first impressions

i'm finally here, though not completely (baggage still being shipped but more importantly, it's still not completely sunk in that I'm now living in UK) but here's what's been happening
landed here on the 26Th and with all the immigration formalities blah blah, managed to reach the place we're staying for the next month only by evening.

we;ll be based out of Richmond (surrey) for a month.

Richmond's pretty commercial looking... very organised and pretty classy. Very quiet, though I think that applies to most places in the UK and as an Indian, I'm not really used to the "sounds of silence". No honking on the roads, no kids creating a ruckus, no sounds of activity, it's like resident alien after the zombies hit it :). Seriously though, pretty peaceful neighbourhood is probably the better way to describe it !

Day 2 went by exploring the place on foot (how much the British walk!!!). Very pleasant. Would've been wheezing and cribbing back home but there's much less dust here, broad pavements and the traffic stops for you when you cross so no hassle.

Maybe it's because I'm very new here but I didn't even notice how much I'd walked as I just spent all my time ogling at the buildings and the people!

Two quick observations - the British are always very well dressed. Haven't spotted a single slob about (i guess I could probably qualify...no matter how much you dandy up, there's a certain classiness about them you just can't seem to match up to)

The buildings are so beautiful and quaint and so totally out of line with our images of what the financial capital of the world should look like! Very few high rises (at least in the places I've been to so far), lots of brownstones, old fashioned chimneys with spires of smoke... very captivatingly Victorian!

Okay, now the weather report... it's COLD and the second i step out of the centrally heated apartment it's like being instantly teleported from the the Sahara to the Arctic!
From inside it looks bright and sunny on the outside but once you step out... well it's still bright and sunny... but also rainy and windy and freezing... ALL AT THE SAME TIME !!!

Shall take a bit of getting used to :D