Settling in

After meeting Frank and Sally at the airport, Frank drove for 6 hours.  We got to the house in the dark.

It's a lovely house, originally part of a pub.  It's now 3 houses and Frank's is the one on the middle.  I have a room that was for guests during its pub persona and it does feel like staying in a tavern, something I used to enjoy when in England.

The room has a balcony and I heard a cow mooing not far off, but that's all I knew that night.  I had started a new life and all I knew was the inside of Frank's house and then darkness.  My mental map consisted of one house surrounded by blank space and that blank space caused me some upset when I got to bed.  I woke at 2am feeling like I was in a lifeboat.

The next day I was taken on a tour of the town.  I was and continue to be amazed by the cleanliness of the place.  Nothing seems to be broken or awaiting a maintenance man who doesn't show up.  I tried the cash machine at the bank and with silent European efficiency it guided me through the performance in a way that I can only describe as luxurious.  It was the Mercedes of cash machines.

I went around the Mercator supermarket and in celebration of being there, I bought 3 cakes and 3 large cans of beer.  The beer is 63 cents a can.  It's good beer.  We drank it after dinner with the cakes.  One can get fat and inebriated very cheaply here, and yet the inhabitants seem to be neither.  They are, however, very friendly.  The town is clean and friendly, it isn't very busy this time of year, and it is surrounded by snowy mountains.  All this and beer for 63 cents a can.

Remember I said there was a cow mooing?  It's a few houses away and if you are still on Eastern Standard Time you might be awake when the milking machine comes on.  In fact there are enough cows in the neighbourhood for them to have successfully lobbied for a milk-dispensing machine in town.  If you don't have a bottle no problem!  You can get one from the clear-doored side, then just fill it with milk from a local cow.  This makes the cow down the road feel important and the people of Bohinjska Bistrica have access to her milk 24/7.  It's also very clean and not broken.

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I have found that communicating with Sarah has helped enormously.  I hope it has been a help to her too.  We used to IM each other from different parts of the house and this feels no different.  I pretend, anyway.  Seeing her words appear have made me feel less like I'm in a lifeboat and more like I've washed ashore and have some exploring to do.  I'm finding my way around the town and F&S have been taking me to see the sights.

Thursday morning, Thankgiving in America, we went to Bled.  We walked for 4 hours around the lake and I think it was a bit far for Tyson, but he did enjoy himself.  Later he was walking funny and I worried, of course, but this-morning he is well again.  I'm taking it easy today.  I want him to rest his 12 year-old legs.  Here's a picture I took of the lake in Bled.  I want Sarah to see it, naturally.