April was a momentous month - we left England and set up home in an American hotel. To try and remember our experiences, we kept a diary day-by-day for the first week. This tailed off a bit as life got more hectic and less novel, but this does make the best reading.
April 20th - Day 1
Everyone who asked what time our flight was, so they could think about us as they left the U.K. would have been looking at the sky in vain at 1pm yesterday. The flight left Gatwick an hour late, and what with being held circling over Newark, and getting the trainee at U.S. Immigration, we were very tired bunnies when our Ukranian chauffeur (a fan of both Rebrov and Luzhny – Soccer, the global language !) dropped us at the hotel.
Friday dawned bright and early – at 3.30am actually, then again at 4.35am before finally battering us into submission at 6.40am when we resorted to the Cartoon Network. The time zone difference was taking its toll - at least this time we don't have to worry about going through it on the way back.
Our appointment with the relocation specialist brought us nearer to the revelation that she hasn’t been listening to us for the last four weeks when we’ve said we want to live in Princeton Borough itself – not Hopewell, or Montgomery, or Las Vegas or anywhere in Canada where there actually is somewhere available at the moment. So we spend the day cruising round Princeton, looking in the windows of realtor shops, and generally feeling a bit sorry for ourselves. We have invited ourselves to visit another Factiva ex-pat family tomorrow, to swap war stories, build up our spirits, and learn a few tips and tricks!
April 21st - Day 2
As the adrenaline that flowed through all our systems and kept us going for the last 4 weeks drains away, we are all overwhelmed by tiredness. Thomas sleeps till past 9am, and we breakfast late. Linda takes her first spin driving the car (quite adequately, I might add) to the bank to collect our first credit card, before we head over to Colin and Debbie Smith's. They came out here about 9 months ago, and live on a farm on the edge of Princeton - which suits them, because they used to live in Devon and we have to admit it's perfect for their 7 year old son Alex to roam wildly around the grounds on his bike. What was intended to be an afternoon's respite from the trauma of relocation turns into a shopping trip, a lovely salmon encroute dinner and copious quantities of beer and wine (except for Linda who had to drive home - in the dark - without a map - bonus points.
This whole episode has been pretty much an emotional roller coaster, and today was a good day - my Reuters share cash arrived (so we can pay for our new car !), we think we've found a tenant for the house and we've started the task of building that circle of friends that will help us get through this - when talking about all the things we have to do, and the problems of doing this with Thomas around, Debbie Smith was heard to say "Oh, bring him round - I'll have him" A friend indeed.
April 22nd - Day 3
Fatigue hits with a vengeance, and Linda sleeps all day (well, most of it). Thomas and Chris go on a road trip, find a football, play in the park, hit the trains at Zany Brainy (it's a toy shop !) and then head for MacDonalds. En route we find a town called Cranbury, which could be a candidate for home if we really can't find a place in Princeton Borough. It's very American and very nice, and avoids being twee in a way that Hopewell (another town that's been suggested to us) does not.
When Linda finally joins the land of the living, we spend time building up her confidence and local knowledge in the car. Practicising the route from the hotel to the office, so that she can run Chris to the office and return alone with full confidence. After all, it's all of 300 yards !!
April 23rd - Day 4
Chris' first day at work, and a great welcoming reception was waiting...NOT ! A few "Well, hello !" greetings, then it was nose to the grindstone, and two hours to deal with the 150 emails that had accumulated in the last week and a half. We engineered another invitation for the weekend, to the owner of a pair of boys Thomas' age (and by implication also the owner of various toys and pieces of garden equipment). The only drawback is that this invitation is for Sunday, and we have to get through the rest of this week first !
Linda spent the day 'doing the laundry', playing Happy Families and watching the Cartoon Network and then set off bravely and alone to retrace her steps back to the office. With nothing else planned for the evening, what else could we do but...SHOP !! This time we had to supplement our wardrobes with shorts and T-shirts, especially as yesterday's 82 degrees is likely to be repeated for the rest of the week. Oh, did we tell you about the weather here ??
This evening Thomas made friends with Carlos the waiter at Ruby Tuesdays (which is fast becoming Thomas' favourite restaurant). Thomas presented him with an autographed picture of Thunderbird 1, and in return received five inedible jelly snakes and a waiter's order pad - not the best return on investment for a four year old. Or should that be five ? Thomas has taken to declaring to anyone who asks that he is now five, although he's a bit hazy about when he had his birthday party.
