Saturday, May 24, 2008
We're back
Sorry we haven't updated the diary for a couple of weeks. We ended up going back to the UK for a week for an impromptu visit to attend Annalie's Gran's funeral. Obviously very sad circumstances but it was nice to see everyone all the same.
Since we last wrote, Annalie has also been to Indianapolis to attend a training course at the Rolls-Royce site there. It is only a couple of hours' flight away but at least it was still on the same time zone. She got back at about 11pm on the Wednesday night and then we left for Manchester the following lunchtime.
While we were in Manchester, we decided to make a quick trip to Leeds so that Annalie could check out the library at uni and get prepared for her next assignment for her Masters. I'm sure she's starting to regret having so much to do outside of work when there's so much going on at work alone. It will be worth it in the end.
Annalie had her hair cut at her old hairdressers. Some might say that it was an awfully long way to go to get a hair cut, but she's not had the chance to organise a hair dooo since arriving out here.
We also went on the search for a Wii Fit, but as you might predict, it was a pretty futile effort. We thought we'd cracked it when we found a website saying they'd have some more to issue on the Friday we returned to the States. Then we received an email saying there had been a huge mistake (surprise surprise) and that they didn't have a clue when they'd have some more in stock. So we've tried to look in the US as well. Although the Wii is region-specific and we aren't able to play games from the US, we've found some software called Freeloader that claims to get past this. However the situation here seems to be pretty much the same as everywhere else - Wii Fit is just too much in demand so our search goes on.
Annalie also took Ian to Heaton Park for the first time. He was quite suprised by the size of it and even Annalie had forgotten what a nice place it can actually be.
The trip was timed just right from a point of view of getting 'our girls' to the vets to have their yearly booster jabs. We still get to be the bad guys while Annalie's mum can remain the nice cop for a while longer. Bodie remains as laid back as ever but Doyle got totally freaked when the suitcases came out and it was time for us to leave. Luckily it seems like she's calmed down again now though.
It was also good timing for Annalie to watch the Champions League Final. With the time difference, if we'd been here it would have been during the afternoon while she would have been at work, but as it was, she could watch the game and see the mighty Reds conquer cheating Chelsea .
On the flight back from Manchester to JFK, we managed to wangle an upgrade to business class nice! We were booked to travel in Premium Economy and the flight was packed, although the IAE travel agent may have put in a good word or two in the right ear. We got a great view of Manhattan as we landed so there are some more pics that we've added to the New York section.
There's a lot to come up for us over the next week. Annalie is off back to Europe for various meetings and Ian is set to drive down to Florida to watch a shuttle launch. Well, hopefully. Providing it all stays on time! It's due to lift off at around 5pm (our time) on Saturday 31st May so he'll be gone by the time Annalie gets back from her European trip on Friday night. He's bought a big camera lens for the occasion so it had better be worth it!
Last but not least, we have to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Ian's Dad. We won't tell everyone you're a pensioner now
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Well, we thought it was all over
The fun just continues... At our last installment, we told you about our need to go out and get our State licenses, well, we've managed it and are probably the quickest secondees to get licensed!
As we mentioned, Ian had his driving test booked for Tuesday morning so Annalie went along with him to do the first part of her test. While she was waiting in line to complete her written test, Ian went out on his practical. Within about 10 minutes he was back, winding Annalie up that he'd failed! Needless to say he hadn't. Just minutes later, Annalie passed the written exam and booked her driving test for two days later.
On the way out, we stopped at Dunkin' Donuts for a coffee for the journey home. Ian asked for a donut to accompany it. There was a special on so Annalie bought two donuts and managed to find heaven for Ian in the shape of a Boston Kreme donut! Custard filled with chocolate on the top. Not exaclty healthy but it seemed to do the trick for him
Wednesday saw Annalie head off to New York for a meeting with JetBlue Airways. She stayed down there for the night with one of the IAE guys who was trying to tempt her to drink lots of beer. Being sensible about the driving test the following day, she didn't drink too much and also kept up the water intake.
Thursday arrived and we both headed back down to Nore Which again so that Annalie could complete the final bit of red tape to make us completely legal. Despite having an appointment for 2.30pm, they were running 1.5 hours late so it was nearly 4pm before she actually went out. She did well and got through the test just fine, so we're now both fully identified as Connecticut residents. But what a pain it's been to get here. The driving test itself is a joke though and it's no wonder the driving out here is so bad. It's even worse than the UK (and you thought it wasn't possible).
