I never imagined we’d be living here in the O.C. After we married, Jennifer came out to live with me in Durham in the northeast of England. That was fun while it lasted, but now I am so glad we’re here in the warmth of California. Not sure if I’ll feel like this forever, but for now it’ll do me just fine.

Thank you Jenn for three happy years. Here’s to loads more.

I tried my best to remain calm as we made our way to the restaurant of choice, and thankfully the wait wasn’t too long. Fed and watered, we had a bit of a wander, ride on the train (it had the shortest line!) and a whiz round Pinocchio ride. No Space Mountain or Splash Mountain for us.

I thought it amusing that in a place that claims to be the Happiest Place on Earth, there were an awful lot of people looking very miserable. Families bickered, kids whined and motorized scooters barged through the crowds. Nice.

Valentine’s day looms and it seems the country has gone into overdrive when it comes to expressing ‘love’ in its many forms.

I can’t believe how everyone has gone card crazy. Jenn has been sending and receiving cards all week from and to – including but not limited to – mothers, sisters, grandparents and friends.

What’s that all about? Sorry, but I think it’s a bit weird. This one is definitely a cultural difference! As far as I’m concerned, there are only two types of person you send a Valentine’s card to: 1. your significant other; or 2. Someone you’d like to be your significant other. That’s it. Anything else is just creepy.

Then again, if you can convince people to send cards to pretty much everyone, just think how many cards you can sell. Call me cynical if you like.

I have to take regular medication. In the UK, visits to the doc are free, and if like me you have a ‘chronic condition’ then prescription medication is also free. The great thing about that situation is that you also get free prescriptions for ailments not related to your chronic one – maybe you fancy a nice wig? Free. Ok, you do need the doctor’s approval.

I digress. Of course, in the USA, visits to the doc aren’t gratis and medication isn’t handed out like free candy. No, you gotsta pay. Until we sort out our health insurance situation, we have to bite the bullet and pay all our own healthcare bills. As my medication bought over from the UK was running low, we could no longer put it off – the O.C.E had to find a doctor.

So, Jennifer did some investigation and we picked out Dr Tim Schmidt who practices at the St. Joseph Heritage Medical Group. An appointment was made and we headed down there on the day. After a bit of getting lost at the center (it has numerous doctors working from there plus other facilities) and doing the necessary paperwork, we found our way to Dr Schmidt’s waiting room. From then on it was pretty familiar experience to going to the doctor in the UK. I was ushered to a little examination room and prodded a bit by the nurse, then the doctor came in and we got down to business. I found it quite quaint that he wore a white coat – it’s been pointed out to me subsequently that “of course they do”. It’s obviously the norm here, but not something I’ve seen in the UK for years. Since I was about six years old, as it happens.

Anyway, Dr Schmidt is a very nice chap and we chatted about this and that (mostly health stuff, of course). I gave him all the information I had about my health including the very helpful full blood analysis done by the life insurance company (that saved us an expensive trip to the lab).

I was impressed when he issued my prescription and zapped it over to the Walgreen’s pharmacy down the road from our house. Soon we were all done and we made our escape from the office.

Later that day I wandered over to the pharmacy to collect my medication. My jaw hit the floor when it came to over $40! I know for a fact that in the UK, my levothyroxine costs the NHS not much more than a pound for a month’s supply. Hmmm. Bit of a markup there, I think. After returning from the pharmacy with my tail between my legs I did some research and found that Target will do my medication for $10 for 90 days’ supply. That’s more like it. Bless you, Target.

However, the biggest worry was what the size of the doctor’s bill was going to be. I’d heard nasty stories about a trip to the doc costing the equivalent of the debt of a small African nation. Yesterday the bill hit the mat and I opened it gingerly. Given that I was expecting a couple of hundred, it was relief to to find out it was ‘only’ $69.

However, still a bit more than what I was used to.

Around 5.50pm, we all heard a double thump sound. Because I was sitting down at the same time as the thump I felt a vibration through my chair. Jennifer and Rick hadn’t felt anything because they were standing up, so just carried on talking. I interrupted them, but as they didn’t seem too bothered, the moment passed. I did try and think what it could have been, because it felt like something had hit the roof of the house. However, as everything seemed in order, we quickly forgot about it.

It was about 20 minutes later that Rick discovered from a friend’s Facebook comment that the boom and vibration had been from the space shuttle Discovery. Due to unstable weather in Florida, it was landing at Edwards AFB in California, and the sonic boom was heard all over Southern California as it came in to land.

How cool was that! Just wish I’d known it was coming beforehand, so I could have enjoyed the moment when it happened.

We’ve been asked to provide three sworn affidavits from people who know us stating that our marriage is genuine. *Humpf* of course it is! Anyway, being upset about it wasn’t going to help so we started scratching our heads and thinking about who we could ‘volunteer‘ for this onerous task. Jennifer also has to get a document notarised explaining the circumstances of our relationship and how this led to our wedding (Er, because we love each other?).

We drew up a shortlist of suitable candidates and started making enquiries into costs and such like. We soon discovered that in the UK public notaries are actually quite rare. They are usually solicitors – but here’s the catch – not ALL solicitors can notarise. So, what does that mean? Yup, supply and demand rules apply. As there are only 900 or so notaries in England and Wales and a small handful in the northeast it costs an arm and a leg to get a document notarised. The two we found in the northeast charged between £80 and £140 (plus VAT). What?! Just to sign and stamp a document.

Our initial plans to get some fine upstanding members of society soon evaporated. We were going for cost effectiveness. In the US we figured it would be cheaper so we asked a couple of friends there to do a statement for us. These weighed in at the princely sum of $10 each. That’s more like it. Our third was done by a friend in Cardiff, Wales, and that cost £50. Jennifer’s was nearer £100.

So, all in all it’s a crazy-bonkers example of how much of a rip-off legal services can be (in the UK at least). This was especially as Jennifer’s visit to the notary lasted approximately 5 minutes and the guy didn’t seem to know what he was doing. He had claimed to be “highly trained”. Yeah, right.

It still remains to be seen whether the notarised documents from both the UK and USA will be up to standard for the immigration service, but that’s another story. We shall find out in due course.

I’ve decided to start a blog as I am about to undertake a life-changing experience: moving from the UK to the USA.

The blog is primarily to chronicle the highs and lows, stresses and strains, laughter and tears of the process. Once arrived in the OC, I will continue to record my experiences and observations of life across the Pond.

I’m going to work on the style of the blog too, as I’m new to WordPress. The appearance at time of writing was just a little something I threw together…