So she's kinda of grown up there, she's just gone back to live with her family - it is not the nicest area in London but it's kind of home for her I think. She feels fairly safe walking around at night and stuff I think. The area is a lot better than it was prior to the Olympics from what she tells me though and all in all a reasonable place to live.
London marathon I'm DOWN!
Cool, thanks. Yeah it seems like it's kind of gentrifying at the moment. We can't afford/wouldn't necessarily want to live anyway in the fancy neighborhoods. Leyton is bustling and super diverse feels very livable, at least so far. I really only get creeped out in places that feel empty or hollowed out and Leyton feels lived-in. Lots of families, lots of different languages and cuisines and styles. We put in an offer on a place last night, so now we pray that that owner accepts and that our references all clear. We'll find out about the former today, we hope. If he's cool with the offer -- and he should be, we offered what he was asking and were the first to do so -- then we'll find out about the latter early next week. Deep breaths.
BTW meant to say this before but I'm super down for some northern hikes (or fell running?). I have a buddy from Islamabad who's moving back here soon with his wife and is really into trekking and mountaineering; he attempted Aconcagua last January. He's also talked about putting together some long weekends in the hills. Let's do it.