The battle commences

A wet, cool British autumn has been steadily enveloping this soggy island. We had been trying to hold off turning on the heat for a little longer until it was actually cold. It's still bearable, albeit with a sweater and warm socks on. However, we have been noticing a creeping dampness setting in. Our clothing and bedsheets have been ever so slightly moist. It doesn't help that we don't have a tumble dryer or even a condenser dryer, so our clothes have to dry on a clothing rack inside (we are not permitted to dry clothes on our patio because of the eye-sore that is created). So, a couple of weeks ago, we set the thermostat to fire up our radiators for a couple of hours every morning and evening. It has helped a bit. However, it looks like we may have been too late...

Mo(u)ld has been blooming in the window sills and in a couple of dark corners of our bedroom (the wall that gets the brunt of the wind and rain). This morning, I moved my dresser out from its corner to have a look. Huge patch of mold. We spent about an hour searching the flat for more of these breeding grounds, spraying them down with bleach, and scrubbing away the mold.

We thought this flat was going to be free from this scourge because it is much newer than the others we've lived in and it has been newly renovated. Apparently, you can't judge flats by appearances. It's quite frustrating. We started thinking that perhaps it was us. Are we overly moist people? Every flat we've lived in here have had some kind of damp/mold problem, though it seems like we're moving up in the world because each flat has been slightly less moldy, the Norwich one being the worst. Anyway, I don't think we're to blame. Our apartment in Brussels had zero mold and it was just as rainy there as it is here. It must be this soggy island. We've asked a few of our British friends and they have basically just shrugged. Perhaps we're being too sensitive, but this dampness makes us yearn for Arizona! We had a humidifier in our bedroom when we lived there. I suppose we need a dehumidifier for our bedroom here! I wonder if our landlord will agree to buying one. Probably not. She'll just think we're being too nitpicky. What do you mean "mould"? This is how we make our stilton cheese!

Anyway, that battle has commenced. We will be on mold-patrol until summer rolls around again. Our spray-bottle of bleach is locked and loaded.

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Mold isn't the only critter in our lives at the moment. We also have our neighborhood grey squirrels which we've been feeding peanuts on a daily basis. I know they're a non-native species that has driven the native red squirrel nearly to extinction, but they're still cute little buggers! And they're the only pet we can have at the moment since this building has a "no pets" rule. They've gotten quite brave, almost daring to take peanuts directly from our hands. These cute rodents aren't going to go hungry this winter!

I wonder if they would eat mold?

Wordsmiths

One of the things K gave me for my birthday last month was the board game Scrabble. I'd been saying very often how I would like to have this game, though I'd never even played it. As much as I love words, it just seemed like a game for me. And it certainly is! What a fantastic, nerdy endeavor to sit hunched over this square board trying to think of words using sometimes impossible selections of letters! Here are some of our recent "endgames":

Guess who's legal

Right now I'm swillin' down a celebratory glass of beer because as you can see from the dorky photo above, I passed my Practical Driving Test today. Take that Friday the 13th! I had 6 minor errors (maximum you can get without failing is 15). The driving instructor said that was quite impressive for someone who has been driving for so long to be able to iron-out the bad habits enough to pass the test after only 3 lessons. Yes, thank you. I am incredible!

Driving like a muppet

My driving test is two days away now. I've had a couple of driving lessons this week. On Monday evening, I had a "driving assessment" to gauge my skills. It actually made me quite nervous about the test because, though I'm very comfortable handling the car safely, I do have a few habits that aren't up to DSA standards. For instance, crossing my hands when turning the wheel (i.e.- the hand on the right swinging all the way over to the left or vice versa). You're supposed to "feed the wheel" instead, which feels really clunky and ungainly. The other thing I do is often rest my hand on the gear-shift. It's supposed to snap back to the steering wheel immediately after shifting. And you're always supposed to check your mirrors before you signal to turn. None of these things are immediate-fail triggers -- they are only minor errors which equate to a error "tick mark" on the form -- but if you have several of these in one area or you get more than 15 of them, you automatically fail. I'm fairly confident that I can get through it without committing a "Serious" or "Dangerous" error (automatic failure), but it's going to be a hard battle to get through without committing minor errors. So... I'm practicing, practicing, practicing.

I had another driving lesson this afternoon and I do feel a bit better about the whole thing. There were only a couple of times that I crossed my hands while turning, but I think I have the snap-back-to-the-wheel under control. Next thing to polish is frequent mirror checks and that kind of thing. I'll be using the driving instructor's car for the test because it's easier than try to get our car up to spec for the test (L-plates, proper head-rests, and a suction-cup rear-view mirror for the passenger side). Plus, you have to show up with someone who is over 21 and has held a full license for more than 3 years. I tried to find someone at work to do that, but no luck. So, I just have to pay the instructor to do it. He's going to pick me up an hour before the test to give me a quick warm-up lesson, then we head over to the test centre for the 40-minute test. Hopefully, I'll drive away victorious. Otherwise, I'll have to take the test again (another £40).

Doomed

I have booked my driving test with the Driving Standards Agency. It's on Friday afternoon next week, 2:05pm. Now I just need to book a "refresher" session with a driving instructor to make sure I can pass the test. I wasn't too worried about it until I heard that one of the assessors at the Bournemouth DSA branch is unreasonably nit-picky, failing people for very small errors. I was told, "If a lady with short, curly hair comes out, run for your life!" So that's one thing. The other point of concern is something I realized today: next Friday is Friday the 13th! I booked a driving test on Friday the 13th! Shit.

If you fail the driving test, you have to make another appointment to try again, but that also means you have to pay again and at £44.80 per try, that could get expensive! Which makes me wonder (warning, conspiracy theory ahead), do they fail people on purpose to boost their revenue stream? It's certainly possible. I'm just going to have to drive perfectly to make sure they don't get that opportunity!