arrived!

[artparent]

well - nearly! we have been traveling around europe following my partner's work, and spent some of this week in london finding a flat - successfully! : we'll be living in muswell hill. very exciting! i love the place and cannot wait to move in later this month. meanwhile we're floating around for a bit.

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[flapjack]

:

Don't get too optimistic about the weather- it's not always like this. Normally, it rains

[NW6Londonmum]

LOL at weather comment. VERY true!

I returned your PM. We are neighbours. Maybe a 15 minute walk between our homes. I hope to see you soon in real life.

[orangefoot]

Congrats on finding a nice place to live! What you have just experienced is our 'Indian Summer' It will be a bit grey and chilly from here on in I'm afraid and dark early when the clocks go back.

Anyhoo - spring is not far away!

[artparent]

that is so lovely, nw6!
thanks for the welcome. i fear vancouver weather and london are nearly identical. very used to it, sadly

is there a farmer's market around muswell? or must i go all the way to islington?

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[NW6Londonmum]

The local one is here on Sunday:

http://www.alexandrapalace.com/whats...arket2005.html

Not far from you at all.

Not LOADS of organic produce but still definitely worth a trip.

[artparent]

lovely. thank you! i think we will use abel&cole for most organic anyway, but we love a good market.

i am amazed at what great things are all around us, parks, recreation, library in walking distance..however i haven't yet been able to find soccer (football!) for my girls or a place to do pottery! i'm also not sure about yoga...

the recycling in haringey is exceptional, better than vancouver in some ways! trying to persuade landlord to get rainbarrel and compost

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[NW6Londonmum]

Lots of yoga around. Have you tried just googling yoga and muswell hill. I'm sure a ton of stuff will come up. I'm always seeing flyers around.

Pottery. Do you mean adult classes? Try Floodlight. That would at least give you an idea of where studios/kilns are.
http://www.floodlight.co.uk/pls/courses/fl_home.pg_home

Soccer.
Try ministry of football but 5yrs + only.
http://www.ministry-of-football.com/

[orangefoot]

For composting most councils offer discounted compost bins - Haringey does too http://www.haringey.gov.uk/index/env...composting.htm I'm not sure how many landlords care about it but £17 is not too much to pay yourself compared to shop prices.

[artparent]

thank you! yes, discounted bin looks good. i've signed my tall girl up for ministry of football :
i've googled yoga a lot, and can't seem to figure out what would be good..i guess i will just go and see

my partner has a week of work in london next week, before our place is ready, and we're having a tricky time finding a place to stay! i prefer holiday apartments or b&b's with kitchenettes, so we can cook, but it is getting late to find things. hopefully something will come through..let me know if you just happen to know someone with a suite for a week!

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[minimunklemama]

Not in the UK anymore but I lived in Hampstead for years and I wanted to tell you that Muswell hill is a fantastic place to live.I would go there for the parks and to walk around.Also the Mark and spencers of course.

They have an amazing firework display at Ally pally (Alexandra palace) for bonfire night (NOV 5th) well,they did when I was there.If they still do,be sure to go,you won't be disappointed:0)

Enjoy your stay there

[artparent]

thanks mini! that should take the edge of missing hallowe'en

found a place for the week phew!

i'm really looking forward to living in muswell.

does anyone have suggestions for how to find a violin instructor for my 8 year old?

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[NW6Londonmum]

Sorry I can't help with violins.

The recyling scheme is sadly not what it first appears. The green kerbside boxes don't get properly separated. It is all crushed together - plastic, glass, paper - and then is good for little else than road building 'fill'. There are bottle banks around though (some just near Planet Organic).

[amitymama]

Welcome to London!

[artparent]

oh, that's sad news! time to write some letters!!

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[artparent]

does this sound like the end-result of recycling that you were talking about, or have they changed anything?

and yes i *am* up in the middle of the night stewing about environmental issues :

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[artparent]

aha! yes, you were right about the road building - with glass! probably not a bad idea, glass, sand, earth...it seems much better than i thought so i can go to sleep now. here's the link with an amazing explanation of how it is all separated.

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[artparent]

thanks, amity!! i'm really happy to be here and cannot wait to move in. :

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[artparent]

nw6, thanks for suggesting the ministry of football, my tall girl loves it! we'll move in in a few days now.

any suggestions for knitting groups?

i'm looking for pottery for all of us to do, if possible...in vancouver, community centers will let you pay to drop in. we'd love to get back into clay.

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[Vinigirl]

oh hurrah!

I'm glad to read that you're getting settled in and love it!

We fly out on Nov 1 and are all getting very excited ( and a little nervous!)

We land in London on Nov 8th and go to our temp. accommodations in Westminster. From there we'll have to get busy finding a place to live!

Any helpful househunting tips for a fellow Canadian and West Coaster? I've been doing some online hunting about but nothing too serious until we get there.

I'm with you on the weather...if I can handle Seattle, I can handle anything