Back in Vienna

We are back in Vienna – again to freezing weather. The heating systems has had enough of it and has packed it in completely. It was 17° in the apartment  when we got home and the cats were huddled together for warmth.

This weather is ridiculous.

We will miss our apartment but be won’t miss the air conditioning. The owner of the apartment is coming to visit - for the first time ever - next week so I shall attempt to explain the problems to him. Not that I now give a rats - as we will be gone in three weeks.

Cate is of course still going at it hammer and tongs and goes to Riyadh and Bad Homburg on Sunday.

On Tuesday the Hendersons arrive and on Saturday we go to Burgundy for a week  where we have rented a property called the ‘Moulin Vert’ for a week.

I hope that Cate will be able to relax and start to wind down after what for her has been a strenuous 5 years – and for me has been a doddle. I sometimes feel bad about that. 

We bought a house

Our house

The hotel we are staying at was chosen for us by Ducky Pharma and we are in a cave on the ground floor. Breakfast on day one was served on paper plates with plastic knives and forks – but in any event was inedible.

There was no espresso machine and the filthy sludge which masqueraded as coffee came in gigantic drums. I think they brew and stew new coffee every Sunday whether they need to or not.

But then things improved dramatically and they produced real china plates and steel cutlery – together with stuff that could pass as food. Today I had bacon and eggs!

Of course we still cannot drink the coffee so go to Au Bon Pain where the staff know us really well as we also have lunch there most days.

So we spent half a day touring Indianapolis with a guide who showed us all the sights and told us all about where we could live. But we pretty much knew this from our last trip.

Everyone told us we should live in Carmel which in 2012 was voted by someone as the best place to live in America. But it is – at best a 45 minute commute and we knew this would make Cate tetchy so wanted something closer to the city.

We new pretty much what we wanted in a house and in fact had chosen one on our last trip but someone else bought it – the swines.

But this time we found exactly what we wanted.

One of our squirrels

It is a historic house called The Wishard Mansion and was built in 1897. It is very us and is even older than our house in Sydney. But it has been completely refurbished and renovated from top to bottom.

It also has its own squirrels which is important to us and will drive the cats crazy because they will not be allowed outside to chase them.

So we made an offer and clinched the deal.

Unfortunately I have to go back

So we had an interview with the US consulate at 8:30 AM. They suggested we arrive 10 minutes early – which we did.

I was hoping for a nice cup of coffee with the US consul who would exchange pleasantries - welcome me to America and thank me for my interest in coming to his great country.

It was a complete Goat Fuck. The lobby was crammed with hordes of desperate souls clutching their pathetic scraps of paper which they hoped would admit them to the Land of the Free.

Apparently – as we discovered – all appointments are made for 8:30. The security guard told us there were 30 such appointments.

Clearly they have modeled this on the Austrian system – which we have experienced on a number of occasions.

We lined up for 20 minutes to get through security – then joined another line to get a hearing with Frau Grimm as to why we were intent on bothering the very busy US Consulate on this particular day.

Eventually we were seated and were then able to listen to the pathetic stories of all those who went before us as they gave their pitches to the Consul – who stood behind a (no doubt bullet-proof) glass screen listening to their tales of woe.

Hmmm…. No sit down in an office – no cup of coffee.

My favorite was the man whose house was being repossessed by GMAC although he had paid as much as he could and was down to his last dime and desperately needed to get to the USA for a hearing on 26 April to stop his house from being sold for a song. He got his wish.

Our turn – when it  came – was extremely pleasant. The very nice man had a few jokes with us – asked a few questions – approved our visa applications and gave us back our passports so that we could go house hunting.

Unfortunately I have to go back there on 8 April to drop in our passports. At least now I know what to expect.