Last night we headed back to Sweetwater around 11pm with a couple more car loads of boxes, and were ready to leave again when I discovered that Beth's car had a flat tire. Rats. The good news is it was parked on our own driveway, so at least we weren't stranded on the highway, but it put a slight kink in our move plans. So be it, for now we headed home in my car, and so to bed.
In the morning we drove back again, to pick up the van and do a couple of collections together. First the four padded kitchen chairs from Paradise Oaks, then seven folding tables for my den from Office Depot. Onwards to the apartment to fill the rest of the van with recliners, bedframes and mattresses, Beth's bicycle, a cat tree, and various odds and ends. By now Elbie and Ghost were certain something was up, and Ghost took the opportunity to slip out for the day. Elbie stayed in, but with nothing left to sit in or on, lay on the carpet.
Back to Sweetwater in the loaded van. Beth had the duty of waiting in for a variety of deliveries, while I had to nip back to the apartment to collect our TV so the Direct TV installer could set us up. I left the full van in the driveway while I drove my car back to collect the TV and a few extra boxes. Back to Sweetwater within the hour, where Beth and I unloaded the van together.
I took the now empty van back to the rental agency, via Fred Meyer's gas station, then walked from the rental agency to the apartment via Little Caesar's Pizza for some nourishment. Elbie was waiting patiently, clearly aware that all was not normal, but as I had nowhere to sit except the floor I quickly scoffed a couple of pizza slices and downed a soda, then got out my bike to cycle back to Sweetwater. As Beth had to wait in on the deliveries we hatched the plan that I would cycle back to Sweetwater after dumping the van, to collect my car and continue collecting boxes from the apartment.
Six and a half miles later I arrive back at Sweetwater, and deliveries are in full swing. The TV guy is installing, and Sleep Country have brought our Tempur-Pedic bed. Unfortunately one half of the split king bed is the wrong size mattress (in the right size box), but the installers realize this immediately, and they are coming back on Sunday to change that. While the TV guy is explaining the recording and programming system, two guys from Riley's Real Wood Furniture arrive with our biggest load of furniture. Beth explains where everything goes and they get to work unloading. Unfortunately the extending dining table does not join properly in the middle, either when open or closed, and so we record our dissatisfaction, and will be doing an exchange. For now they leave the table, as the only other one in the city is their shop display model. The bedroom set is fully satisfactory, side tables, coffee tables, and dining chairs are all fine.
At last all the deliveries are done, and we can see to getting the loveseats and sofas in place, with Chris and Jane's help. By now Beth and I are running on fumes, but we struggle manfully and womanfully, and after removing some doors, moving a fridge, and quite a bit of shoving and squeezing, Chris and I are able to get everything in the right place. Phew.
Chris & Jane head home (four doors down) while Beth takes my car to the apartment to fetch Ghost. I start to unwrap the sofas, and reattach the feet which we removed to get them in. Two sofas and one loveseat later Beth returns with Ghost, who as expected had returned at dusk for his evening scoff, and was promptly fed and boxed. Previous car trips with Ghost in his travel box have been noisy, but this time he settled down and watched the lights rushing past.
At the end of a whirlwind day, two humans and two cats are left to take stock of their new surroundings.
Visitor Count
Saturday, 17 April 2010
Thursday, 15 April 2010
Move Day - 8pm
I collected the hire van at 3pm and Beth and I loaded it up with most of the unopened boxes shipped from London, our (cheap) plastic garden chairs, kitchen table and two chairs, and as much else as we could squeeze in of our bags and boxes. By 4:30pm we had filled it as much as we could, so we drove over to Sweetwater again to see the state of play. Terry Harrison was there with his two daughters, just finishing off their last load of packing with a couple of friends. They also had a friend Debbie cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms.
We had a chat with Terry and the girls, who naturally are a little sad at leaving the home they grew up in, but were more reconciled and chatty than the last time we saw them. Terry left with the girls, and we unloaded the van into the two garages - Beth's craft boxes and our general household stuff into the main garage, and my Playmobil and other hobbies into the detached garage. When the van was empty we drove to Big Lots and collected our sofas and loveseats, and took them straight back. Our friends Jane and Chris came over (they live a few houses down) and helped get the furniture into the garage, but we'll leave it another day before we put them onto the carpets.
During the last couple of days Beth has been fielding calls regarding our deliveries for tomorrow, and nothing is happening until noon, so we decided to sleep in the apartment tonight and move the beds, TV and recliners over tomorrow. We left the van at Sweetwater as there's no place to park it near the apartment overnight.
Before we left Sweetwater we set the heating at 73f, warmer than we usually have it, to help dry the carpets, and checked all the windows were shut. Debbie was still there cleaning and we thanked her for the great job she was doing. The sun was setting as we drove back west along Beltline getting home just before 8pm. This allowed us to watch Bones and The Mentalist, two shows we both like, and also reload Beth's car with another load of boxes. When Mentalist finishes at 11pm we'll take our two cars back and unload the stuff that's been in my car all day, and Beth's second load.
We had a chat with Terry and the girls, who naturally are a little sad at leaving the home they grew up in, but were more reconciled and chatty than the last time we saw them. Terry left with the girls, and we unloaded the van into the two garages - Beth's craft boxes and our general household stuff into the main garage, and my Playmobil and other hobbies into the detached garage. When the van was empty we drove to Big Lots and collected our sofas and loveseats, and took them straight back. Our friends Jane and Chris came over (they live a few houses down) and helped get the furniture into the garage, but we'll leave it another day before we put them onto the carpets.
During the last couple of days Beth has been fielding calls regarding our deliveries for tomorrow, and nothing is happening until noon, so we decided to sleep in the apartment tonight and move the beds, TV and recliners over tomorrow. We left the van at Sweetwater as there's no place to park it near the apartment overnight.
Before we left Sweetwater we set the heating at 73f, warmer than we usually have it, to help dry the carpets, and checked all the windows were shut. Debbie was still there cleaning and we thanked her for the great job she was doing. The sun was setting as we drove back west along Beltline getting home just before 8pm. This allowed us to watch Bones and The Mentalist, two shows we both like, and also reload Beth's car with another load of boxes. When Mentalist finishes at 11pm we'll take our two cars back and unload the stuff that's been in my car all day, and Beth's second load.
Move Day - 1:30pm
Eager to see our new house, we drove round in two loaded cars at noon, hopeful that we might be able to unload and head home for a second go. As we drove up we spotted some of the Harrison's helpers leaving in a pickup and trailer, but there was nobody at the house. The main house was 99% empty with just a bit of cleaning left to do in the tiled areas, and some tools and sweepings still in the main garage. The carpets had been cleaned but were still quite damp, so we opened some of the windows for better ventilation, as the day has remained warm, dry and breezy.
The shop garage was also still occupied with tools, but it looked like one more trailer load would clean that out. My den is empty, just needing a vacuum over the carpet before I start filling it with my junk.
We drove back to the apartment with two cars still loaded, but in another hour and a half we can pick up the rental van and start loading that. Fortunately we were able to nab the two spaces in front of the apartment again, so we will be able to get the van as close as possible. I'm confident that we can return by five or six with a loaded van and car and disgorge the contents into the two garages.
The shop garage was also still occupied with tools, but it looked like one more trailer load would clean that out. My den is empty, just needing a vacuum over the carpet before I start filling it with my junk.
We drove back to the apartment with two cars still loaded, but in another hour and a half we can pick up the rental van and start loading that. Fortunately we were able to nab the two spaces in front of the apartment again, so we will be able to get the van as close as possible. I'm confident that we can return by five or six with a loaded van and car and disgorge the contents into the two garages.
Move Day - 9:45am
Beth has been up since about 6am, thanks to feline ministrations. I woke around 6:30am to what sounded like someone erecting scaffolding, but we never figured out what the noise was. Since then we've showered, breakfasted and filled our cars with the first load of random gubbins, and nabbed the two parking spots nearest the apartment for convenience. We won't be driving over to the new house until noon, but we've freed up a bit of breathing space here.
It's a treat to be able to pack knowing that nobody's going to weigh, customs check, fumigate, repack or otherwise mess with our stuff before we unpack again. Actually packing is really an exaggeration, it's more stuffing things into convenient carrying vessels and putting them into the cars - or just hoicking things straight into the cars.
About 90% of the boxes and bags in the apartment haven't been unpacked since London, so that makes the task a lot easier. We do have two curious cats inspecting our handiwork, and they clearly know something is up because they've both awake.
In a short while we'll pop along to the clubhouse to use their printer, and then go for a stroll for some fresh air. It's dry and sunny now after overnight rain, but with unpromising grey skies.
It's a treat to be able to pack knowing that nobody's going to weigh, customs check, fumigate, repack or otherwise mess with our stuff before we unpack again. Actually packing is really an exaggeration, it's more stuffing things into convenient carrying vessels and putting them into the cars - or just hoicking things straight into the cars.
About 90% of the boxes and bags in the apartment haven't been unpacked since London, so that makes the task a lot easier. We do have two curious cats inspecting our handiwork, and they clearly know something is up because they've both awake.
In a short while we'll pop along to the clubhouse to use their printer, and then go for a stroll for some fresh air. It's dry and sunny now after overnight rain, but with unpromising grey skies.
Wednesday, 14 April 2010
New Lamps for Old
Last day before the big move and we finally found some table lamps we like for the living room.
We've been looking in several department stores for a while and nothing had grabbed us. Today we visited two specialist lamp and shade shops, but still saw nothing we liked. On the way home we stopped in Target to recheck their selection, and found a couple of lamps which suited both our tastes and our pockets. Heavy enough to discourage cat-tipping with walnut wooden bodies with metal base for heft, 3-way bulb settings for mood lighting, and separate shades so we could mix and match. We've gone for tan shades, and if they're too shady we can easily return them for some cream ones.
We still have to fix on lamps for our night stands, but until the bedroom is all set up we're holding off. We will also need a new shower curtain set and possibly rail for one of the three bathrooms, and I want to get more towels so I can use any of them at will for a shower, but I'm holding off until I can get these using my employee discount at WalMart. Our first set of US towels came from Fred Meyer, and they don't strike me as anything special in the towel line that we can't get cheaper at WalMart.
It's a bright sunny day today, so hopefully we should be rain free tomorrow for the move.
We've been looking in several department stores for a while and nothing had grabbed us. Today we visited two specialist lamp and shade shops, but still saw nothing we liked. On the way home we stopped in Target to recheck their selection, and found a couple of lamps which suited both our tastes and our pockets. Heavy enough to discourage cat-tipping with walnut wooden bodies with metal base for heft, 3-way bulb settings for mood lighting, and separate shades so we could mix and match. We've gone for tan shades, and if they're too shady we can easily return them for some cream ones.
We still have to fix on lamps for our night stands, but until the bedroom is all set up we're holding off. We will also need a new shower curtain set and possibly rail for one of the three bathrooms, and I want to get more towels so I can use any of them at will for a shower, but I'm holding off until I can get these using my employee discount at WalMart. Our first set of US towels came from Fred Meyer, and they don't strike me as anything special in the towel line that we can't get cheaper at WalMart.
It's a bright sunny day today, so hopefully we should be rain free tomorrow for the move.
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Raccoon
One of my pleasures at Wal*Mart is to take my lunchbreak sitting in my office (i.e. front passenger seat of my car), and listening to stories or podcasts on my iPod. If it's still daylight I can either watch people wandering about the parking lot, or more usually I park facing the "wilderness" that abuts the employees' parking area and watch any wildlife that happens past.
Yesterday I was sitting there quietly when a raccoon stepped out of the bushes right in front of my car.
Yesterday I was sitting there quietly when a raccoon stepped out of the bushes right in front of my car.
This isn't the actual raccoon, but one like it. I sat entranced for several minutes as it wandered back and forth before disappearing from my field of view. As this picture shows, a raccoon's front legs are more arm-like than in other fauna I am familiar with, and this one's gait seemed more like a monkey scampering along than a fox or cat.
This sighting was a double pleasure for me. Beth and I always enjoy encounters with wildlife, and often spotted urban foxes in Ealing (though not everyone enjoys the foxes), but this was my first good sighting of a creature we don't have in England, and a reminder that I'm on a different continent. I could not have been more enchanted and delighted (though maybe more suprised) if it had been a koala bear.
Hiccup resolved - 2 days to go till the move starts!
We popped round to the new house (with our wonderful buyer's agent Lori) to see the Harrisons and go over the workings of the heating & sprinkler systems yesterday evening. They are very nearly packed, at least in the rooms we saw, and clearly well on the way to finishing. This wasn't our main purpose in visiting, but we also took the opportunity to discuss the handover time Thursday.
In our original contract (in which we bought the house), the house was legally ours at 6pm 15th March. We then rented the house back to the Harrisons until 15th April. Unfortunately the rental contract (a standard form) didn't specify a time, but we assumed it would carry over as 6pm, so we planned to start our moving in at that time. The Harrisons took it to mean midnight on the 15th. The rental form states that we take possession on the 15th, so we couldn't concur with the midnight deadline, and we really wanted to complete at least four tasks on the Thursday evening.
1) Take some pictures of the totally empty house for our move diary, in daylight.
2) Dump one load of general stuff out of the rental van, including recliner chairs, kitchen table & chairs and our beds, so we could
3) pick up our new sofas and loveseats from Big Lots and get them to the house and
4) have two local friends Jane (a fellow Brit) and her husband Chris help us get them out of the van and into place.
The Harrisons are using the last couple of days of their tenureship to have all the small nailholes etc. made good, and do some necessary and agreed painting, and finally have the whole house cleaned, the carpets steam cleaned and the driveway pressure washed. Their carpet man is starting around 9am on Thursday, and as the carpets are quite thick and luxurious they will take some hours to totally dry.
Of our four tasks we'll be able to get most of it done, but probably won't get soft furniture into place that evening, as we will need to let the drying process continue as long as we can bear. We can access the tiled areas of the house and the garages, so we'll be piling all our boxes in the garages to start with, and putting the sofas and loveseats there, while we wait anxiously for the drying to finish.
The Harrisons said we could start moving stuff into the tiled area and garages from noon, so we will probably use our two cars to dump one load each at the house before picking up the rental van at 3pm. Big Lots are open until 9pm, so we have plenty of time to do one big van load before picking up the furniture from them. Jane and Chris will be popping round around 6pm (they live in the same raod as the new house) so we plan to have the sofas and loveseats in the van and on the driveway by then, and we'll initially just get them into the garage, and move them into their places on the Friday evening, again with Jane and Chris' help. Another local friend Tim has offered to help with the move, but he lives in Springfield so it's further for him to get over to the house, and there isn't really that much we need help with apart from the big sofas. Everything else we have we have moved several times by ourselves already.
Beth took a couple of pictures of the nearly empty house with her new fisheye lens:
In our original contract (in which we bought the house), the house was legally ours at 6pm 15th March. We then rented the house back to the Harrisons until 15th April. Unfortunately the rental contract (a standard form) didn't specify a time, but we assumed it would carry over as 6pm, so we planned to start our moving in at that time. The Harrisons took it to mean midnight on the 15th. The rental form states that we take possession on the 15th, so we couldn't concur with the midnight deadline, and we really wanted to complete at least four tasks on the Thursday evening.
1) Take some pictures of the totally empty house for our move diary, in daylight.
2) Dump one load of general stuff out of the rental van, including recliner chairs, kitchen table & chairs and our beds, so we could
3) pick up our new sofas and loveseats from Big Lots and get them to the house and
4) have two local friends Jane (a fellow Brit) and her husband Chris help us get them out of the van and into place.
The Harrisons are using the last couple of days of their tenureship to have all the small nailholes etc. made good, and do some necessary and agreed painting, and finally have the whole house cleaned, the carpets steam cleaned and the driveway pressure washed. Their carpet man is starting around 9am on Thursday, and as the carpets are quite thick and luxurious they will take some hours to totally dry.
Of our four tasks we'll be able to get most of it done, but probably won't get soft furniture into place that evening, as we will need to let the drying process continue as long as we can bear. We can access the tiled areas of the house and the garages, so we'll be piling all our boxes in the garages to start with, and putting the sofas and loveseats there, while we wait anxiously for the drying to finish.
