We’ve been back for four months now. Four whole months.
It’s hard to believe we were ever living in Houston, Texas. It’s hard to imagine the pleasant warmth of the weather at this time of year. The Friday nights in Rice Village pubs. The queue at Torchy’s Taco’s. The walks along the bayou and in Hermann Park.
Now we’re back it all seems a bit surreal. There has been just so much to do. Trying to fit all our possessions back into the house has been a bit of a challenge. But we’ve managed. There have been many many guitars to find space for. And to be reacquainted with coming out of storage.
We were in temporary accommodation for four weeks and then stayed with big sis for a week until our shipment finally arrived.
The apartment we were in was spacious and convenient and served us well for the time. It acclimatised us to living in the UK again, and in Aberdeen in particular. And also in a smaller space.
Everyone has remarked on how much we must notice that Aberdeen has changed. But to be honest, no. In nearly two years it hasn’t changed really, hardly at all.
Ok, so there are roadworks everywhere for the AWPR, and flyovers, for goodness sake, over the Westhill Road. Amazing. The abomination that is Marischal Square is – well – an abomination. How that got built right there in front of Marischal College, obscuring poor Provost Skene’s wee hoose is just mind numbing.
The new Diamond Bridge at Grandholm looks like it’s always been there – it’s hard to imagine how the area looked before. But again, Aberdeen planners have done their best to p**s us all off by turning the bulk of Bedford Road into a ‘no entry’ except for buses. This necessitates a short detour in either direction once you sail swiftly over the new bridge.
But either way brings you to the previous two bottlenecks and exacerbates the old traffic problems.
As time has passed, I find myself noticing some of the less pleasant aspects of being home. Dark, dark mornings. Days that turn into nights without the sun appearing to rise above the grey cloud that hangs in the air all day. And the cold.
But I love the sunsets which I missed for two years. Yes, the sun rises and sets over Houston. But the angle of the sun and the extremes of no cloud/too much cloud don’t promote the beautiful sunsets which we enjoy here in Scotland.
It’s nice to have some undulations in the landscape too. Houston is in East Texas which is so flat you can see the camber of the earth from the top of a skyscraper as it slopes away on the horizon many miles away. Where Hill Country is so called because there are some gentle lumps providing some relief but which would be considered very tame when compared to the West Coast or the Grampians.
We took a wee holiday to the West Coast of Scotland in October and boy did it put on its best bib and tucker for us. Gorgeous and sunny with unseasonably warm days, we saw the West Coast at its absolute peak. Beautiful autumn colours on the landscape and clear views across to the Isles added to the stunning scenery. We didn’t have rain! That must be a first for me on a West Coast holiday, and no midgies either. A real bonus.
A reviving week helped us prepare for the unpacking that ensued when we returned.
Our team from the removal company happened to be the same team that packed us up two years ago. The same team that randomly managed to separate our lawn mower (which went into storage) from its collection box (which arrived solo and rather surprisingly in Houston), and also managed to send our waving Santa Christmas decoration to Houston when it too was supposed to go into storage.
Last Christmas I did, in fact, decide to position waving Santa at an upstairs front bedroom window for all to see from the street. However, given that the voltage in the US is only 120V as opposed to our 240V (or whatever) he looked decidedly pale. In fact, barely visible.
The electrical differences have presented some challenges and some surprises since we returned.
We threw caution to the wind and brought our lamps with us: a collection of bedside and occasional lamps which we had accumulated in Houston. I wasn’t convinced they would work. However, here’s what you do: chop off the old US 2 pin plug – paying attention to which is the ‘live’ as there is no clue from the colour – and rewiring with a UK plug. Add a UK bulb and hey presto – they work! I think the only thing that may be a bit less than safe is the actual wire which needs to be able to sustain 240V.
So we’ll see how we get on before we have a small electrical fire…
Our TV works fine – the helpful label at the back indicated “from 110V -240V” so a simple travel adapter was all that was required.
So we now have a ‘way-too-big-for-our-living-room’ TV occupying a sizeable corner, slightly overwhelming any visitor to our house on first meeting.
Maurice has a fancy transformer thingee for his guitar equipment so it all works too.
But sadly, our lovely fairy lights for our Christmas tree will have to be binned. There is no way they will survive the ravages of 240V and no way to replace 100 odd bulbs and the plug too – no, they just have to go (think they only cost $5 from Target anyway….!)
And so it is now 2017 and we’ve said goodbye to 2016. 2015/16 were amazing years for us in so many ways. Living in a new country, seeing parts of the world we could never imagine seeing, making new friends and having wonderful experiences many would envy.
It’s nice to be home, though. Friends and family are close by and the family is expanding! A grandson nearly a year old, a wedding or two this year. Who knows what the future will bring which is what makes it all the more intriguing.
“Carpe diem” though, and we most definitely did, while we could.
And here’s to a Happy and Healthy New Year!
Whole Other Country 