So Long and Thanks for the Boxes Houston! Letterbox

Thanks so much to all of you Houston boxers who have read my blog! I gathered up the leftover boxes from my Gertrude Wellie Letterbox Challenge, added 2 plb stamps, and have put them all in a box I'm calling "So Long and Thanks for the Boxes Houston!"

I will add this box to AQ in a few weeks, but for now, any of you still reading this will get first dibs on the box. There are 7 total stamps in the box and a few gifts for the first few people. I apologize to those of you who completed the challenge, as you already got 5 of these stamps, but the only one who should have the other 2 stamps is fellow plber, Mo5. (Sorry! This one won't be much fun for you!)

I'm disappointed in the location for this box. But Memorial Park is just a swamp with a zillion mosquitos, so a long walk and scenic location just wasn't possible. (Is it EVER going to stop raining around here?!)

To find the box:
Go to the rugby field behind the mountain bike parking area at Memorial Park. From the bleachers, look around the field and go to the 2nd lightpost from the left. Box is about 10ft behind the lightpost at the base of a large tree. (Since it was raining, flooding, and mosquitos were swarming in dangerous quantities, if anyone can help hide the box a little better when the weather is nicer, it would be much appreciated!)

This location should allow you to get the box and sit out on the field and stamp in without too much interruption (assuming the ground dries out!) and take your time.

Again, thanks everyone for planting boxes for us to find, as well as hunting for our boxes!

(Keep looking on AQ for this box to be listed if you want to log your finds.)

Bumps on the Way to UK

A few notes on things to consider if you ever want to move to the UK from the US. . .

1.) Best to do it when you're young, unmarried, and still living with your college crate furniture. That way you can ditch it all, get a single ticket, and live in a hostel if needed. The cheapest way to move - hands down. You can get in a student visa.

2.) Taking a pet is a drag. They still have that 6mth quarantine for imported pets, but you can spend your 6mths where you live now, so that's much better. Still paperwork, fees, another plane ticket, finding somewhere to put them if you have to leave before the 6mths is up, etc. Our estimated cost for taking our dachshund is $1700.00. I could buy a whole herd of dachsies for that.

3.) Taking a car is a drag. US imports seem to be the red-headed stepchild. Found a website listing a bunch of insurance cos. that take US cars, but when I tried them, nearly 80% said no. Put on top of that is the fact that Mr. TeamKing wants to take our car, but Mrs. TeamKing has to find out the procedure, insure it, get it moved, etc. I'm thinking I may be in an accident this week. Poor car. >:)

4.) Finding a home is a drag. If our house in the US could sell as fast as the rental houses get swapped up in the area we're moving to, we'd be ecstatic. Note to self: invest in rental house there someday.

5.) I'm pretty much convinced that some left-handed partially deranged ruler is responsible for the backward things in the UK. Really. Can't tell you how many times I've been stunned by some bizarre procedure for something. You can just pick anything in the US and flip it over to find out the UK procedure. They are complete opposites. See, doesn't my thinking seem to work. Any English folks reading this can just blame it on some foreign ruler in the past. That's okay. The US isn't much better, but it is an improvement.

6.) You're going to struggle with some words. I just can't seem to say 'inventory' as 'in-vent-try' or 'aluminum' as 'al-u-min-e-um'. The sidewalk is 'pavement'. (Isn't that what you lay down to make the sidewalk?) Elevators are 'lifts'. Cigarettes are 'fags'. (that sounds dangerous) And calling someone a 'bloke' just sounds downright insulting to me.

7.) If you're from the NE part of the US, you'll probably be many steps ahead in adjusting - size, weather, type of houses. The rest of us just have to think small. Distance is thought of in completely different terms. If you want to go somewhere in the US that is 3-5 hours away, you jump in your car and go - probably to spend a weekend. In the UK, 3-5 hours away might as well be on par with leaving the country. It's much too far for only a day trip or even a weekend trip. Better take off a week. Yes, I'm kidding. But only slightly. ;)

8.) The UK seems more advanced in terms of green thinking. If you're anti-environment, this may seem trivial. If you move from oil country, you'll be amazed and hopefully grateful that not every country wants to drill in its pristine areas for oil. I'm looking at electric providers and seeing 'Green' as an option! What?

9.) Look forward to reducing your waistline - I know I am. Food portions are half what we're used to, yet cost twice as much. I'm thinking that's why tea is consumed so much. Not only does it warm you up, it fills you up so you can make it to the next meal.