The Harrisons said we could start moving stuff into the tiled area and garages from noon, so we will probably use our two cars to dump one load each at the house before picking up the rental van at 3pm. Big Lots are open until 9pm, so we have plenty of time to do one big van load before picking up the furniture from them. Jane and Chris will be popping round around 6pm (they live in the same raod as the new house) so we plan to have the sofas and loveseats in the van and on the driveway by then, and we'll initially just get them into the garage, and move them into their places on the Friday evening, again with Jane and Chris' help. Another local friend Tim has offered to help with the move, but he lives in Springfield so it's further for him to get over to the house, and there isn't really that much we need help with apart from the big sofas. Everything else we have we have moved several times by ourselves already.
Beth took a couple of pictures of the nearly empty house with her new fisheye lens:
Sunday, 11 April 2010
Minifridge
One of the items we ordered from Sears about a month ago was a black minifridge for my den, so I can have ice, cold sodas and milk for making tea on hand.
On Friday Beth got a call from Sears to say that the minifridge we had booked paid for was not available, and to call round to the store to arrange a credit. Hmmph. Beth immediately got online, and checked Sears.com, found an identical fridge (same model number) was in stock at our local branch at Gateway Mall, where we had placed the initial order. Moreover it was $25 cheaper. Beth immediately ordered and paid for this one online.
So in Saturday after my 4 hour shift at Wal*Mart we drove over to Sears in Beth's wagon and spoke to them, confirming the credit, and then telling them about the one in stock. At first the assistant seemed doubtful that there was one in stock, but after checking they confirmed it was, and sitting in the storeroom awaiting for our collection. We drove round to the back of the store and picked it up, and now it's sitting at the end of my bed, still in all its packing, ready for the move.
yay, $25 saved.
On Friday Beth got a call from Sears to say that the minifridge we had booked paid for was not available, and to call round to the store to arrange a credit. Hmmph. Beth immediately got online, and checked Sears.com, found an identical fridge (same model number) was in stock at our local branch at Gateway Mall, where we had placed the initial order. Moreover it was $25 cheaper. Beth immediately ordered and paid for this one online.
So in Saturday after my 4 hour shift at Wal*Mart we drove over to Sears in Beth's wagon and spoke to them, confirming the credit, and then telling them about the one in stock. At first the assistant seemed doubtful that there was one in stock, but after checking they confirmed it was, and sitting in the storeroom awaiting for our collection. We drove round to the back of the store and picked it up, and now it's sitting at the end of my bed, still in all its packing, ready for the move.
yay, $25 saved.
Move hiccup?
Yesterday we got in touch with the sellers who are due to be out of the house this Thursday, to try to arrange a time when we could pop round for 1/2 an hour to go over operation of the heating and sprinkler systems. They seem in a bit of a tizzy trying to move out, and even 1/2 an hour would apparently bite into their move time, so at present we have a "we'll call and see if you're free" arrangement for Monday evening. Not quite what we hoped for.
The seller also asked if he could rent the second garage back from us for a few more days so he could leave it uncleared for move day and continue to work on it over the weekend. Again not quite what we wanted to hear, as I need that space to put all my boxes and other possessions quickly, before moving them up into my den. I've booked four days off work so I can complete the move, and I can't complete the move if the property still has someone else's stuff in it. A few days are also likely to turn into a week and then a couple of weeks, so we put our foot down and had to say no, the garage must be empty for us.
Finally, the original change of ownership occurred on 15th March at 6pm, but we rented the house back to the sellers so they could complete a holiday they had booked, and still have time to move out. Beth and I took this to mean that we could take full possession at 6pm 15th April, but the seller though it meant midnight. He's also planning to have all the carpets steamcleaned at noon on the 15th, but leaving them to dry until noon on the 16th. This bites up to 18 hours out of our move process, and leaves us just useable 3 hours of our 24 hour van rental period (van to be returned at 3pm 16th), and we have deliveries booked for the 16th that may all occur before midday. In other words, the latest we want to take possession of an empty house with walkable dry carpets is midnight on the 15th.
We'd like the carpets to be steam cleaned as the sellers have two dogs and two cats, and we'd like our two cats to have a relatively smell-free environment to settle into. Even more, we'd like to be able to move in at 6pm as we've been envisioning for a month, into an clean empty house.
So at present we're waiting for more news on the steam cleaning process. The sellers seem to have left everything to the last possible minute, and then as soon as something slips (as it inevitably does) the deadline is not met. We had expected at least a couple of hours of daylight to move stuff on the 15th, had arranged for friends to come over and help with the bigger sofas and loveseats, and know that we'll be working into the small hours because we'll be too excited not to.
The seller also asked if he could rent the second garage back from us for a few more days so he could leave it uncleared for move day and continue to work on it over the weekend. Again not quite what we wanted to hear, as I need that space to put all my boxes and other possessions quickly, before moving them up into my den. I've booked four days off work so I can complete the move, and I can't complete the move if the property still has someone else's stuff in it. A few days are also likely to turn into a week and then a couple of weeks, so we put our foot down and had to say no, the garage must be empty for us.
Finally, the original change of ownership occurred on 15th March at 6pm, but we rented the house back to the sellers so they could complete a holiday they had booked, and still have time to move out. Beth and I took this to mean that we could take full possession at 6pm 15th April, but the seller though it meant midnight. He's also planning to have all the carpets steamcleaned at noon on the 15th, but leaving them to dry until noon on the 16th. This bites up to 18 hours out of our move process, and leaves us just useable 3 hours of our 24 hour van rental period (van to be returned at 3pm 16th), and we have deliveries booked for the 16th that may all occur before midday. In other words, the latest we want to take possession of an empty house with walkable dry carpets is midnight on the 15th.
We'd like the carpets to be steam cleaned as the sellers have two dogs and two cats, and we'd like our two cats to have a relatively smell-free environment to settle into. Even more, we'd like to be able to move in at 6pm as we've been envisioning for a month, into an clean empty house.
So at present we're waiting for more news on the steam cleaning process. The sellers seem to have left everything to the last possible minute, and then as soon as something slips (as it inevitably does) the deadline is not met. We had expected at least a couple of hours of daylight to move stuff on the 15th, had arranged for friends to come over and help with the bigger sofas and loveseats, and know that we'll be working into the small hours because we'll be too excited not to.
Saturday, 10 April 2010
Last week before move
It's less than a week before our move into the new house. I have 4 to 8 hours shifts at Wal*Mart through Wednesday, which is just as well to my mind and body occupied.
We have a couple of appointments booked, one to see State Farm again to finalise our house insurance policy, and one to visit the house itself and go over operation of the heating and garden sprinkler systems. Beth emailed the owners to arrange an evening appointment Monday, and the terse response suggests they're very busy with getting the house emptied and prepared for us.
The move will start on Thursday when I collect a Budget rental van. Beth compared U-Haul and Budget and for our purposes Budget works out cheaper as we have a promotional code, and there's a pickup location within walking distance of the apartment. We'll fill the van with our bedframes and mattresses, recliner chairs, kitchen table and chairs, cat trees and as much else as we can fit, and take it over no later than 6pm, which is the official handover time. We're hoping the family will vacate earlier as every hour of daylight will help us.
After emptying the van once I have several different places to visit, though not all on Thursday evening - Big Lots for our sofas and loveseats, Paradise Oak Furniture for the new set of kitchen chairs, Office Depot for folding tables for my den, Fred Meyer for our garden patio set (if they have it in), and of course our apartment to continue moving all our unopened boxes and bags from London.
Beth's station wagon will be used for carrying smaller loose items like clothing, TV, crockery cutlery and cookware, anxious cats (in travel boxes), bed linen and pillows, contents of fridge and freezer, and all the loose bits and pieces we have been using in the last four months.
While I'm out and about Friday with the van loading, Beth has the task of remaining at Sweetwater receiving several deliveries and installations: king size bed from Sleep Country, bedroom and dining room furniture from Riley's Real Wood Furniture, washer, dryer and chest freezer from Sears, Qwest Direct TV, another guy from Qwest for the landline telephone and Internet connections, and Northwest Gas man (to read the meter we think).
Once the flat is emptied and rental van returned, by 3pm Friday, we have the task of a thorough cleaning of the apartment over the next couple of days before we hand over the keys, and hopefully receive back a full deposit on Sunday.
If all that sounds like Operation Overlord it certainly feels like it to us, but Beth is a mastermind at planning and logistics and I can drive a van and lug boxes, so we make a good team. This is after all only the final (?) stage of a plan that has been over 14 months in the preparation.
We have a couple of appointments booked, one to see State Farm again to finalise our house insurance policy, and one to visit the house itself and go over operation of the heating and garden sprinkler systems. Beth emailed the owners to arrange an evening appointment Monday, and the terse response suggests they're very busy with getting the house emptied and prepared for us.
The move will start on Thursday when I collect a Budget rental van. Beth compared U-Haul and Budget and for our purposes Budget works out cheaper as we have a promotional code, and there's a pickup location within walking distance of the apartment. We'll fill the van with our bedframes and mattresses, recliner chairs, kitchen table and chairs, cat trees and as much else as we can fit, and take it over no later than 6pm, which is the official handover time. We're hoping the family will vacate earlier as every hour of daylight will help us.
After emptying the van once I have several different places to visit, though not all on Thursday evening - Big Lots for our sofas and loveseats, Paradise Oak Furniture for the new set of kitchen chairs, Office Depot for folding tables for my den, Fred Meyer for our garden patio set (if they have it in), and of course our apartment to continue moving all our unopened boxes and bags from London.
Beth's station wagon will be used for carrying smaller loose items like clothing, TV, crockery cutlery and cookware, anxious cats (in travel boxes), bed linen and pillows, contents of fridge and freezer, and all the loose bits and pieces we have been using in the last four months.
While I'm out and about Friday with the van loading, Beth has the task of remaining at Sweetwater receiving several deliveries and installations: king size bed from Sleep Country, bedroom and dining room furniture from Riley's Real Wood Furniture, washer, dryer and chest freezer from Sears, Qwest Direct TV, another guy from Qwest for the landline telephone and Internet connections, and Northwest Gas man (to read the meter we think).
Once the flat is emptied and rental van returned, by 3pm Friday, we have the task of a thorough cleaning of the apartment over the next couple of days before we hand over the keys, and hopefully receive back a full deposit on Sunday.
If all that sounds like Operation Overlord it certainly feels like it to us, but Beth is a mastermind at planning and logistics and I can drive a van and lug boxes, so we make a good team. This is after all only the final (?) stage of a plan that has been over 14 months in the preparation.
Wednesday, 7 April 2010
Easter the American Way
As I recall Easter from my childhood, we each received one (or often several) hollow chocolate eggs, and then went to church, before a standard family Sunday lunch. The eggs were about the size of a closed fist, sometimes larger. Eggs the size of small hen's eggs, with a fondant or caramel filling, would be in the shops for weeks in advance, but they were just a tasty teaser, the big chocolate egg was the thing for Easter Sunday.
The best eggs came with a mug bearing the logo of the manufacturer - Cadbury's Creme Egg, Mars, Milky Way, Crunchie, whatever. The egg would last a day or two at best, but the mug could last a lifetime. When I started thinning down my house contents I dug out several such mugs which I still had stored in the attic, and took them to my office where they are still being used.
As my brothers and I grew up and moved out, we would still return to our parents' home for a family lunch on Easter Sunday, and my mother would still give us each a chocolate egg, or another chocolate item like a bunny, or one year a tractor.
This year is my first experience of Easter in the USA, and also of working in a retail store that is trying to push out as much product as possible. Hollow chocolate eggs barely seem to exist, the only style I saw was a small one with VeggieTales https://bigidea.com/products/shows/shows.aspx characters printed on the foil wrap. Chocolate bunnies, flat and solid or three dimensional and hollow, are much more common. Easter Baskets are very popular, either empty for use by children in Easter Egg hunts, or to fill with your own choice of treats, or ready made with toys and candy for children. One or two companies make chocolate crosses, or stick some biblical quotes on a regular box of their candy. Many companies do nothing at all to the candy itself, and just put some bunny or egg print on the plastic bag to indicate that you should buy this at Easter.
Many manufacturers make tiny eggs the size of marbles in their particular style, and I did invest in a few of these.
The Easter Egg hunt is popular in the US, but as I was working Sunday and it was pouring with rain, I don't know how many hunts actually took place here in Eugene. You can buy hollow plastic eggs in various colors (including camoflage patterns) and fill these with your choice of candy, "hide" them in full view, usually outside in the garden or in a park, and let a bunch of kids go find them. We used to do this at our office in London for children of the staff, and one particularly outgoing employee dressed up as a rabbit or chicken to distribute the eggs.
The US does not recognise Good Friday or Easter Monday as public holidays, so for most people it's just a weekend with a special church service on the Sunday and a lot of kids overdosing on candy. For me it meant several days trying to cram candy onto the seasonal shelves, dodging shopping carts, and on Easter Sunday itself, explaining (politely) that the reason we didn't have a particular candy a customer was looking for at three in the afternoon was that we had sold out, and that it would be a good idea to buy the candy earlier next year.
The best eggs came with a mug bearing the logo of the manufacturer - Cadbury's Creme Egg, Mars, Milky Way, Crunchie, whatever. The egg would last a day or two at best, but the mug could last a lifetime. When I started thinning down my house contents I dug out several such mugs which I still had stored in the attic, and took them to my office where they are still being used.
As my brothers and I grew up and moved out, we would still return to our parents' home for a family lunch on Easter Sunday, and my mother would still give us each a chocolate egg, or another chocolate item like a bunny, or one year a tractor.
This year is my first experience of Easter in the USA, and also of working in a retail store that is trying to push out as much product as possible. Hollow chocolate eggs barely seem to exist, the only style I saw was a small one with VeggieTales https://bigidea.com/products/shows/shows.aspx characters printed on the foil wrap. Chocolate bunnies, flat and solid or three dimensional and hollow, are much more common. Easter Baskets are very popular, either empty for use by children in Easter Egg hunts, or to fill with your own choice of treats, or ready made with toys and candy for children. One or two companies make chocolate crosses, or stick some biblical quotes on a regular box of their candy. Many companies do nothing at all to the candy itself, and just put some bunny or egg print on the plastic bag to indicate that you should buy this at Easter.
Many manufacturers make tiny eggs the size of marbles in their particular style, and I did invest in a few of these.
The Easter Egg hunt is popular in the US, but as I was working Sunday and it was pouring with rain, I don't know how many hunts actually took place here in Eugene. You can buy hollow plastic eggs in various colors (including camoflage patterns) and fill these with your choice of candy, "hide" them in full view, usually outside in the garden or in a park, and let a bunch of kids go find them. We used to do this at our office in London for children of the staff, and one particularly outgoing employee dressed up as a rabbit or chicken to distribute the eggs.
The US does not recognise Good Friday or Easter Monday as public holidays, so for most people it's just a weekend with a special church service on the Sunday and a lot of kids overdosing on candy. For me it meant several days trying to cram candy onto the seasonal shelves, dodging shopping carts, and on Easter Sunday itself, explaining (politely) that the reason we didn't have a particular candy a customer was looking for at three in the afternoon was that we had sold out, and that it would be a good idea to buy the candy earlier next year.
Thursday, 1 April 2010
More than one Swallow; it must be Summer
Over the last few days we've noticed small birds in the Swallow/Martin family around our apartment complex, and today we got a closer look at three individuals swooping around, who appeared to either be nesting in, or gathering nesting material from, the dryer vents that decorate the apartment blocks' exterior walls.
These vents take the warm damp air from the tumble dryers, and vent it to the exterior, taking a certain amount of fine lint with it, and dumping the grey lint on the flowerbeds beneath. The vents do look very like British House Martin nests, though here in the Pacific Northwest the species I am seeling is probably Purple Martin or a Tree Swallow.
I'm looking forward to having a quiet garden to attract the birds so I can get a better look, and start learning some of the species I am seeing.
