finally here.

i would like to go straight to the issues, as is most comfortable for myself:

• poor phone signal inside the flat
• livingroom slow to heat, heating not particularly effective there, not surprising at all
• bathroom has zero hooks to hang anything, and no smooth tiles to attach suction cupped hooks on - thanks interior designer or whoever didnt think this through
• doors are 5cm thick, so no door hanger fits
• despite thick doors, sound insulation is very poor, we can hear neighbors as well as anything happening in the other rooms quite well. well, this is the 2nd least surprising minus out of all.
• kitchen is huge but the actual worktop area small, so i had to buy a separate kitchen island - and im not even an avid cook. still plenty of useless floor space to waste. 
• bathroom fan goes on with the light. i understand its purprose but i hate it. 
• the windows have blinds and nothing to hang real curtains on. i am a curtain person so blinds are very...meh. 

the positives are too obvious no? its a huge flat, i feel almost embarrassed by it. in london specifically, where so many of my friends are forced to live in small rooms. and modern and neat. ok a few positive points that are not self evident but that i can appreciate: it is well insulated from external sound and cold air. the train track is in front (love watchint trains!) but we can barely hear them, it was something we really paid attention to before making an offer. and the bathroom is warm; very important! also we have a security alarm system, a good extra on a ground floor flat even is protected by a gate, too. and something that many would consider a minus; very poor recycling opportunities. there is theoretically recycling, but it's in another building, behind a coded gate, 150m walk from our place. it may be that we will not do that much recycling. and there is no bio waste or anything. ah, back to turkish times.


 moving day, last friday!

loving the dishes! Iittala 24h that my mom got me like 10 yrs ago.

view of kitchen coming from bedroom.

Vax vacuum cleaner. doctor was skeptical if i could pick a nice one, he was voting for a Dyson originally but we agreed that the price category those are in is just ridiculous. esp since we're not such eager cleaners. i did a lot of reading on vacuum cleaners and ended up with this one.

 first things first...shoes. almost all the winter shows seemed to fit on this shelf...now we just need another shelf for summer shoes.

first meal in new home: 

i AM loving my new work/computer station. and the amount of light coming in!!! :D and importantly, its not super cold, im quite comfortable. occasionally people and trains pass by....me happy. 

so i had planned this Aalto vase for tealights but it is perhaps better with one larger candle in the middle. 

wine rack. 

the microwave looks a bit plastic-y, but its good. 

new rugs came today;
a colorful one for doctor. 

...and these colorful ones for kitchen.

ive had really early morning this week due to work. it wasnt so hard to get up actually but ive been really tired by the afternoon and early evening. i think the move and emotional 'work' associated with it is also being relased and it will take a few more days to get back to normal. 

i finally got my iphone battery replaced (at Lovefone). the situation was so painful with the phone i was almost ready to buy a new one...  but instead i got the battery replaced, my employer will cover that, and it seems to have worked aaaand i am very happy!! now its just the normal...old phone weak battery, but thats fine.

reading deportation stories is depressing

Benjamin Clementine: London (<- -="" link="" p="" spotify="">spotify link)
 

british paperwork

brits love their bureucray. living up to the reputation and then some. like, it keeps surprising me, sometimes i just want to laugh listening and going through the procedures with the companies, agents, landlords and whatnot. yet, its not like things work perfectly, people seem to be a bit sluggish. not always, but overall. this is also what doctor has witnessed at work. a simple task like changing an antibiotics prescription can take 2 hours, for said bureucracy and people's slow pace. and these things feed off each other. they talk about NHS crisis...but its certainly not only that they dont have enough staff, its just that staff is 'busy' doing things in very old fashioned and complicated manner AND taking their time doing it. there are effective people too, but sluggishness can be infectious...why hurry when no one else around u does? i am sure there are really busy ER's in London too, but from what i hear so far, the resources are just oddly allocated and so it looks worse than it has to be.

