Hot Mango Flush

What a whirlwind day! The last for awhile I hope, I can't stand this pace. I had to keep my calendar tight, as company was coming at 1 or so and I had my eye doc appointment at 3, so I sped through the meeting scheduling and timesheets and so forth, had an early lunch, and left things fairly accomplished by the time my cousin Marvin, his son Jonny (my godson), and Jonny's cat Mango arrived. Wow, what an amazing kitty! I've never had an orange one, and this one does seem to follow the stereotype of orange cats not being terribly smart. But he's resilient and determined and very affectionate (a lap cat at last, hooray!) and alas, fairly unrestrained. We'll have to see how we can reach a compromise as I lead a somewhat slower life than Jonny. Oh, and the eye exam went extremely well and I walked a few blocks up from there after I got out and found my feet do feel better. So there's that.

Treading

Things are, as usual, never dull on the job. Due to this cold as well as wanting to not walk around very much on my sore feet, I worked from home today and found out that my support assignments will be changing as of October 1, as so many colleagues are leaving at the end of the fiscal year. Lots of meetings and discussions about this, all while still trying to catch up on other things like suddenly having to schedule tons of year-end meetings for four of my current partners. My inbox is manageable again, but I'm less caught up on the workload than I'd like to be. Glad I don't have a commute to throw a spanner in the works! Lots of stuff around the house to do as well, because our little furry lodger arrives tomorrow, so I'm caught up on most of my finances, the wool-wash is done, Rob's unpacked, things are straightened out and put away (I'd almost forgotten how to cat-proof things), and all I need now is some more relaxation and a good night's sleep.

Missed and Not Missed

Nice to watch a couple NY baseball games, even though the Yankees lost in extra innings and the Mets are being clobbered as I type. I've missed baseball, apparently the Yanks clinched while we were away. The Emmys were also televised, probably the first year I can remember not being able to see them. Most of the rest I haven't really missed, especially work. I came back to 200 emails, but I'm not complaining as a fellow exec assistant who had been on PTO returned to over 2000! By the time I logged off, with this head cold still kicking my butt (I've cancelled my plans to come into the office tomorrow), everything in my inbox was under control again. We caught up on all the "special" Jeopardy episodes, and now have only three regular-season shows to watch, but not today. Time for more medicine!

Homeward Bound

We had our last English breakfast (just toast and a crumpet for me... okay, and a banana and two small not-worth-it pancakes) and by 9:15 AM or so we were off to Heathrow by cab (no more trains for awhile!). The check-in station was confusing, but once we got our bags checked by an actual human instead of their machines and spoke to another actual human who allowed Robin to steer me around in a wheelchair, off we went to our gate in plenty of time. Because I used a wheelchair I was able to pre-board, and once again we lucked out by being in a row of three seats with no additional passenger so we could stretch out. This time I watched a few movies (Mandalorian and Grogu, eh; Hoppers which was sweet but frenetic and definitely skewed on the young side; and Encanto which I could rewatch forever) and we ate well, and were back on the ground mid-afternoon in time for our driver to navigate rush-hour traffic and deposit us home a bit after 6 PM. No more dumpster, so the first thing I did was move my car back into its usual spot for the squirrels' acorn target practice. I dumped all my laundry and got out of my suitcases, and did a bit more trundling about to get everything ready for working tomorrow, by which time maybe this head cold will dissipate somewhat?

Last Round

I still can't walk well, and unfortunately our friend Jane's lovely flat was way too far away from the train station, so between the walk there and back I was absolutely shot. Maybe one visit too many? On the other hand Andy had a car, and even though he took us to dinner scarcely three hours after our big carver's lunch, it was nice not to have to walk anywhere. Hope I sleep well tonight, tomorrow's going to be a long day!

Round Town

Ah, west and wewaxation at wast! Interestingly, I found that the two small toes on my left foot which had been giving me so much trouble lo these many days really liked walking on cobblestones, so the problem definitely has something to do with my gait (probably the IT band thing). We stuck close to the hotel, slept a lot which we both needed, I bought my requisite touristy t-shirt, and we enjoyed a terrific sushi dinner. Tomorrow we wind things down again with one last round-trip train ride before packing for departure on Tuesday morning. 

