Becoming Local

This morning I walked my bike to drop off the kids at school, then hopped on to ride across the river to the mall. (If there is anything deceiving about maps of Cambridge, it is that anything is far away. The whole town is very bikable in decent weather, especially with the free bike map from Tourist Information. It takes a while to realize because of the lack of straight paths.) I found myself among the bike commuters dismounting as a approached the pedestrian bridge, and forming a single file line to get between the posts (and over the cattle guard) as we approached the street.

We also discovered our neighborhood playground. Across the street from a pub Deb and Sarah and I ended up eating at, there is a marked pathway to the Histon Recreation Ground or something (it will show up in the picture here in a minute). Amazingly unnoticeable when walking by. It turned out to be a decent size, and, most importantly, includes two zip lines. Also a miniature soccer field complete with goals, and the typical playground equipment. The kids love it. It's just a few blocks further away than the school, and will make a nice stop next time we're walking from town, as it did this weekend.
Most importantly, though, we have now received our first grocery delivery. Tesco wouldn't take our American credit card on line, but Waitrose did, and with very nice customer service complete with a computer printout of my order. Lovely. Brilliant. Fantastic! I bought a few things I wouldn't have if I had been able to read the list of ingredients (hmm, that set of yogurts includes a rhubarb and plum that the kids aren't very excited about). But I'm happy. We got milk and Coke to last us through xmas and beer that might last us to the end of the week.

And I joined Bruce and Bill and Seppo for lunch Monday (another sandwich at another coffee shop) and a brief tour of the backs and gardens some of which only University folks can walk for free, anyway. I've applied for my resident card so that I can walk through for free as well, but apparently won't be able to take guests as Bruce can (2). Pictures later. Bruce is off to Switzerland tomorrow. We're having our first local American company Sunday, I'm going to contact the City about their mediation program any day now, as well as the newcomers club to meet other university spouses. Right.