Erieversible

Once more the small volume of belongings we possess is being packed up into cardboard boxes.  For the last couple of days I’ve been moving bits and pieces into the new house.  There seems to be a balance to life.  I stayed behind on the Isle of Man for a while, emptying our old home.  Now I’m slowly filling the new home and the rest of the family, having led the way to the US in the summer, will be along shortly.

The process of turning the new house into a home will be slow, but not too slow.  I’ve arranged for our personal effects to come out of storage and to be delivered to the new house.  No date yet, but I hope it won’t be long.

We move on 9th or 10th January - date to be confirmed by the movers.  So, a journey that began in March 2007 with a visa application is set to come to a close in January 2009.  The journey may be ending, but the life we have journeyed to is now, finally, just beginning.  Thanks for a good Summer, Erie.  Clarence and Buffalo, let’s find out what you have to offer!

After much consideration, or as much time as we can give to the subject amongst everything else that needs to be progressed towards our move to Buffalo, we have decided that we will change our blog name to….

                           Erieversible

It has been pointed out that:

• We will still be living in Erie County albeit in NY
• We will still be close to Lake Erie
• We will still be visiting Erie, PA very often
• We will still have massive connections to Erie, PA with family living there
• We still aren’t going back!

Surely that’s enough to justify leaving the blog name exactly as it is?  The tag-line of “A one-way ticket for a move to Erie” is still true.

The only thing that will need to be changed is the graphic at the top - it reflects PA.  I need to switch it to be more Erie County, NY based.  Or New York state based.  A first look around suggests no obvious graphic image.  And I need to find some symbol to replace the PA keystone graphic.

So much to do….  :-)

…and Halloween wins over Hop-Tu-Naa, by a score of 2 to 0.  Both kids agreed that American Halloween was more fun than Manx Hop-Tu-Naa.

Reasons?  From the 5 year old:  ”I can’t remember the song anymore”.  ”The houses here are decorated and look cool”.  ”I got to be Ariel instead of something scary”.

From the 10 year old:  ”The song was dumb”.  (Lots of things are dumb when you are 10.)  ”More houses here take part and give better stuff”. 

Overall, Trick or Treat was a great success.  We didn’t do many houses, really, maybe 20 or so, just around the immediate neighbourhood.  But I think most of our neighbours, like ourselves, had anticipated much bigger crowds.  Everywhere we went, the kids were encouraged to take 2 or 3 or more of things.  At our house, as the evening wore on and the chances of getting rid of stuff dwindled we encouraged kids to take handfuls of things.

As a side note, on the Isle of Man last week the sale of eggs and flour to “youths” was restricted.  Now I don’t remember any incidents of “tricks” on the Island when we were there, but, of course, the American tradition of Trick or Treat was blamed for needing such restrictions.  Maybe the Island has gotten to be a much rougher place to live since we left four months ago?  Maybe the Manx government worries too much about some things and not enough about others?  Cheaper to buy signs for all the retailers forbidding the purchase of flour and eggs by minors than to actually educate children about respect for other people’s property!