On cars and washing machines

Well, for a start, it turns out that I am not allowed to drive the hire car as the insurance only covers Hugh! And we can't really add me on as that would mean cancelling the current long-term contract and setting up a new one, which would cost a lot... Mind you it's ok so far, as the apartment is very near shops, and, let's admit it, I am a bit too scared to drive here yet! Well, driving somewhere I don't know, in a BIG automatic car, with the wheel on the wrong side, and on the right side of the road all at once makes it a bit too much!! So it's quite good in a way that I can just observe the traffic and Hugh driving before I try it myself.

However I am probably going to get pretty bored in the apartment very soon, and there's only so much you can do in a shopping mall when you don't have much money, so we are going to look into buying me something with 4 wheels asap... So it's off to a car supermarket tonight to have a look at what they have... will keep you posted!

Talking about cars, here's H getting into the rented Chevrolet Impala for his first day at work here. And because this is America, there is a multi-storey car park just at the back of the apartment, so you just drive up with your car and park on your floor, about 20 meters from your front door (well you wouldn't want us to walk to our apartment would you??). Tut tut what a strange idea. Anyway, H got fed up with wasting time going round and round the car park up to our floor and now parks on the ground floor and walks up and down the stairs, which is faster than driving up.



On the home front, we managed to work out how to wash our clothes using the monster in the cupboard. So here is my little illustrated guide!

First, you have to let water run into the vat for a few seconds, with the cover open so you see what's going on:



Then step 2: pour the detergent into the running water:



And step 3: add the clothes and close the lid:



I have to admit that I am a bit puzzled about the whole process, which seems like a lot of efforts in a country where everything is geared towards making people's lives as effortless as possible... On the plus side the wash is very quick. Apparently European-style wasing-machines are now available in the US, but they are much more expensive than these.

Bought 2 nice cakes yesterday at the local 'Randall's' supermarket... photos coming tomorrow!