40 Up

This evening we got together with Robin’s old college friends, and as ever it was delightful. In the morning Debs drove us around other neighborhoods in East Sussex we hadn’t seen from the bus on Thursday, so that was fun and really solidified my desire not to drive in England once we’ve moved here (the roads are way too narrow for my liking), then we had a good long rest, which my poor legs needed, prior to the evening feast with Andy and the two Janes. We’ll see Jane and Andy again separately on Monday but this was the big restaurant outing, and it was simply lovely. Tomorrow we rest and maybe shop for a bit depending on my mobility…

Distant and Closer

We didn’t actually take the 25th anniversary of the September 11th tragedy into account when we made our vacation plans, but I’m very glad to be away from the US and mostly offline today. I cannot forget the tragedy seared into my very being as a New Yorker a quarter century ago, and don’t need the almost fetishized reminders. I’d much rather commemorate Leah Adezio’s birth date, as I miss my late best friend every day. But today, with the distance afforded by being in the UK, it was easier to feel the joy that comes with family, especially the youngest generation. Today we visited Robin’s sister Carol and brother-in-law Graham, and the branch of the family of which she’s the matriarch. Just about 80% of the fam showed up at Sandra and Robert’s home, including Tracy and Graham, Georgina and Keri with their young ones Freddie, Rosa and Elowyn, Matthew and fiancé Kristin, and Naomi and little baby Elsie. I made repeated eye contact with 9-month-old Rosa and even got to hold her a bunch of times without her crying, and Rob drew pictures for Freddie and Elowyn (two extremely precocious, talkative, and exhausting kids) and a couple of the adults as well. I’ve already volunteered our babysitting services after we move here. It’ll be so wonderful to have kids around! We had a lovely time, and Robert even drove us back to the hotel to save wear and tear on my poor feet and legs. I could use a few quiet, non-mobile days now!

A Plethora of Bungalows with Faux Tudor Solar Panels

I slept a bit, then breakfast, then a bit more sleep. My feet hurt a but less but I have a lovely little infection at the base of one toe, so when we finally got going I went into a Boots (my fave British chemist) and the pharmacist suggested a warm water soak with some tea tree oil.  Most of the day was spent on one bus or another traveling around the south coast of East Sussex scoping out possible towns for our retirement bungalow. So many faux Tudor houses! But we have a good idea now of where we want to end up and, after all, that was the point of the visit. It’s just relaxation and foot soaking from here on!

Too Much Travel

The landlord sent up the roofers to our apartment not two hours prior to our departure, but the place is all locked now, our car is still along the side of the driveway as the dumpster hasn’t moved, our downstairs neighbors will take care of wny incoming packages, and the car service arrived early so we were on our way to JFK with no issues. I was able to walk to our gate without too much foot pain, but was glad I opted for a wheelchair on the Heathrow end. Because even though we had no seat mate on the plane and were able to stretch out over the three seats, we got no sleep at all on the overnight flight. So not having to walk to baggage retrieval was a blessing. We were on our way to Canary Wharf in short order, but by the time we arrived my feet were killing me. Still, my UK work colleagues were lovely and I couldn’t refuse a brief tour around the extremely fancy office. Alas, the trip across London to catch the regional rail down to Lewes was exhausting, so many escalators and lifts and not having slept didn’t help. We also had a few issues with out hotel room, but all sorted now  Rob’s college friends Debs and Jane came over for dinner, by which time I was too tired to care about anything else  Need sleep now…

The Hardest Part

We’re all packed and waiting for the car to pick us up and take us to the airport. But of course there are still last-minute hitches our of our control, like some weird tech issues at all English airports affecting all incoming flights (last we looked ours was still a go) and the landlord sending up the roofers again to vacuum up all the detritus from the rafters, which took over an hour of privacy away from us  Still, I’m hoping for the best and trying to get into relaxation mode  I should sleep pretty well on the flight!

