Travelling

OK, feeling a bit excited today - we're off to Memphis on a day-trip tomorrow.

We're going to Graceland, Graceland
Memphis, Tennessee ....

(Paul Simon)

Funny how some places are just, what's the phrase, 'storied in myth and legend' - in the case of Memphis, apparently 899 different songs!

Long distance information
get me Memphis Tennesse

(Chuck Berry)

Of course, we're not exactly going for romantic or enchanting reasons - in fact, it's just a visit to the nearest USCIS (Citizenship & Immigration Services) office, in order to get our 'biometrics' recorded ... i.e. fingerprint, retina scan, not sure if there's anything else. Just the next in many steps of getting our status adjusted from temporary visa-holders to green-card permanent residents (i.e. able to come & go at our pleasure).

Then I'm walking in Memphis
walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale

(Marc Cohn)

Of course, we're keen to press on with this, both because it will permit Cat to seek paid employment once she's shifted off her L2-visa, and because the banks & credit card companies here will (by and large) not offer any credit of any sort to temporary residents. I say by and large, because I did get approved for a Mastercard which (by accident I think) didnt ask or check my residency status: but then, it has a ceiling of $500.

Handy's cast in bronze
And he's standing in a little park
With a trumpet in his hand
Like he's listening back to the good old bands
And the click of high heeled shoes
Old Furry sings the blues

(Joni Mitchell)

Once we have green cards, we can do things like shift our UK credit-card debt (run up by the move over here) to a low-interest bank loan, so we can get it paid off in a couple of years (at worst), rather than paying the weasel-strangling interest rates the credit-card companies charge: and contemplate getting mortgage approval & go looking for a repossessed house to snap up at bargain prices. Lord knows, there are a ton of those around at the moment - over 800 in the Little Rock area, and it's one of the least-affected areas. It must be utterly ghastly in parts of Florida & California, and I know bits of Ohio & Michigan have whole suburbs where all the houses are either in repossession, or simply abandoned. Scarey, scarey stuff.


Lets go to memphis in the meantime baby
Memphis in the meantime girl

(John Hiatt)

But still and all, it's nice to look forward to a day-trip: it's only a 2-hour drive from Little Rock, so we're planning to go fairly early, and take time to pass by Graceland (neither of us is a big enough fan of Da King to pay actual cash to go in, I think), visit old Beale Street & look at the Daisy, & of course WC Handy's statue (damn, just writing the name makes Bing's version of St Louis Blues echo in my head), and anything else that might spring to eye :) Oh, plus have a look for gaming shops: if there are any that run weekend games, then a 2hour drive might be worth making once a month or so, just to get some gaming opponents.

So, prolly no blogging tomorrow if we're going to make an early start.