These vents take the warm damp air from the tumble dryers, and vent it to the exterior, taking a certain amount of fine lint with it, and dumping the grey lint on the flowerbeds beneath. The vents do look very like British House Martin nests, though here in the Pacific Northwest the species I am seeling is probably Purple Martin or a Tree Swallow.
I'm looking forward to having a quiet garden to attract the birds so I can get a better look, and start learning some of the species I am seeing.
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
What's in a vacuum?
One of the first things we bought when we arrived in the US was a vacuum cleaner. Admittedly we don't use it as often as we should, but it gets at least a bi-weekly workout, especially since we now have two cats depositing fluffs of black fur on the tan carpet, plus bark chips from the flowerbeds outside, and Beth's long dark brown hair seems to drop out everywhere but never gets any thinner. The cats are scared of the noise it makes, so we try to time our uses for when they're having an outing, usually after dark.
After a little market research we invested $150 in a Bissell upright bagless model, with (allegedly) special pet hair attachment. We had a bagless Dyson in London for our last year and it was great, but we had to leave it with the house as it wouldn't work on the different power supply here. After having a bagless unit once, I can't imagine going back to the nightmare of bags. The Bissell has a lift out section, so it can be hand carried for use on stairs, and the usual long sucky attachment thing for getting into edges and corners. Overall it's doing a good job. Until yesterday when it sucked half a plastic bag round the floor roller. Beth took the roller out and cleaned it, but we (i.e. I) had apparently burnt out the motor.
Beth immediately found the receipt and checked the warranty, then got online to check both the manufacturer's and retailer's sites. Better still, she didn't once say I was a doofus for sucking up the plastic bag and then pulling it out without turning the machine off first.
Today we were loading the machine into the car prior to taking it to the retailer, when, on checking the instructions one last time, we discovered that the roller doesn't turn if the handle is locked in the upright position. We tried it one last time and bingo, it worked fine. No need to take it back to the retailer then, and we set off on on our outing to the cinema, followed by an early supper at Sizzler (unlimited salad bar). We also visited Sears, a large department store, and an anchor store of the Gateway Mall in Springfield, where I looked at the possibility of a second vacuum for my den. After examining several, it was plain that nothing suited my needs more than the unit we already had, so I'll stick with that and suffer the minor inconvenience of carrying across from the house when I need to use it.
Back home, cats out, so we do a thorough vacuum of the whole floor. The cats are in the habit of chasing each other around and leave little tufts of black and grey fur everywhere, so there was quite a lot to vacuum, but the Bissell did the job admirably.
After a little market research we invested $150 in a Bissell upright bagless model, with (allegedly) special pet hair attachment. We had a bagless Dyson in London for our last year and it was great, but we had to leave it with the house as it wouldn't work on the different power supply here. After having a bagless unit once, I can't imagine going back to the nightmare of bags. The Bissell has a lift out section, so it can be hand carried for use on stairs, and the usual long sucky attachment thing for getting into edges and corners. Overall it's doing a good job. Until yesterday when it sucked half a plastic bag round the floor roller. Beth took the roller out and cleaned it, but we (i.e. I) had apparently burnt out the motor.
Beth immediately found the receipt and checked the warranty, then got online to check both the manufacturer's and retailer's sites. Better still, she didn't once say I was a doofus for sucking up the plastic bag and then pulling it out without turning the machine off first.
Today we were loading the machine into the car prior to taking it to the retailer, when, on checking the instructions one last time, we discovered that the roller doesn't turn if the handle is locked in the upright position. We tried it one last time and bingo, it worked fine. No need to take it back to the retailer then, and we set off on on our outing to the cinema, followed by an early supper at Sizzler (unlimited salad bar). We also visited Sears, a large department store, and an anchor store of the Gateway Mall in Springfield, where I looked at the possibility of a second vacuum for my den. After examining several, it was plain that nothing suited my needs more than the unit we already had, so I'll stick with that and suffer the minor inconvenience of carrying across from the house when I need to use it.
Back home, cats out, so we do a thorough vacuum of the whole floor. The cats are in the habit of chasing each other around and leave little tufts of black and grey fur everywhere, so there was quite a lot to vacuum, but the Bissell did the job admirably.
Durn, my garage shrunk
I don't think I can overstate how much Eugenians love their pickup trucks, and their garages. Unfortunately the vehicles have frequently outgrown the boxes designed to house them at night, so they live on the driveway instead.
However most houses also have an abundance of driveway, so that's no real hardship, and frees up the garage space for other uses: workshop, table-tennis court, or collecting skis, boats, kayaks, and any other leisure equipment that has to go somewhere.
Garages feature prominenly in the front view of most houses, and I guess it's hard not to when you need road access, and sufficient driveway for at least two vehicles. Many houses have a double and a single garage, giving over even more frontage to the vehicles.
I was hoping to avoid the "garage with house attached" image with our house, and I think we more or less succeeded.
The double garage door takes up about 1/4 of the frontage, so hopefully doesn't dominate in quite the same way. Meantime we still beneft from having a LOT of driveway, off to the right of the house, where we could park an RV should it be required. The detached second garage is also a double inside, but being set back and angled does not draw one's gaze. The garage door is not double, because there's a regular sized door beside it, but that garage was never, and is still not, really intended for parking vehicles.
New Plates
My car license plates are due for renewal the same date we move into the new house, so today I popped along to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).
For UK readers, in the US, and Oregon in particular, you renew your car number plates every two years, for a small fee which is equivalent to the car license in the UK (but a lot cheaper). At this time it is also possible to change your number plate, which I did because the old back plate had been damaged by the previous owner. You can also order customised plates, a lot cheaper than the UK equivalent, but I couldn't think of a six number/letter combination that was pertinent, safe and witty that I was willing to spend an extra $100 for, so I just got regular plates.
At the same time I applied for new address labels for my own driving license, which will be mailed to the new house. I stick these over my old address on my driver's license, and voila.
Yesterday we went along to an insurance agent to work out insurance for the new house. At present we have our auto insurance with Progressive, but the house was insured by the previous owners with State Farm, so we went to see what their rates were like. We were pleased with their quotes, so we'll be using them, and in June we'll switch our auto insurance over to get a discount.
US house and car insurance are cheaper than in the UK, or at least they are here in Eugene. On the house front, I think it's probably because it's a lot cheaper to rebuild a woodframe house than a brick one. We will have insurance against earhquakes and civil riots amongst other things, and for medical bills for people who manage to injure themselves on our property. On the car front, it may be because traffic is lighter and theft less likely, and of course we have garages to park in at night (though very few people seem to use their garages for their vehicles).
Today and tomorrow are my "weekend", so by the time I'm back at work it'll be less than two weeks until we move. Beth and I are off to see a movie at lunchtime, "How to Train Your Dragon". One benefit of working weekends and having days off midweek is that the movies are cheaper and the theaters less crowded. Tomorrow I plan to see "Hot Tub Time Machine".
For UK readers, in the US, and Oregon in particular, you renew your car number plates every two years, for a small fee which is equivalent to the car license in the UK (but a lot cheaper). At this time it is also possible to change your number plate, which I did because the old back plate had been damaged by the previous owner. You can also order customised plates, a lot cheaper than the UK equivalent, but I couldn't think of a six number/letter combination that was pertinent, safe and witty that I was willing to spend an extra $100 for, so I just got regular plates.
At the same time I applied for new address labels for my own driving license, which will be mailed to the new house. I stick these over my old address on my driver's license, and voila.
Yesterday we went along to an insurance agent to work out insurance for the new house. At present we have our auto insurance with Progressive, but the house was insured by the previous owners with State Farm, so we went to see what their rates were like. We were pleased with their quotes, so we'll be using them, and in June we'll switch our auto insurance over to get a discount.
US house and car insurance are cheaper than in the UK, or at least they are here in Eugene. On the house front, I think it's probably because it's a lot cheaper to rebuild a woodframe house than a brick one. We will have insurance against earhquakes and civil riots amongst other things, and for medical bills for people who manage to injure themselves on our property. On the car front, it may be because traffic is lighter and theft less likely, and of course we have garages to park in at night (though very few people seem to use their garages for their vehicles).
Today and tomorrow are my "weekend", so by the time I'm back at work it'll be less than two weeks until we move. Beth and I are off to see a movie at lunchtime, "How to Train Your Dragon". One benefit of working weekends and having days off midweek is that the movies are cheaper and the theaters less crowded. Tomorrow I plan to see "Hot Tub Time Machine".
Friday, 19 March 2010
The New House (Beth's Facebook Album)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=151043&id=732665994&l=de4de6ce63
The link above should take you to an album of photos of our new house in Eugene. It's a Facebook album, but you don't have to be a member of Facebook to look at the pictures, just click on the link. You can navigate through the album using the arrow keys on your computer and read the comments, but you cannot leave comments if you are not a member of Facebook.
We officially owned this as of Monday, but won't be moving in until 15th April as the previous owners needed extra time to move out. We are renting it back to them for a month. Now that we legally own it we're getting very excited, and I'm glad I have a job to occupy my time or I'd going nuts waiting to move it.
Some of these pictures were taken by the previous owners before we saw the house, and some are taken by Beth during visits. Pretty much anything you can remove will have been removed when we move in, so bear in mind this is not our furniture.
The link above should take you to an album of photos of our new house in Eugene. It's a Facebook album, but you don't have to be a member of Facebook to look at the pictures, just click on the link. You can navigate through the album using the arrow keys on your computer and read the comments, but you cannot leave comments if you are not a member of Facebook.
We officially owned this as of Monday, but won't be moving in until 15th April as the previous owners needed extra time to move out. We are renting it back to them for a month. Now that we legally own it we're getting very excited, and I'm glad I have a job to occupy my time or I'd going nuts waiting to move it.
Some of these pictures were taken by the previous owners before we saw the house, and some are taken by Beth during visits. Pretty much anything you can remove will have been removed when we move in, so bear in mind this is not our furniture.
Thursday, 18 March 2010
Clothes Washing
One of the myriad conveniences we enjoy in the US is simpler and quicker clothes washing.
In London our washing machine took about 2 hours to complete a wash cycle, and the dryer about the same. That made starting a wash before work unlikely, and staring one after arriving home from work an evening long event. If we could we'd hang clothes out to dry in the garden, but often in the winter months they'd come in wetter than they went out and have to go through the dryer anyway.
The other London inconvenience was that both machines lived in the kitchen, which was not separated from the dining and living areas even by a door, and the machines were noisy. It made watching TV or even just being in the room a less than satisfying event.
In the apartment we have a toploading washer that does a load in about 45 minutes. The dryer has a setting for "optimum dry" and we just set that and wait for it to stop automatically. The machines are in the bathroom, and have their own separating doors, so we can have two closed doors between us and the machines to cut down the noise.
For the new house we've invested in a high efficiency washer that uses less water and electricity than the one in the apartment, but the system will be much the same. The house has a laundry chute on the landing so we can just dump dirty clothes straight down the chute into the utility room, where they will land in a basket on top of the dryer. There we will sort into darks, colors and whites, and do cycles as appropriate. The utility room is again separated from the kitchen by a door, but the machines are also supposed to be quieter than standard.
One cost of drying everything electrically is lint. Every load builds up wodge of lint in the lint trap, which comprises all the fibre particles knocked out of the clothes, so the clothes are wearing out faster. We may try a clothes line, but the convenience of the dryer will probably keep me using it as much as possible. There is also a vent hose to the fresh air, and we know that the finer lint particles get through the trap and escape to land near the house in a fluffy pile.
Like many things in America there are conveniences, and an associated cost. Our feelign is the convenience outweighs the cost.
In London our washing machine took about 2 hours to complete a wash cycle, and the dryer about the same. That made starting a wash before work unlikely, and staring one after arriving home from work an evening long event. If we could we'd hang clothes out to dry in the garden, but often in the winter months they'd come in wetter than they went out and have to go through the dryer anyway.
The other London inconvenience was that both machines lived in the kitchen, which was not separated from the dining and living areas even by a door, and the machines were noisy. It made watching TV or even just being in the room a less than satisfying event.
In the apartment we have a toploading washer that does a load in about 45 minutes. The dryer has a setting for "optimum dry" and we just set that and wait for it to stop automatically. The machines are in the bathroom, and have their own separating doors, so we can have two closed doors between us and the machines to cut down the noise.
For the new house we've invested in a high efficiency washer that uses less water and electricity than the one in the apartment, but the system will be much the same. The house has a laundry chute on the landing so we can just dump dirty clothes straight down the chute into the utility room, where they will land in a basket on top of the dryer. There we will sort into darks, colors and whites, and do cycles as appropriate. The utility room is again separated from the kitchen by a door, but the machines are also supposed to be quieter than standard.
One cost of drying everything electrically is lint. Every load builds up wodge of lint in the lint trap, which comprises all the fibre particles knocked out of the clothes, so the clothes are wearing out faster. We may try a clothes line, but the convenience of the dryer will probably keep me using it as much as possible. There is also a vent hose to the fresh air, and we know that the finer lint particles get through the trap and escape to land near the house in a fluffy pile.
Like many things in America there are conveniences, and an associated cost. Our feelign is the convenience outweighs the cost.
Stargazing
About once a week as skies permit, Beth and I like to drive out after dark to a remote location to look at the stars.
Our efforts at stargazing in London were circumscribed by light pollution, which is about as bad in London as it can get. Add to that the high horizon due to tall buildings, and you get a chance at maybe 90 degrees of clear sky to gaze at.
In Eugene things are a bit different. Even on the outskirts of the city (e.g. where our new house is located) there are nearly 180 degree horizons, with skyglow from city lights polluting about 20 degrees all around, so you can see stars in about a 140 degree arc.
The picture above is a little small, so I recommend you look at http://www.teslasociety.com/earthlights.jpg for a better image. On the US west coast there are two strips of light, one along the coast, the other running the length of the I5. Eugene sits right on the I5, but our house is a few miles west, and even that small difference reduces the light pollution considerably. Then compare the US west of the Rockies to the Eastern half, and you'll see how much less light there is.
Round the Sweetwater neighbourhood there are no standing streetlights. Light after dark is provided solely by the houses, with outside lights either side of most garages. This may be a ploy by the city to save money on lighting, but for our purposes it brings the local light pollution down to a tolerable level.
Last night there was a cloudless sky, so we took a drive to a dark neighbourhood and spent ten minutes gazing at the stars. We're both out of practise and can only recognise a handful of constellations at present, but we did enjoy a few shooting stars, and the glow of the Milky Way was visible. We're looking forward to summer nights lying on a blanket in the back yard and gazing at the stars, while listening to the frog chorus.
Our efforts at stargazing in London were circumscribed by light pollution, which is about as bad in London as it can get. Add to that the high horizon due to tall buildings, and you get a chance at maybe 90 degrees of clear sky to gaze at.
In Eugene things are a bit different. Even on the outskirts of the city (e.g. where our new house is located) there are nearly 180 degree horizons, with skyglow from city lights polluting about 20 degrees all around, so you can see stars in about a 140 degree arc.
The picture above is a little small, so I recommend you look at http://www.teslasociety.com/earthlights.jpg for a better image. On the US west coast there are two strips of light, one along the coast, the other running the length of the I5. Eugene sits right on the I5, but our house is a few miles west, and even that small difference reduces the light pollution considerably. Then compare the US west of the Rockies to the Eastern half, and you'll see how much less light there is.
Round the Sweetwater neighbourhood there are no standing streetlights. Light after dark is provided solely by the houses, with outside lights either side of most garages. This may be a ploy by the city to save money on lighting, but for our purposes it brings the local light pollution down to a tolerable level.
Last night there was a cloudless sky, so we took a drive to a dark neighbourhood and spent ten minutes gazing at the stars. We're both out of practise and can only recognise a handful of constellations at present, but we did enjoy a few shooting stars, and the glow of the Milky Way was visible. We're looking forward to summer nights lying on a blanket in the back yard and gazing at the stars, while listening to the frog chorus.
Sunday, 14 March 2010
Daylight Saving Time - clocked by the change
That twice annual curse of confusion and annoyance is upon us. Allegedly invented by a New Zealander so he had more daylight to go bug hunting after his day's work (or was it so Scottish farmers could milk their dairy cows in daylight during WW1?), nobody can seem to agree on why we do it, what the benefits are, or why we can't just chuck the whole thing as a stupid inconvenience.
