Popping to Wholefoods

A swing break en route to Wholefoods

If moving back to London has been tough for Louis given that he's lived more of his life in the States than in the UK, then on the same criteria it's been equally tough for me. Think about it: I've been a Mom twice as long as I've been a Mum. 

Which has all sorts of implications when it comes to reassimilation. Like which baby cereal will Louis eat? And which diapers, sorry, nappies should I be buying? How should I buy them even, given the wonderful diapers.com doesn't exist over here? I can't take Louis for a walk in his stroller any more, or put him to sleep in his crib. (Cue wry laughter at that mini lament from those who know where Louis actually spends the night.) And I sure can't spend every day wandering around town on foot seeing friends, shopping at Wholefoods, visiting museums, tailing Barack. 

Or can I? After in fact managing to tick off half that list the previous day, on Thursday Louis and I decided that to feel more at home in London we'd walk to Wholefoods to do a spot of grocery shopping. What could be more normal? Except what was a 40-minute round trip in DC turned into an all day walkathon as "popping" to Wholefoods actually meant getting to High Street Kensington and back - a 14-mile round trip. That's 4-ish hours of walking - well, it is if you forget about the swing/milk/restroom/lunch stops en route that turned it into more of an 8-hour round trip. Meeting my friend Katharine for lunch in High Street Kensington helped to break up what must rank as one of the longer walks to buy a block of cheese. 

As for helping with our resassimilation - it turns out that Wholefoods stocks Louis' preferred diaper brand du jour, Seventh Generation. Naturally they're twice the price of the ones in the Superdrug down the road, but hey, they've still got to be cheaper than getting them airmailed from DC. I just knew that the Independent's move from the Isle of Dogs to High Street Kensington had to be a sign that I should in fact not seek redundancy despite my commute more than quadrupling. I wonder if Louis will thank me as I plonk him in nursery?