Well, blow me down - America is still full of surprises, anyway. After my saga with trying to talk about mortgages to my Bank, I mentioned this to a friendly real estate agent, who put me in contact with her preferred broker. I talked to him on the phone, gave him some details and assent to perform a credit check, and 20 minutes later he calls back to inform me that I/we have pre-approval for a mortgage up to $170K - this without Cat even earning an income!
Of course final approval will require a sheaf of paperwork, and an evaluation of the house, but that only happens after we've found a house & struck a deal, so we're now free to go house-hunting, with a budget. I didn't realise things could happen so fast! I double-checked, and yes, this is prime-rate lending (in fact the best rate on offer), so nothing dodgy about it, and no strange ideas about interest-only mortgages or anything odd like that.
Feeling just a little dazed about it, to be honest: but I've started to dig up information about repossessed houses in the area, already, and we stopped & did a drive-by of a couple of them, last night.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
On an entirely different note, there is one aspect of living in the USA that I'm not sure I'll ever get used to: that is, the idea that it is legal to execute a right-hand turn through a red light (absent opposing traffic that is). Every time, I'm sitting looking at the red light until someone honks to remind me - the whole idea just runs counter to my instincts: whaddaya mean, run a red light? Are you mad, that's a cop car just over there!
*Sigh* maybe I'll eventually get used to it, I suppose, but it's sure going to take a lot of work to overcome the ingrained instincts. I do wonder, also, whether this doesn't actually breed a certain disdain among drivers here for red lights generally - I've certainly noticed a lot more willingness to run the red lights here than in the UK, or NZ (of course that might have a lot to do with the absence of red-light cameras!)
Showing posts with label driving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label driving. Show all posts
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Travelled!
Well, that was a fairly low-key trip, all things considered. I drove us to the edge of Memphis, then turned driving over to Cat - on the theory that she's more experienced at American city driving, and I'm better at reading maps - which I guess worked out, as we got to the places we aimed for with a minimum of confusion and no real delay.
The actual USCIS thing was short & very easy: fill out a form, wait a couple of minutes, get digitally fingerprinted (no ink, no mess! god bless technology), have your signature & picture taken, that's it. Not sure what comes next, I think it will be back to Memphis for an actual interview face to face... but as we did this twice with our L-visas (once in London plus again in DC on entering the States), then maybe that step gets skipped?
We stopped at a Bennigans (at last, somewhere where they haven't been shut down!), and had Monte Cristo sandwiches, I think the high point of the week for Cat - she had been really longing to try one again. Having had a bite of hers (cold) last time, I was quite keen to try one myself, but I have to say they are much nicer once lukewarm or cold - when new-cooked and hot, they are not so great.
Cat had been feeling pretty low and out of sorts all day, so we cancelled the tourist stuff for the day: after all, it's only a 2 hour drive, if we fancy a daytrip any weekend, it's an easy reach, so we drove back slow & easy.
The traffic was moderate going both ways (well, by UK motorway standards - very heavy by NZ standards!), and man, were there a lot of 18wheelers & lorries on the road. I must say, tho, that the US truckers seem a lot more professional and courteous than the ones you encounter in the UK (most of course being EU-based): they stick to the speed limits much more, give you space to pass & are quite happy to pull over a bit to help, and (most of all) dont play Block The Traffic by occupying all the lanes & travelling at the same speed, the way so many truckers in the UK always delight in doing. Given that the Interstate we were on is only 2lanes each way, that would have been quite easy to do, but while the truckers would overtake their slower brethren & caravans, (and the occasional slow car), they were fairly careful to pull over immediately after, and to not let a buildup of delayed cars occur at all.
Two other differences I noticed in the open-road driving: one was the recurrence, indeed almost prevalence, of enormous peels of rubber - blownout 18wheeler tires, I assume. This despite passing at least 3 workcrews at different points, tidying them up & collecting them. Compared to the UK/EU motorways, there seemed to be a huge number of them: I guess the profit margin thing here (or the less stringent inspection regime?) drives the truckers to try and eke out every
last mile from their tires.
The other big difference was the absence of the usual stream of broken-down or burnt-out cars dotting the side of the motorways. I think in the whole journey, we saw 2 breakdowns, and in both cases they were obviously being attended to (if not necessarily fixed). I would guess, driving a similar distance in the UK (say up to Birmingham and back, we would expect to see at least 20 breakdowns of various ages, plus another 6 or 8 burnt-out cars ... each way.
