Dude, Where's my Car... and my Dishwasher... and my Dryer?

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love living abroad! I am learning a lot, soaking up the culture, and even traveling already! It may just take a little while to get used to the little things, like not having a car… or a dishwasher… or a dryer…

After arriving in the UK, I quickly realized that Americas, especially Texans, are spoiled! It’s true what they say – everything is bigger in Texas. Wide open spaces = big homes, big cars, and even bigger hair! David and I have had to adjust our lifestyle a little to happily settle in Europe.

One of the first things we noticed when we moved into our new flat is the missing dishwasher. We could have sworn we confirmed a dishwasher would be installed in our remodeled kitchen. Unfortunately this confirmation was through the telephone, so we do not have any backup documentation to show the landlord. Every time we enter the kitchen, we think about what we really need to use. Because whatever we use, we have to hand wash. Let me tell you, there is nothing more fun than working a 10-hour day, sitting on a train for an hour and a half, and then walking half a mile home to a pile of dirty dishes! Can you sense my sarcasm? Dishwashers are apparently a luxury in the UK. When we were house-hunting, our relocation agent told us that dishwashers aren’t common and it’s actually the norm for the husbands to wash the dirty dishes. David scoffed, but now look who’s doing the dishes (but I help, of course)!

Another luxury in Europe is a washer and dryer. Most homes have a washer/dryer combo machine. The washing part of these machines works fine. The drying part – not so much. So we bought an indoor rack to dry our clothes. It isn’t really that bad, it just takes time.

Being without a car is probably our biggest issue right now. Or my biggest issue. David has a lovely commute to work. He walks ½ mile to the tube stop, hops on the subway, and gets off 3 stops later. His office building is across the street from the tube station. Must be nice! For me, the Dell office is in Bracknell, about 35 miles west of the city. It should only take about 40 minutes to get to work, but traffic is really terrible here, even going against the traffic flow in the morning. There always seems to be some kind of delay or accident. One day, we left the office at 5:00 to get home somewhat early and I did not walk through my front door until after 7:00 because of an accident on the M4. I usually carpool with my manager, but one evening during my first week my manager needed to stay late so I decided to test out the train system. Total commute time was an hour and a half. This will not do. Also, we would like to have the freedom to run to the store without worrying about how we’re going to lug our goods back home. It would also be nice to have a car for road trips around England, Scotland, and even France and Ireland.

We’ve also realized that things take much longer to get done in England compared to the states. For example, when David first moved in July 3, he immediately called the cable/internet/phone company to get our connections set up. They came out to the house and got the cable for the TV set up about two weeks later, after we got a TV license. Yes, you need a license to watch TV in the UK. It baffles my mind. I understand a license to drive a car or own a gun because only responsible people should drive and carry guns. But watch TV?? Anybody can watch TV… but not in the UK if you don’t have a license!

Anyway, so after the cable got set up, the company texted David an installation date for the internet and phone, which happened to be 2 more weeks later. If you called Time Warner Cable in the US and asked for their business, they would be out to your house later that day setting up your bundle. WHY would it ever take 4 weeks to get the internet?? We’ve also experienced issues trying to get cell phones. Right now we’re both on pay-as-you-go plans because credit is basically impossible to establish over here. And you can’t get a phone (or a car for that matter) without credit. Vodaphone, a cell phone company we visited on Sunday, told us to wait 3 months and then re-apply for a cell phone account. Patience is a virtue we must learn to master!

Good things are coming out of these inconveniences, though. David and I spend more quality time together doing the dishes or hanging laundry. We are more active, too. David walks to and from the station every day, which is at least a mile. The other morning we were out of milk for cereal, so we jogged to the corner store together. We know that when we move back to the states, we will need to re-adjust, but that’s just normal with any major move.