April 24th - Day 5
One of the downward slopes of our emotional roller coaster ride. Impatient to get to breakfast so we can check the Classifieds in today's edition of the Princeton Packet, our hopes are dashed when we find nothing - absolutely nothing, nada, zero, zilch to fit our needs. There's not even anything close, and we're starting to think that those apartment complexes out by the park look nice. Chris's friend Michael has offered to take us out for a spin on Thursday to look at them.
In addition, we've only been here for 5 nights, and the sixth one we are spending apart. Linda drops Chris at Princeton Junction to make the long (and delayed) train ride to Washington D.C. alone.
Linda made the drive into Princeton alone today to meet the tenant of Kathleen's (Chris's boss) house. Fran is Australian, and leaving shortly to go home with husband and young son. Unfortunately their accommodation is not being made available for rent, lovely though it is. Then again, would you want your boss as your landlord ?? Thomas is beginning to show signs of strain - signs which are coming out in his behaviour. He is getting more and more truculent, but we're trying hard to go easy on him. We're sure that it will be easier for him when we've found somewhere to live and we won't be transmitting our own tension onto him.
April 25th - Day 6
Wednesday finds Chris in Washington D.C. - the first of many trips in store. It's too soon to arrange for Linda and Thomas to travel too. Besides, the only sights of the U.S. capital city are glimpsed from a taxi window at 10.30pm on the way to the hotel, similarly on the return trip to Union Station. Mind you, Union Station is a tourist attraction in its own right - one of the most remarkable pieces of early American architecture with a huge, vaulted, perfectly decorated ceiling. The White House will have to wait for the next trip.
Meanwhile, Linda is practising hard in the car and getting more and more competent in driving around. An afternoon trip to Zany Brainy keeps Thomas occupied a bit longer with the wooden train table - one day we're going to have to buy something, or they'll suspect he only goes there to play with the toys (!!).
Our quest for somewhere to live gets a little more desperate every day. Nothing in the Packet yesterday. Nothing from Candida. Lots of people at Factiva are offering advice and local knowledge where they can, but still no prospect. We are wracked between sticking to our guns and striving for what we set out to get, a place in Princeton, or settling for something less...and at least having somewhere to live, somewhere to go when our time in the hotel runs out, somewhere to put our furniture when it arrives. The trouble at the moment is that every day seems to last a hundred hours, and things - emotions, prospects, status, everything - can go from one extreme to the other in 24 hours.
April 26th - Day 7
Linda and Thomas spent today at the Smith's farmhouse. Alex Smith is at school so Thomas gets the run of the farm, although he doesn't get to ride on Seth's ATV - not that he would have been asked. Seth is home because today is "Take your child to work" day across America - which Chris doesn't find out in time to take Thomas in with him. Then again imagine Thomas in your office for the whole day...!?
Chris's boss, Kathleen, has a surprise baby shower arranged at work today - the biggest surprise being she doesn't make it to the office today, and has her cake described to her over the phone. This afternoon we pop round to Kathleen's to look at her tenants furniture. Kathleen owns a huge house, divided into apartments, in exactly the part of Princeton we want to live. Her tenants, Fran and Andrew are going home to Oz in June, and are trying to sell their furniture.
In all the discussions we've had with Kathleen about accommodation, she's never mentioned that she would have an apartment coming available in June. We discover that after renovation, Kathleen will be moving into the large apartment herself - and besides, would anybody really want their boss as their landlord ? (or for that matter, would you want an employee as your tenant?) Fran is really nice, and before we know it, we have bought a huge sofa, a bed, a dining room table and 4 chairs, a TV, a CD Player and have first dibs on a double bed. All we need now is somewhere to put them...
April 27th - Day 8
Friday is Princeton Packet day, and there is a sense of anticipation as we go down to breakfast. Despite trying to set a good example to Thomas of not reading at the meal table, we can't resist opening the paper at the Real Estate page and scouring the rental ad's. There are three categories to check (Houses to Rent, Townhouses/Condos to Rent and Apartments to Rent) and we're looking for the three keywords to leap out of the page at us - Princeton Borough, 3 Bedrooms and a price that's not totally absurd (our original budget figure has become very negotiable). Nothing. Zilch. Or nada, as they say here.
The quest for somewhere to live seems to become a bit more desperate today (if that were possible) - not least when Pickford's ring to tell us our container docks at Elizabeth on Sunday !! 4-5 weeks they told us ! "Ah, well, sometimes everything goes smoothly and this happens". Gee, thanks a bunch.