I have to go to work for 8am today, so I set an alarm on my phone for 5:15am, thinking this would be 6:15am after I adjusted for DST, giving me an hour and a half to shower, dress, eat, remember which way is up, and generally get ready and decent to leave the house.
Alas, alack, in this modern world of "convenience" my phone, bless its electronic heart, reset itself for DST, so I got up an hour earlier than intended. At least that's better than discovering than I got up an hour late, but I know I'll be tired before my shift ends at 5pm. Our two cats were no help at all, being delighted as usual to see a human moving at any time in the morning they insisted it really was time to get up and feed and entertain them.
Since not all clocks are self-adjusting, so we still have to go round checking every device that includes a clock, resetting some (the microwave), ignoring others (the stove!?!). By the second Sunday in November when the clocks go back, I'll have forgotten which devices are "smart" and which aren't, and no doubt I will be late to work as a result.
To add to the fun, not all of the United States observe DST (Arizona and Hawaii don't, and some counties in Indiana, which itself straddles two time zones), and the date on which the clocks change changed in 2007, so current experiment to try to save electricity will probably all change once I've got used to it.
In the USA the current dates of change are the 2nd Sunday in March, and the 1st Sunday in November. In the UK it's the last Sunday of March and the last Sunday in October, so my Skype video calls to my parents in the UK will be messed up for a while. The UK is forced to observe whatever the European Union decides, until it decides otherwise.
I accept that having longer hours of evening daylight in the Summer helps to save electricity, but how does setting the clock back for the Winter do the same? Why can't we just stay with the advanced hour forever?
I have to go to work for 8am today, so I set an alarm on my phone for 5:15am, thinking this would be 6:15am after I adjusted for DST, giving me an hour and a half to shower, dress, eat, remember which way is up, and generally get ready and decent to leave the house.
Alas, alack, in this modern world of "convenience" my phone, bless its electronic heart, reset itself for DST, so I got up an hour earlier than intended. At least that's better than discovering than I got up an hour late, but I know I'll be tired before my shift ends at 5pm. Our two cats were no help at all, being delighted as usual to see a human moving at any time in the morning they insisted it really was time to get up and feed and entertain them.
Since not all clocks are self-adjusting, so we still have to go round checking every device that includes a clock, resetting some (the microwave), ignoring others (the stove!?!). By the second Sunday in November when the clocks go back, I'll have forgotten which devices are "smart" and which aren't, and no doubt I will be late to work as a result.
To add to the fun, not all of the United States observe DST (Arizona and Hawaii don't, and some counties in Indiana, which itself straddles two time zones), and the date on which the clocks change changed in 2007, so current experiment to try to save electricity will probably all change once I've got used to it.
In the USA the current dates of change are the 2nd Sunday in March, and the 1st Sunday in November. In the UK it's the last Sunday of March and the last Sunday in October, so my Skype video calls to my parents in the UK will be messed up for a while. The UK is forced to observe whatever the European Union decides, until it decides otherwise.
I accept that having longer hours of evening daylight in the Summer helps to save electricity, but how does setting the clock back for the Winter do the same? Why can't we just stay with the advanced hour forever?
Friday, 12 March 2010
Eight Days a Week
In the last eight days we've sold a house, bought a house, and bought all the necessary furniture for the new house. We're looking to add a couple of big screen TVs (around 55") and odds and ends like table lamps, but we're pretty much there for all the big stuff. I've also worked five of the last eight days, and about to start another four day stint tomorrow.
I ought to be utterly exhausted, but somehow the adrenaline is still flowing. My job at Wal*Mart is novel and fun enough that, though physically tiring, I enjoy it and in ways look forward to going in. We have been looking at furniture for a few weeks in various stores, and finally settled on Riley's Real Wood Furniture for, well, all the wooden stuff. That's the bedroom set (bedframe, dresser, chest of drawers, night stands) and dining room furniture (table and six chairs), two coffee tables and matching end tables. It's all very nice quality and built to last with a pricetag to match, but hey, we hope to be still using it all fifty years from now. The 15% discount for a big purchase didn't hurt either.
Appliances we haven't been looking so long because, frankly, we don't get that excited by washers (washing machines) and dryers. We went to Sears today and picked out an Energy Star high efficiency washer from GE (General Electric) that uses 50% of the water and 40% of the electricity of a normal washer, cost about the same due to the sale price, and we get a $70 rebate from our Electricity supplier for buying one, so in the end works out cheaper even before we've plugged it in. The matching dryer isn't "energy efficient" because dryers are by nature big electricity suckers, but with a big load capacity it is more efficient within its class. At Sears we also bought a 14 cu ft chest freezer to keep in the garage, and a nifty black fridge with icebox for my den. The kitchen fridge/freezer, hob/stove and microwave we are buying with the house.
We have two recliner armchairs already in the apartment, to which we are adding two 3 seat sofas and two 2 seat "loveseats" (in England we'd just call this a 2 seat sofa). These will be split between the family (TV) room and the living room. After looking round various stores we settled on buying these from Big Lots, a slightly lower end department store, because we liked the material (and price) which is more cat-proof and easier to clean than the suedey feel of our recliners.
While we were at the register paying for the sofas and loveseats, the manager remarked to Beth that we must have a really nice house, and this reminded us once again (though we remind ourselves daily) how very lucky we are. The sofas qualified for a "hold" programme where people can pay fortnightly over a period of six months before they get the goods. We bought all four items, at once, with cash. Moreover, we have a house big enough to fit all the furniture. I'm guessing the average Big Lots customer is not quite so fortunate.
I have been very lucky in life, especially in the last six years. Just meeting Beth was one of those events that sounds like a film script. Being laid off (accepting voluntary redundancy) a year ago from a job I had held for fifteen years, having the means, desire and opportunity to move to America to start a new phase of life. Receiving an offer on our London house on the very day (indeed, almost the same hour) that the house we have chosen here in Eugene would have slipped out of our hands had we not received an offer. Having the means to buy two cars so we can get around without having to rely on irksome public transport. So many things had to come together for Beth and I to get to where we are, and in just over a month we move into our dream home.
I ought to be utterly exhausted, but somehow the adrenaline is still flowing. My job at Wal*Mart is novel and fun enough that, though physically tiring, I enjoy it and in ways look forward to going in. We have been looking at furniture for a few weeks in various stores, and finally settled on Riley's Real Wood Furniture for, well, all the wooden stuff. That's the bedroom set (bedframe, dresser, chest of drawers, night stands) and dining room furniture (table and six chairs), two coffee tables and matching end tables. It's all very nice quality and built to last with a pricetag to match, but hey, we hope to be still using it all fifty years from now. The 15% discount for a big purchase didn't hurt either.
Appliances we haven't been looking so long because, frankly, we don't get that excited by washers (washing machines) and dryers. We went to Sears today and picked out an Energy Star high efficiency washer from GE (General Electric) that uses 50% of the water and 40% of the electricity of a normal washer, cost about the same due to the sale price, and we get a $70 rebate from our Electricity supplier for buying one, so in the end works out cheaper even before we've plugged it in. The matching dryer isn't "energy efficient" because dryers are by nature big electricity suckers, but with a big load capacity it is more efficient within its class. At Sears we also bought a 14 cu ft chest freezer to keep in the garage, and a nifty black fridge with icebox for my den. The kitchen fridge/freezer, hob/stove and microwave we are buying with the house.
We have two recliner armchairs already in the apartment, to which we are adding two 3 seat sofas and two 2 seat "loveseats" (in England we'd just call this a 2 seat sofa). These will be split between the family (TV) room and the living room. After looking round various stores we settled on buying these from Big Lots, a slightly lower end department store, because we liked the material (and price) which is more cat-proof and easier to clean than the suedey feel of our recliners.
While we were at the register paying for the sofas and loveseats, the manager remarked to Beth that we must have a really nice house, and this reminded us once again (though we remind ourselves daily) how very lucky we are. The sofas qualified for a "hold" programme where people can pay fortnightly over a period of six months before they get the goods. We bought all four items, at once, with cash. Moreover, we have a house big enough to fit all the furniture. I'm guessing the average Big Lots customer is not quite so fortunate.
I have been very lucky in life, especially in the last six years. Just meeting Beth was one of those events that sounds like a film script. Being laid off (accepting voluntary redundancy) a year ago from a job I had held for fifteen years, having the means, desire and opportunity to move to America to start a new phase of life. Receiving an offer on our London house on the very day (indeed, almost the same hour) that the house we have chosen here in Eugene would have slipped out of our hands had we not received an offer. Having the means to buy two cars so we can get around without having to rely on irksome public transport. So many things had to come together for Beth and I to get to where we are, and in just over a month we move into our dream home.
Thursday, 4 March 2010
House SOLD
Today we completed the sale of our house in London, and for a few hours we have a massive UK bank balance. A few hours only, as we need to move funds over to the US to pay for the house we are buying here. Sadly the exchange rate has suffered of late due to the poor UK economy, so we're expecting to exchange at a rate of about 1.5 dollars to the pound. The good news is that this is exactly the rate we started our calculations at over a year ago, and we can transfer enough to buy the house and furnish it to a good standard, and leave more savings in London than we started with. Such is the nature of house prices and living costs in the US.
The remaining savings we may transfer later when the rate improves, but I can't see that happening until after the imminent General Election and then some. We'll want to keep some UK funds regardless, as I'm still paying into a UK pension, and it'll be easier and cheaper to use UK funds on visits.
We've been watching the exchange rate for over a year, and it tends to start low each day and then climb towards 5pm, so Beth is watching carefully and will initiate our exchange at the propitious time.
The remaining savings we may transfer later when the rate improves, but I can't see that happening until after the imminent General Election and then some. We'll want to keep some UK funds regardless, as I'm still paying into a UK pension, and it'll be easier and cheaper to use UK funds on visits.
We've been watching the exchange rate for over a year, and it tends to start low each day and then climb towards 5pm, so Beth is watching carefully and will initiate our exchange at the propitious time.
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
Dry Groceries
After just a month at Wal*Mart I've been moved from Paper Pets & Chemicals to Dry Groceries. It turns out that despite having hired four new part-time staff specifically for the PP&C Departments, they are now overstaffed and to give us enough hours to work at least three of us have been moved to other departments. The fourth new staffer I have yet to meet; I guess our shifts haven't coincided.
I don't mind a bit. In a month I've learnt a lot about the departments I was in, and can usually guide customers to the correct area for their needs. Dry Groceries department covers a wider range of interesting items for me to learn about. Also a Ceral spill is a lot easier to clean up than a bleach or washing liquid spill, and less smelly.
Dry Groceries covers pretty much anything you can safely ingest that isn't fresh, frozen, refrigerated, or candy. That's a broad palette, and there's a lot of stuff on the shelves that I've never seen before and have no idea how to cook and eat. I was amused to discover the Apple Sauce section; I had always thought my wife was odd eating apple sauce rather than eating an apple, but it turns out that in America apple sauce it isn't exclusively for babies and pork chops. The Cereal Aisle, apart from offering an entire wall of boxed and bagged cereals, also includes a Toaster Pastries section, and a Granola Bar section. The "World Foods" Aisle includes Hispanic, not an option one would find in the UK. Tinned tomatoes are kept with the Pizza and Pasta, not the other canned fruits and vegetables.
Actually "working" the department is much the same as before, so the skills I've learnt for bringing new product out on the floor, zoning the shelves and helping customers etc. all apply, and are translatable thoughout most departments. I'm enjoying my job, it's reasonably physically demanding and I've lost a few pounds, but there's still enough mental demand to keep my brain occupied without being overstrained or stressed.
Driving into work a couple of days ago I could see the Cascade Mountains to the east rising out of a sea of mist, and the South Hills wrapped in low clouds, a beautiful sight in the low early morning light. Getting to work in 15 minutes beats the 45 minutes it used to take in London, most of it either on the Underground or walking the litter-strewn streets of Hammersmith, and even the occasional heavy Oregon rain seems less depressing and annoying than London drizzle.
I don't mind a bit. In a month I've learnt a lot about the departments I was in, and can usually guide customers to the correct area for their needs. Dry Groceries department covers a wider range of interesting items for me to learn about. Also a Ceral spill is a lot easier to clean up than a bleach or washing liquid spill, and less smelly.
Dry Groceries covers pretty much anything you can safely ingest that isn't fresh, frozen, refrigerated, or candy. That's a broad palette, and there's a lot of stuff on the shelves that I've never seen before and have no idea how to cook and eat. I was amused to discover the Apple Sauce section; I had always thought my wife was odd eating apple sauce rather than eating an apple, but it turns out that in America apple sauce it isn't exclusively for babies and pork chops. The Cereal Aisle, apart from offering an entire wall of boxed and bagged cereals, also includes a Toaster Pastries section, and a Granola Bar section. The "World Foods" Aisle includes Hispanic, not an option one would find in the UK. Tinned tomatoes are kept with the Pizza and Pasta, not the other canned fruits and vegetables.
Actually "working" the department is much the same as before, so the skills I've learnt for bringing new product out on the floor, zoning the shelves and helping customers etc. all apply, and are translatable thoughout most departments. I'm enjoying my job, it's reasonably physically demanding and I've lost a few pounds, but there's still enough mental demand to keep my brain occupied without being overstrained or stressed.
Driving into work a couple of days ago I could see the Cascade Mountains to the east rising out of a sea of mist, and the South Hills wrapped in low clouds, a beautiful sight in the low early morning light. Getting to work in 15 minutes beats the 45 minutes it used to take in London, most of it either on the Underground or walking the litter-strewn streets of Hammersmith, and even the occasional heavy Oregon rain seems less depressing and annoying than London drizzle.
Sunday, 28 February 2010
The Shape of Eugene Part 2: West 11th Avenue
11th Avenue is the main artery into Eugene from the West, under the guise of Oregon Highway 126, aka the Florence/Eugene Highway. Florence is the nearest coastal town, about an hour's drive away over the Coastal Mountains, where Highway 126 originates.
As you approach the outskirts of Eugene driving East along 126, the first big building you see on the North side of the road is a Target store (on the corner of Beltline and 11th), and opposite on the south side is a Wal*Mart Super Center, where I currently work. Driving on, and slowing down as the speed limits decrease, you are driving along the road I consider the equivalent of London's Oxford Street, but with one big difference - few people walk far down West 11th Avenue, it's far too long and not pedestrian friendly.
There is a bus service running the length of the Avenue, taking people to and from Downtown. There are many retail outlets along its length between Beltline Highway to the west and Garfield Street to the east. Beyond Garfield the avenue continues into Downtown but becomes one way (going west), so drivers continuing east turn either north along Garfield to continue east along 7th Avenue (still Highway 126), or south to 13th Avenue which is one way going east.
West 11th offers department stores (Target, Wal*Mart, Fred Meyer), restaurants (generally bigger chain names like Applebee's and Shari's), fast food outlets with drive-through windows (KFC, Arby's, McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Taco Bell, Jack in the Box, to name just a few), big specialist stores (e.g. Lowe's for DIY, Staples for office supplies) many automotive centres (Les Schwab, Oil Can Henry's, Autozone etc) for supplies and servicing of vehicles, and UPS store and the Post Office, the DMV center. Many people coming into Eugene from the smaller outlying towns to the west (Veneta, Noti, Vaughn) will stock up supplies here on West 11th and never drive further into town.
I have a fondness for this area because when Beth and I came to visit in June 2009, wide awake at 2am through jet-lag, we came here to poke around Wal*Mart which is open 24 hours. If you don't have a car then I think it'd be a pain to visit and you'd do your shopping locally, but of course in the USA only the very poor, the very young, the ultra-green and students don't have a car.
As you approach the outskirts of Eugene driving East along 126, the first big building you see on the North side of the road is a Target store (on the corner of Beltline and 11th), and opposite on the south side is a Wal*Mart Super Center, where I currently work. Driving on, and slowing down as the speed limits decrease, you are driving along the road I consider the equivalent of London's Oxford Street, but with one big difference - few people walk far down West 11th Avenue, it's far too long and not pedestrian friendly.