I think that this is caused by the American love for (and dependence on) their cars, in a way that has never even penetrated in the UK, where car maintenance seems to be considered optional - to the point that simple things like oil & filter changes are considered an unneeded expense, or an occasional opportunity to be robbed blind by the mechanics.
Of course the UK mechanics truly are a band of ruthless cowboys, and as a class are quite piratical and utterly untrustworthy (with quite a few honorable exceptions, I'll freely admit).
Even so, it was always an occasion for mirth on our parts over the sheer volume of breakdowns we would see on the English motorways, and we would speculate on the underlying thought processes, or lack thereof. It's not as tho cars are cheaper in the UK, after all - quite the reverse. Still, it was very pleasant to not see the same littering the sides of I40 yesterday.
Cat disagreed with my guess of the cause, pointing out the number of cars we see in Little Rock with astonishing dings and dents, and quite commonly missing windowscreens - replaced with clear plastic & duct tape: but I dredged up the analysis I'd read a few months ago, about the effects of poverty on car ownership in the US as the cause of this.
Briefly, the bottom slice (12%? 15? 18? I forget) has such poor creditworthiness that they cannot get car loans at anything like reasonable terms, so - as they still need cars, public transport being a bit of a joke in almost all of America - they are reduced to purchasing wrecks: played out cars at the end of their useful lives, costing $500-$1000 typically, i.e. the sort of amount they can buy for cash (or buy on horrible credit terms & afford the monthly payments) ... and expected to last only months, perhaps a year if you're lucky.
Of course, in straitened circumstances like that, it is essential to get every last possible mile out of their investments, to delay the next purchase as long as possible: hence driving them in quite unsafe conditions, provided they still actually can move, and don't get stopped/ticketed too often to make them financially viable (fortunately there are very few police assigned to traffic duties so that is a low risk).
The irony of it is that, between the repeated purchases, and the price of those repairs that seem worth the cost, they could in many cases afford the payments on a much better quality of used car, but having been judged and found wanting by the Creditworthiness Judges (ha), they aren't given that access. Makes you think it might be something the government could address .. like so many things involving the Credit Rating gestapo.
Enough rambling for the moment :)
The actual USCIS thing was short & very easy: fill out a form, wait a couple of minutes, get digitally fingerprinted (no ink, no mess! god bless technology), have your signature & picture taken, that's it. Not sure what comes next, I think it will be back to Memphis for an actual interview face to face... but as we did this twice with our L-visas (once in London plus again in DC on entering the States), then maybe that step gets skipped?
We stopped at a Bennigans (at last, somewhere where they haven't been shut down!), and had Monte Cristo sandwiches, I think the high point of the week for Cat - she had been really longing to try one again. Having had a bite of hers (cold) last time, I was quite keen to try one myself, but I have to say they are much nicer once lukewarm or cold - when new-cooked and hot, they are not so great.
Cat had been feeling pretty low and out of sorts all day, so we cancelled the tourist stuff for the day: after all, it's only a 2 hour drive, if we fancy a daytrip any weekend, it's an easy reach, so we drove back slow & easy.
The traffic was moderate going both ways (well, by UK motorway standards - very heavy by NZ standards!), and man, were there a lot of 18wheelers & lorries on the road. I must say, tho, that the US truckers seem a lot more professional and courteous than the ones you encounter in the UK (most of course being EU-based): they stick to the speed limits much more, give you space to pass & are quite happy to pull over a bit to help, and (most of all) dont play Block The Traffic by occupying all the lanes & travelling at the same speed, the way so many truckers in the UK always delight in doing. Given that the Interstate we were on is only 2lanes each way, that would have been quite easy to do, but while the truckers would overtake their slower brethren & caravans, (and the occasional slow car), they were fairly careful to pull over immediately after, and to not let a buildup of delayed cars occur at all.
Two other differences I noticed in the open-road driving: one was the recurrence, indeed almost prevalence, of enormous peels of rubber - blownout 18wheeler tires, I assume. This despite passing at least 3 workcrews at different points, tidying them up & collecting them. Compared to the UK/EU motorways, there seemed to be a huge number of them: I guess the profit margin thing here (or the less stringent inspection regime?) drives the truckers to try and eke out every
last mile from their tires.
