Coming to America! - my new home

Welcome to my new home. This first photo is of Torry Pine Nature Reserve and Del Mar beach. (Its not Clifton or Camps Bay, I promise)

We live about 4 miles from this and I drive past this on my way to work every day when I am not late. Rather inspirational. I had say that I am very fortunate that I live in a very beautiful part of Southern California becuase not all of it looks this beautiful.

I have now been here for two weeks and it feels like forever as I have done so much. So a short recap first.

26th Sept: We arrived into Denver which was our stop over to get to San Diego. Sadly there are no direct flights between London and SD so you can fly either through Denver, JFK, DC,Chicago San Francisco and the easiest of them all, LA. We spent the night in Denver and then took the morning flight to San Deigo Airport.

27 Sept: First stop was to pick up a rental car and then straight on to Social Security to apply for social security number. Still waiting for it though.. and until then I will be driving a rental car.

The wekeend was spent doing the typical and most popular US hobby : SHOPPING!!! Boy, can American's shop.. mass consumerism is an understatement.. finding things that are truly unique has been somewhat difficult..

The Grocery Store: My first grocery shopping trip out here took me about 2 hours as the variety is so vast.. unbelievable to the point that finding just plain rolled oats is a serious challenge. And you dont pack your own bags.... I would say that food costs the same as the UK, (especially in North County (La Jolla, Del Mar etc).
To my relief, most of our stores have a good selection of french cheeses and there are many labels that you find in the UK/France, that you can find here, including Kettle Fried Chips, Marmite and Twinings Assam Tea, and Green&Blacks organic chocolate.... and even biltong.. well you have to go to the South African shop for that.. There are plenty of folk here with SA flags on their cars and Egoli on their number plates..

The trip to work: Goodbye Tube (Yippeee!!!), hello bumper to bumper traffic.. No one indicates when they switch lanes here!!! Work is about 20km, 12miles from our home so I hit traffic daily.. It takes me about 45 minutes door to door, which is the same as heading into the city from Lancaster Gate. But there are no sweaty armpits to breathe into, no rude guy who has his newspaper stuck in your face or the lack of personal space.. best of all, its all above ground..
I also get to listen a radio station called 93.3 FM with Gina Latina, the girl with a lot of Hollywood but also a lot of "the girl next door". Very entertaining!!!. I hear all about Britney (people are obsessed with her every move on this end) and Brangelina and the odd news about Prince William. Driving has been great for my shoes.. wear and tear is down significantly but my driving skills need serious improvement before I take my practical driving exam..

Work hours: We start earlier here - 8am and I usually leave around 7pm.. but the day goes pretty quickly. The View from our office reminds me of parts of the Sea Point Promenade, the part closer to Mouille Point with palm trees and women power walking..

So in the past two weeks, I have close to settled in, been to a wedding in LA, found the best little french bakery that makes excellent macaroons, croissants and coffee (owned by a real Frenchman called Thierry), stocked up all my asian and indian spices (from the respective Indian, Korean and Ranch 99 stores), learnt how to drive properly and not made any faux pas in the workplace..

More pictures to follow.. and for those who I used to skype.. IM'ing and facebook has been banned in my office hence my silence :) I still miss you all!