We settle in at Barking for the week

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I forgot to mention yesterday about our 'interview' with the passport control officer at Stanstead when we arrived into England.She was a pleasant young French woman,very earnest and easy to deal with.Why the UK government employ French people at their border control is beyond us as we would have thought this was a job better suited to an English person with a greater interest about who they would let into the country or not.
She was a bit taken aback when we said we were her for 5 months with trips to Europe and Ireland planned.
She wrote down all of the answers to the questions she asked us and explianed this was an interview that would be recorded.She wanted to make sure we had money to support ourselves while we in England although didnt ask to see any proof.It would have been a bit hard showing what the value of the Travel Money cards were anyway.She wanted to see our return air tickets as well.
She gave us a 6 month holiday visa and we were on our way!!
Today we needed to get ourselves from Chelmsford to Barking and we had planned a train trip that would require a couple of changes and travelling time of about an hour.
We had had a good nights sleep at the Travelodge but were still awake early(can't seem to get out of this routine)so watched a bit of telly and then had breakfast from the goods we purchased at Tesco Express the night before.
One of the little habits we tend to get into when time doesnt mean anything is to watch some trash TV to fill in time before the next activity.
We have discovered the Jeremy Kyle Show,a bit of a British version of Jerry Springer,except the guests don't try and throttle each other and the "plot"seemed to be about trying to resolve differences between couples and the host genuinely tries to do that.We wouldnt have time to watch this sort of trash at home but sometimes its interesting to see how the other half live.So we 'wasted'an hour of our lives getting an introduction to a show we hadnt seen before.
We trollied our suitcases up to the railway station through the Chelmsford High Street mall which was busy with shoppers.On the way we discovered Poundland a bit like the $2 Shop at home but with a much wider range of products including well known brands all for a quid.We think we will become fans.
We were a bit early for the connection we needed to make so we sat on the platform watching people come and go on the 3 or 4 trains that came before ours.
The trip went smoothly and the interchages were so simple compared with our initial time on the subway ioscow for instance.Mind you everything being in English and the absence of thousands of commuters did help a bit!!!
The weather started out fine and sunny this morning but by the time we reached Barking it had clouded over but it was quite humid so making the temperature relatively warm.We were pleased we didnt have to trolly the suitcases too far to the studio we were going to occupy for the next week.
Barking is a busy suburban station with 8 platforms where both over ground trains and subway trains share the station.
The studio was a short walk along a street lined with terrace houses that backed onto on one side to the railway line.
We found number 98 and Catherine,who owns the property containing 4 studios/flats,was there to show us in.
We have our own kitchen so will be able to go upscale on breafasts and also cook our dinners in for a few nights to get some 'normal'food going through the system.
An ASDA supermarket is in the mall between the station and our street and we got insupplies to cook for ourselves.Having veges including greens such as asparagus(yum) will be a change we shall enjoy for a while.The supermarket had a good deal on line with 3 bottles for GBP10 saving nearly GBP7!!
With a need to replace Gretchens camera we sussed out where Tescos had a store closeby and headed for it after a bit of a rest.Unfortunately that store didnt have a big range of cameras and after making an enquiry at the enquiry counter we were given details of how to get to a shopping centre where there was a bigger Tesco store.
So onto the #366 bus(not a doubledecker,bummer!!) and a drive around what had been converted from wasteland to shopping centres or in one part a large cinema complex.
The mall at Galleons Reach is not yet fully developed but the Tesco shop was pretty large but didnt have the camera we wanted.
We finished off the day enjoying a beer and preparing our own dinner(the first for some weeks)of steak with veges including the asparagus we bought earlier at the supermarket.
Tomorrow we will start sightseeing in London in earnest.

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Photos

St Awdrys Road,Barking,London
The road our studio flat is situated in.

#98 St Awdrys Rd,Barking
Our home for the next week is the one on the right with the studio being at the rear of the terrace house

Comments

[Rin]

Jeremy Kyle is on in NZ - at around 11am on Channel 2 I think...and some of the trash they have on there do come to blows at times! :-) The street looks *exactly* like the street I used to live on in Leytonstone (also out in the "East End"). ASDA is an awesome supermarket - the range of fruit and veges you can get at all times of the year from all over Europe and Africa was something I never got used to. And being able to buy bottles of spirits at the supermarket too!