There is a bus service running the length of the Avenue, taking people to and from Downtown. There are many retail outlets along its length between Beltline Highway to the west and Garfield Street to the east. Beyond Garfield the avenue continues into Downtown but becomes one way (going west), so drivers continuing east turn either north along Garfield to continue east along 7th Avenue (still Highway 126), or south to 13th Avenue which is one way going east.
West 11th offers department stores (Target, Wal*Mart, Fred Meyer), restaurants (generally bigger chain names like Applebee's and Shari's), fast food outlets with drive-through windows (KFC, Arby's, McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Taco Bell, Jack in the Box, to name just a few), big specialist stores (e.g. Lowe's for DIY, Staples for office supplies) many automotive centres (Les Schwab, Oil Can Henry's, Autozone etc) for supplies and servicing of vehicles, and UPS store and the Post Office, the DMV center. Many people coming into Eugene from the smaller outlying towns to the west (Veneta, Noti, Vaughn) will stock up supplies here on West 11th and never drive further into town.
I have a fondness for this area because when Beth and I came to visit in June 2009, wide awake at 2am through jet-lag, we came here to poke around Wal*Mart which is open 24 hours. If you don't have a car then I think it'd be a pain to visit and you'd do your shopping locally, but of course in the USA only the very poor, the very young, the ultra-green and students don't have a car.
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
The Shape of Eugene: Part 1 Downtown
I'm always interested in the history and geography of an area, so I thought I'd start a series of posts about the layout of Eugene.
Eugene was founded around 1846 by Eugene Skinner, who staked his claim in Oregon around a hill that became known as Skinner's Butte, during the days of the Oregon Trail.
Like many American cities it is laid out, as much as the landscape will allow, with Avenues running East-West and Streets, Alleys and Roads running North-South. The Avenues are numbered from 1 southwards, and 1st Avenue runs in line with the highest point of Skinner's Butte. The Streets, Alleys and Roads all have names, and Willamette Street is the central point, which if extrapolated would intersect with 1st Ave at that high point.
Starting with 1st Avenue, the numbers run southwards as far as 52nd Avenue, though by this point we are well into the South Hills area. Downtown is bordered by 1st Avenue to the North and 13th Avenue to the South.
Counting West from Willamette the Streets are, with a few exceptions, named for the Presidents from Washington through to Wilson (1913-1921), before this trend is broken and we have odd and slightly less inspiring names slipping in. Beyond Wilson Street we have a few more streets before Seneca Road and the start of a more open area with larger business plots.
East of Willamette the Streets have older names: Oak, High, Mill, Ferry Street, until they take the names of what I take to be early city Benefactors, Patterson, Hilyard, and Kincaid Street, followed by tree and stone names - Alder, Beech, Onyx, and Agate Street. Downtown reaches West as far as Lincoln Street, and East as far as Hilyard Street in ragged sections.
Downtown is the hub of the city, where theatres, restaurants and cafes rub shoulders with the Police Station, City Hall, the Library, Bus Station, Train Station, The Hult Centre (classical music and other concerts abound), and many small shops and businesses. It's the one area in Eugene where you might have to pay to park, either on a meter on the kerb, or in one of several multi-storey carparks, though two of these offer the first hour for free on weekdays, after 6pm, and free all day at Weekends.
Downtown is characterised by smaller city blocks, one-way streets on most arteries, slower speed limits, and a more closed-in, maybe slightly cramped feeling. There are many residential areas scattered around the centre, with generally smaller, older houses, often let out to students.
It would be possible to live your whole life Downtown and have all your needs met and catered for, though you'd miss a lot of the best of the City. I like the area and it's distinctive feel, though driving through can be a chore, especially if you're looking for a particular sideturn.
Eugene was founded around 1846 by Eugene Skinner, who staked his claim in Oregon around a hill that became known as Skinner's Butte, during the days of the Oregon Trail.
Like many American cities it is laid out, as much as the landscape will allow, with Avenues running East-West and Streets, Alleys and Roads running North-South. The Avenues are numbered from 1 southwards, and 1st Avenue runs in line with the highest point of Skinner's Butte. The Streets, Alleys and Roads all have names, and Willamette Street is the central point, which if extrapolated would intersect with 1st Ave at that high point.
Starting with 1st Avenue, the numbers run southwards as far as 52nd Avenue, though by this point we are well into the South Hills area. Downtown is bordered by 1st Avenue to the North and 13th Avenue to the South.
Counting West from Willamette the Streets are, with a few exceptions, named for the Presidents from Washington through to Wilson (1913-1921), before this trend is broken and we have odd and slightly less inspiring names slipping in. Beyond Wilson Street we have a few more streets before Seneca Road and the start of a more open area with larger business plots.
East of Willamette the Streets have older names: Oak, High, Mill, Ferry Street, until they take the names of what I take to be early city Benefactors, Patterson, Hilyard, and Kincaid Street, followed by tree and stone names - Alder, Beech, Onyx, and Agate Street. Downtown reaches West as far as Lincoln Street, and East as far as Hilyard Street in ragged sections.
Downtown is the hub of the city, where theatres, restaurants and cafes rub shoulders with the Police Station, City Hall, the Library, Bus Station, Train Station, The Hult Centre (classical music and other concerts abound), and many small shops and businesses. It's the one area in Eugene where you might have to pay to park, either on a meter on the kerb, or in one of several multi-storey carparks, though two of these offer the first hour for free on weekdays, after 6pm, and free all day at Weekends.
Downtown is characterised by smaller city blocks, one-way streets on most arteries, slower speed limits, and a more closed-in, maybe slightly cramped feeling. There are many residential areas scattered around the centre, with generally smaller, older houses, often let out to students.
It would be possible to live your whole life Downtown and have all your needs met and catered for, though you'd miss a lot of the best of the City. I like the area and it's distinctive feel, though driving through can be a chore, especially if you're looking for a particular sideturn.
Tuesday, 16 February 2010
New Wheels
After months agonising over what car I would buy when the time came, the decision and purchase were completed in a couple of hours, and it wasn't a car I'd considered before today.
This 2007 Mazda3i Sedan fit closely with my needs, big enough to seat four adults when necessary, a room trunk, reasonable mpg (by US standards) and around 60,000 miles on the clock. It's quite sporty, bright red exterior (easy to spot in crowded car parks) and black interior (hides the dirt), and was within my current affordable price range. It is also automatic transmission, so either Beth or I can drive it as necessary.
Beth drove us to the dealership and we took a test drive. Everything was fine, and we'd checked the Kelly's Blue Book price before we set out and it was right on the money. We also checked the Carfax report for possible accidents or problems and it came out clean. We looked at a few other possibles at the same dealer and elsewhere, but this Mazda stood out to me as the car I would enjoy owning and driving.
I wrote a check, signed some papers, and in minutes the deal was done. Beth drove home her Mercury Sable station wagon, and immediately transferred my half of the payment on that car so it's now fully hers, while I stopped off at the bank to warn them of the big check coming, then at Les Schwab Tires to get a new set of tires fitted and a couple of other things checked over. I'll be back at Les Schwab Monday for new disc brakes, and then I'll know the car is as safe as I can make it.
The current muffler/exhaust is designed to be as noisy and roarty as is just legal, so tomorrow I'll be seeing if I can get a quieter one fitted, as I prefer a well behaved car. There are a few small nicks in the paintwork as must be expected in a second hand car, which I'll be looking to get fixed in time.
Overall I'm very happy, and now we have two sets of wheels we can each schedule our own activities without needing to juggle the car.
This 2007 Mazda3i Sedan fit closely with my needs, big enough to seat four adults when necessary, a room trunk, reasonable mpg (by US standards) and around 60,000 miles on the clock. It's quite sporty, bright red exterior (easy to spot in crowded car parks) and black interior (hides the dirt), and was within my current affordable price range. It is also automatic transmission, so either Beth or I can drive it as necessary.
Beth drove us to the dealership and we took a test drive. Everything was fine, and we'd checked the Kelly's Blue Book price before we set out and it was right on the money. We also checked the Carfax report for possible accidents or problems and it came out clean. We looked at a few other possibles at the same dealer and elsewhere, but this Mazda stood out to me as the car I would enjoy owning and driving.
I wrote a check, signed some papers, and in minutes the deal was done. Beth drove home her Mercury Sable station wagon, and immediately transferred my half of the payment on that car so it's now fully hers, while I stopped off at the bank to warn them of the big check coming, then at Les Schwab Tires to get a new set of tires fitted and a couple of other things checked over. I'll be back at Les Schwab Monday for new disc brakes, and then I'll know the car is as safe as I can make it.
The current muffler/exhaust is designed to be as noisy and roarty as is just legal, so tomorrow I'll be seeing if I can get a quieter one fitted, as I prefer a well behaved car. There are a few small nicks in the paintwork as must be expected in a second hand car, which I'll be looking to get fixed in time.
Overall I'm very happy, and now we have two sets of wheels we can each schedule our own activities without needing to juggle the car.
Friday, 12 February 2010
Boxes and bags of.... stuff
At around 1:40pm on Thursday a big truck arrived carrying our long awaited shipping pallets. They nearly didn't arrive, as the person Beth arranged the delivery with over the phone on Monday had written down the wrong day, but we called after waiting over three hours and they managed to send a truck almost immediately.
Five pallets, three stacked nearly six feet high and one of them six feet long to accommodate bed parts, were soon standing on the kerbside just yards from our apartment door. In fact we started tearing into the a pallet as soon as the first was ready, while the driver was still unloading, and by the time the last was off the truck we had unwrapped and stowed the contents of the first two.
The pallets were very well protected with layers of black plastic, thick bubble wrap, shrink wrap, cardboard, and yet more shrink wrap to cut through, before we could unstack our bags and boxes. We were hurrying against possible rain, and indeed large drops started falling as we got into the last pallet with the bed parts. We piled the wrappings in piles in the covered alley that runs through our apartment block, and later used the car to distribute the piles round the dumpsters on the apartment complex, so as not to completely fill one.
Beth wrote down the bag numbers to tick back against our packing list, while I stacked and piled things round the apartment in predetermined zones as much as possible. When we had all the numbers from each pallet, Beth joined in the stacking process. At first it didn't seem possible that we could get everything inside, but the apartment is deceptively commodious, so after an hour and a half we had everything inside. Admittedly there was very little empty floor area left, but still enough room to manouver. Just.
First order of the day was to assemble our beds. The only furniture we sent over were some bunk beds, because we had only bought them in 2008 and they were expensive. So we find the slats, the sides, the head and footboards. Hmmm, we can't find the bolts and screws to hold all the bits together. They must be here somewhere, so we begin searching each bag and box for a heavy bag of clinking metal pieces.
Nothing. We've checked every likely box or bag thrice, the unlikely ones at least once, and no nuts and bolts. So we sleep on the mattresses on the floor for another night.
The next day Beth starts to search the boxes and bags again, while I head out in the car to see if I can get the necessary parts at a DIY shop. The main ingredient is a set of bolts which fit into cylindrical retainers which hide inside pre-drilled holes in the long sections. I locate the cylindrical pieces at my first stop, but they only stock the bolts up to 60mm lengths. I didn't know what length I needed at first, so I got a couple of these to test. No good, but at the second stop they give me the name of a third store, Eugene Fastenings, where I locate 90mm bolts, but not 110mm which turns out on closer inspection to be the necessary length.
We have a house appointment with our realtor at 2pm so we break the search, but after that is done we go together to a fourth DIY store, but still they don't have quite the right 110mm bolt. They do have 4.5" roundhead bolts though, and we decide to try these, with a washer on each to pad the bolt head.
Finally, they work. To cut a long story short, we assemble the beds in a couple of hours, push them into place, and lay our mattresses on top. They don't fit.
At least they don't quite fit, being slightly wider than the box-shaped bunk wants to accommodate. Metric meets Imperial, America conquers Denmark. Beth squishes hers into place, and I use the thin foam mattress that we also had shipped to fill the box of my bunk, and lay the mattress on top. It's not perfect, but for the first time in two months we won't be sleeping on mattresses on the floor, and the cats will have to work a bit harder to wake us in the morning.
As for our other stuff, and goodness there's a lot of it, about 80% will stay in the boxes it travelled in, as we don't need it right now, and we haven't go room to unpack anyway. We'll dig out the odd book, DVD, game or item of clothing, but we've managed without most of this stuff since August, and we can last a couple more months until we really have room to spread out and reorganise.
Five pallets, three stacked nearly six feet high and one of them six feet long to accommodate bed parts, were soon standing on the kerbside just yards from our apartment door. In fact we started tearing into the a pallet as soon as the first was ready, while the driver was still unloading, and by the time the last was off the truck we had unwrapped and stowed the contents of the first two.
The pallets were very well protected with layers of black plastic, thick bubble wrap, shrink wrap, cardboard, and yet more shrink wrap to cut through, before we could unstack our bags and boxes. We were hurrying against possible rain, and indeed large drops started falling as we got into the last pallet with the bed parts. We piled the wrappings in piles in the covered alley that runs through our apartment block, and later used the car to distribute the piles round the dumpsters on the apartment complex, so as not to completely fill one.
Beth wrote down the bag numbers to tick back against our packing list, while I stacked and piled things round the apartment in predetermined zones as much as possible. When we had all the numbers from each pallet, Beth joined in the stacking process. At first it didn't seem possible that we could get everything inside, but the apartment is deceptively commodious, so after an hour and a half we had everything inside. Admittedly there was very little empty floor area left, but still enough room to manouver. Just.
First order of the day was to assemble our beds. The only furniture we sent over were some bunk beds, because we had only bought them in 2008 and they were expensive. So we find the slats, the sides, the head and footboards. Hmmm, we can't find the bolts and screws to hold all the bits together. They must be here somewhere, so we begin searching each bag and box for a heavy bag of clinking metal pieces.
Nothing. We've checked every likely box or bag thrice, the unlikely ones at least once, and no nuts and bolts. So we sleep on the mattresses on the floor for another night.
The next day Beth starts to search the boxes and bags again, while I head out in the car to see if I can get the necessary parts at a DIY shop. The main ingredient is a set of bolts which fit into cylindrical retainers which hide inside pre-drilled holes in the long sections. I locate the cylindrical pieces at my first stop, but they only stock the bolts up to 60mm lengths. I didn't know what length I needed at first, so I got a couple of these to test. No good, but at the second stop they give me the name of a third store, Eugene Fastenings, where I locate 90mm bolts, but not 110mm which turns out on closer inspection to be the necessary length.
We have a house appointment with our realtor at 2pm so we break the search, but after that is done we go together to a fourth DIY store, but still they don't have quite the right 110mm bolt. They do have 4.5" roundhead bolts though, and we decide to try these, with a washer on each to pad the bolt head.
Finally, they work. To cut a long story short, we assemble the beds in a couple of hours, push them into place, and lay our mattresses on top. They don't fit.
At least they don't quite fit, being slightly wider than the box-shaped bunk wants to accommodate. Metric meets Imperial, America conquers Denmark. Beth squishes hers into place, and I use the thin foam mattress that we also had shipped to fill the box of my bunk, and lay the mattress on top. It's not perfect, but for the first time in two months we won't be sleeping on mattresses on the floor, and the cats will have to work a bit harder to wake us in the morning.
As for our other stuff, and goodness there's a lot of it, about 80% will stay in the boxes it travelled in, as we don't need it right now, and we haven't go room to unpack anyway. We'll dig out the odd book, DVD, game or item of clothing, but we've managed without most of this stuff since August, and we can last a couple more months until we really have room to spread out and reorganise.
Saturday, 6 February 2010
Clocking On
I've completed my first four-day week as a Wal*Mart Sales Associate, though three days were spent entirely in training, so I've had just one day on the shop floor.
Wal*Mart gets a certain amount of flak in the US, in the same way that Tesco does in the UK. Some people resent the company's success, and they way their presence in a town can damage, and often eventually destroy, local shopping high streets and old established (i.e. dusty and outdated) companies.
