[cinci_dads] Re: (No Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 11:20:09 -0000
- From: "kasson4boys" <kasson4boys@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <cinci_dads@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Hello to friends . I apologize for taking so long to say hello from London,
but it has been quite a journey!
We left Cincinnati on October 3rd after finally receiving my missing work
permit. I tracked down the FedEx man in the Kroger parking lot just to be
sure we actually got the document in hand! We arrived in London on the
morning of the 4th and had 4 days before we could get into our house. We
spent those nights in 3 different hotels/bed and breakfasts and literally
lived out of the back of the car. Our number one objective was to get Jake
and Luke's school uniforms. You think, surely it can't take that long. Well,
wait until you hear about their uniform. Their school is now wearing the
winter uniform so we bought pants (with turn-ups or cuffs), shirts, ties,
school sweater, black socks and shoes, gym shirt and shorts, warm up suit
with school logo, gym bag, bathing suit and cap, bathing bag, backpack,
money belt, scarf, hat with school logo, and coat (kinda like a London Fog
trench coat). Now you are wondering how much this cost us - close to a
$1,000 and we aren't done yet. I will have to buy the shorts and blazer for
the summer uniform.
We did take some time out that weekend and took the boys to Legoland. It is
an amusement park specifically for kids. We bought season tickets since it
was only the price of 2 trips and is within 10 minutes of our house. The
boys had a ball.
Monday, 10/8 was a huge day for the Kasson's. Jake and Luke started school
and we got into our house. The school bit actually went better than I had
thought. There were absolutely no tears the first day as all the kids were
anxious to be Jake and Luke's friends. In fact, Luke told Michelle everyone
had picked on him that first day. When I probed it a bit, he said they were
all in his face asking to be his friend. I told him to enjoy it because it
won't last forever :) The school has turned out to be a blessing. The staff
there is incredible and have gone out of their way to get the boys settled
in. Jake and Luke were pretty far behind by British school standards, but
the teachers are working with them individually to catch them up. I'm not
exaggerating when I say that they are both reading books after just 2 weeks.
Granted they are pretty simple, but it is amazing. Jake is also learning to
count money. I'm not quite sure how to tell him that the US money doesn't
have a 20 cent or 50 cent piece. Jake had a few tears over the 2 weeks, but
we have had 2 full days without any. He still says he doesn't want to go,
but once he's there, he jumps right in. Dismissal is my favorite - all the
kids march outside in a line. They say "good afternoon everybody" as a group
and then one by one shake the teacher's hand to be dismissed.
Our house is fantastic. It is 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, a dining room, 2 living
rooms and kitchen. By London standards, it is quite large. It was just built
2 years ago and is very nicely decorated. We have a view of Windsor castle
from the windows on the back side and there is a play ground across the dead
end street. All of our belongings made the trip without incident and we feel
right at home now.
We are responsible for the utilities this time around and discovered a few
interesting things about the UK. First of all there is so much competition
for everything that it makes it hard to get anything set up. For instance,
we went to get a mobile phone. There are 6 major carriers all with different
program, prices and phones. We settled on one only to be told that they
wouldn't give it to us. We don't have a credit rating in the UK, so they
will only sell us a pay as you go program. The relocation company actually
had to set up our phone with British Telephone again because we don't have
credit. I called the cable TV company and they wanted to sell us phone
service to go with the cable. It was incredible. We then turned to looking
for internet services. High speed cable is not available in our area and
high speed over the phone line was > $60/month. So I've decided we would
learn to live with regular dial-in (thank goodness Nester is dead!). The
question became which one. Every call you make out of your home costs money,
so it is important to find a service using an 800 number so that it won't
cost you the phone call on top of the internet service. We finally settled
on British telephone and here we are.
My dad has already come for a visit. He's been here for just about a week
helping us get settled in and set up the internet. He really enjoyed going
to school with the boys and seeing the uniforms. We've done some sight
seeing with Don - went to Lead's Castle and Bodied Castle on Saturday.
.
The boys are off school this week for half term break, so we are trying to
arrange a few days to head to Scotland. It was one of the key places we
didn't get to last time and I want to go before the weather gets too bad up
there. We will probably go Wednesday through Sunday.
Here is all our relevant contact information:
The Kasson's
13 Chaucer Close
Windsor, Berkshire
SL4 3ER
United Kingdom
--- Original Message -----
From: "Scott Kole" <scandal122317@xxxxxxx>
To: <cinci_dads@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2001 4:06 PM
Subject: [cinci_dads] paintball
> Hello all,
> Larry and I have set up our next outing, we have set up a paintball game
on
> sat november 10. We will start playing at 10:00 but you should get to
> Larry's house around 9:00 so we can be ready to play by 10. The cost is
> $35.00 and that includes gun, co2, facemask, and paint. Those of us that
> played last time had a great time. If you know of anyone else that would
> like to play bring them along. The more the merrier.
> We will need the money by fri. nov 2, so we can make arrangements to rent
> the equipment. You can give the money to Larry or I at the playgroups or
you
> can mail it to Larry (call him for his address). We will again be playing
at
> Larry's house. If you have any questions just E-mail me.
> See you soon,
> Scott K.
>
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- » [cinci_dads] Re: (No Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 11:20:09 -0000
