As I mentioned before we are considering the possibility of moving house, just considering.
On Tuesday we went to see the house we had found on MLS. It had the most fantastic views across the St Lawrence River and the islands near the 1000 Islands area of Ontario. However the house itself was pretty tired looking and would need a lot of work to bring it up to anything like what we already have. It was half the size of our current house, which is not too much of a problem as our house is huge, but the general condition let it down. It would have needed new windows, floors, kitchen, bathrooms etc. So in the end we decided against it even though the price was pretty good and we could have done it up and made money on it. The trouble was it needed a lot spending on it before you could see a return and of course that is only if you then sold it.
We will keep looking just to see what is about and if we find somewhere else, then we can look again.
This morning we had one company come round to value our house. They seemed very impressed and kept saying “wow” as they went around. Not sure if this was genuine, or just one of their gimmicks. They said that they had looked at comparables in the area but after looking round the house ours was better than many others so they would have to go away and look into it some more. They are coming back tomorrow afternoon.
We have another company coming tomorrow morning and a third on Saturday morning, so we will have to wait and see what they all say. Until we know what we can get for our house we cannot commit to buying anything, not that we have found anything yet.
Our chipmunk is so tame now that if we open the front door or the garage door his comes overt to greet us. Today when I opened the door to the realtor, she stood there looking petrified as Chip was happily dancing round her feet. I explained that he was tame and only looking for food, but she didn’t seem convinced!
Yesterday we travelled to New York. We were later starting out than we hoped, but eventually started out at about 9.45am. It was pouring with rain when we left.
We had no idea what we would have to do at the boarder, as we had never travelled across a country boarder by car before. We got to the crossing at Alexandria and had to hand over our passports. We were then told to park up and go into the main building to be processed. Other than the four of us there was only one other guy there so we were seen pretty much straight away.
The guy filled in the visa waiver forms for us and just got us to sign them, which made a nice change from having to do them ourselves on the plane. We then had out fingerprints taken electronically and pics taken, just like at the airport. They then stamped our passports and we were on our way about half an hour later.
Once we got into America the weather started to clear and soon the sun was shining – God bless America! We travelled down non-descript roads for many miles, but soon we were driving through some really lovely scenery with lots of large hills (or small mountains) and small towns. We stopped off for lunch half way and then continued onwards. At what age do kids stop asking “are we there yet?” We thought that at the ages of 20 and 22, they would be passed this, but no!
Eventually we got to the outskirts of New Jersey where we would be staying, but then we hit bad traffic (it was rush hour). We crawled into the city and eventually found our hotel, the trouble was it was on the opposite side of the road with no way to cross over. We continued to drive to the end of the road, but it never seemed to end and we got really lost. After spending about 20 minutes driving around and being sent here there and everywhere by the sat nav we eventually got into the hotel – more by luck than judgement. By this time we were exhausted and just wanted to shower and eat.
I checked into the hotel only to find that we had been reserved two smoking rooms when I had specifically phoned and requested non-smoking. I was furious as both my husband and I do not smoke and positively hate smoking. The girls didn’t care as they smoke anyway. I complained to the manager but he said they had no non-smoking rooms left and we had to take it or leave it. We were so fed up we just put up with it, but the room stinks. After a shower we went out to a local restaurant for a very nice meal and then basically fell into bed and slept.
Today (Thursday 15 °C) we got up and had breakfast at the hotel buffet – what is it with Americans and sweet things for breakfast? At 9am we caught the bus from outside the hotel to Manhattan. The trip took only 15 mins and was very easy. We then went to Times Square as the girls really wanted to see it. We spent about an hour there and then we walked down to the Empire State building. It was quite cloudy over the city, so the view was not perfect, but it was still worth the visit.
View from Empire State
After this we took the subway to Lower Manhattan and went to Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately the cloud was such that the view was quite poor, so we decided to get a closer look and go across on the ferry.
Once we got to the island the weather was great – the cloud cleared and with the warmth it was really lovely. We had dinner in the restaurant and then we all went off to take pics etc.
After about two hours on the island we returned to Manhattan and walked up to Ground Zero. We had last been there in 2004, so were eager to see how it had changed. The girls had not been there before, so it was all new to them. We walked all round the area and along one fence a lot of pictures had been added with a history of that fateful day. It is an incredibly moving area and even the girls began to appreciate the hugeness of the event that took place.
After paying our respects we walked down to the Seaport area to go to the Bodies exhibition. This is where actual human bodies are used as exhibits. We were not sure what to expect but it was really interesting. You could say it was gory, but it really wasn’t. It is divided into sections such as circulation, birth, bones etc and it really explains how the human body is put together. It is truly amazing and well worth a visit. Hopefully the disgusting effects on the human lungs of a smoker will put the girls off smoking, but I doubt it.
We then went to the riverside area and went to the Pier shopping area where the girls went off to spend some more money whilst us oldies sat and chilled on the bench. We then walked back to the subway and travelled back to Times Square. We separated from the girls who wanted to go their own way and had a bite to eat at a local café then made our way back to the hotel. We had been told to catch a number 163 bus, but when we tried to board we were told it did not stop at our stop. We then had to join another long queue for another bus. Trouble was once on it we didn’t realise you had to press a button to get the bus to stop and we watched out hotel pass by. We eventually got off the bus and had to walk about half a mile back to the hotel.
We are back there now, but worrying if the girls are going to manage to get back ok.
