RandyDandy, an American Expat in London

Our view from the living area balcony, looking west onto central Croydon. East Croydon Station is just at the left base of the office highrise on the right side of the frame (excuse the leaning perspective!); an easy five-minute walk. We’ve seen some great sunsets, and the light in here on sunny days is just [...]

Finally. Our ship came in (literally) over the weekend, and our stuff quickly cleared customs. It took us a while to coordinate with the delivery company, mainly because we wanted to make sure we had keys to the new apartment, electricity and heat, “everywhere, like, such as, and.”

The past few days have been a flurry of activity, with apartment and house viewings here and there, weekend jaunts with Jay out to see Redhill and Wimbledon, and all on foot or public transport. On Monday I learned that the flashing green man on the crosswalk sign does NOT mean that the traffic light [...]

So one week out from our planned move to Clapham, Jay and I finally voice our misgivings about throwing so much $ at rent in order to live so far in to the city. And we figured out that with the money we save each month by staying in Croydon, I could go to school [...]

We will not burn to death here at 8 Woodstock Rd.
No, our smoke detectors are freakishly sensitive. A small puff of smoke from the toaster sets off the kitchen alarm, which sets off the rest of the alarms in the building, causing me to prematurely eject the toast from the toaster. You expect a charred [...]

Jay and I spent two long days last week with Laura, our friendly relocation apartment agent. On Thursday we saw around 12 properties in Clapham, in southwest London. Clapham’s train station allows easy access anywhere, specifically a quick trip for Jay down to Gatwick. Plus it’s relatively affordable, although I’m still trying not think about [...]