So, yeah, kind of gap there. Ended my second week of work with sharing my plan for next steps with the job. It is very weird to start a job in the midst of a global pandemic, and the remote-working-ness of everybody makes it hard to get traction fast. But, it’s worth noting that when I took my last role, all of my team was permanently remote from me, and more than half the leadership team I was part of. So, it seems crazy to my colleagues, and it seems kind of normal to me. Which really made me recalibrate what I accept as “normal”.
So, what has happened? I looked at both of the houses. One is a old red brick farmhouse that is made with stone foundation. Super quirky and interesting with a really nice garden and mature fruit trees. Decent main floor. Overall, kind of … well … old. Low ceilings in the basement. Small bathrooms, and only 3 bedrooms. So a little tight for guests. The other house is a modern townhouse that is bigger and way nicer. It’s a little further from school and town, and doesn’t have the garden, but it’s got 4 bedrooms, plus a nice finished basement. Oh, and a fully stocked wine cellar. Given the the owners are moving to France for a few years, I already made a pitch of “why would you move wine TO France?” ?. So, it’s basically down to “nice house with room for guests” or “nice garden with a cozy house”.
But, we just closed on the condo in St Paul, and still own a house in St Paul. So, we own 2 places in the midst of a global plague and the real estate market is tanking. I don’t really want to be on the hook for 3 houses! So, we’re trying to figure out what to do. Even to the point of, should I try to get back to the US to work from there? These are difficult times to analyze the best course of action!
On a lighter note, I feel a little more settled in, as I have replaced the (quite tattered) Manila envelope that I had all my important papers in with a little document folder thing with stuff in actual categories. It’s a small thing, but it helps me feel a little more in control of something!
One more fun thing. There are animals here that I have read about, but not seen before. Lots of corvids – regular carrion crows, hooded crows, rooks, etc. Also, the doves/pigeons here are really fat. I can see why people eat squab here as these birds are a lot more plump than American pigeons. I also saw a hare near the office the other day. Holy mother of ears! That thing was as big as a fox or raccoon. The pic below does not do it justice.
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