Bus-Stop Wisdom (18 December)

Before we left Vancouver, our excitement at moving to London was overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of the task. We weren't exactly living the minimalist life of magazine spreads: we had a big apartment with more than enough stuff to fill it! Selling, loaning, packing, and storing our possessions took a lot of time and energy--never mind deciding what to bring to London, all the paperwork and logistics of getting here, and the fact that Vancouver had a freak snowstorm during our last week there that made moving all the more surreal (thanks for your help, Al and Nancy!). And then there was some stress over finding a flat, the £ versus Canadian dollar in general, sorting out work, and arranging for all the rental, bank, and employment references we anticipated needing just to get our lives started here. Our last month in Vancouver is just a blur of browsing gumtree looking at flats, slowly tetris-ing boxes of our possessions into the various crawl-spaces in Bruce and Dianne's house, and bugging people we know who currently live or have lived in London or know anyone who has done so for advice. But so far, everything is working out shockingly well...maybe because we were so well-prepared, but I also suspect because things just tend to work out if you let them! On one of our trips to further equip our flat (we got saucepans, a kettle, and a toaster), I noticed this piece of friendly stenciling at the bus stop:

Sound advice.