.by bob | Jul 27, 2012 | Dublin | 3 comments
Thursday…
Yesterday was a good day…we didn’t do much of anything…even the idea of planning something, or driving somewhere seemed like too much effort. At one point we’d decided to walk around downtown Dublin and then go see a play in Temple Bar. However, Liz realized they might not allow Méabh in the theatre. When she called, she found out Brenna was too young for the theatre as well. I think Brenna is becoming a bit annoyed how some places (Aer Lingus, most restaurants) consider her an adult (since they can charge more)…and other places consider her a child…And it always seems to be geared against her.
So we drove up to the Dublin Mountains…got an amazing view of the city…then went to a park for lunch with the Garza’s (the family we are staying with). The park had this very cool playground, but all I could think was, there is no way you’d be allowed to have something like this in the US. There was this large, spider web type of thing in the middle…and although I challenged Brenna to climb to the top…once she was there, I said, “okay, that’s enough…time to come back down.”
Then after dinner Brenna, Mallory and I went to the mall to watch the new Batman movie…awesome movie.
Friday…
Today, I was feeling a bit stressed…In my head we were going to buy a car, rent an apartment and set up a bank account for me, and be back to the Garza’s in time for a cook out.
Liz was very calm…I was very high strung. So we started the day focused on cars…and found one up in Balbriggan (very northern tip of County Dublin).
As far as dealers, this was the nicest place so far, and the guy seemed like a really good guy. We test drove a Hyundai (over here they pronounce it: Hi-un-die”) Which sounds like high and dry every time I hear it.
We liked the car…got a good deal & a 12 month warranty and went to the back to get a deposit. Well, first Liz called our mechanic who told us, “I don’t care what it looks like, or how it runs, run away from Hyundai as fast as you can.”
Ugh.
After that, we stopped into a cafe to grab some food & a coffee, and regroup. We asked the mechanic about Kia’s…and Volkswagens…he said go with the Volkswagen. So we drove back into the city, and found the one Volkswagen for sale in our price range…The car seemed good…but the salesman…well…I think I would have rather bought from the first guy.
The price on the car, was actually €500 higher than the online price…when Liz asked what the actual price was, he split the difference. When she mentioned that online it was less…he looked it up and said, oh yeah, that’s our sale price.
Double ugh.
But on Monday, we are having them take the car to the mechanic, who will inspect it and recommend whether or not we’ll buy it.
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Car Stuff
A couple other things about cars over here…in addition to insurance, and any car payments, you also pay a motor tax…based on the size of the engine or the emissions, depending on the year of the car…the engine in ours will be relatively small, so our tax will be about €50/month.
And while our insurance will be about the same price…here they insure the driver, not the car. One of the crazy things we learned…since Liz had me listed as the main driver, I am insured to drive other people’s cars…she is not. Who knows what happens when Hannah gets her & we add her to the policy.
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Bank Stuff…
On Monday I am getting a bank account, since I now have an official document that lists me as having an address. We could have done it today, but I wasn’t carrying my passport. I wanted to just get added to Liz’s account, but they can’t do that…we have to open a new one.
Housing Stuff…
There is still no news on the place we made an offer on. We called the office today…they called back, and said they’d contact us soon…not so much.
There is another place we were supposed to see earlier in the week, but they lost the key…They still have not found them…but think we’ll be able to see it on Monday…this place is in Raheny rather than Clontarf…but borders Clontarf, and is very close to the girls school.
We are looking at another place on Sunday night….in Clontarf.
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So, of all the things on my list today…it looks like we’ll be crossing off two of them on Monday…and maybe even be close on a place to rent. We’ll see.
Time to head down for a cookout & meet some new people!
Think I need some coffee too.