It’s been a week of firsts.

Maurice went to work in the Chevron office in Houston  and I was left at home alone for the first time since we arrived.

It was strange being left behind in the apartment all by myself. I pottered around for while and then set off to walk to the nearby TJ Max which is basically TK Max – with a J instead of a K – strangely.

While shopping, Maurice called to arrange for us to meet up with Matt, our realtor guy, again. He came to the apartment mid afternoon to collect me and we met Maurice at another property to view.

The property was very nice, a spacious modern house in a lovely street, but in a gated complex which provided very little outside space and a cramped feel at the sides and front of the house. We did not rule it out – the area was certainly a good one. This was the ‘Medical Center’ as it is so close to all the hospitals in Houston. I imagine many of the residents around here will work in these hospitals, although I think the consultants will be living in the mansions we saw when we were practising driving the other day. Outrageous palatial homes with huge grounds and ornate features which line the desirable boulevards of Memorial Drive and River Oaks.

We checked out another property in West University. It was ok, had a spacious feel, plenty room for us, although the kitchen was pretty tiny, but the garden was flooded and plumbing problems were in the process of being fixed.  We didn’t think this was for us.

Then we went back to Buffalo Speedway, also in West U, and re-visited a lovely house with a pool. We decided to go ahead and apply to become tenants with some modifications to the original proposal. Just had to wait and see if we would be accepted.

The next day I visited the gym in the apartment complex for the first time. Not a bad wee facility, all the machines you need and tvs to watch too – with rather macho ‘Dave’ style tv channels chosen. I was the only one there.

After my gentle work out, I had a go on one of the massage chairs available. This felt rather like being in a car wash for humans, without the water. I was poked, squeezed and vibrated from all sides in an unpredictable sequence of electrically controlled undulations that successfully removed any stiffness from my muscles. Very strange.

Later that day we heard that we had successfully secured the house on Buffalo Speedway! So just the paper work and money to sort out now.

Wednesday passed pretty much like the other two days home alone, this time I walked to the Galleria and rummaged around in a few of the huge choice of stores, really just to get out and get some exercise.

When Maurice came home, we set off to see a car that he had spotted for sale online – a 2011 Nissan Sentra. A tad more sensible than the Corvette. And before we knew it, he’d bought it. Spurred on by a young sales guy who said another customer was interested and coming along ‘any time now’ to buy, and a reduction of $500, Maurice said yes – and initialled what can only be described as a scrap of paper with a handwritten note on it saying – ‘I will buy this car if you reduce it by $500’. I thought it was all a made up wee story about the other customer – but then he arrived and even said to us – ‘you beat me to it’! So he wasn’t fictitious he was a real person.

The dealers make it very tempting and easy to commit to buy, then hit you with the usual array of paper work. It’s not a whole lot different to buying in the UK but different enough to feel quite alien, when you don’t know all the legalities. A very lovely lady called Becky guided us through the finance and then that was that. We couldn’t drive it away, but everything had been put in place.

Maurice works a 9 day fortnight and this first Friday was the planned ‘TDO’ or tenth day off so, a four day week for him to start the year nice and gently. Thursday was his last work day this week. I went to the gym again and braved some more ambitious settings of the massage chair – the ‘relax’ setting I found to be far from that – and watched some more bloke tv about trains braving the elements in Alaska through all weathers. The train hitting a dog on the track was a low point.

We had a ‘date night’ at a local Galleria hostelry in the evening to mark the start of the weekend.

Then Friday was a very busy day!

We had all the finances to sort out for the car and the house and were panicking slightly about how to get much needed funds over from the UK accounts to the US in the most economic way. I happen-chanced upon a recommendation on the Martin Lewis Money Expert website which proved very fortuitous and we managed to navigate our way to a reasonably smooth money transfer. After an initial delay when I thought we had signed over all our worldly goods to a total stranger, a confirmation popped through and we could breathe again. Phew.

A morning of emailing, phoning, transferring and confirming passed in a flash. Later than intended we set off for Maurice to get a hair cut and to buy a satnav for our new car.

The barber was ‘Mike’s’ although precisely who Mike was remains a mystery as the establishment was entirely staffed by Latino women who spoke in Spanish, very fast, and in a screechingly high pitch and volume up at max. Only one apparently occupied to actually cut hair, although there were half a dozen barber’s chairs lined up in this pretty basic shop, each with a plaque above, hanging at various jaunty angles and proclaiming that the named individual was a ‘certified cosmetician in the state of Texas’. A tv in the corner was showing a Spanish game show of some kind and one of the ‘cosmeticians’ was riveted to it. It appeared to be quite an amusing programme as the regular, deafening squeals of laughter testified.

The hair was cut – looks ok and only cost $6 plus tip. Can’t complain about that. But don’t think Mike’s will be for me, certified or not.

Best Buy is a bit like Comet (RIP) but of course bigger, like all things Texan. We selected a cheap satnav and spotted some good bargains for future reference in the fridge and tv sections too. Here’s hoping Best Buy doesn’t suffer the same fate as Comet, or at least, not until after we have bagged some bargains.

World Market was next door. Liked the selection of furniture and accessories in here and not too pricey either. Another place to keep in mind when we need to start getting ‘stuff’.

After lunch at a Thai cafe we headed back to the apartment before going out to collect our new car. By this time it was nearly rush hour and I was not confident about driving alone so we took a cab to the dealership, got the keys and drove our first owned US car back home. It is a lovely roomy car – very comfy and of course, automatic. You get a lot more car for your buck over here, that’s for sure. This one will be Maurice’s work ‘mule’ and will do very nicely.

It was Friday night so we popped around the corner to an Argentinian restaurant and lounge for a beer and a wine or two. There was a guy playing flamenco guitar there which was lovely and the place had a great atmosphere. We didn’t eat here but the menu looked good – a possible for another night.

Saturday was baltic. Absolutely freezing – well nearly. And at one point, colder than Aberdeen.

We had elected to complete a 6 hour Driver’s Ed programme to help us pass the theory test which was set at the end of the day. We were a collection of nationalities, a group of around 15 mainly Chevron employees, it appeared. We went through the driving manual section by section and heard some colourful driving tales from our teacher Mrs Bo-something (she didn’t give us her first name – strangely). Her husband was there too – but in an unknown capacity other than being called upon to answer a question relating to school buses, and her mother was the secretary for the day, her father having passed away some 9 months prior. Quite the family affair.

I was left feeling, I never wanted to ever, ever risk driving in Texas ever, ever, ever.

We both passed the test – a two part test of regulations knowledge and traffic sign identification. So we can now progress to the practical test once we have been resident in Texas for 30 days. I will book some lessons to get my confidence up, that is definite. Once I am behind the wheel I’m not too bad, but moving between lanes is still a bit scary and certainly driving on the Freeway is not my idea of fun. I guess I will get used to it.

So, a new car, a new house, a first haircut in the US, a load of new experiences from ‘driver’s ed’ to massage chair.

First impressions from our first 2 weeks: it may just be because we are ‘aliens’ but imho this is a bureaucratic country (or maybe it’s this state), soooo much paper work. And the form designs will never win any plain English awards – legal terms of obscure origin appear preferable to the everyday alternatives. But everyone we have met has been really helpful and friendly. It is just a tad concerning when the driver’s ed teacher tells you she owns a gun ‘there are some crazy people out there’ and keeps it handy ‘especially for over this holiday period…’

At least there is some familiar cold and miserable weather.  Beginning to feel at home.