Whatever the Weather
We seem to have survived our first few days here, finding our way around OK. Wednesday we went to the DMV to get applications for our new driving licences, the Social Security office, and then the supermarket. The day started out sunny and warm, but by the time we came out of the supermarket, $300 lighter, it was absolutely pouring with rain. Later that evening while we were watching television, the programmes were interrupted 3 or 4 times to say there was a weather warning and to turn to channel 3 for details. Channel 3 listed several areas, including ours, that were to be hit by major thunder-storms and tornadoes during the evening. A bit alarming on your first day in a new country! But it was quite impressive to watch from the balcony, the rain was sheeting down and pouring off the roofs. They also had warned of hailstones the size of golf-balls, but we didn’t see those.Yesterday we went car shopping, not intending to actually buy a car, just to start looking, as we have a hire car provided by the company for the first month (along with the apartment). On discussion with a salesman, we came to the conclusion that it would be very difficult to get any kind of finance as we have only just arrived in the country and so have no credit here. So we then started to look at 2nd hand vehicles within a price range we felt we could afford in one hit. There was quite a number to look at, but Gordon very quickly narrowed it down to the only 2 trucks on the list. He has said from the start that he would love to have a truck, and the 2 they had were both nice. We took them both for a test-drive and chose the red one, getting them to reluctantly agree to take a deposit, with the rest being paid in 2 weeks after Gordon gets paid from work. So at least that job is done and out of the way, and he has his truck.
Today we made our first foray into Chicago city. There is a train line that unfortunately runs right past our apartment, which carries passenger and freight trains (meaning all through the night), but it doesn’t run passenger trains at weekends. So we had to drive a short distance to the nearest station on another line, and got the train in. It is a 45 minute journey to Chicago centre. The place lived up to it’s name of the Windy City (even though it is not named that for the weather). We walked along the Lake, onto Navy Pier for lunch, onto the beach, then up the John Hancock Tower for cocktails in the bar at the top. There is plenty more to do there but we thought we would save some of it for when people come out to visit. Then we caught the El (elevated train line) back to Union Station and the train home.
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