So, after our three weeks of interviews and travels, on Saturday 10th July we trained up to Cambridge for the move. It was a mission to drag our suitcases and bags from Caroline’s place through 40mins on the tube (with a change in the middle) and up to King’s Cross regional platforms. But there was such a relief once we got there. No more travelling for a while now. Let’s settle into this new place.
Cambridge is approximately an hour long trip from London. ARM had provided a relocation package, so have put us up in 2 apartments for the first 4 weeks I’m at ARM (we’re in week 3 now). Our first apartment was right in town, which was awesome.
That Sunday was the FIFA World Cup final which is watched at a Russian Bar. All the pubs were pretty full! I think FIFA needs sin bins to handle some of the bullshit that went on in that game (karate kick anyone?) but I think for now we have to accept that’s football.
On the Monday I had my first day of work, so Rob saw me off at the bus stop. Cherry Hinton is the suburb where the ARM offices are. It’s only a 15min cycle away, so I’ll have to invest in a bike to save me £11.50 a week.
He had still not confirmed his own job at this point and didn’t realize he had 3 weeks before he would start work himself. Some might say this was a good thing because he could laze around. Others might say he would be bored because Starcraft II hadn’t come out yet and he didn’t like my laptop. And a third more informed group would know Rob was responsible for finding us a rental property, doing all shopping excursions, researching computers as well as trying to confirm himself a position by attending more job interviews. But certainly there was time to laze around and be bored.
Those first couple of weekends, we’ve mostly just wandered the city centre exploring. It takes us 15 to 20mins to walk to town.
We go to the Market and browse through, sometimes buying bread from the baker there.
There’s a few shopping malls around too. But the main form of transport in the city are bicycles. Because the city is so flat, everyone owns a bike. Curretly, Rob does too, but I’m still looking for one. It’s like buying a car – there’s brands, styles and second -hand or new. Brilliant fun. There’s cycling lanes everywhere and drivers are very aware of cyclists.
But so far, we’re loving Cambridge. It’s warm and beautiful. We’ll have more to post soon.
You should get a super cute bike, with a basket! Like http://bit.ly/dj5cmk, or http://bit.ly/aaXa3M 🙂
Eee! So excited for you both & still very jelous!