I can't resent Wal*Mart, or Tesco, for doing what everyone else is trying to do and being more successful at it, and I'm very grateful that they're prepared to employ me, even though I have no previous retail experience, or indeed experience of working in the USA at all. Meanwhile I'm learning a lot, and enjoying a job that requires more physical activity than my previous 15 years as a desk jockey, though I did feel quite stiff after a day standing, lifting and carrying, pushing and pulling, and generally working the store.
The first thing for me to grasp is what I am required to do every day. Let's assume that at 9am on day 1 the shelves are all neatly filled with items the customers want to buy, are correctly labelled for price, and are in good condition.
By 10am some items will have been bought (excellent), some taken off one shelf and returned to the wrong shelf, or moved to a different part of the store entirely before the customer decides to abandon it. Some may have been broken open to smell (this seems to apply particularly to tumble-dryer sheets), or feel (tissues), and left, the customer of course taking a fresh unopened item if they decide to buy. Some items will unfortunately have been stolen.
By 9am on day 2 the shelves will be a mess, if the Sales Associates don't keep busy. During the day then, I am "zoning", which means tidying the shelves, ensuring the items are easy to see and reach, bringing stock forward on the shelves if the front row has been disarrayed or bought, and also making sure the area is safe for everyone by picking up litter and mopping up any spills. I'm working in Pet Supplies, Household Chemicals and Paper Products, so there's plenty of opportunities for spills.
I'm also available at any time for a customer enquiry. At present I know very little about our stock and where things are located, but I'm picking things up rapidly, and even on my first day was able to guide several customers to what they wanted, take them there, or find a more experienced Associate to provide the knowledge I lacked.
During the evening hours of day 1 after I've left the store, the overnight shift will be "picking", which I understand to mean they examine the sales figures (via the till receipts and the computer system), and put out replacement stock on trolleys in the back (or receiving) area, ready for Associates to put onto the shelves. They may also be putting stock on the shelves, and possibly arranging new displays. Wal*Mart is open 24/7, so we restock the shelves continuously.
Stock which has been abandoned within the shop can be returned to the shelves (if it's undamaged), or put side at the front of the store for someone else to do so. Yesterday I tended to di it all myself, but if I don't know where something belongs then I'll have to let someone else do it.
Broken items and items with broken packaging we usually remove from the shelves and take back to "Claims". For things that people like smelling or touching (e.g. air fresheners, tissues) , we might leave out one open box as a tester, because if we don't someone will only open a new box anyway. "Claims" (named for the fact that we will usually try to claim a refund from the manufacturer) covers anything that is in an unsaleable condition, and also deals with stolen stock, assuming we have something (say an empty box) to show that an item was stolen. Of course there are security cameras and other methods in place, but you can't catch everything. Wal*Mart actually catches and prosecutes about three times the number of shoplifters that our rivals do, so it's a really bad place to try your luck.
Customers may also return items after purchase for many possible reasons. These may go back on the shelves, or go back to claims if they are damaged or otherwise unsaleable.
So after Day One on the shop floor, I'd define my main three work goals as:
1) Maintain a clean, tidy, safe and friendly environment for the the customers and staff.
2) Keep shelves stocked and items and prices easy to find, so the shopper can find the items they need.
3) Help the customers enjoy their shopping experience, so they leave happy and want to return.
Wal*Mart gets a certain amount of flak in the US, in the same way that Tesco does in the UK. Some people resent the company's success, and they way their presence in a town can damage, and often eventually destroy, local shopping high streets and old established (i.e. dusty and outdated) companies.
I can't resent Wal*Mart, or Tesco, for doing what everyone else is trying to do and being more successful at it, and I'm very grateful that they're prepared to employ me, even though I have no previous retail experience, or indeed experience of working in the USA at all. Meanwhile I'm learning a lot, and enjoying a job that requires more physical activity than my previous 15 years as a desk jockey, though I did feel quite stiff after a day standing, lifting and carrying, pushing and pulling, and generally working the store.
The first thing for me to grasp is what I am required to do every day. Let's assume that at 9am on day 1 the shelves are all neatly filled with items the customers want to buy, are correctly labelled for price, and are in good condition.
By 10am some items will have been bought (excellent), some taken off one shelf and returned to the wrong shelf, or moved to a different part of the store entirely before the customer decides to abandon it. Some may have been broken open to smell (this seems to apply particularly to tumble-dryer sheets), or feel (tissues), and left, the customer of course taking a fresh unopened item if they decide to buy. Some items will unfortunately have been stolen.
By 9am on day 2 the shelves will be a mess, if the Sales Associates don't keep busy. During the day then, I am "zoning", which means tidying the shelves, ensuring the items are easy to see and reach, bringing stock forward on the shelves if the front row has been disarrayed or bought, and also making sure the area is safe for everyone by picking up litter and mopping up any spills. I'm working in Pet Supplies, Household Chemicals and Paper Products, so there's plenty of opportunities for spills.
I'm also available at any time for a customer enquiry. At present I know very little about our stock and where things are located, but I'm picking things up rapidly, and even on my first day was able to guide several customers to what they wanted, take them there, or find a more experienced Associate to provide the knowledge I lacked.
During the evening hours of day 1 after I've left the store, the overnight shift will be "picking", which I understand to mean they examine the sales figures (via the till receipts and the computer system), and put out replacement stock on trolleys in the back (or receiving) area, ready for Associates to put onto the shelves. They may also be putting stock on the shelves, and possibly arranging new displays. Wal*Mart is open 24/7, so we restock the shelves continuously.
Stock which has been abandoned within the shop can be returned to the shelves (if it's undamaged), or put side at the front of the store for someone else to do so. Yesterday I tended to di it all myself, but if I don't know where something belongs then I'll have to let someone else do it.
Broken items and items with broken packaging we usually remove from the shelves and take back to "Claims". For things that people like smelling or touching (e.g. air fresheners, tissues) , we might leave out one open box as a tester, because if we don't someone will only open a new box anyway. "Claims" (named for the fact that we will usually try to claim a refund from the manufacturer) covers anything that is in an unsaleable condition, and also deals with stolen stock, assuming we have something (say an empty box) to show that an item was stolen. Of course there are security cameras and other methods in place, but you can't catch everything. Wal*Mart actually catches and prosecutes about three times the number of shoplifters that our rivals do, so it's a really bad place to try your luck.
Customers may also return items after purchase for many possible reasons. These may go back on the shelves, or go back to claims if they are damaged or otherwise unsaleable.
So after Day One on the shop floor, I'd define my main three work goals as:
1) Maintain a clean, tidy, safe and friendly environment for the the customers and staff.
2) Keep shelves stocked and items and prices easy to find, so the shopper can find the items they need.
3) Help the customers enjoy their shopping experience, so they leave happy and want to return.
Thursday, 4 February 2010
The Frog Chorus
Beth and I just drove a mile west to a carpark on the edge of the Wet Prairie, to listen to the frogs singing.
Every evening at dusk they start up, and we can hear them from the just outside the door to the apartment, but we wanted to get closer and hear them properly. It's now 9:45pm so they've been going for hours with no signs of stopping.
It's fun for us, and we hope to still hear them in the new house, asd there's a creek running right across the end of the garden. Maybe the locals are fed up with the noise, or maybe it just forms a susurrus, but I don't think we'll ever tire of feeling closer to nature.
Every evening at dusk they start up, and we can hear them from the just outside the door to the apartment, but we wanted to get closer and hear them properly. It's now 9:45pm so they've been going for hours with no signs of stopping.
It's fun for us, and we hope to still hear them in the new house, asd there's a creek running right across the end of the garden. Maybe the locals are fed up with the noise, or maybe it just forms a susurrus, but I don't think we'll ever tire of feeling closer to nature.
Thursday, 28 January 2010
Pik-Nik Original Shoestring Potatoes
One of the processes Beth had to to through, and I am now going through in acclimatising to a new country and new foods, is trying to find things which approximate something you like. This is a process filled with potential disaster.
Sometimes it's just labelling - Orville Redenbacker's Salt & Sweet popcorn in the UK called Kettlecorn here. Sometimes the same product just tastes different due to the formulation. Sometimes a different product is labelled the same - Milky Way in the US is a Mars Bar in the UK.
In trying out various chips (crisps), I recently came across a tube of Pik-Nik Original Shoestring Potatoes. On the back of the pack it says "For over sixty years, Pik-Nik has been making the highest quality, best tasting shoestring potatoes in the world". Well, to save you the disappointment I suffered, I'll tell you now this not true.
They're actually very greasy, and when you open the tube you get a waft of stale chip-fat that turns the stomach. Chomp a couple of mouthfulls, and that taste will be in your mouth on and off for hours. You need an oral antimacassar. Basic Tesco and Sainsbury's equivalents are much nicer.
I'm now on a quest to discover a brand of shoestring potatoes, or potato sticks, that is not saturated in stale grease, so if you know of one do please add a comment or email me.
Sometimes it's just labelling - Orville Redenbacker's Salt & Sweet popcorn in the UK called Kettlecorn here. Sometimes the same product just tastes different due to the formulation. Sometimes a different product is labelled the same - Milky Way in the US is a Mars Bar in the UK.
In trying out various chips (crisps), I recently came across a tube of Pik-Nik Original Shoestring Potatoes. On the back of the pack it says "For over sixty years, Pik-Nik has been making the highest quality, best tasting shoestring potatoes in the world". Well, to save you the disappointment I suffered, I'll tell you now this not true.
They're actually very greasy, and when you open the tube you get a waft of stale chip-fat that turns the stomach. Chomp a couple of mouthfulls, and that taste will be in your mouth on and off for hours. You need an oral antimacassar. Basic Tesco and Sainsbury's equivalents are much nicer.
I'm now on a quest to discover a brand of shoestring potatoes, or potato sticks, that is not saturated in stale grease, so if you know of one do please add a comment or email me.
Measures 66 & 67
Oregon, like most US States, has a budget deficit due to the economic climate, and needed to address it. We've recently had the vote omn the two measures designed to bring in the $472 needed to pay for schools, hospitals and public safety. I don't get a vote, but Beth did as she is now registered to vote in the state of Oregon (previously she was registered to vote in Washington).
Measure 66 deals with personal income, and the proposal was to increase taxes on people earning over $125,000 pa, or $250,000 as a couple, by 1.8% up to $500,000 (per couple), and $2 above that. The increase halves in 2012.
If you're earning $125,000 you're already in the top 2% of wage earners in the country, if you're earning less this measure won't affect you, unless you're unemployed and on benefits in which case your taxes are reduced. I'm prepared to bet that Oregon does not have their full share of 2%, because most of these high-earners will be on Wall Street or in Hollywood, but let's pretend they do, so that's about 75,800 people.
The extra tax burden, if you earn $250,000 a year as an individual, would be $5,000. That's about the same as our property Taxes will be on a 2,500 sq ft house.
You'd figure there's be 2% voting against this measure purely on financial grounds, and 98% voting for? It actually passed by 54% to 46%. Assuming the super-rich voted against the measure, that leaves 44% of voters who voted against the measure even though it would benefit their services and not hurt them financially. Hmmm.
Measure 67 raised the base rate of business tax from $10 a year to $150 a year. The $10 rate has been the same since 1931. Depending on how you measure the real value of money, $10 in 1931 is worth between $118 and $1400 now, so this tax measure is only bringing the base tax up to scale. It also passed by 54% yes to 46% no votes.
Measure 66 deals with personal income, and the proposal was to increase taxes on people earning over $125,000 pa, or $250,000 as a couple, by 1.8% up to $500,000 (per couple), and $2 above that. The increase halves in 2012.
If you're earning $125,000 you're already in the top 2% of wage earners in the country, if you're earning less this measure won't affect you, unless you're unemployed and on benefits in which case your taxes are reduced. I'm prepared to bet that Oregon does not have their full share of 2%, because most of these high-earners will be on Wall Street or in Hollywood, but let's pretend they do, so that's about 75,800 people.
The extra tax burden, if you earn $250,000 a year as an individual, would be $5,000. That's about the same as our property Taxes will be on a 2,500 sq ft house.
You'd figure there's be 2% voting against this measure purely on financial grounds, and 98% voting for? It actually passed by 54% to 46%. Assuming the super-rich voted against the measure, that leaves 44% of voters who voted against the measure even though it would benefit their services and not hurt them financially. Hmmm.
Measure 67 raised the base rate of business tax from $10 a year to $150 a year. The $10 rate has been the same since 1931. Depending on how you measure the real value of money, $10 in 1931 is worth between $118 and $1400 now, so this tax measure is only bringing the base tax up to scale. It also passed by 54% yes to 46% no votes.
Wednesday, 27 January 2010
Eugene Library
Since the first week we arrived in Eugene we've been visiting the library. Beth is a voracious reader, and can complete a book in less than a day if undisturbed. I'm a slower reader, but enjoy DVDs and CD audio books.
In Ealing there was a small charge for reserving a book if it wasn't on the shelves, about 75p and there was a charge for borrowing tapes, CDs and DVDs, usually 1.50 GBP.
In Eugene, no charge.
Of course the library is funded via city taxes, so we are paying for it really and it's sensible to use that resource, but with no incremental charges we're been borrowing like crazy. There are three library branches round the city, the Downtown Library being the biggest but with limited parking, so we use the Bethel Library, nearer to us and with ample free parking, as our home branch.
Our usual method is to reserve items online, then we receive an email confirming when they are available for pick up at our chosen branch, and we pop along and pick them off the holding shelves. No shelf-searching necessary, though that is fun too,
The Library's online system has a calculator to estimate how much we have saved by borrowing rather than buying. With a standard paperback novel costing at least $8-12, DVDs anything from $3 to $10 for an older title, and CD audio books around $30, we estimate we've saved maybe $1,500 in seven weeks. With limited space, and a desire to keep our apartment and eventually our home more clutter-free, we'll only be buying books we intend to read or refer to multiple times from now on.
There's also the beneft of trying something we might like without the financial outlay, so I'm borrowing CDs sets on various US Presidents to learn some US history, and I've been reading up on the history of Eugene itself in the Downtown reference section.
The staff are courteous and helpful (tip to Ealing Library staff, try this sometime), the checking out systems actually work, and from the busyness everytime we go, the Library services are widely used. It makes a very pleasant change.
In Ealing there was a small charge for reserving a book if it wasn't on the shelves, about 75p and there was a charge for borrowing tapes, CDs and DVDs, usually 1.50 GBP.
In Eugene, no charge.
Of course the library is funded via city taxes, so we are paying for it really and it's sensible to use that resource, but with no incremental charges we're been borrowing like crazy. There are three library branches round the city, the Downtown Library being the biggest but with limited parking, so we use the Bethel Library, nearer to us and with ample free parking, as our home branch.
Our usual method is to reserve items online, then we receive an email confirming when they are available for pick up at our chosen branch, and we pop along and pick them off the holding shelves. No shelf-searching necessary, though that is fun too,
The Library's online system has a calculator to estimate how much we have saved by borrowing rather than buying. With a standard paperback novel costing at least $8-12, DVDs anything from $3 to $10 for an older title, and CD audio books around $30, we estimate we've saved maybe $1,500 in seven weeks. With limited space, and a desire to keep our apartment and eventually our home more clutter-free, we'll only be buying books we intend to read or refer to multiple times from now on.
There's also the beneft of trying something we might like without the financial outlay, so I'm borrowing CDs sets on various US Presidents to learn some US history, and I've been reading up on the history of Eugene itself in the Downtown reference section.
The staff are courteous and helpful (tip to Ealing Library staff, try this sometime), the checking out systems actually work, and from the busyness everytime we go, the Library services are widely used. It makes a very pleasant change.
Tuesday, 26 January 2010
Orientation, Shipping, Solicitors
My job orientation which I was expecting to do today is now scheduled for next Tuesday. Apparently they had a lot of new appointees so they split the induction over two weeks. I don't mind, it gives me a little more free time to do things, and the money isn't important so much as actually having a job, but it would have been nice if they had called me with the news instead of me having to call them to find out.
