Settling In

Both me and the cat, that is. I still feel like I'm treading water, but at this point it's just a matter of getting used to the new work normal until the next work normal comes around. Nothing I haven't handled before. Mango seems to be calming down just a bit; it's so wonderful to have an actual lap cat, even if it's just temporary! All the laundry that had accumulated since England (and Philly) has now been taken care of and mostly put away, the last week of the regular baseball season is well underway, and there's a definite nip in the air now, which excites me as autumn is my favorite season. Bring it on!

Too Much Movement

So lots of my work colleagues are leaving at the end of this month (fiscal year end), having taken an early retirement package which was tempting to me but, you know, a steady paycheck for the next couple years still beats 8 months' worth of severance. In any case, this has meant trying to get up to speed on my new assignment, staying on top of the folks I'll be passing on to others, and today I just found out our entire floor will be moving to a new floor opening in our office space next Tuesday. The partner I support on that floor should be all set with his designated space, but I can't secure mine until at least Thursday when reservations open (no doubt while I'm still on the bus like today, delayed around the Met for 10-15 minutes due to the UN stuff which you wouldn't think would affect anything on the west side). At this point I'm just kind of waiting for things to slow down before I feel like I have a handle on stuff again.

Shifts and Changes

Lots of stuff going on at work, having to do with a seismic shift in colleagues leaving at the end of this month. I'm losing three partners, one of whom I've supported for almost a decade, and gaining a new one, with whom I met online today to discuss her needs. Amid all this transition I still have to get my usual stuff done for the folks I currently support, and I'm still majorly catching up after being out for a week and waiting on others who are currently out themselves. I do so love the end of the fiscal year. But I'm slightly better able to breathe today than yesterday (even though Rob's cough is worse) so I think I'm finally ready for tomorrow morning's commute. That is, if I can get some sleep without a lovely marmalade kitty settling in atop my legs. 

And Another Thing...

This stupid head cold. I'm sure the travel exacerbated whatever I picked up in Merrie Olde, but now it's been passed on to Robin, and of course it's almost autumn with its attendant allergens, and I hope we're not also allergic to Mango but who knows? So lots of sniffling and exhaustion today, and whenever one of us gets some rest it turns out Mango enjoys plopping himself down on our legs. Not good when, like me, you can't count on your legs not suddenly cramping. Have I mentioned how much I missed having a cat, and how precious and adorable he is? He'd better be considering how we're both feeling. 

I'll Rest Tomorrow

So much Mango, so in our faces. I missed having a kitty, but... so, so much Mango. So much food shopping after having not shopped for two weeks. So much exhaustion from dealing with "Hot Tub Hector" playing his music way too loudly (Mango loves open windows). Just... just too much, I guess. Tomorrow we go nowhere and do nothing. 

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!