A Member of the Royal Family.doc

I am now living in the Royal Leamington Spa. Not bad digs for a boy originally from Thorold. Whether it's properly Royal Leamington Spa, just Leamington Spa, straight up Leamington, the local favourite "Leam," or my term of affection "The Spa," it's a cool place to be.

After disconnecting from the net on Tuesday - and in the process saying goodbye to the confines of cavernous Heronbank - I've spent the last three days setting up shop in what has to be the nicest apartment I've ever lived in. This is not to say that 8 Vine or 135 Isabella weren't absolute gems, but living at 49 Kenilworth Rd. is like living in a real *gasp* grown up place. I'm still getting use to have loads of room in the refrigerator.

A lot of buildings in England have their own special names (Chesterfield Manor, Earl Grey House, or Scones Residence for example). Our building is no exception. We live at "Nova Lodge" which sounds more like a cabin in Muskoka to me. As we arrived at Nova in the morning on Tuesday we were greeted by our landlord Stefan and his fiance who rent the place - he was quick to tell us that the majority of his family is back home in "a place I'm not sure you'll know" called Mississauga. Oh Stefan, of course we know Mississauga! He gave us a tour of the flat and left us on our own. It's really quite posh. There are beige waffle carpets throughout, a large dining table with six leather chairs, two large black leather couches, a glass coffee table with matching bookshelf, and a faux fireplace. The place also has a renovated bathroom and a washer/dryer. Oddly enough, the washer and dryer unit is the same machine. Did others know this contraption exists?

That day we unpacked some of our belongings and made a trip back to Heronbank to collect the rest. The girls and I also wandered down to the house I bought the EBAY bed from. That's right folks, my ebay searching paid off in the form of a 35 pound ikea bed frame and mattress. How's that for a deal? Google maps indicated the house was closer than it actually turned out to be, so I felt like a bit of a fool telling the guy I was ready to haul the unit (with the aid of Tory and Zoey) back to our place. He kindly offered to deliver it for 10 pounds, and I took him up on it before he could change his mind. This was actually my plan the whole time. We loaded the bed into the van and had it to our place in five minutes. I was able to set it up that afternoon and sleep on the mattress that evening. Admittedly, a double bed was not the wisest choice space wise - if I had wanted more room I should have found a single. But, I've been sleeping on a single all year and I'm not 12 anymore so I decided to sacrifice the space for comfortable nights. It's the right decision. It means I don't have a desk in my room, but we have plenty of space for thesis writing in the dining room, and there is always the library.

On Wednesday we made the obligatory IKEA trip to pick up some essential items. One of the struggles with living such a transitory existence in Europe (and I'm sure I've expressed frustration about it before) is not being able to invest in nice things because they'll just have be donated or thrown away after x number of months in y place. Thankfully, IKEA's cheap prices mean that it's not such a wallet-buster to buy stuff for only a four month usage. Upon arrival we headed for the restaurant - I had forgotten how cheap their meals are! We each had some swedish meatballs, and then hit the ground running. We wandered through the showroom and dreamed about outfitting our future place with all kinds of great designs and then made our way to the product area where we collected a whole bunch of kitchen supplies and bedding for our rooms. I got a really comfy duvet that is sure to keep me warm through those winter nights. After the bus trips back and forth to Coventry (shudder) we arrived back at home pretty wiped. That evening we had a visit from a Mr. John Painter of Virgin who set us up with internet service. Get this Rogers - John set up an appointment with us the very same day we called and we were connected in less than 48 hours. How is that for service?

That evening we shared a little cake in celebration of Zoey's birthday which is this Saturday. Since Tory left for Amsterdam today we wanted to celebrate before she left. Bec whipped up a fantastic little chocolate number. The flat has already been christened with a birthday, with Tory and mine's soon to follow. In addition to all the set up, we took care of the gas and electricity as well as water. It feels good to have this behind us with wireless internet, our own mailbox, and a permanent address. Which, for your records, is my third in a year:

Keith Bennie
2 Nova Lodge
49 Kenilworth Road
Leamington Spa
Warwickshire CV32 6JJ

That's right, we live in the shire. Yesterday and today I did some thesis work in the morning and spent two hours in the gym each day. The subject of my next post happens to be about the latter activity - this gym is unlike any you've ever seen. I hope it proves to be my daily haunt away from words, words, words.

I hope you all are doing well back home. It feels great to be connected after three days of no net access.

Doc's Prescription of the Day: Life's too short; embrace every day. It's a cliche but I was reminded of its importance this week. Sending best wishes across the ocean.