Douglas, MA. -- Susan and I spent the better part of Sunday and Monday adjusting to the time difference and to our surroundings; the one much easier to achieve than the other.
It was nice to be among familiar and friendly faces to be sure and without a doubt Dick and his wife Dorothy have made our transition from Europe to the US that much easier. They spent the next 48 hours of their limited schedules seeing that we were fed, watered and bedded down in comfort and style.
Sunday began with a promise of gorgeous weather and we just hung out enjoying the warmth of a bright sun in their new sunroom (very aptly named). The rain began later in the evening and the weather pretty much remained chilly, damp and dreary through Monday.
After our respite on Sunday we began our process of reintegration bright and early on Monday: we were going to pick up our new car. I took Dick to school early so that we could use his car to get to the car dealership located north of Boston in Peabody, Massachusetts.
A little after 9 a.m. Susie and I headed off in a persistant light drizzle to meet with Dick's insurance agent in Whitinsville, MA. Since we were buying the car in MA, we needed MA plates and MA insurance and, well, for the time being we actually do live in MA.
Here's where it gets a tad confusing. Last week I called our bank in Vermont to set up the process for transferring money to the car dealer so that we could purchase the car. (Funny they actually wanted money!) I gave the pertinent information over the phone, and since we were going to be traveling and didn't have ready access to a fax but the our new insurance agent in Whitinsville did and since we were going there first thing Monday, the bank faxed the form to the agent's office so that we could sign it Monday and fax it back so the money could be transferred. Whew! I get tired just thinking about it. (photo below: Wiersma Insurance Agency in Whitinsville, MA)
Everything went off like clockwork. At little after nine we showed up at Wiersma Insurance Agency and met with one of their agents Carolyn who was very nice, and kindly allowed us to use their faxing facilities. The insurance business took about 20 minutes, we signed and faxed the wire transfer back to the bank, and called the dealer to let them know the money was on it's way and so were we!
Since we had a little time to kill before the transfer was processed we stopped at a nearby mall to check on our mobile phone options -- we need phone service here of course and decided we'll go strictly mobile for the time being. We'll keep one of our present unlocked GSM phones to use when we go back to France and Italy, but will have to spring for new phones with whichever carrier we decide to go with. It's always something with the phone company -- and why do they have so many programs and so many different "products"?
Anyway for the moment we've put off making a firm decision on which carrier, although that will probably be resolved sometime Tuesday.
So we drove over to Peabody Mini and met Steve Macateer, the guy we've been dealing with online. He walked us through the paperwork and then the basics of the car and less than two hours later we drove out in a brand-new Mini Cooper.
It was just about this time in 2002 that Susan and I have the good fortune to spend Easter that year in Rome. While we were strolling through the city we couldn't help but notice these new small cars whizzing around the streets -- come to discover they are the brand-new Mini Cooper produced by BMW. Since we were then in the market to downsize our cars -- and our life we hoped -- as soon as we returned to the US we did a quick online search, hoping against hope that we could find those babies here. But sure enough we could, and we did and although we sold the blue one some time back we now have a new red Mini for a new life.
Stay tuned.
Wish you were here,
Steve
It was nice to be among familiar and friendly faces to be sure and without a doubt Dick and his wife Dorothy have made our transition from Europe to the US that much easier. They spent the next 48 hours of their limited schedules seeing that we were fed, watered and bedded down in comfort and style.
Sunday began with a promise of gorgeous weather and we just hung out enjoying the warmth of a bright sun in their new sunroom (very aptly named). The rain began later in the evening and the weather pretty much remained chilly, damp and dreary through Monday.
After our respite on Sunday we began our process of reintegration bright and early on Monday: we were going to pick up our new car. I took Dick to school early so that we could use his car to get to the car dealership located north of Boston in Peabody, Massachusetts.
A little after 9 a.m. Susie and I headed off in a persistant light drizzle to meet with Dick's insurance agent in Whitinsville, MA. Since we were buying the car in MA, we needed MA plates and MA insurance and, well, for the time being we actually do live in MA.
Here's where it gets a tad confusing. Last week I called our bank in Vermont to set up the process for transferring money to the car dealer so that we could purchase the car. (Funny they actually wanted money!) I gave the pertinent information over the phone, and since we were going to be traveling and didn't have ready access to a fax but the our new insurance agent in Whitinsville did and since we were going there first thing Monday, the bank faxed the form to the agent's office so that we could sign it Monday and fax it back so the money could be transferred. Whew! I get tired just thinking about it. (photo below: Wiersma Insurance Agency in Whitinsville, MA)
Everything went off like clockwork. At little after nine we showed up at Wiersma Insurance Agency and met with one of their agents Carolyn who was very nice, and kindly allowed us to use their faxing facilities. The insurance business took about 20 minutes, we signed and faxed the wire transfer back to the bank, and called the dealer to let them know the money was on it's way and so were we!
Since we had a little time to kill before the transfer was processed we stopped at a nearby mall to check on our mobile phone options -- we need phone service here of course and decided we'll go strictly mobile for the time being. We'll keep one of our present unlocked GSM phones to use when we go back to France and Italy, but will have to spring for new phones with whichever carrier we decide to go with. It's always something with the phone company -- and why do they have so many programs and so many different "products"?
Anyway for the moment we've put off making a firm decision on which carrier, although that will probably be resolved sometime Tuesday.
So we drove over to Peabody Mini and met Steve Macateer, the guy we've been dealing with online. He walked us through the paperwork and then the basics of the car and less than two hours later we drove out in a brand-new Mini Cooper.
It was just about this time in 2002 that Susan and I have the good fortune to spend Easter that year in Rome. While we were strolling through the city we couldn't help but notice these new small cars whizzing around the streets -- come to discover they are the brand-new Mini Cooper produced by BMW. Since we were then in the market to downsize our cars -- and our life we hoped -- as soon as we returned to the US we did a quick online search, hoping against hope that we could find those babies here. But sure enough we could, and we did and although we sold the blue one some time back we now have a new red Mini for a new life.
Stay tuned.
Wish you were here,
Steve
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