Setting up Shop in Colchester

So, for all tesnse and purposes, I have now moved to Colchester, Essex. As of publication, I am waiting for one more piece of paperwork from my end before I move to my new place on Saturday. I saw the property last week with the letting agent. It's small and a little crampt, but it's close to the school and the rent it decent. For this week, I amd temporarily "living" in a hotel near the town centre, which is great because I get to pay with my credit card (it gives me a some breathing room with my on hand cash) and I get a big breakfast every morning.

To get orientated to my new surroundings, I walked to my more perminent residence - which is only 30 minutes on foot from town centre, 12 min from my work, 10 min from a grociery store, 5 minute walk to the football stadium, and a 2 minute walk from a park. There is a bus that goes by the football statdium on a regular basis that I can use to go downtown and back, too.

These past few days I have been able to act more as a tourist and less as a new UK resident frantically trying to get started up in a new country. After a meeting on Friday, I was able to squeeze in 90 minutes of strolling along in the Museum of Natural History Museum of London. Thanks to the advice of my counsin's husband (both are teachers themselves) I headed off to the Mammals and Blue Whale exhibit. You know, I've seen blue whales in pictures and diagrams, but it just doesn't fully prepare you when you see it with your own eyes. It's huge! I bet it's even more spetacular if you can see a live one. There is a lot more to see and do at the Museum than my 90 minutes could allow. It definiately deserves another visit (possibly more than one!) It's free, which is a great price for me, too!

The day after I arrived in Colchester, I strolled along the town and happend across a cricket match between Manchester and Essex. Interesting game, this cricket. I watched for about 90 minutes before moving along. I also went to the Clacton, which is on the coast, yesterday (Bank Holiday Monday). It was a great day for it: about 28 degrees Celsius and as good as no wind. Between the train station and the coast, there are several "Family Fun Zones", which basically consist of games of chance such as VLT's and that coin game that Mr. Bean plays when he went to the fair. Many of the games are adult sized and some are kid sized, so they can play the same games as their parents. I wonder if this at all has any correlation to the millions of adults playing the lottery on a weekly basis?


That aside, the coast was lovely, and floating in salt water requires very little effort, although the waves kept on swamping me. Watching people whipping across the water with their parachute boards (there is a probably a better term for that) was fun too. I even had fish and chips after drying off and finding a more reasonbly priced place away from the beach. I'm not a fish lover, but this was not bad (aside from all the grease).


Well, my time is up here at the internet cafe. I will try to add a bit mor info and pictures and links later! Until then!
Kevin