but where was i? bureucracy. ah. "we will mail you a form, please fill it and send it back. we will then mail you a reference number and in 3 weeks time, send you x." lolollol. Royal Mail has a good business going, if this country updated itself a bit, they'd be out of business....  also faxes are much loved here! and, if u dont set up your bills (internet, water etc) on direct debit, the companies get very very upset. when u are making a cotract, the sound is sometmes almost threatening, either u set up DD, or...  getting a broadband was not even possible withour direct debit (BT). which was tought as at the time i didnt even have a bank account...  and most companies give you a discount if u agree to pay by DD.

the other day i got an electricity contract for the new flat. i didnt know much about it so i sort of went along. the flat had Economy7 deal. i then researched whether the heaters in the flat are storage heaters or not (ironically, the landlording company has no idea what the heaters are). they are not. therefor, a cheaper night rate is hardly useful for us. especially as i am home all day and will need heating. so i call the electricity company back and say i would rather get the fixed tarif instead - same price for day and night energy. the lady has me wait for 5 minutes on the line and then comes back and says that their specialists don't recommend it, as it may hike my price up. but they also cannot give me a quote without taking me off the current contract. what?? lol. i repeated that i am pretty sure i dont want Economy7 as we will be using more energy daytime rather than night time, and can they not even give me the kW prices for thr fixed rate? she was a bit stiff but went back to ask someone. then, finally i got someone on the phone who agreed that yes, indeed Economy7 may not be the best deal for us, and gave me prices for "E.ON Saver Fixed 1 Year v7". and in every sentence, she would repeat the full E.ON Saver Fixed 1 Year v7...  and that was a long call. lol again.

our flat check-in inventory was 19 pages... 

2nd floor of Pop Brixton. we went there with doctor's friends the other night. reasonable prices too. 

Brixton streets... the markets remind me of Istanbul, a big reason i like Brixton. 

ive found magic eraser. it actually is like magic..  cleans pretty much anything :o  im shocked i'd never heard of it before.

 our new bedroom is finding its form...

 livingroom is becoming habitable too.

ive always wanted to shop at Muji. finally i gave myself the permission to. some breakfast cereal bowls, a plate and extra spoons... 

a cool white wine from co-op. the taste was average i guess. 

i wish Theresa May wasnt bowing before Trump - not just for the sake of UK's future, but i feel like Merkel is the only one stocking to her guns. it mist be lonely!

i was suprised but delighted to find Vallila items in local Amazon :)

nice article on Agent Provocateur and feminism. ive somehow managed to afford a few of their items, and they are certainly the 'jewels' of my lingerie collection. will be interesting to see how things are gonna change there.

under the warm sun british sun...:D

so on saturday, early morning hours, we moved. i was quite stressed about the airport. after the coup attempt there had been a lot of issues, crazy queues at passport checks that caused especially turks to miss their flight. car queues even getting to the airport. not to mention the possible trouble if you work for the government and so on. we were there super early. online check had been useless as usual - out of the 20 or so times ive done it i think ive benefitted from it maybe twice (benefit= saved time, only baggage drop or so).we had to wait for the check in to open late. ok that went alright. then we luckily had 'fast track' via doctor's mobile contract, and didnt have to queue with passports. most importantly they didnt ask doctor for anything, he had plenty of papers prepared but well, in turkey u never know. so that was that. over here, rainy grey weather greeted us, as well as judgemental border control. people say nothing will change until UK is officially out of the UK but i think the treatment we got at the aiport (vs treatment last May) was proof that in practise, they do find ways to change things a bit.

i had ordered myself a giffgaff SIM to our address, so i got started with that right away. on sunday we walked to Brixton and got doctor a pay-as-you go from Three. once we had mobile internet, life was suddenly much better...  we also started stocking on some food basics while admiring the grocery store selections. and found a chinese take out very close by - which im grateful for.

yesterday i went off to the other nearby center, Camberwell, to try open a bank account, but they live up to the reputation, its very challenging. and not fast, either way. there is a vicious circle, similar to Turkey. here, for a bank account you need proof of address. which means a utility bill of some sort. but you cannot open a lot of services (like internet) without direct debit, which requires a bank account. also they may ask for NI-number, but you cant get one without proof of address. Lloyd's is welcoming EU-customers with passport only, but i had to come back home to do an online application, then go back with my passport, and they told me they would let me know in 7 to 10 days. wow ok. in turkey at least when u get a bank account its quite swift. every country has it problems...  nothing new there. having a safe, nice home, and internet and money, im quite content for now. i was prepared to face some struggles and spend a month or 2 just getting my papers in order. i changed my credit card address earl on at least so i could start online shopping right away! my fist order (sort of a test, i admit), was shower slippers. they should arrive in a day or two.