The other big difference was the absence of the usual stream of broken-down or burnt-out cars dotting the side of the motorways. I think in the whole journey, we saw 2 breakdowns, and in both cases they were obviously being attended to (if not necessarily fixed). I would guess, driving a similar distance in the UK (say up to Birmingham and back, we would expect to see at least 20 breakdowns of various ages, plus another 6 or 8 burnt-out cars ... each way.
I think that this is caused by the American love for (and dependence on) their cars, in a way that has never even penetrated in the UK, where car maintenance seems to be considered optional - to the point that simple things like oil & filter changes are considered an unneeded expense, or an occasional opportunity to be robbed blind by the mechanics.
Of course the UK mechanics truly are a band of ruthless cowboys, and as a class are quite piratical and utterly untrustworthy (with quite a few honorable exceptions, I'll freely admit).
Even so, it was always an occasion for mirth on our parts over the sheer volume of breakdowns we would see on the English motorways, and we would speculate on the underlying thought processes, or lack thereof. It's not as tho cars are cheaper in the UK, after all - quite the reverse. Still, it was very pleasant to not see the same littering the sides of I40 yesterday.
Cat disagreed with my guess of the cause, pointing out the number of cars we see in Little Rock with astonishing dings and dents, and quite commonly missing windowscreens - replaced with clear plastic & duct tape: but I dredged up the analysis I'd read a few months ago, about the effects of poverty on car ownership in the US as the cause of this.
Briefly, the bottom slice (12%? 15? 18? I forget) has such poor creditworthiness that they cannot get car loans at anything like reasonable terms, so - as they still need cars, public transport being a bit of a joke in almost all of America - they are reduced to purchasing wrecks: played out cars at the end of their useful lives, costing $500-$1000 typically, i.e. the sort of amount they can buy for cash (or buy on horrible credit terms & afford the monthly payments) ... and expected to last only months, perhaps a year if you're lucky.
Of course, in straitened circumstances like that, it is essential to get every last possible mile out of their investments, to delay the next purchase as long as possible: hence driving them in quite unsafe conditions, provided they still actually can move, and don't get stopped/ticketed too often to make them financially viable (fortunately there are very few police assigned to traffic duties so that is a low risk).
The irony of it is that, between the repeated purchases, and the price of those repairs that seem worth the cost, they could in many cases afford the payments on a much better quality of used car, but having been judged and found wanting by the Creditworthiness Judges (ha), they aren't given that access. Makes you think it might be something the government could address .. like so many things involving the Credit Rating gestapo.
Enough rambling for the moment :)
Thursday, July 17, 2008
We aren't in ArrrrKansas any more, Toto
First off, our stuff has arrived from London at last!! However, it arrived at 6 pm on Thursday, when we were due to go away Friday morning for a weekend in Dallas, so it's pretty much still there, piled up in boxes.
Well, our weekend excursion to Dallas was pretty good overall. Driving down went fairly well, altho my driving was a bit dodgy, as I kept crabbing right in the lanes - the natural instinct for driving on the other side of the road, & apparently quite hard to ditch. Cat got a bit nervous about it, so she did the bulk of the drive down.
We met up with Ray & Pat from Oklahoma, & Ray acted as native guide, steering us to the biggest available branch of Half Price Books, where we spent a couple of happy hours wandering around and oohing and ahhing, buying a relatively restrained pile of books at the end. I have to say, we really needed the native guide - Dallas traffic is almost as aggressive as London traffic, and the city centre is a spectacular spaghetti of freeways: quite beautiful and awe-inspiring as an object, but also pretty daunting as something to navigate! Oh, and I should mention, Dallas is Hot Hot Hot - I thought Little Rock was pretty hot & sticky, but Dallas has it beat into a cocked hat.
Monty had arrived by the time we got back to our motel, so we all went out to the nearby Steak&Ale place for a drink (and in Monty's case, dinner), and sat and talked for a couple of hours.
Saturday, I went off with the lads to the wargames tournament, playing FOG. As I hadnt had time to excavate any armies, I had arranged to borrow figures from the umpire, Ian Buttridge, and took an Aragonese army - I'll post the list & battle reports on Kruppfalz .
