Life Adjustments: First of what may be many installments

I moved here most directly from western New York State, the area around Buffalo. Prior to that, I lived just north of Chicago, and in Milwaukee. Okay, there was a break for a year when I lived in southeastern Kansas; the point is, I'm mostly an urban/suburban girl, both by temperament and long experience.

So, life in rural England is an adjustment, especially as I do not have a car, and don't plan to acquire one. There is a college car that I could use, but I've yet to get up the courage to drive on the opposite side of the road--I'm just past the point where it doesn't terrify me to be a passenger on the left side! There's a bus that runs between Garsington to the south of here, and Wheatley, to the north. They are both slightly bigger places than Cuddesdon, and there are connecting buses from both places to the centre of Oxford. Still, it means that I am in Cuddesdon evenings and Sundays, as the buses don't get you to or from here at those times.

That's fine, though. My biggest quandary was grocery shopping--who really wants to carry bulky packages with bottled water, tinned vegetables or toilet rolls on the bus? Especially when you'd rather be burdened with the more interesting things the shops have to offer. And have you ever stood out for the bus on a hot day with fish in your shopping? It's not so fresh by the time you get it home.

I've solved that difficulty by making a generational retrogression: grocery delivery. If it was good enough for my grandmother, it's good enough for me. Sainsbury's delivers to this postcode; not all the supermarkets do. I've had one delivery, and another on the way tomorrow. I like their service, and their quality. I like that I can just add something to my order as I think about it, up to the day prior to my delivery slot, and it just gets put in my box. It's a £25 minimum order, with a £5 delivery charge. But I don't have to go through the aisles, or 'queue' at the checkout. It's like hiring staff to do that for me. And I don't have to carry it further than my front door.

Apart from that (which was a pretty easy fix), I really like that I live where I work. It's quiet and peaceful here, conducive to thinking and writing. And although the students (mostly) aren't here just now, it seems like there's always someone around to have an interesting conversation with. Although our admin staff don't live in college, most of the teaching staff do--and some of them bring their dogs to the office, or their children and spouses are also in evidence.

Oddly enough, I also like not having a car. It's a constraint on being able to just pick up and go someplace at a moment's notice--but it also means you think about each trip, and what you want to accomplish when you carve out several hours from your day to go into the city to shop or use the library. Having to think about what you mean to do when you leave the premises, rather than the impulsiveness that having a car sometimes allows, has something to recommend it.

There's a certain intentionality about living here, and it sits well with me.