After all that, we went back to the Jeep dealer to put the final bits of paperwork in to get the car ordered. That was taken and we were told to hope it might get done on the Friday but was most likely going to be the following week.
On the way home we stopped off at the South Tavern, our local, to pick up a salad to take out. We only bought one and it fed us four times!!! We were both on our way out that evening though so we didn't want anything too big. Annalie went to her first yoga class and Ian went off for football.
Saturday morning rolled around and the Jeep dealer rang us to tell us that the lease finance had all been completed and the car was ready for us. Cue lots of running around to get insurance sorted and faxed to the dealer to allow us to pick it up. When we got to the dealer we were made to wait quite a long time before being dealt with. And we were in for a shock when they did come to talk to us.
We had been quoted $166 per month for a lease. When the deal was being finalised, our lack of credit then played against us and they dropped our credit risk, adding more than $70 per month to the lease. We were stunned and frankly felt conned (and Annalie made no bones about telling them). If we hadn't forked out for insurance already, we would have just walked out of the dealership there and then. The other problems were that we would have had the same issues anywhere else and we had to commit to a three-year lease as that's what we're supposed to be here for. If we went off to find another car, we'd be eating into that time and therefore paying for the lease at the end when there was no need.
So after a bit of wrangling (no pun intended) and harsh words, the dealer managed to knock the price back down to $200, so we met half way. It was another frustrating thing to add to the long list of frustrations that greet you everywhere when arriving in this country. So we took the car in the end.
Aside from that, things are going pretty well. The birds are feeding well on our feeder and we're filling it up about every four days. The red finch-like bird we've discovered is a Northern Cardinal and we've managed to catch him in the act - check out the pictures. We've also spotted some hummingbirds around too but we need to get a special feeder and nectar to entice them closer. Ian's also been snapping around the house to show you how we've made it home. We've figured out that it's about twice the floor space of our house back in Derby!!
After we picked the Wrangler up Ian decided it was high time to get the roof down as it was a reasonably nice day. That took a bit of working out though! And putting back up again was almost as difficult! There are some pics in the photo album, including one of all three of our Jeeps that we've got at the moment - all silver as well! But one of the Liberty's will go back to work soon, we just filled it up with petrol though so we want to get the most out of that investment before handing it back!!
We also managed to block the toilet in our en-suite the other day. After ringing the landlord (who's based at the bottom of our road) Ian waited in all day for the plumber to call or stop by. After sitting there all day, he got fed up and went down to Home Depot to buy a plunger to do it himself. Two days later the plumber called . We were back in Home Depot on Saturday buying a nice patio furniture set for the deck. Ian hired a big ass pick-up truck to get the boxes home. We could have probably got them in the car, but Annalie just thinks he was set on driving a bad ass pick-up!
As we mentioned, Ian had his driving test booked for Tuesday morning so Annalie went along with him to do the first part of her test. While she was waiting in line to complete her written test, Ian went out on his practical. Within about 10 minutes he was back, winding Annalie up that he'd failed! Needless to say he hadn't. Just minutes later, Annalie passed the written exam and booked her driving test for two days later.
On the way out, we stopped at Dunkin' Donuts for a coffee for the journey home. Ian asked for a donut to accompany it. There was a special on so Annalie bought two donuts and managed to find heaven for Ian in the shape of a Boston Kreme donut! Custard filled with chocolate on the top. Not exaclty healthy but it seemed to do the trick for him
Wednesday saw Annalie head off to New York for a meeting with JetBlue Airways. She stayed down there for the night with one of the IAE guys who was trying to tempt her to drink lots of beer. Being sensible about the driving test the following day, she didn't drink too much and also kept up the water intake.
Thursday arrived and we both headed back down to Nore Which again so that Annalie could complete the final bit of red tape to make us completely legal. Despite having an appointment for 2.30pm, they were running 1.5 hours late so it was nearly 4pm before she actually went out. She did well and got through the test just fine, so we're now both fully identified as Connecticut residents. But what a pain it's been to get here. The driving test itself is a joke though and it's no wonder the driving out here is so bad. It's even worse than the UK (and you thought it wasn't possible).
After all that, we went back to the Jeep dealer to put the final bits of paperwork in to get the car ordered. That was taken and we were told to hope it might get done on the Friday but was most likely going to be the following week.
On the way home we stopped off at the South Tavern, our local, to pick up a salad to take out. We only bought one and it fed us four times!!! We were both on our way out that evening though so we didn't want anything too big. Annalie went to her first yoga class and Ian went off for football.