During the first round, John Witstyn pitched up, with his son Austen in tow (about 12 I think). Once I'd finished off my opponent, we went off for an early lunch, and a chance to catch up and chat. He's changed remarkably little - quite a bit greyer, but that's hardly a surprise - much the same calm and happy John that I remember so fondly, with all the verbal quirks, and the same sparkle.
The rest of the tournament took up Saturday pretty thoroughly, and we didn't get back to the motel til about 9:30, then went next door for steaks & beer, and a post-tournament dissection. Cat had intended to go shopping in Dallas, but the traffic had intimidated her enough that she chose to stay at the motel and read her new book for the day.
Sunday we had planned to go spend time with John & his family, but we were both so tired (and probably a touch hungover from the beers), and so worn from the heat & humidity, we had to cry off, and just drove home - I did a lot more driving this time, & seem to be getting over the crabbing problem.
I was quite surprised by how green the bit of Texas we saw was, but then, it's just the very north-east corner. It was quite noticeable when we passed from Arkansas to Texas, tho, both in the change in terrain, from rolling hills and plains, to pretty flat (not Nebraska-flat, but still, flat), and in the change in feel of the rural homes, from fairly prosperous in Arkansas, to looking quite shabby and poor in Texas - until we hit the edge of the commuter belt, when it abruptly changed to 4000sqft mansions on hobby farms or half-acre sprawls, of course.
Oh, and I won the tournament, which was a nice way to start things off in the USA!
Well, our weekend excursion to Dallas was pretty good overall. Driving down went fairly well, altho my driving was a bit dodgy, as I kept crabbing right in the lanes - the natural instinct for driving on the other side of the road, & apparently quite hard to ditch. Cat got a bit nervous about it, so she did the bulk of the drive down.
We met up with Ray & Pat from Oklahoma, & Ray acted as native guide, steering us to the biggest available branch of Half Price Books, where we spent a couple of happy hours wandering around and oohing and ahhing, buying a relatively restrained pile of books at the end. I have to say, we really needed the native guide - Dallas traffic is almost as aggressive as London traffic, and the city centre is a spectacular spaghetti of freeways: quite beautiful and awe-inspiring as an object, but also pretty daunting as something to navigate! Oh, and I should mention, Dallas is Hot Hot Hot - I thought Little Rock was pretty hot & sticky, but Dallas has it beat into a cocked hat.
Monty had arrived by the time we got back to our motel, so we all went out to the nearby Steak&Ale place for a drink (and in Monty's case, dinner), and sat and talked for a couple of hours.
Saturday, I went off with the lads to the wargames tournament, playing FOG. As I hadnt had time to excavate any armies, I had arranged to borrow figures from the umpire, Ian Buttridge, and took an Aragonese army - I'll post the list & battle reports on Kruppfalz .
During the first round, John Witstyn pitched up, with his son Austen in tow (about 12 I think). Once I'd finished off my opponent, we went off for an early lunch, and a chance to catch up and chat. He's changed remarkably little - quite a bit greyer, but that's hardly a surprise - much the same calm and happy John that I remember so fondly, with all the verbal quirks, and the same sparkle.
The rest of the tournament took up Saturday pretty thoroughly, and we didn't get back to the motel til about 9:30, then went next door for steaks & beer, and a post-tournament dissection. Cat had intended to go shopping in Dallas, but the traffic had intimidated her enough that she chose to stay at the motel and read her new book for the day.
Sunday we had planned to go spend time with John & his family, but we were both so tired (and probably a touch hungover from the beers), and so worn from the heat & humidity, we had to cry off, and just drove home - I did a lot more driving this time, & seem to be getting over the crabbing problem.
I was quite surprised by how green the bit of Texas we saw was, but then, it's just the very north-east corner. It was quite noticeable when we passed from Arkansas to Texas, tho, both in the change in terrain, from rolling hills and plains, to pretty flat (not Nebraska-flat, but still, flat), and in the change in feel of the rural homes, from fairly prosperous in Arkansas, to looking quite shabby and poor in Texas - until we hit the edge of the commuter belt, when it abruptly changed to 4000sqft mansions on hobby farms or half-acre sprawls, of course.
Oh, and I won the tournament, which was a nice way to start things off in the USA!
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