There's a lot of web surfing and leaning on people today, and we re-read the small ads very closely, looking for possibilities. As it happens, we find two places to have a look at - one is in Princeton Greens (we don't know where that is, but it sounds promising) and another is at the end of Kathleen's road in the Borough, 3 Beds and under our budget - we wonder what's wrong with it. In addition, Candida comes back with the Hopewell apartment, and we decide to take a look, just in case. So we end up with a busy weekend in store.
Today is Kathleen's last day before maternity leave, and she makes it into the office at 3.30pm to clear her desk. This being America, she then keeps Chris in a meeting till 6.15pm to 'iron a few things out'. Friday night then becomes dinner at home and Billy Elliot on the hotel TV.
April 28th - Day 9
We've completed one whole week in the US and what have we achieved ? We're solvent. We've made a couple of friendly contacts. We've established ourselves on the road, both with driving confidence and geography - Linda can find her way in and out of Princeton with ease. But most importantly we've no prospect of anywhere to live.
Today we have two places to look at, and with another to see tomorrow, our hopes are high. First we travel to Hopewell to see a 3 Bedroom apartment. We've driven through Hopewell before, and we found it very picturesque in a touristy sort of way - not sure if it suits us.
We arrive about ten minutes before Candida with the intention of having a look round the streets before she gets here. This is thwarted when we spend five minutes trying to get the car key out of the ignition (which is to become an abiding problem !) - then when we abandon the task, the landlord comes out of the shop below the apartment and asks us if we'd like to go up and view.
The shop is a photographers studio and is quite stylish. Lewis seems very friendly and helpful. We have a look and while we are not overwhelmed, this has possibilities. There are three good sized bedrooms, a very large living space and a kitchen almost as big as the one in Dulwich. It's not in the best condition - being a photographer, Lewis had the walls plastered with his work, and now the walls are plastered with a thousand tiny nail holes. After discussion Lewis offers us $500 to decorate it ourselves (which we could do with spackle and flat matte - that's Polyfilla and emulsion to you, mate).
We also find out that there is a large and gorgeous park at the end of this street, the elementary school is on the edge of the park, there are two fantastic playgrounds here, the post office is behind us, we are two minutes from the main street, three minutes from the most marvelous deli, and while walking there, two people introduce themselves for a chat. Oh yeah, and the sun is shining brightly. Linda believes in omens, so the sun shining, along with the most beautiful lilac and maple trees in the landscaped garden seem to be saying something. And we still have two places in Princeton to see.
In the end we have to dash back to Princeton Greens - which we discover is actually a place called Canal Pointe on the edge of Princeton - not walking distance from Nassau Street at all, and somewhere we looked on our previous visit. The place is fine, clean, HUGE, but characterless and not convenient - as well as being $1000 a month more than Hopewell - so we say thanks but no thanks. And not only do we have Spruce Street to look at tomorrow, but one of the Realtors we visited last week comes up with a ranch (that's bungalow to you) on the edge of Princeton Borough at a reasonable rate. It looks like this weekend could be our watershed. After our house hunting foray, Thomas insists on going swimming, so we end up at the other Marriott before meeting Debbie and Alex Smith at Ruby Tuesdays - Thomas' choice again.
April 29th - Day 10
Bright and early we're off to Spruce Street - met by Karen and Michael and Siduri. Mike is brilliant and entertains Thomas while Karen shows us round - 3 bedrooms in a classical American building in exactly the right part of town - what could be better ? Well, the rooms are a bit small, and Linda doesn't fall in love with it straightaway, so it becomes obvious we have some thinking to do.
We quickly dismiss the ranch on Dempsey Avenue and start debating - Spruce Street or Hopewell. We try to do this systematically and rationally, and this does help us to dismiss Spruce - the rooms are just to small to work for us and the hosts of summer visitors we expect. But should we take Hopewell ? The dilemma is heightened as we understand that someone else is in the running and we have to decide today !! As a rule, we normally walk away from that kind of deal, but the stakes are higher here. We decide to ask Candida if we can have another look, even though we have a lunch date in Hillsborough at 2.30pm.
Somehow another look to make up our minds seems to become an assumption that we'll sign a lease there and then. And we do. We check the rooms. We assign our furniture. We talk about decorating. We wonder if we can get our furniture up the stairs (especially the wicker chair - eh, James ?). But we sign. And we feel scared, relieved and hopeful.
And then we wonder if we can get to Hillsborough in 6 minutes. When we get to Monica and Phil's, Thomas and Grant hit it off immediately. Thomas is in his element, as 5-year-old Grant has a Jungle Jim, swings, a stomp rocket, footballs, Rugrat videos and Star Wars light sabres. By the end of the day, Grant has invited Thomas to his birthday party.
