The Body Shop, Carphone Warehouse, Currys Digital (doesn't sell Indian styled electronics, despite the name). And then there is Argos. We've never experienced anything like it. It is a shop that sells (almost) everything - the catalogue must weigh close to 5kgs. There is almost nothing on display in the shop. You fill out a card listing the items you want (by catalogue number to remove any vestige of romance from this transaction) take it to the customer service officer (the person at the register) pay for it. You then wait while the order is pulled together in the warehouse out the back and then sent to the pick-up point via conveyor belt. It is nothing if not frightening efficient. Within an hour and a half of walking into the store we had almost everything we needed to set ourselves up here - some 19 different items (with a set of saucepans counting as one item). Even with the two hours of pouring over the catalogue that went before, it was an amazingly quick way of getting on our feet.