the furniture and style of the house is not exactly how i would do it, but thats hardly the most important thing. its very clean and well kept.

enjoying the sun...these past days have been super warm, quite 'unnatural'?

the view from our window, a line of identical houses

our first shopping

Camberwell sign.

like:
+nutritional info on food packaging
+availability and price of free range meat
+availability and price of non-animal tested cosmetics
+Amazon and eBay orders are finally within easy reach
+i can test out Vina app
+people are polite and helpful, also those working for gov (in istanbul this varies wildly)
+user friendly mobile operators with their handy apps

don't like:
-the pound sign is placed before the number, eg. £10
-living in a very quiet neighborhood
-the traffic going the wrong direction
-how everything revolves around proof of address - get yourself some ID's or whatever it takes, people

the lists are to be continued

im still on holiday so i can just take it easy and relax in a fairly unergonomic position. i will need to buy a small desk tho for work. i will try go to cafes too, but i know i dont work too well in unfamiliar environments. IKEA has this desk for 30£ (yeah i put the pound sign where i want to)/35 eur and home delivery is not horrible, 7.50. i should prolly get a chair too. after i get my desktop PC i am worried i will be in trouble though. i wont need this travel laptop, but my work laptop and a screen & keyboard... :/ the desk is only 30cm deep.


one last view of our home in Istanbul. 

waiting is excruciating

our home of over 5 yrs was emptied yesterday morning, in a matter of just 2+ hours. everything was gone, even the lamp shades. then doctor took off to run after some papers he needs, regarding his graduation, resignation etc. I took a couple of our bags and headed to the hotel nearby (Khalkedon - has a really nice rooftop with a view!). sitting in the hotel room I've felt oddly empty, nothing to worry about, nothing to do...  blissful. today I'm back to my normal self as I've found things to worry about :D my dear laptops wifi stopped working. I've tried quite a few tricks already so it's getting alarming. also doctor has had bumps in the road today, while on another paper collection tour. 

found behind wardrobe, not just the usual mold but the wall is seriously moving;

 

Khalkedon's rooftop. 

I checked us on the flight and I'm annoyed we couldn't avoid excess weight so I guess we will be paying for that...

tonight I will meet the girls one last time for a quick dinner, and then hopefully sleep a few hours. we have a wake up around 3am I think, the flight is not until 8:35 but there are so many factors that could delay us at this point, we just want to be on the safe side...  

packing, selling, working

i paid our first rent in London (for September). thats a milestone? i feel a bit excited, although it was money lost...  £800 is 935 euros approx. more than we pay for our current flat, which is 120 sqm, in the center of the asian side of the city. oh well. in life you make choices and so forth. we will come back if we feel like thats better...

there are studies or articles now that suggest permanent female contraception should be removing fallopian tubes, not just closing r cutting them. considering ectopic pregnancies still happen after tubal ligation and surgically the risks are similar, maybe it makes sense! i guess later i will be one of the 'old style' ladies, who just got her tubes cut and burned...
link 1: ncbi 
link 2: medscape

this month has been busy work wise, although i didnt even notice, im so focused on the move, work just happens on the side. but when i look at the hours ive logged, im surprised. and now that im "off" taxes in finland (supposed to pay them in the country of residency, turkey), im getting it tax free, too... crazy. im very committed to start paying taxes in the UK though, i just have to be there in order to get the national insurance number and get that stuff going. on the positive side, most of my work is actually exciting and finding and solving some bugs really

i want to see the documentary about Anthony Weiner. imdb says it should be pretty good and i also have that feeling.

yesterday i had afternoon coffee with Ulas & DW, a great couple living not so far from us. they might also leave in a year or 2... i will miss them even if we didnt meet that often. Ulas has become a yoga teacher and i think he could do well in the big cities of the world :) tonight i met with a syrian friend who is weighing her options to go abroad. but also thinking of visiting her parents in Syria, they live in a peaceful city where life is apparently 2normal2 except for electricity cuts.

