I don't expect to see it again

On the weekend we discovered many more things you cannot do without a social security number. One of these is getting a discount card from Gap. This surprised even me – and cost me $40.

Today we got our debit cards and check books. Of course I could not activate the cards (please enter the last four digits of your social security number…..) but the kind man at the bank helped me out…I think.

What he actually said was ‘I have activated them and they should work’. The important word in this sentence is ‘should’. Being the eternal optimist – albeit a bit faded after the last week – I shall try it at Kroger tomorrow.

I think it’s quaint that the Americans still use checks. Here they are – supposedly the most technologically advanced nation on the planet – and yesterday at Kroger I was standing behind a woman who was paying for her groceries with a check. I haven’t seen that for 20 years.

Incidentally – I lost my Kroger card – but as it did not work at the gas station there is no great problem. I will start again.

In one of the miracles of the ages we found the perfect sofas at the first store we visited. Well…we think they are perfect – but the interior designer who served us is coming to have a look at our house – if we close before Friday. She seems to know what we are trying to do. We shall see.

Our air freight shipment still has not arrived. We were told that it was opened – unpacked entirely – (and no doubt ransacked) on its way through Bratislava. I do not expect to see my camera and a number of items of this ilk again.

All these things are but minor irritations as we embed ourselves in American society.

There are any number of churches we could join….careful consideration is required lest we make the wrong choice.