Our container shipping is due to arrive today at Long Beach in Southern California, just south of Los Angeles. Customs will inspect and X-ray it, then our shipping company will inform us of the customs charges (we're anticipating minimum $130 for the X-rays) which we pay to the shipping company via cashier's check. Once they have our payment they'll load our five pallets onto a big truck, and I anticipate a 2 day drive to get them to our front door. Hopefully then we'll have everything by the end of next week at the latest.
That's a little longer than we initially expected, but there's not much we can do with the contents while we're in our apartment anyway, so it's no big deal. Beth has some clothes packed in there that she wants, but the majority of the boxes and bags will just be stacked around the walls unopened. Our home insurance will be altered to allow for the extra contents value.
Over the weekend we contacted several Solicitors in London via email, to choose one arrange the legal paperwork for our house sale. We're not terribly impressed with our agents Foxtons regarding this, as it would have been easier to start while we were still in London, and no mention of this requirement was made until this weekend. Foxtons did a good job on marketing the house and getting viewings, but they haven't been great on communication and explanation. However we have now engaged a Solicitor, and are awaiting the paperwork.
Our new kitten Ghost continues to grow in confidence, spending longer periods in the apartment playing or exploring, but still likes to go outside frequently, sitting on the doormat and watching the world go by.
Our container shipping is due to arrive today at Long Beach in Southern California, just south of Los Angeles. Customs will inspect and X-ray it, then our shipping company will inform us of the customs charges (we're anticipating minimum $130 for the X-rays) which we pay to the shipping company via cashier's check. Once they have our payment they'll load our five pallets onto a big truck, and I anticipate a 2 day drive to get them to our front door. Hopefully then we'll have everything by the end of next week at the latest.
That's a little longer than we initially expected, but there's not much we can do with the contents while we're in our apartment anyway, so it's no big deal. Beth has some clothes packed in there that she wants, but the majority of the boxes and bags will just be stacked around the walls unopened. Our home insurance will be altered to allow for the extra contents value.
Over the weekend we contacted several Solicitors in London via email, to choose one arrange the legal paperwork for our house sale. We're not terribly impressed with our agents Foxtons regarding this, as it would have been easier to start while we were still in London, and no mention of this requirement was made until this weekend. Foxtons did a good job on marketing the house and getting viewings, but they haven't been great on communication and explanation. However we have now engaged a Solicitor, and are awaiting the paperwork.
Our new kitten Ghost continues to grow in confidence, spending longer periods in the apartment playing or exploring, but still likes to go outside frequently, sitting on the doormat and watching the world go by.
Sunday, 24 January 2010
Spencer Butte
Yesterday was beautiful, dry warm and sunny, more like June than January. We'd been thinking of a car tour as an outing if it was cold or wet, but it was too nice a day to sit in the car, so we did a bit of internet research, and came up with the idea of climbing Spencer Butte.
A butte (pronounced beaut as in beautiful) is a hill or small mountain. I'd climbed Skinner Butte last Summer, one day during our 3 week visit when it was too hot for Beth to leave the air-conditioned motel room, and it wasn't so big, though in the heat it was enough. Skinner Butte is 682 feet, but Spencer Butte, a few miles south of the city, is 2,062 feet.
We drove off guided by our GPS system, but we're coming to the conclusion that it sometimes likes to take the scenic route. The straightforward route to Spencer Butte from our apartment is along Roosevelt Boulevard to Highway 99, along that to Willamette Street, and straight South along Willamette Street to the public car park at the base of the Butte. Our GPS sent us off through a tour of the South Hills, an area we wrote off as a possible home neighbourhood because of the rollercoaster roads that make us both queasy. As a consequence of trusting technology over our own instincts, we arrived at the car park a little nauseous.
However now we were in the clean fresh air, and with the car park already half full it was clear we would not be alone on the Butte. We set off along the clearly marked trail, about a mile to the summit, the second half being more of a climb with some scrambling over rocks. We met a few people going in both directions, some with kids, some with dogs. The climb is mostly shrouded by trees until you get near the summit, so it's peaceful and sheltered. As we neared the top, after a few pauses for breath, the views opened out, and we were presented with a 360 degree vista.
That isn't actually 360, but you get the idea.
There were 20 or 30 people resting at the top, taking in the scene, and what a scene. This is the highest peak near Eugene, giving a wonderful view over the city, and the wide open acres with very little in the way of human interference all round. We sat on the rocky outcrops and soaked it up, then took a few pictures to celebrate our first visit.
A butte (pronounced beaut as in beautiful) is a hill or small mountain. I'd climbed Skinner Butte last Summer, one day during our 3 week visit when it was too hot for Beth to leave the air-conditioned motel room, and it wasn't so big, though in the heat it was enough. Skinner Butte is 682 feet, but Spencer Butte, a few miles south of the city, is 2,062 feet.
We drove off guided by our GPS system, but we're coming to the conclusion that it sometimes likes to take the scenic route. The straightforward route to Spencer Butte from our apartment is along Roosevelt Boulevard to Highway 99, along that to Willamette Street, and straight South along Willamette Street to the public car park at the base of the Butte. Our GPS sent us off through a tour of the South Hills, an area we wrote off as a possible home neighbourhood because of the rollercoaster roads that make us both queasy. As a consequence of trusting technology over our own instincts, we arrived at the car park a little nauseous.
However now we were in the clean fresh air, and with the car park already half full it was clear we would not be alone on the Butte. We set off along the clearly marked trail, about a mile to the summit, the second half being more of a climb with some scrambling over rocks. We met a few people going in both directions, some with kids, some with dogs. The climb is mostly shrouded by trees until you get near the summit, so it's peaceful and sheltered. As we neared the top, after a few pauses for breath, the views opened out, and we were presented with a 360 degree vista.
That isn't actually 360, but you get the idea.
There were 20 or 30 people resting at the top, taking in the scene, and what a scene. This is the highest peak near Eugene, giving a wonderful view over the city, and the wide open acres with very little in the way of human interference all round. We sat on the rocky outcrops and soaked it up, then took a few pictures to celebrate our first visit.
Friday, 22 January 2010
House news, interviews, job, music
It's been a busy week.
We woke Monday morning to the news that we had an offer on our London house. It's only been on the market ten weeks, and that includes the deadest time of the year over the Winter Holiday period, but it felt like an eternity to us, so we were very happy to accept the offer.
That enabled us to contact our broker in Eugene regarding the house we have seen and like very much. We had approached the owners with a potential contract to lock us in for four months, i.e if our house got an offer in the next four months we would buy their house, with a small amount on deposit to shown our goodwill.
Understandably that was too risky for the owners, who already had another offer on the table, but with different strings attached. Our call (via our broker) came through just in time, the husband was about to accept their other offer and was literally standing outside their lawyer's office with his hand on the doorhandle.
Maybe that bit of synchronicity triggered some extra luck for us, because the next morning I got a call for a job interview from one of the local retailers. With an hour to shave and dress smartly, I went through two interviews, then a drug test, and was offered a job starting next week with a day's orientation. Our lovely broker and another local friend acted as my references, and they both talked me up a storm which undoubtedly helped my case.
For now the job is only as a part-time Sales Associate, but it's my first experience of work in the US, it's some dollars coming in, and it doesn't require me to sit on my rear for eight hours a day destroying my eyesight at a computer screen and knackering my hearing talking on the phone. It should also give me experience dealing with the Great American Public.
On Wednesday Beth got called for an interview with the University of Oregon. The interview was scheduled for Thursday afternoon, so we had some time to upgrade her interview outfit, and get some work clothes for me.
Thursday was a beautiful sunny day. Beth got ready for her interview and I planned to take a bike ride while she was gone. Off went Beth in the car, and I lay down for a little rest before setting off. By the time I woke she was back, so no bike ride happened. It was still a nice day though, so we had a walk round the apartment complex instead. In the evening we went to a music session at a friend's house, this time a beautiful house designed by the owner and built by her son, right near the Willamette River. Neither of us had had much time for music practise, so I fumbled my way through a couple of jigs when it was my turn to lead, and mostly we passed and just played along with what we could.
Just as we were leaving one of my fellow fiddlers, known as Chico, handed me a business card and asked if he could pick my brains sometime about Morris Dancing. I'd been meaning to get in touch with the Eugene Folkdance Society as I'd heard that they tried to start a Morris side last year but it got shelved. Now here was someone seeking me out for my Morris Expertise! Well, four years playing and dancing doesn't really make me an expert, but it does make me the most experienced Morris Dancer in Eugene.
Finally Friday rolled around, and we went with our Broker to see the house that we are making an offer on, and talk again with the family. We had another viewing, measured a few rooms, determined a few paint colors, and went through the necessary paperwork. We now have a schedule, our own house sale should close on 19th February, we close this end on 15th March and they rent the house back from us for a month while they finish moving out. We move in on 15th April.
While all this has been going on we've also been integrating a stray kitten into our lives. There are several cats we've seen wandering around the complex, but this little creature has been returning to our door every night for about ten days. Returning because we feed her, of course, but we're feeding her because she seems to be abandoned. The mother cat has been around a couple of times and rounded her up, but she keeps coming back. In another week or so we'll be taking her to Lane County Animal Services for registration, shots, and neutering, and after a couple more weeks we can formally adopt her. On Monday she would let us touch her if her mother was next to her, by Thursday she was playing with a toy and coming inside to visit, though she still runs to the door and meows if we close it.
Elbie, the cat we brought from London, is generally accepting of her, either ignoring her or staring at her, but never mean to her. We say her, it's just a guess at present. We called her Clockwork Ghost from the way she flitted about beneath cars and in the shadows, Ghost for short.
New job, new house, new kitten, our shipping soon to arrive in the US, and when we've sold our house, a new car to be thought about. Lots going on, no wonder I'm exhausted.
We woke Monday morning to the news that we had an offer on our London house. It's only been on the market ten weeks, and that includes the deadest time of the year over the Winter Holiday period, but it felt like an eternity to us, so we were very happy to accept the offer.
That enabled us to contact our broker in Eugene regarding the house we have seen and like very much. We had approached the owners with a potential contract to lock us in for four months, i.e if our house got an offer in the next four months we would buy their house, with a small amount on deposit to shown our goodwill.
Understandably that was too risky for the owners, who already had another offer on the table, but with different strings attached. Our call (via our broker) came through just in time, the husband was about to accept their other offer and was literally standing outside their lawyer's office with his hand on the doorhandle.
Maybe that bit of synchronicity triggered some extra luck for us, because the next morning I got a call for a job interview from one of the local retailers. With an hour to shave and dress smartly, I went through two interviews, then a drug test, and was offered a job starting next week with a day's orientation. Our lovely broker and another local friend acted as my references, and they both talked me up a storm which undoubtedly helped my case.
For now the job is only as a part-time Sales Associate, but it's my first experience of work in the US, it's some dollars coming in, and it doesn't require me to sit on my rear for eight hours a day destroying my eyesight at a computer screen and knackering my hearing talking on the phone. It should also give me experience dealing with the Great American Public.
On Wednesday Beth got called for an interview with the University of Oregon. The interview was scheduled for Thursday afternoon, so we had some time to upgrade her interview outfit, and get some work clothes for me.
Thursday was a beautiful sunny day. Beth got ready for her interview and I planned to take a bike ride while she was gone. Off went Beth in the car, and I lay down for a little rest before setting off. By the time I woke she was back, so no bike ride happened. It was still a nice day though, so we had a walk round the apartment complex instead. In the evening we went to a music session at a friend's house, this time a beautiful house designed by the owner and built by her son, right near the Willamette River. Neither of us had had much time for music practise, so I fumbled my way through a couple of jigs when it was my turn to lead, and mostly we passed and just played along with what we could.
Just as we were leaving one of my fellow fiddlers, known as Chico, handed me a business card and asked if he could pick my brains sometime about Morris Dancing. I'd been meaning to get in touch with the Eugene Folkdance Society as I'd heard that they tried to start a Morris side last year but it got shelved. Now here was someone seeking me out for my Morris Expertise! Well, four years playing and dancing doesn't really make me an expert, but it does make me the most experienced Morris Dancer in Eugene.
Finally Friday rolled around, and we went with our Broker to see the house that we are making an offer on, and talk again with the family. We had another viewing, measured a few rooms, determined a few paint colors, and went through the necessary paperwork. We now have a schedule, our own house sale should close on 19th February, we close this end on 15th March and they rent the house back from us for a month while they finish moving out. We move in on 15th April.
While all this has been going on we've also been integrating a stray kitten into our lives. There are several cats we've seen wandering around the complex, but this little creature has been returning to our door every night for about ten days. Returning because we feed her, of course, but we're feeding her because she seems to be abandoned. The mother cat has been around a couple of times and rounded her up, but she keeps coming back. In another week or so we'll be taking her to Lane County Animal Services for registration, shots, and neutering, and after a couple more weeks we can formally adopt her. On Monday she would let us touch her if her mother was next to her, by Thursday she was playing with a toy and coming inside to visit, though she still runs to the door and meows if we close it.
Elbie, the cat we brought from London, is generally accepting of her, either ignoring her or staring at her, but never mean to her. We say her, it's just a guess at present. We called her Clockwork Ghost from the way she flitted about beneath cars and in the shadows, Ghost for short.
New job, new house, new kitten, our shipping soon to arrive in the US, and when we've sold our house, a new car to be thought about. Lots going on, no wonder I'm exhausted.
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
Oregon Rain
There are many web forums dedicated to helping people move around, from country to country or within the US, with information and discussion on various topics. We found these very useful for Visa information, but I've mostly given up reading them now as they're full of tales of woe, or moaning about various aspects of life in the place being moved from or moved to. One thing that always gets a lot of flak is the weather in the Northwest.
It rains in Oregon, OK? Oddly enough it rains pretty much everywhere, and where it doesn't people wish it did. Somehow though, Oregon and Washington seem to come in for more complaining than other states, or maybe I'm just noticing it more.
The mean annual rainfall in Eugene is much the same as it was back in London, ditto the temperature. In Eugene though, we get wetter Winters and dryer Summers. It's rained a lot in the last few weeks but no more than I would expect in London, and to me at least, it's been less inconvenient. Much of the rain falls at night, all of it falls outdoors, and we've had several dry, warm and sunny days even in December and January. We keep tabs on the weather in London, and this Winter there's been an unusually heavy fall of snow across the UK, which is pretty for a couple of days and then a nuisance until it's all melted and the flood waters have receded.
We also get more daylight hours here than in London, being seven degrees further South, and I did find Winter in London a particularly dismal affair, sometimes not needing to draw the curtains for days on end as it was so dark, and when outside, schlocking about with head down against the rain, coat drawn up around the ears against the cold, and feet constantly cold and damp from the rain, splashes and puddles.
Masybe I'm painting a slightly worse picture of London than it really is, but I'm certainly not missing the weather there, or disliking the weather here.
It rains in Oregon, OK? Oddly enough it rains pretty much everywhere, and where it doesn't people wish it did. Somehow though, Oregon and Washington seem to come in for more complaining than other states, or maybe I'm just noticing it more.
The mean annual rainfall in Eugene is much the same as it was back in London, ditto the temperature. In Eugene though, we get wetter Winters and dryer Summers. It's rained a lot in the last few weeks but no more than I would expect in London, and to me at least, it's been less inconvenient. Much of the rain falls at night, all of it falls outdoors, and we've had several dry, warm and sunny days even in December and January. We keep tabs on the weather in London, and this Winter there's been an unusually heavy fall of snow across the UK, which is pretty for a couple of days and then a nuisance until it's all melted and the flood waters have receded.
We also get more daylight hours here than in London, being seven degrees further South, and I did find Winter in London a particularly dismal affair, sometimes not needing to draw the curtains for days on end as it was so dark, and when outside, schlocking about with head down against the rain, coat drawn up around the ears against the cold, and feet constantly cold and damp from the rain, splashes and puddles.
Masybe I'm painting a slightly worse picture of London than it really is, but I'm certainly not missing the weather there, or disliking the weather here.
No Tax to Pay?
Most states carry a sales tax of between 2.9% (Colorado) and 8.25% (California), and sometimes there are County sales taxes or City sales taxes on top. Generally you can add about 6% to the shelf price for anything you buy except a few basic foods.
