Well Sorted

After some initial confusion, everything seems to be sorted – at least for the time being.

As it turned out, the temporary accommodation didn’t accept dogs. The relocation specialist suggested a local London company that places dogs in homes within the city – evidently they’d used them several times before. After a brief moment when we thought we might be able to stay with a friend, we’ve decided to go with this company.

An unlooked-for side benefit is that we’ve also found a woman who breeds pugs that also boards them, so we’ve got a place to put Hamilton and Charlie while we’re in London. She lives in Kent, which is relatively close to London, so a car rental and a quick drive will have us there and on our way out to the airport.

So – that’s settled. We’ve also talked to the relocation specialist (Sarah) about the type of flat we’ll be looking for, and the areas we’d like to live in. Our list of requirements seemed a bit long to us, but I think it’ll make the search go a bit easier – at least we KNOW what we want ahead of time. We told her that we wanted:

- proximity to tube (within 10-15 minute walk)
- safe street
- dog friendly
- in-suite washing machine (dryer optional but preferred)
- dishwasher
- proximity to green space appreciated (for the dogs), but not essential
- amenities within close proximity (ie pubs/restaurants etc)
- Prefer 2 floor or above, although street-level is okay
- If street level, an outdoor space would be preferred
- must be furnished
- American style shower and water pressure

And that we were thinking about the following areas:
- Docklands
- Angel
- Islington
- Fulham
- Putney
- Chelsea
- Clapham (South or the Common, not North)
- Belsize Park
- Notting Hill
- Maida Vale

Apparently Docklands is off the list as no where there will take dogs, and Angel, Chelsea and Notting Hill are going to be way off our budget. I think that leaves a fairly big search area. I’m leaning towards Islington and Belsize Park as they both seem nicest.

We’ve also had our flights booked for us. We’re flying out of Vancouver on Air Canada on July 31^st, landing at Heathrow on August 1^st at 11:30 in the morning. It seems that Air Canada only offers what they call “Latitude Plus” on one-way tickets, which is somewhere between economy class and business class – hell, we even get admitted to the Maple Leaf Lounge at Vancouver International – I think we’ll have to be at the airport a few hours early to take advantage of the free bar service offered.

I think that’s all the planning done for London for the time being – next on the list is selling our house, which I suspect won’t be quite so simple.