mccullochblog

60 mins of bliss, 45 mpg and nearly into 215!

You might have thought we were in a funk as a result of all the car smash-up/rotten house/ health issues stuff. If truth be known, that was a bit a tough few months, but - starting with some total body therapy last weekend - I think we're on the right track again.

Despite feeling as rich as the Northern Rock (as a result of our house purchase), we felt we deserved a trip to the International Orange spa on Sunday. AAaaaahhhhh....marvelous stuff. My masseur is called Emma. Yes 'my' masseur. After trying out a few...I determined for the second time in my life that you "can't beat Emma".

Anyway, Emma's has met her and was also there to have her limbs stretched, muscles untangled and mind sent off to a parallel universe. I know it sounds decadent, but there really is nothing like a massage for de-stressing.

Then the check from our insurance company came! Yes, it turns out our Jetta was a write-off and so we went out and leased a Honda Civic Hybrid. I've been using the word 'unconscionable' for a while now to describe the act of anyone who can afford to buy a hybrid car not doing so. We didn't expect to make good on that pledge ourselves so soon, but it actually feels pretty good to be getting 45 miles per gallon on the way to work (compared with 18 mpg for our Acura).

And then what a way to end the week!? On Friday we picked up the keys to our new home and went and sat in our new kitchen with a couple of beers! Yes, I should have carried Emma over the threshold, and we should have drunk champagne, but Emma got there before me, and besides...the beer tasted great!

And that brings us to today: Sunday morning. In about 30 minutes we're off to 215 State Street again to put a second coat of paint on the study, and the same in the bedroom. And I'll be delicately moving my jasmine to their new trellis too....ah, domestic bliss!

People and Bicycle Pumps

There are times when the mundane needs a little embellishment before it becomes a story. I'll confess, I  exaggerate some of the details of our lives in San Francisco in the interests of brightening up my reportage. But truly...the last few weeks need no embellishment. Get a load of this lot:

• We put our house on the market in December. Our realtor said there would be "motivated buyers" even if there werent' many of them
• The realtor sent a 'stager' to make our house look nice; the staging crew smashed the door off our prized armoire
• The house hadn't sold by January. We chased the realtor for updates. He seemed to take offence, stopped showing up and sent his brother instead.
• The realtor's brother told us "I counsel all my clients against putting their house on the market in December". That was a surprise.
• We found a house we wanted to move to. Our offer was accepted.
• We found a buyer for our house. The realtor counselled us to take a bid $10k lower than the level we wanted to go to. We ignored him. We were right.
• Upon inspecting the 'new' house, we learned it probably needed some work.
• It turned out the house needed $70,000 of work to repair a massive amount of dry rot.
• Then the seller got cold feet because he was on the hook for the repairs. He called us to beg us to "buy the house down the street."
• Emma went into hospital. She came out the same day, but needed two weeks of homebound recuperation.
• In the meantime, our 'buy-side' realtor suggested we contract a lawyer to force the seller to do the work and move out. The seller decided to hire a lawyer to force the original housebuilder to repair the damage.
• We decided not to wait and went house hunting.
• We found another house, bid on it, won it, and started the whole process of inspections again.
• The inspections turned out well, so the next weekend, we went to take another peek before signing the final papers.
• When we got home, we found someone had smashed into our parked commuter car.
• Three days later, we heard the car needed $10,000 work - it was a total write-off. Oh joy.
• Then the day to sign papers on the new house approached.
• In the days leading up to it, everything that could have gone wrong, did go wrong.
• Loan papers were late being filed, 'surprise' monies needed to be transfered at the last moment, appointments were cancelled and re-arranged constantly.
• Finally, today, we did it. We own our new home. It's really nice too, not that we've had much time to get used to enjoying it.
• Silver lining? We got $10k for the car from our insurance today too - enough for a down payment on a new hybrid for my commute.

And that's about it. We move on the 29th...better get packing. But first, we're going for massages on Sunday. We think we deserve them. Oh, and we're having a housewarming party in July or April. Book the date. Just book out every weekend in April and July. You'll get the invite soon.

And the title? My grandfather always said there were people you could rely on, trust, work with and enjoying walking through life with...and then there are bicycle pumps. Recently...too many damn bicycle pumps!