today i gave my finnish bank my new address and asked them to send me some mail so i would have it on paper. this part is extremely important when trying to acquire a british bank account, i hear - evidence of address. so i have started to gather the evidence - i want a bank account.

goodbye Gunilla

i think its time i start getting more excited about the move. there are still struggles or things that could go wrong ahead, but they never end, do they...  the lesson i need to learn in life is try and f*ckin relax :D doctor sold the car today, so thats one challenge past us, succesfully. but i will miss her, even if i didnt see her a lot. but doctor said the new foster family is very nice and promised to shower her every day(!). thats great cos Gunilla loved getting a good wash. Istanbul is so dusty... 

the car money is a nice addition to our savings towards the next 6 months. in this 6 month time, doctor should be able to get a UK license to practice and a job, and if not, oh well, we have to continue our adventure somewhere else. also, doctor finally got a paper from his hospital that states there are no obstacles for him to go abroad. even if at the time of the move he won't be a government employee anymore, you can never be sure enough, better have all the papers you can get for when the border control at the airport gets difficult...

after this party i feel even more ready to pack everything, get rid of extra cups and pans and whatnot. but we still have a sushi night to do. we have sushi ingredients so they have to be used. right? but other than that, we better empty the kitchen little by little...  im so ready to go!!

Middle East Eye: Ordinary Turks traumatized by post-coup crackdown

the last party in istanbul

the other day i started deleting movie files from my computer. i didnt have that many, a couple dozen movies ive been meaning to watch for months or years. our portable hardrives are kind of full so i figured its not worth it to buy a new one, if i actually want to see these movies some day, i can get a hold of them again...   same applies to some tv episodes and seasons that have been sitting and waiting for their turn. for some of them, it was never gonna be the right time i think... like True Detective for instance.

one of the bazaar shops nearby where i buy mezes and foreign cheese etc.

last sunday we did a wine & cheese evening with a few friends. some good cheese and wines were tasted! mostly french and turkish, both wine and cheese.

tonight is our 'farewell to istanbul party'. around 25-30 people coming. more were invited but a lot of people are on holidays, and several have a wedding to attend to tonight. oh well, a week later wouldve been better attendance wise but i also didnt want to make it too stressful for myself so i wanted to do this well before actually leaving. but overall i want to make it a great party with the people weve shared the past 6 years (or more, in doctors case) with.

party planning!

enough mixers? not quite, but getting there!

building the playlist!

open bar - we need to get rid of all the bottles in our alcohol cabinet. some years old. people are lazy at writing their names on the plastic cups even if you give them the marker (except for swedes) so my solution has been in the past parties to mark them beforehand. this time i wrote down istanbul neighborhoods. it was actually meaningful too, for me, reminiscent of the places ive seen in my time here, they all mean different things; Nisantasi, Kabatas, Feneryolu, Osmanbey, Sirkeci, Pendik, Kartal, Atasehir, Ortaköy, Bahcelievler, Levent, Kozyatagi... 

booked my yearly check up for next monday. its free on my health insurance so why not. also ive been doing research on health insurances in the UK, we will have to get one for when doctor applies for his residence card, since i am 'self sufficient' EU citizen. i got really good service from this insurance broker and they found a cheap one so we will probably go with that. its £84/month.


meze dinner with Carina the other night.

my new favorite lunch take away place, Manca. they are on yemeksepeti but always bring the weekly menu, of course they a lot of if i call and order directly. so i try to do that. they have a lot of veggie options and i usually order 2 small things, which makes for one lunch. importantly, the foods are not drowning in oil, as is often the case with turkish 'home food'.

this 15tl/5eur plate is from the above restaurant. not the most inventive, but if you want healthy vegetarian lunch food (ie. not just cards and fats), your options are very slim. i was happy with this portion.

bought this swedish toothbrush the other way. supposedly ecological and blah blah...  (Humble Brush).

there is this tension in the air though and some people believe something worse than the coup could happen sometime soon. but there are no actual "signs" that you could count on. plus, stuff like coups dont really announce themselves beforehand.