10.) You have to bag your own groceries at the store. I might be okay with this as the two stores I use now seem to either have teenagers working the checkout and bagging, and they love to just throw your food down the conveyor and then pack your bread in with your gallon jug of milk. Or they hire the long retired folks (who have already downshifted to first gear) and it takes more time in line than shopping and I end up reading just about every magazine in the rack before I can get through the line. (You can only read so much about Paris and Angelina and Brad and Lindsay!)

11.) Getting around via the Underground or rail system is really good. I felt TONS safer than moving around the NYC subway system by myself. In Houston, we prefer to add 5 more lanes to our highways than deal with the cost and headache of a rail system. Hey, we've got the land! And a bus system that should be sufficient for the 2 million people who live here. But since you have to drive about 10 miles to find the closest bus terminal, you might as well drive your car - hence the need for more lanes.

I'm starting to understand some of the reasons behind that whole tea revolt now.

Did I mention that I have to take the UK Citizenship test? I think I'll ace it. :p

Communication Blackout

Going computerless this week. So, you won't see any more posts for a while. (Unless I sneak over to the library or brow someone else's computer.) So, sit tight and you'll hear from us again live from the UK.

Interesting observation for the day: Prince Edward lives about 15 miles from the town we'll be in. (Amazing how close things are on that little island. We're probably 15 miles from some big prison, or a nuclear reactor, or some major sanitation site too.)

We'll still be in Houston this month. Sitting here like drowned rats in the constant rain. (40 days yet?) Trip planned to San Antonio and SeaWorld with kids. Sure hope it stops raining - no fun getting sprayed by Shamo on a wet dreary day. Looking for other weekend excursions as we'll be literally living out of our suitcases in an empty house for a month. Boo.

I pretty much fully expect another "Perfect Storm" to hit the Atlantic while the ship with our stuff is out there in the middle. I remember seeing a clip one time of a ship in high seas and the containers broke free and were just dumping over the sides down into the deep blue. Okay if it's just some $1 plastic shoes (okay, well not for the environment, but you know what I mean), not okay if lose all the stuff you own. And we Americans certainly love our stuff. The biggest thing you see under construction these days are those storage unit places, and banks. (I guess the banks are for the loans to buy new stuff so you can put your old stuff in storage. . .?)

Okay, enough commentary. Back to cleaning out and prepping for the movers.

Dartmoor Geocoin

Speaking of Dartmoor, check out my link to The Geocoin Store. Under their Bargain Bin section, they still have Dartmoor geocoins for $5.00. Even if you don't collect geocoins, it still might be something neat to have. . .

Houston Retirees

Working my way through pulling some of my Houston boxes to retire them. Mostly the microboxes. The logbooks just fill up too quick, and I don't want to have to rely on someone to replace for me. Besides, they've been out long enough for most local people to get them by now.

Today I pulled 'Gutenberg' and 'Black Horse'. Hope you had a chance to get them. 'Gutenberg' was especially hard to pull as I really love the Museum of Printing History. My background is in printing, so I can really relate to everything in the building. (If you're ever interested in the old metal type, they have a printing club that meets there and you can hook up with one of the older guys to show you the presses and even set your own type.)

'Black Horse' was a letterbox/geocache hybrid. Same box for both. Frankly, it saw many more geocachers than letterboxers. But it's always fun to see new people stamp in, so I enjoyed seeing some sig stamps I hadn't seen before.

Next up to pull is the Trivial Pursuit series in Memorial Park.

Missing Anything?

Since this blog was completely started over and I lost/left behind over 2 years of postings, just wanted to ask my Texas people (if you're still reading this) if there is something missing from the original blog that I need to add or address. . .?

There will still be some of my boxes left to find around Houston, as well as the 2 Texas Tour Buses I started. (How do you like Team New Hampshire picking up my idea on those and starting one up there?!) If/when any of my remaining boxes go missing, they will be retired and not replaced.

You can post to the comments section if you have suggestions or feedback.

Only 2 more weeks with my computer before it's packed up in a container and shipped across the Atlantic along with everything else we own. (Yikes! Hope a big hurricane doesn't decide to tear across there in July!)

Gertrude Wellie Challenge Update

For those of you in Houston who saw my Gertrude Wellie Letterbox Challenge here on my blog, I just wanted to give you an update. At least 3 of the boxes have gone missing, so I have decided to go ahead and pull the whole series. As each box contains the clue to the next one, it really took the wind out of the sail to have to forward email clues because a box was missing. It only makes sense to retire them as I won't be here to update or replace.

Anyway, thanks for participating. Hope you enjoyed it. Box 1, Box 8, and the prize/bonus box are still out there as of this date.

I'm still deciding on what to do with the stamps. At this point, I think a final box with the leftover stamps may be appropriate. Keep checking back on this blog. Once I place it, I'll put the clue here as a WOM and the box listed on AQ for you list as a find.