Week starting 8th September – Legal at last – but where’s my stuff?
Last week, I was suffering frustration over obtaining a driving licence. Since I am a resident of Georgia now, I have to get a valid driving licence within 30 days, and the clock is ticking. I went to the Department of Driver Services in Blairsville and was sent away as I could not produce my Green Card (US government issued proof of right to reside in USA). So we went down to spend a relaxing weekend with Karen and Dieter as that’s where my Green Card was posted. Armed with all the documents, on Tuesday we headed to Gainsville where the DDS have a much bigger office – surely this would be an efficient operation to get things completed smoothly. Doubts arose when we drove into the parking lot at 10am and saw a queue of despondent applications stretching out of the door. Undaunted, we entered and filled in the application form to submit an application and managed to find chairs to sit on to wait. And wait. And wait. Discussions with fellow prisoners of the system suggested a waiting time of several hours just to be talked to. After an hour and a half, a supervisor announced that the current working time was now a mere three hours. To while away the time, she wandered around checking that people had all the right papers (to try to weed out the queue, perhaps, or just to appear busy). Half an hour later, the wait time was up to four hours. And then things got really bad – the systems crashed. Barely suppressed panic behind the counters. I start to understand why security guards in government offices visibly carry firearms.
At this time we realised that the wooden portacabin in Blairsville had particular charms, and abandoned Gainsville as an option. On Thursday, we drove up there and got a much more friendly and speedy reception. Inside two hours I had completed a theory test (90% correct) and a practical driving test (“‘y’all did good”) with a charming young lady old enough to be my grandchild. So, now I am a legal driver in Georgia. It reminds me a bit of baseball (which IS a little more sophisticated than rounders) – the batter is out after three unsuccessful strikes. But you can still score a home run on the third strike – rather like my driving licence success.
On the building front, more progress. On Monday we went out to see the land being surveyed so that the graders can carve the steep slope into something suitable for building upon. The survey and house layout plan was submitted to the county Planning Office, and on Friday (in exchange for a cheque) an official building permit was issued.
BUT – where is our container of furniture and possessions? The vessel carrying it docked in Charleston on 5th September, but nothing was heard for days. Finally, news arrives. The US Customs are taking an interest in it. They have ordered an X-ray of the container. The container is now being shipped by rail to Atlanta (expected to arrive next Monday) where a decision will be taken on whether to open it up and manually search it (at significant expense to us). And I have no idea if x-rays will do anything untoward to the contents – will my wines arrive glowing in the glass? So, no idea of when we are likely to get delivery – and until we have it unloaded, we can’t move into the unfurnished rental house. And our rental on the cabin ends on Wednesday 18th. This is getting a bit tight! Looks like we will be back in a hotel for a few days.
Good news though – Lisa’s foot is steadily healing, and on Saturday she could move from the big black boot to something more comfortable. And much more important, she can drive again. So on Saturday, we collected her car (a Toyota Rav4) and she drove it back to the rental house. To celebrate this triumph we went to a local winery, Three Sisters, for a barbeque lunch and a class of something chilled. So, all in all, a good week.