M 

20,20,24 Years To Go

Happy blogiversary to Pen-Elayne on the Web! The world and I have both changed quite a bit since 2002, sometimes we keep making the same mistakes, sometimes we make worse ones, and every now and then we learn from them. I plan to keep trying to make daily entries for the foreseeable future, but we'll see how things go in England and beyond. The landlord and his helper came by for a surprise inspection of the roof from the inside rafters, making me doubly glad we cleared those out last week! That shook me up a bit (and rudely roused Robin from his morning nap) to the point where I couldn't concentrate on packing for our trip; good job we have at least all morning tomorrow. As of now I think all my clothes are sorted except my travel outfits, and I still have to go through earrings, but first we need to make sure we can sit together (we can't reserve seats until 24 hours in advance), and tomorrow Robin sets the phones so they can work in England while I take care of last-minute job stuff. As half my brain is in travel mode and most of the other half is already overseas, you'll forgive me for not making more of a thing about this blogiversary. Next year for sure!

A Banging Time

Are we home yet? The roofers have just about stopped their banging. This has dragged on for a full week, thanks to them not being around last Tuesday through Thursday, and I've never been so happy to be away. A decent night's sleep at the hotel, followed by a lovely brunch this morning that lasted way shorter than we thought it might, so we Uber'ed it to 30th Street Station and waited a couple hours for our train, running into our cousins (the groom's parents) who were taking an earlier train, for the traditional Jewish goodbye that lasts a bit longer than the Irish one. Yesterday we'd had trouble finding seats on the southbound Amtrak, and figured if we stuck with the redcap we'd have better luck with the northbound train. Alas, although we got seats they were hardly together. Lesson learned, it pays to be fleeced a bit if you want to sit together. I just hope we can get adjoining seats on Tuesday's flight to London! By the time we got back to New York, I wasn't thinking straight enough to remember the subways weren't running to our neighborhood, so we walked through Macy's and waited for the express bus home, which detoured a bit due to street fairs, and we finally got home about an hour ago to, as mentioned above, the sound of banging. It should all be over by the time we return from across the pond, and I'm looking forward to the relative quiet!

Philly Phamily Phun

I could have wished my IT band issues didn't make walking so painful. Robin could have wished he'd used our overnight garment bag as a backpack instead of schlepping it around Central City in Philadelphia for so many blocks. Nonetheless, the wedding of our beloved cousin Jake to Lena (actually their second wedding, the official one was a few years ago as Jake's mom has been ill) was lovely and the reception, though long (and these olds left around 10 PM), a lot of fun. Too exhausted to type more.

Roofer Madness Redux

Have I mentioned next Monday marks the 24th blogiversary of Pen-Elayne on the Web? And that I may go dark for a week or so after that as I'm not sure I can blog from my iPad? Well, if I haven't mentioned that it's because the roofers have driven most of the sanity from my head. They were here from 9 AM to almost 9 PM, and they threw a lot more stuff into the dumpster in the space where my car is normally parked so I know they were still stripping shingles, but I have no idea where they left off as they were hammering like crazy during the last hour or so. We'll find out tomorrow on our way to the express bus. With any luck, by the time we return from Philly everything will have been done. I don't get it, other roofers working on houses in this neighborhood didn't take more than a day. I'm figuring there was just way too much damage on our roof for it to be a quick job. In any case, I wore my earbuds and got through work, we took a long lunch at our favorite sushi place and picked up a bare minimum of food for tomorrow morning, Sunday night, Monday, and most of Tuesday, and I won't have to hear any banging for at least the next couple days. Now to finish packing!

Goodbye Manhattan

Well, I'm coming back to the area on Saturday and Sunday on my way to and from Philadelphia, but this was my last day in the office for the next two weeks. Unfortunately I got very little sleep last night, probably due to nervousness about impending travel, so I sought to leave as early as possible, pretty easy considering very few people were in the office, certainly nobody I supported. So I hightailed it out at 3 PM, sped through Moynihan and Penn, got the subway just as the elevator doors to the platform opened, got a seat right away, and all was fine (give or take having to stand too long on the local bus) and I was able to log on again and do another hour of work when I got home. Trying to wrap up everything before travel time! There's a non-zero chance that I will in fact log off tomorrow with inbox zero...

