Week starting 1st September – Bureaucratic frustrations, Photographs and grey squirrels
Another busy week with one big frustration, but we are making more and more progress. On Sunday we moved from our prior homelessness to now being a two-house family – the lease on the unfurnished rental home starts officially on 1st September. So we need to purchase some appliances for the rental house (and this being USA, there is ALWAYS a sale on somewhere). We decided on a washer and dryer, but had to compromise and have white ones – the “blackberry” coloured versions were not available in a reasonable time as they were too much of a bargain in the sale, and there were none left! And we need the contents of the container from Ealing to furnish the place – latest news is that our container docked in Charleston on 5th September. For the record, our address in Porter Springs Road will continue to be the mailing address, but the address of the rental house is :
216 Choctaw Ridge North, Dahlonega, Georgia 30533
Monday was a public holiday (Labor Day), so rather than risk cabin fever by staying in, we went for a drive to visit a number of local points of interest. The Mark of the Potter is (surprisingly) a local craft shop, a converted old watermill. The river tumbles over a pretty waterfall and the pool below swarms with huge trout. Perhaps that has something to do with an old-fashioned bubblegum ball machine, which has been modified to dispense pellets of fishfood for a smll sum! We also drove North up in to the mountains and found (the owners claim) the highest vineyard in Georgia, Hightower Creek. Whilst there, we met an amazing couple originally from Australia who have settled in Georgia – they were accompanies by four of their ten adopted children.
On site on Tuesday morning is inspection day at the building site, as Bill has told us that the driveway now runs all the way to the planned site of the house. Actually, he was a bit optimistic, not quite there yet. The road winds up and down and round several curves – at present only fourwheel vehicles and the like are appropriate.
The rest of the week was taken up with the mere hassles of living. On Thursday we drove to Blairsville, an hour away so that I could get a driving licence. In spite of having masses of paperwork and hanging around for several hours, the staff were unable to get to grips with my details and insisted on having proof of all sorts of details which are not on the list of requirements in the official publications. They were unable to get through the computer system, so no progress at all.
So, lots of organising to be done, working with/against the various bureaucracies here over the rest of the week.
And on Friday, we actually got to the building site in Bill the Builder’s pickup truck (no fourwheel drive needed now!). The general site for building has been cleared, and we made an appointment for early on Tuesday with the official surveyor to precisely define the alignment of the house and “stake” the outline of the house so that groundwork and pouring of footings (= foundations) can commence.
Finally, Thoughts on Grey Squirrels
The American grey squirrel was imported into England by misguided naturalists in the 1800’s, and reputedly escaped into the English countryside after having been accidentally released from the London Zoo. It was extremely successful in adapting, driving the native red squirrel close to extinction (the grey now outnumbers the red by a factor of 66:1). In their homeland, the grey squirrel around here seem rather different to the emigrant cousins. They are pretty thin with straggly tails (unlike the plump greys with bushy tails in England). More significantly, the greys here are extremely stupid. The roadkill here consists almost entirely of squashed squirrels. When you encounter a live one on the road, they run around haphazardly and finally make a kamikaze attack on the car (you can guess who comes off worse). Maybe this is an analogy for USA? Do immigrants have a more successful time than the original inhabitants? And do they do better than their cousins left behind? Thoughts on a postcard, please.