Oregon is one of only five US states that do not impose any form of general sales tax on the sale or use of tangible personal property within the state. (Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Oregon).
In practise this makes shopping a lot simpler, as the price you see on the shelf matches the price at the till. Why the sales taxes aren't incorporated into the shelf price in other states is beyond me, but they aren't, so you get that nasty and confusing sting at the till.
For an Englishman, used to seeing the price you pay, that makes life much simpler, and as we've been in shopping mode the last six weeks it's also made life quite a bit cheaper. We'll be having another big bout of shopping when we have a house to furnish, but meantime it's still a daily blessing to be able to tot up your purchases as you go along.
Oregon is one of only five US states that do not impose any form of general sales tax on the sale or use of tangible personal property within the state. (Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Oregon).
In practise this makes shopping a lot simpler, as the price you see on the shelf matches the price at the till. Why the sales taxes aren't incorporated into the shelf price in other states is beyond me, but they aren't, so you get that nasty and confusing sting at the till.
For an Englishman, used to seeing the price you pay, that makes life much simpler, and as we've been in shopping mode the last six weeks it's also made life quite a bit cheaper. We'll be having another big bout of shopping when we have a house to furnish, but meantime it's still a daily blessing to be able to tot up your purchases as you go along.
Friday, 15 January 2010
Oregon Driving License & Green Card
Today I passed my Oregon Driving Test practical, and am now a fully licensed US driver. Now that we're both fully licensed in Oregon our joint car insurance has dropped about $22 a month.
In theory it wasn't a big deal, because I was driving legally on my UK license anyway, and there's no specified date when that is no longer accepted. In practise, it's a huge deal to me, and one of the hurdles I felt I had to jump to be at home in the US. A driving license is often used as photo ID, so before this I had to carry my passport everywhere.
I did a written theory test a couple of weeks ago, but failed my first practical last week, because I rolled through a red light when turning right. It's one of the differences between UK driving and US driving that catch me out occasionally.
Most States allow you to turn right on a red light if it is safe to do so (i.e. the way is clear and there's no vehicle coming along from the left) but you still have to stop first, because it's a red light. They allow this turn except where the don't, and not all states allow it, so that's nice and clear.
America has a lot more types of intersection than the UK: Four-way stops, two-way stops, traffic light-controlled junctions, junctions with warning lights but no controls, junctions with stop lights but no controls, and probably others I can't remember. There are also a bunch more speed limits posted around town compared to the UK: 55 on the Beltline Highway, 45 on some major roads, dropping to 35 in shopping areas, 25 in residential districts, 20 in business districts and school zones (during school hours). It can be a full time job just remembering what the current limit is. Don't go by the other drivers, they're often breaking the limit anyway.
The second good news today was the arrival of my Green Card. This is the offical confirmation of my right to live and work in the USA, so I no longer need to carry my Visa (which was in my passport). It's like a credit card, with a somewhat distorted picture of me and my right index fingerprint. There's also a bunch of numbers and letters, I'm sure they're important too.
So a double red letter day, and we're eating out tonight to celebrate, probably at Applebees which was the first restaurant we visited when we came over last June.
In theory it wasn't a big deal, because I was driving legally on my UK license anyway, and there's no specified date when that is no longer accepted. In practise, it's a huge deal to me, and one of the hurdles I felt I had to jump to be at home in the US. A driving license is often used as photo ID, so before this I had to carry my passport everywhere.
I did a written theory test a couple of weeks ago, but failed my first practical last week, because I rolled through a red light when turning right. It's one of the differences between UK driving and US driving that catch me out occasionally.
Most States allow you to turn right on a red light if it is safe to do so (i.e. the way is clear and there's no vehicle coming along from the left) but you still have to stop first, because it's a red light. They allow this turn except where the don't, and not all states allow it, so that's nice and clear.
America has a lot more types of intersection than the UK: Four-way stops, two-way stops, traffic light-controlled junctions, junctions with warning lights but no controls, junctions with stop lights but no controls, and probably others I can't remember. There are also a bunch more speed limits posted around town compared to the UK: 55 on the Beltline Highway, 45 on some major roads, dropping to 35 in shopping areas, 25 in residential districts, 20 in business districts and school zones (during school hours). It can be a full time job just remembering what the current limit is. Don't go by the other drivers, they're often breaking the limit anyway.
The second good news today was the arrival of my Green Card. This is the offical confirmation of my right to live and work in the USA, so I no longer need to carry my Visa (which was in my passport). It's like a credit card, with a somewhat distorted picture of me and my right index fingerprint. There's also a bunch of numbers and letters, I'm sure they're important too.
So a double red letter day, and we're eating out tonight to celebrate, probably at Applebees which was the first restaurant we visited when we came over last June.
Sunday, 10 January 2010
American TV part 2: Cop Shows
It's no longer enough to watch actors playing cops. Columbo, Starsky & Hutch, Inspector Morse, Frost, Inspector Wexford, Wycliffe. Yadda yadda, seen that. We need a new twist, an angle, a gimmick....a shtick.
So we now have a generation of Cop shows where the central character is not a cop, but works with the cops each week to solve the crime.
The Mentalist - the central character is an expert in "reading" people, he's an ex conman and hypnotist.
Medium - the central character communicates with the dead. Very handy for solving murders.
Castle - the central character is a crime novelist.
Monk - the central character has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. last time I checked he was working as a butler.
Some of these shows are pretty good, I really enjoy The Mentalist because there's a lot of humor in it, and my wife is a fan of Medium. I'm just worried what's going to happen when they apply the same "when is a cop not a cop?" shtick to hospital dramas.
So we now have a generation of Cop shows where the central character is not a cop, but works with the cops each week to solve the crime.
The Mentalist - the central character is an expert in "reading" people, he's an ex conman and hypnotist.
Medium - the central character communicates with the dead. Very handy for solving murders.
Castle - the central character is a crime novelist.
Monk - the central character has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. last time I checked he was working as a butler.
Some of these shows are pretty good, I really enjoy The Mentalist because there's a lot of humor in it, and my wife is a fan of Medium. I'm just worried what's going to happen when they apply the same "when is a cop not a cop?" shtick to hospital dramas.
American TV part 1: Adverts
We don't get cable or satellite, so my observations on American TV are based solely on the terrestrial channels, mostly ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting).
Adverts. We got them in the UK on most channels (not the BBC), and they'd crop up every 15 minutes, so in a 1/2 hour show you'd get adverts at the beginning, middle, and end. We countered this by recording everything we wanted to see and fast forwarding through the ads. The show would actually cover about 25 minutes of the half hour. In an hour or longer show, they might space the breaks further apart but run longer ad breaks.
In the US you get an advert break before a show, then right after the opening credits, a couple of times during, and right before the closing credits, so a 1/2 hour show would have about 21 minutes of actual show.
Perhaps that's not so bad considering we're paying nothing for our viewing. In the US once you've bought the set and the aerial, the actual viewing s free, compared to the UK TV license at a current 142.50 GBP a year.
However if we DID get cable or satellite TV, those extra channels also carry adverts, so you're paying at least $30 a month for the channels, and you still have to watch the ads. Hmmm.
For the ads themselves, there are a heck of a lot of Medical ads, mostly pushing some prescription drug, and urging the viewer to badger their doctor into prescribing the miracle cure. The funniest or perhaps scariest part is the list of possible side effects each drug has, read at lightning speed, and including many things worse than the original problem, including sleeplessness, skin rashes, blindess, severe chest pains, vomiting, hair loss, death, and other delights.
Then there are the beer ads. Bud Light give their adverts titles, which as an Advertising insider I know is so they can be named in award ceremonies (yes, advertisers give themselves awards for their wonderful work).
Pick-up Truck ads are great. There are three major competing pick-up trucks currently being advertised, the Ford F-150, the GMC Sierra 1500, and the Dodge Ram. All are pushed as the best truck of course, for different reasons. The Ford is smart, the Sierra is powerful, and the Ram is... I forget, but anyway, you really need one to go down to the store for your groceries. Well you must, because that's what I see them being used for. The Sierra can tow a Californian Redwood, but I usually see them in parking lots. They have to park a lot, because they only get 12-15 mpg.
Ther are other car ads too, Toyota pushing reliability and fuel efficiency, Ford pushing reliability and fuel efficiency, and Nissan pushing reliability and fuel efficiency.
Perhaps the best adverts are the local ones. Because the channels are National, but audiences are local, you often get adverts for local businesses, from mattress suppliers to bars and restaurants, from Realtors (i.e. Estate Agents) to Dentists. It's actually quite educational. For now.
Adverts. We got them in the UK on most channels (not the BBC), and they'd crop up every 15 minutes, so in a 1/2 hour show you'd get adverts at the beginning, middle, and end. We countered this by recording everything we wanted to see and fast forwarding through the ads. The show would actually cover about 25 minutes of the half hour. In an hour or longer show, they might space the breaks further apart but run longer ad breaks.
In the US you get an advert break before a show, then right after the opening credits, a couple of times during, and right before the closing credits, so a 1/2 hour show would have about 21 minutes of actual show.
Perhaps that's not so bad considering we're paying nothing for our viewing. In the US once you've bought the set and the aerial, the actual viewing s free, compared to the UK TV license at a current 142.50 GBP a year.
However if we DID get cable or satellite TV, those extra channels also carry adverts, so you're paying at least $30 a month for the channels, and you still have to watch the ads. Hmmm.
For the ads themselves, there are a heck of a lot of Medical ads, mostly pushing some prescription drug, and urging the viewer to badger their doctor into prescribing the miracle cure. The funniest or perhaps scariest part is the list of possible side effects each drug has, read at lightning speed, and including many things worse than the original problem, including sleeplessness, skin rashes, blindess, severe chest pains, vomiting, hair loss, death, and other delights.
Then there are the beer ads. Bud Light give their adverts titles, which as an Advertising insider I know is so they can be named in award ceremonies (yes, advertisers give themselves awards for their wonderful work).
Pick-up Truck ads are great. There are three major competing pick-up trucks currently being advertised, the Ford F-150, the GMC Sierra 1500, and the Dodge Ram. All are pushed as the best truck of course, for different reasons. The Ford is smart, the Sierra is powerful, and the Ram is... I forget, but anyway, you really need one to go down to the store for your groceries. Well you must, because that's what I see them being used for. The Sierra can tow a Californian Redwood, but I usually see them in parking lots. They have to park a lot, because they only get 12-15 mpg.
Ther are other car ads too, Toyota pushing reliability and fuel efficiency, Ford pushing reliability and fuel efficiency, and Nissan pushing reliability and fuel efficiency.
Perhaps the best adverts are the local ones. Because the channels are National, but audiences are local, you often get adverts for local businesses, from mattress suppliers to bars and restaurants, from Realtors (i.e. Estate Agents) to Dentists. It's actually quite educational. For now.
Sunday, 3 January 2010
I want to ride my Bicycle
I've been cycling as a main means of travel since I was seven years old, when the 1973 Oil Crisis pushed the price of petrol in the UK so high that my brothers and I started cycling to school every day instead of being given a lift by car.
One of the reasons Beth and I chose Eugene for our new home is that it rates in the top ten cities in the US for cycling. There are miles of cycle paths, some alongside roads, but also many dedicated paths that take you away from the noise and danger and along creeks and waterways, through parks, and into a more healthy, safe and pleasant environment.
After three weeks in the country I invested in a new road bicycle, as nice as anything I've owned in London, and started to explore. The first area I discovered was the Wet Prarie, a unique environment which is wetland in the rainy season, and prairie in the dry season. Sadly only 0.5% of the original Wet Prairie remains; like the Redwood forests it was almost destroyed by the advance of the white man, but the area that remains is now protected and managed.
I cycled six miles the first day I had my bike, another six the second, and twelve on my third trip. Cycling here is much easier than in London. The paths are wider, so if you come up behind a pedestrian you can go round, not ding madly at your bell and then stop with a squeal of brakes when they fail to react. The paths are smoother, with no obstructing dog dirt and broken glass that make cycling in London such a joy. The hills, at least the ones I currently need to negotiate, are flatter, barely noticeable. We are in a valley, and only entering the South Hills area takes you up any severe incline.
If you are cycling on a bike path beside a road, it isn't constantly blocked by parked cars and traffic lights. My average speed in London was around 8-10 mph. Here it's been 12-15 mph, with no extra effort involved.
In London the cyclist is an outcast. Roads are for cars, and cyclists are squeezed into the gutter, with, if lucky, a thin white line to designate the area they are permitted to try to negotiate their way between buses, parked cars, tree branches, parked cars, car doors being opened by careless or blind drivers, parked cars and pedestrians who like to hover near the road in case they feel a fit of suicidal blues. Too many cyclists are killed every year on London roads, especially female cyclists killed by lorry drivers who do not see them. Oh, and the ever present dog dirt and broken glass, did I mention that? Occasionally one can ride on towpaths, but the pedestrian, and along canals the fisherman with his necessary tangle of rods and paraphernalia, make progress stuttering at best.
Bicycle theft is a problem in Eugene, as it is in London, and as it will be anywhere where bicycles congregate, so I invested about $100 in a big D-lock and cable, and I can chain up my bike anywhere. All stores and Malls have bicycle racks, and they are common along bike paths at places where you might want to pause and take in the scenery. London is improving, but bike racks in London are magnets for bike thieves.
Overall then, I'm enjoying using a bicycle again. It won't be necessary for shopping trips and other chores unless I want to cycle, but it's a nice alternative, and a great way to explore the quieter hidden corners of this city and its environs, and get a little exercise along the way.
One of the reasons Beth and I chose Eugene for our new home is that it rates in the top ten cities in the US for cycling. There are miles of cycle paths, some alongside roads, but also many dedicated paths that take you away from the noise and danger and along creeks and waterways, through parks, and into a more healthy, safe and pleasant environment.
After three weeks in the country I invested in a new road bicycle, as nice as anything I've owned in London, and started to explore. The first area I discovered was the Wet Prarie, a unique environment which is wetland in the rainy season, and prairie in the dry season. Sadly only 0.5% of the original Wet Prairie remains; like the Redwood forests it was almost destroyed by the advance of the white man, but the area that remains is now protected and managed.
I cycled six miles the first day I had my bike, another six the second, and twelve on my third trip. Cycling here is much easier than in London. The paths are wider, so if you come up behind a pedestrian you can go round, not ding madly at your bell and then stop with a squeal of brakes when they fail to react. The paths are smoother, with no obstructing dog dirt and broken glass that make cycling in London such a joy. The hills, at least the ones I currently need to negotiate, are flatter, barely noticeable. We are in a valley, and only entering the South Hills area takes you up any severe incline.
If you are cycling on a bike path beside a road, it isn't constantly blocked by parked cars and traffic lights. My average speed in London was around 8-10 mph. Here it's been 12-15 mph, with no extra effort involved.
In London the cyclist is an outcast. Roads are for cars, and cyclists are squeezed into the gutter, with, if lucky, a thin white line to designate the area they are permitted to try to negotiate their way between buses, parked cars, tree branches, parked cars, car doors being opened by careless or blind drivers, parked cars and pedestrians who like to hover near the road in case they feel a fit of suicidal blues. Too many cyclists are killed every year on London roads, especially female cyclists killed by lorry drivers who do not see them. Oh, and the ever present dog dirt and broken glass, did I mention that? Occasionally one can ride on towpaths, but the pedestrian, and along canals the fisherman with his necessary tangle of rods and paraphernalia, make progress stuttering at best.
Bicycle theft is a problem in Eugene, as it is in London, and as it will be anywhere where bicycles congregate, so I invested about $100 in a big D-lock and cable, and I can chain up my bike anywhere. All stores and Malls have bicycle racks, and they are common along bike paths at places where you might want to pause and take in the scenery. London is improving, but bike racks in London are magnets for bike thieves.
Overall then, I'm enjoying using a bicycle again. It won't be necessary for shopping trips and other chores unless I want to cycle, but it's a nice alternative, and a great way to explore the quieter hidden corners of this city and its environs, and get a little exercise along the way.
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