Saturday morning rolled around and the Jeep dealer rang us to tell us that the lease finance had all been completed and the car was ready for us. Cue lots of running around to get insurance sorted and faxed to the dealer to allow us to pick it up. When we got to the dealer we were made to wait quite a long time before being dealt with. And we were in for a shock when they did come to talk to us.
We had been quoted $166 per month for a lease. When the deal was being finalised, our lack of credit then played against us and they dropped our credit risk, adding more than $70 per month to the lease. We were stunned and frankly felt conned (and Annalie made no bones about telling them). If we hadn't forked out for insurance already, we would have just walked out of the dealership there and then. The other problems were that we would have had the same issues anywhere else and we had to commit to a three-year lease as that's what we're supposed to be here for. If we went off to find another car, we'd be eating into that time and therefore paying for the lease at the end when there was no need.
So after a bit of wrangling (no pun intended) and harsh words, the dealer managed to knock the price back down to $200, so we met half way. It was another frustrating thing to add to the long list of frustrations that greet you everywhere when arriving in this country. So we took the car in the end.
Aside from that, things are going pretty well. The birds are feeding well on our feeder and we're filling it up about every four days. The red finch-like bird we've discovered is a Northern Cardinal and we've managed to catch him in the act - check out the pictures. We've also spotted some hummingbirds around too but we need to get a special feeder and nectar to entice them closer. Ian's also been snapping around the house to show you how we've made it home. We've figured out that it's about twice the floor space of our house back in Derby!!
After we picked the Wrangler up Ian decided it was high time to get the roof down as it was a reasonably nice day. That took a bit of working out though! And putting back up again was almost as difficult! There are some pics in the photo album, including one of all three of our Jeeps that we've got at the moment - all silver as well! But one of the Liberty's will go back to work soon, we just filled it up with petrol though so we want to get the most out of that investment before handing it back!!
We also managed to block the toilet in our en-suite the other day. After ringing the landlord (who's based at the bottom of our road) Ian waited in all day for the plumber to call or stop by. After sitting there all day, he got fed up and went down to Home Depot to buy a plunger to do it himself. Two days later the plumber called . We were back in Home Depot on Saturday buying a nice patio furniture set for the deck. Ian hired a big ass pick-up truck to get the boxes home. We could have probably got them in the car, but Annalie just thinks he was set on driving a bad ass pick-up!
Friday, May 2, 2008
Yet more damn red tape!
Just when we thought it was safe to think it would all be plain sailing from here... It was obviously too good to be true. Ian went off (again) in search of a good deal on car numero dos and managed to find a great deal on a Jeep Wrangler - not the first choice, nor the most practical, but at £80 a month on lease, we weren't sniffing at it.
When it came to signing up for the deal though, suddenly a list as long as your arm appeared featuring all the documents an ex-pat requires to register a car over here. High on the list were a) a Connecticut driving licence, or, if you don't have one of these, b) an International Driving Permit (IDP) along with a Connecticut state non-driver ID.
Well, Although it had been suggested that we should get an IDP before leaving the UK, it fell way down the (long) list of things to do before we left. And anyway, an IDP is meant to be used to translate driving licences into English - well, erm, forgive me if I'm wrong but I thought that's what ours are written in!!
Anyhooo, we decided the quickest document we could get was the state ID card, so we raced to the DMV (Dept of Motor Vehicles) to get them. We handed over all our paperwork (again!) only to be told we had to come back the following day as our documents had to have an immigration check (again).
The following night was late night opening at the DMV so we headed down after Annalie finished work. We waited for 2 hours just so they could take a photo and make up a card on the spot. It was mayhem and so badly organised. There seemed to be no real process in place and no sense of urgency, despite the fact that it was approaching closing time at 7pm. We eventually got out at about this time with IDs in hand but faith in the system lost once again.
Ian then decided to try his luck at getting a quick driving test in to get his licence once and for all. The DMV office we went to for our IDs was in Wethersfield and is the closest DMV office to Hartford, which is the State Capital. Hence it is the busiest office and it can have long waiting times for tests. So the advice we got was that we should try a quieter office, somewhere more rural.
So Ian headed off to Norwich (pronounced Nore Which) in the driving rain. Within two hours he'd completed his eyesight test and written test, only to be told he couldn't take the practical driving test on the same day. Also, they want to see Annalie's Visa as Ian's Visa is dependent upon hers. His test is booked for Tuesday morning and Annalie is planning to go with him to do the first part of her test and book her practical.
