In The New House

We're in California for a while, continues...

After the movers finished loading the trucks on Tuesday, John and I drove into San Francisco to spend the night at a hotel.

We had a fabulous dinner at Asia de Cuba in the hotel. We've also been to their restaurants in Los Angeles and London and we love it.

We didn't love the hotel, however. The pillows were like rocks among other little annoyances. In the morning we got up at 6:30, made our way to Starbuck's (accosted by street people several times along the street, San Francisco is a complete mess) and then to our car for the drive to... our new house! Yay!

I still get a thrill driving over the Golden Gate Bridge. It's just so monumental. And the views are great, when it's not foggy which it is this time of year.

We arrived at the new house in plenty of time to wait for the movers. Oh, and the plumber. Remember a few months ago when we were in London and I got a message that the hot water heater at our new house in California went bad and needed to be replaced. Well, our heroic real estate agent arranged with the insurance company to have it replaced and all was well. However, last week when we came over to the house to drop off some things we discovered there was no hot water. We called in a different plumber who discovered that the plumber the insurance company hired to replace the hot water heater put one in that is incompatible with our system. So it burned itself out and is useless. That was on Monday and we were scheduled to move in on Wedesday.

The new plumber assured me that he would have a new hot water heater installed Wednesday morning so we would have hot water after we moved in. And he did! Wow, I wish he could be our plumber in London (although things are improving there, it is not yet all fixed.) So at 7:30 the plumbing team arrived, including the fabulous Rick and installed a new tankless hot water heater for us. It's fab and he is the best plumber we've ever had.

Then the movers arrived with the trucks and the unloading began. I had spent a lot of time figuring out the furniture plan, including a virtual version in Second Life. My efforts pretty much paid off, with only a few pieces of furniture not really working where I had planned and so the movers did some shuffling for me and now it looks great.

As you can see in the photos the grounds around the house are stunning. In the photos you can see the pool in winter, which is depressing because it's one of the reasons we bought the house but it's not warm enough to swim now. While I was standing on the porch looking at the pool, the biggest squirrel I've ever seen came out of the forest and ran over to drink from the collected rainwater on top of the pool cover (see photo). Adorable.

Included is a photo of our champagne celebration after we were all moved in. The final photo is the view from the sofa in our living room out that big window after the sun has set behind the trees. We can't believe we live here.

Comments

[kirsty hawkshaw]

omg it's stunning! I am so happy for u - i wish i was there to share that bottle of champers and be the first to jump in the pool! We send u our love from across the seas xxx

[Jeremy]

I wonder if you can heat your pool for a nice swim. My parents used to to that in the winter and it is so nice with the steam rising off the water.. Its a bit expensive on the gas bill and takes about 24 hours before the water is comfy. But you just might have a heater on that pool I bet..

[Ramsay]

Zowie & congratulations: new house, new year, new era!

[glenda]

oh wow.... it's gorgeous, jan. i'm so thrilled for you!