I went to Linen N Things, Home Outfitters and Ikea. (In case you forgot: I love Ikea!) I purchased many things. We need so many more.
We were going to shop for a car this week, thinking we should give up this expensive rented minivan as soon as possible. But car shopping is time consuming, and our money may be stuck in transit. I'm growing anxious to finish setting up the house, including quite a bit of shopping at Ikea and Home Depot. This coming week may be my last completely free week before I resume writing.
So we're going back to the original plan, which we had mapped out for months before we got it in our head that we should buy a car immediately. This week, we'll shop, unpack and get the house in order. Next week, we'll buy a car.
Allan thinks we can save a lot of money by taking an intermediate step of renting an ordinary car locally for a week. It could be half the price. He'll look into that on Tuesday. Perhaps we'll pick up a less expensive rental, return the minivan to Buffalo, and apply for our SIN cards. After that, we can focus on the house for almost a full week. (I'm sure I'll be fixing up the house forever, but I want to get the basics done pronto.)
* * * *
People who've been reading wmtc for a while know that I've been looking forward to trading in my urban, car-free life for the ease of suburbia. Although I'll miss many things about life in New York, doing errands on foot and schlepping packages home on the subway will not be among them.
When we used to go to Ikea, we would borrow my mom's car or rent a car for the day. This sounds incredibly trivial, but I can't tell you how much I enjoyed driving to Ikea today, putting my packages in the car, and driving home. It was lovely.
Yesterday, I walked around the corner to an old-fashioned "variety store" (a guy who carries one of everything), picked up a few things, and walked home. I loved that, too. I feel like Port Credit may be the best of both.
16 comments:
I can lend you a bike 'til you have a car. :)
What kind of car are you looking to buy, anyways?
James: That will make getting home from Ikea very interesting. ;)
Teflonjedi: We're thinking of some kind of wagon, like the Focus or Camry or any equivalent. Not as obnoxious and gas-guzzling as a minivan or SUV, but something where the dogs can jump in the backseat and we'll still have room to pack things with a hatchback.
Lori & I got a PT Cruiser a couple of years back. It's essentially a station wagon that looks nifty. :) A fair bit of storage space (you can fit an 8ft ladder in if you put the front passenger seat down), and good milage. We have a turbo, which Lori loves. (The non-turbo is a little underpowered, apparently)
You know, the PT Cruiser is one of only cars I don't like the look of. I call them Nazi cars. They remind me of the cars SS officers are always getting out of in 1940s movies. Nutty, I know - but enough to keep me from buying one.
Hmm, I always thought of them as being more reminiscent of '50s US car design than German. We always thought the black ones looked like sporty little hearses. Though that may have been influenced by our joking about my father buying a turbo Volvo station wagon in good ol' Mennonite black. We called that the "sports hearse" as well.
Sports hearse, that's a good one. :)
Are you from a Mennonite family? Allan was raised as a Jehovah's Witness. So he's left his country more than once.
Are you from a Mennonite family?
Not exactly. My father is Mennonite Brethren, son of a preacher, but was thrown out of the congregation for studying English Literature. My mother is Scottish, United Church. ("The United Church, b'y, dey ain't to sure. Dey pray to whom it may concern!" -- Buddy Wasisname an' de Other Fellers.) She left the United Church because she couldn't take the folk guitars anymore. Us half-breed kids were raised Anglican, but none of us took it seriously. ("You Anglicans -- don't get cocky. You is only Cat'lics once removed!" -- Buddy Wasisname again.)
Ah, thrown out of a church for hankerin' after some learnin'! A proud distinction.
This is all highly amusing. Too bad I don't know what any of it means! :)
This is all highly amusing. Too bad I don't know what any of it means! :)
The Mennonite Brethren are (were) the hard-core Mennonites. Up until a few years ago, you could get tossed out of the Brethren for marrying General Congregation Mennonites, let alone non-Mennonites. My father was one of the first of his genereation to "move off the farm" and abandon tradition. Though he still doesn't dance, and neither do I.
Some old Mennonite jokes:
Why don't Mennonites have sex standing up? It might lead to dancing.
Why should always take two Mennonites fishing with you? Because if you only take one, he'll drink all your beer.
Further explanations:
Buddy Wasisname an' de Other Fellers was (is?) a Newfoundland musical comedy troupe. Dem fellers shore talks funny, moy sun!
United Church, very liberal protestants, to someone raised Catholic like me, they barely register as Christians at all.
Anglicans, as Episcopalians are known in the Anglosphere, are pretty similar in many ways to Catholics. They are Protestants since they don't recognize papal authority, but beyond that, there's a lot of similarity.
Anglicans are only Protestants because royals like Queen Liz I wanted an excuse to go after Catholics who disagreed with them. Sort of like how neo-conservatives are only "conservatives" because they hate liberals; if you actually look at what they do, it's not conservative.
Some excellent lines on the matter from the BBC historical comedy Blackadder:
"Hello, I'm Edmund Blackadder, the new Minister in Charge of Religious Genocide."
"Cold is simply God's way of telling us to burn more Catholics!"
I'm a huge fan of Blackadder. We watch them all the time on DVD.
I knew some of the religious categories here, but this
Buddy Wasisname an' de Other Fellers was (is?) a Newfoundland musical comedy troupe.
was totally lost on me. Thanks, Rob. :)
Buddy Wasisname is still active and touring. They're a favourite of my wife's, as she was raised by Newfies and has great affection for the Rock.
If you think us Trana folks talk odd, you haven't heard anything until you talk to a Newfoundlander in full voice.
Den he says t'me, "Hey, Newfie boy" -- ya gotta watch 'em T'rontonians, dey gots a thick accent -- "Hey, Newfie boy, bet you don't have big buildings like this back in Newfoundland!"
"Sure we do, cocky," I sez.
"Oh, no, not like this!"
"Sure we do, but we put dem on deir sides an' call dem shoppin' malls!"
If you think us Trana folks talk odd, you haven't heard anything until you talk to a Newfoundlander in full voice.
I love hearing all kinds of regional accents (and bemoan the loss of them in the US and elsewhere).
I've heard a kind of Canadian accent that sounds like an old Maine accent, but you can hear more Scottish in it. It was wonderful - and very difficult to understand! I wonder if that's Newfoundland.
I've heard a kind of Canadian accent that sounds like an old Maine accent, but you can hear more Scottish in it. It was wonderful - and very difficult to understand! I wonder if that's Newfoundland.
That'll be the Maritime accent. Newfoundland is thicker ("t'icker, b'y", as they'd say), and with more Irish Catholic in it.
Post a Comment