Thursday, October 4, 2012

We left the Westin Pasadena at 4:00 PM on Tuesday and we arrived home at 8:30 PM on Wednesday.  The flight to Zurich lasted close to eleven hours and the flight from Zurich to Valencia took another two.  The Los Angeles chapter of our lives has officially ended and we now begin the next chapter here in Valencia.

The two months we spent in Los Angeles were, for me, two of the most stress filled months that I have had to endure ever.  The agent representing the couple that bought our townhome was a true doofus who seemed to be incapable of meeting any deadline in a timely fashion.  The Friday before we actually closed he sent me an e-mail complaining about some of the escrow charges and telling me that he had not heard back from our agent and could we do something.  He closed his e-mail saying that he hoped this issue would not delay the closing of escrow.

I later discovered that his contacting me was a breach of the rules of the California Association of Realtors and that his dispute with the escrow company could not delay the close of escrow.  The day before we closed we found out that the loan had not been funded because he forgot to tell his clients about the need for them to send a certain document to the loan broker.  The good news is that we closed last Thursday and the sale of the house will help us navigate the upcoming years a bit more easily.

I was up a little after 7:00.  I puttered around a bit and then took a quick shower and got dressed.  I headed to the Central Market to pick up some ham and cheese and then paid a quick visit to Amparo and picked up some tomatoes, a melon and a pomegranate.  I discovered a new bakery in the market and bought a loaf of bread, two croissants and a Napolitano filled with a banana and chocolate mixture.   I will visit with them again real soon.

Susan and I had breakfast and I then headed out again to run a few errands.  I needed to pick up some more Pataday, an eye drop that my ophthalmologist had prescribed for me after I visited with him in August.  That 2.5 ml. bottle cost me $114 at CVS.  Today I found the European version that is called Optanol and the 5-ml. bottle cost me the equivalent of $14.  So, I managed to get twice as much for one hundred dollars less.

I then decided to pay a quick visit to some friends and I spent some time with Jordi, Miguel and Alex, Sonia, Juan and Marta and Javi.  I made it back home an hour and a half later.  After I finish this blog post Susan and I will head out for The Ginger Loft to present Santi with a bottle of the ginger liqueur that he asked us to bring back for him and having done that we will sit down and let Mike create a wonderful lunch for us.

There is a meet-up for magicians tonight at La Cuchara Mágica where the topic will be the upcoming 24 Horas where magic will be happening all over Valencia in a variety of venues and will literally last a full 24 hours.  I participated in the first one, but I did so via the Internet.  This time I will be a full-fledged participant in a number of activities.

Needless to say, we are glad to be back in our new home.  So that we don’t get too comfortable, we are going to Madrid on Saturday and returning on Monday.  Jorge Blass has invited us to see his new magic show and since we had to miss his last one, we felt we needed to see this one.  We will travel on the AVE and stay at The Palace Hotel, thanks to Susan being a Starwood Alum.  I will keep you posted.