We nearly ran into some more trouble with the car though. The company car is registered in Virginia as it was tranferred to us from the Rolls-Royce office down there. The car fleet managers are going through the process of applying for Connecticut plates and registration but it means that we don't have all the documentation for the car. Luckily, the fleet managers sent us some duplicate documents by accident so Ian managed to blag it and he's got the OK for the test. We also needed a letter from Rolls to prove that we're both insured to drive the car as they won't simply accept the insurance certificate (literally not worth the paper it's printed on then!).
Our final trial and tribulation to tell you today is of trying to book a simple flight. Annalie is off to Indianapolis for a couple of days training, so she asked Ian to come along too. The flights Annalie is on became very expensive so we looked at other options, and the best one was on US Airways with a 36 minute connection time at Washington Reagan airport. Annalie used the online (supposedly real-time) chat function to check that this connection time was OK and achieveable. The agent took so long to get back that by the time we were given the OK, the price of the outbound flight had gone up from $74 to $574!!! We think someone was trying to tell us something so it looks like Ian is staying home alone now
Oh, but the birds have started using our feeder on the deck. The most amazing bright red finch was hopping around earlier but by the time we managed to get a camera out to photograph it, a dove had chased it away. Maybe we'll have a pic next time it stops by to say hello.
When it came to signing up for the deal though, suddenly a list as long as your arm appeared featuring all the documents an ex-pat requires to register a car over here. High on the list were a) a Connecticut driving licence, or, if you don't have one of these, b) an International Driving Permit (IDP) along with a Connecticut state non-driver ID.
Well, Although it had been suggested that we should get an IDP before leaving the UK, it fell way down the (long) list of things to do before we left. And anyway, an IDP is meant to be used to translate driving licences into English - well, erm, forgive me if I'm wrong but I thought that's what ours are written in!!
Anyhooo, we decided the quickest document we could get was the state ID card, so we raced to the DMV (Dept of Motor Vehicles) to get them. We handed over all our paperwork (again!) only to be told we had to come back the following day as our documents had to have an immigration check (again).
The following night was late night opening at the DMV so we headed down after Annalie finished work. We waited for 2 hours just so they could take a photo and make up a card on the spot. It was mayhem and so badly organised. There seemed to be no real process in place and no sense of urgency, despite the fact that it was approaching closing time at 7pm. We eventually got out at about this time with IDs in hand but faith in the system lost once again.
Ian then decided to try his luck at getting a quick driving test in to get his licence once and for all. The DMV office we went to for our IDs was in Wethersfield and is the closest DMV office to Hartford, which is the State Capital. Hence it is the busiest office and it can have long waiting times for tests. So the advice we got was that we should try a quieter office, somewhere more rural.
So Ian headed off to Norwich (pronounced Nore Which) in the driving rain. Within two hours he'd completed his eyesight test and written test, only to be told he couldn't take the practical driving test on the same day. Also, they want to see Annalie's Visa as Ian's Visa is dependent upon hers. His test is booked for Tuesday morning and Annalie is planning to go with him to do the first part of her test and book her practical.
We nearly ran into some more trouble with the car though. The company car is registered in Virginia as it was tranferred to us from the Rolls-Royce office down there. The car fleet managers are going through the process of applying for Connecticut plates and registration but it means that we don't have all the documentation for the car. Luckily, the fleet managers sent us some duplicate documents by accident so Ian managed to blag it and he's got the OK for the test. We also needed a letter from Rolls to prove that we're both insured to drive the car as they won't simply accept the insurance certificate (literally not worth the paper it's printed on then!).
Our final trial and tribulation to tell you today is of trying to book a simple flight. Annalie is off to Indianapolis for a couple of days training, so she asked Ian to come along too. The flights Annalie is on became very expensive so we looked at other options, and the best one was on US Airways with a 36 minute connection time at Washington Reagan airport. Annalie used the online (supposedly real-time) chat function to check that this connection time was OK and achieveable. The agent took so long to get back that by the time we were given the OK, the price of the outbound flight had gone up from $74 to $574!!! We think someone was trying to tell us something so it looks like Ian is staying home alone now
Oh, but the birds have started using our feeder on the deck. The most amazing bright red finch was hopping around earlier but by the time we managed to get a camera out to photograph it, a dove had chased it away. Maybe we'll have a pic next time it stops by to say hello.
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