Shredtastic

Still no roofers, although contractors did come by again to dump more stuff in the dumpster. Glad they stayed away, as I had two more international business trips to book for my partners, one in a 3-way phone call and the other - yep, one last change to the India trip. Meanwhile, Robin has begun shredding all our financial stuff from years past that had been sitting up in the now-vacated rafters between our apartment and the roof, as by law we only need to keep a handful of years of records (and the important ones are pretty much all online now). He also managed to put his old Cintiq drawing tablet back in its original box (another bit that had been stored in the rafters) along with various peripherals, and we're well on our way to getting the apartment in good shape to welcome Jonny's cat Mango when he leaves the weekend after we return to retrieve his car and drive it back from Texas. Been awhile since we've needed to make space for a pet! In the meantime we can now reach the steamer and our suitcases easily, which will make our upcoming trips that much easier. I'm as organized as I can be at work, getting ready to send out my reminders to peers and partners tomorrow morning, and feeling my usual nervousness about travel.

Passage to India

White Rabbits! Do they have that superstition in India? Regardless, that's where one of my partners is headed next month, so I spent half the workday getting the ball rolling on his travel, which seemed to change a few times every hour. We finally got everything set, and it certainly kept me busy during an in-office day! I came home in the muggy and amp weather to find the roofers hadn't been working today, but they certainly made use of the dumpster still sitting in "my" parking spot. At this rate I hope they at least try to finish up by the time we leave for England. In the meantime my car is safe in the driveway in a spot where I can see, so I'm trying not to be too concerned about what happens when we're away.

Roofer Madness

Had Robin not encountered our landlord at the mailboxes last week, we would never have known he'd hired contractors to redo the house's roof. Well, they arrived today and summarily asked (very politely) if I could please move my car out onto a main street so they could park their behemoth of a dumpster in my parking spot. The downstairs neighbor had to move his car as well, so I wasn't the only one affected. But I wasn't feeling well, and having to look for a spot then trudge back even that 1-2 blocks did me in. And this all happened in the middle of working. It was impossible to concentrate on any job stuff with all the banging going on; today seemed to be removal of the old shingles and putting down big wooden slabs to protect the area from the coming rains. At the end of the day I was able to move my car back to at least a spot where I can see it from my living room window, but I'm very glad I'll be in the relatively quiet Manhattan office tomorrow. And I believe the worst of my ailment is over, judging by my multiple trips to the "reading room"...

Jonny Come Lately

My darling godson Jonny came to visit us today. He's moving back to New York City from Austin, TX, where he felt like he never quite fit in, and wanted to assure us that we'll be a major part of his NYC experience, at least until we move. Speaking of which, he's vital and strong (he does rock climbing and lifts weights) and was able to help Robin take down our printer and AC boxes almost single-handedly! Not only that, thanks to him all the boxes from the loft that aren't filled with receipts waiting to be shredded are now situated where the old AC/printer boxes used to be, freeing up space for us to steam our kurtas for this coming weekend and retrieve our suitcases for the weekend as well as the UK trip. Plus, he will help us rehome all our tech and appliances in the next few years as we get ready to downsize all the things that run on US outlets. Best of all, we get to cat-sit his lovely orange tabby Mango when he travels, satisfying my urge to have a kitty that won't completely be fulfilled until we've emigrated. We had a lovely visit with my uncle (his grandfather) then a nice lunch locally before he took off for more parts unknown. A bit of a whirlwind, exhausting day, especially being out in non-air conditioned areas for a longer period of time than I'm used to in muggy weather. And I'm still not walking properly despite having changed back to the sneakers I was wearing before my most recent pair, so that was pretty tiring as well. But so, so worth it!