What a difference a week makes!

Things that seemed so impossible last Friday, fitting that it was the 13th, are much resolved, or closer to resolution than I thought possible in a mere seven days. 

The biggest is that tomorrow we will sign a lease for our long-term let.  This is so important because the resolution of almost everything else rests upon having an address.  During our first week, we quickly discovered that we were way over our heads in trying to find an apartment on our own.  We didn't know the city well enough and spent a lot of time going from one end to the other trying to find properties listed in the online sites myhome.ie and daft.ie.  The name of the latter must be a little joke because we were certainly daft to think that we could read into the real meaning of "stunning" and "furnished to a high standard" and the other frequently used buzzwords describing the properties listed.  The few places that we looked at in our first days of searching were spread wide apart and not nearly as depicted in the photographs that accompanied the listing.  The last one we saw was "stunning" alright, and not in a good way.  It's hard to believe that anyone would offer up properties in such poor shape.

After two days of shambling around we discovered the services of a relocation agent.  We were given a referral from a very kind woman in one of the letting offices after I described our experience in trying to do it on our own.  We called Claire on Thursday just before the long Easter break and made the arrangement to meet her on the following Tuesday when things opened up again.  We were initially shocked at the expense (500 Euro) for her services for the day, but it turned out to be money more than well spent.  Claire really listened to our requirements and arrived on Tuesday morning with appointments to see 12 different options throughout the city.  We got to see many neighborhoods and all of the properties she showed us were in the realm of possibility, clean, well managed and safe.  All met our must-have requirements.  We could have lived in any of them.  In addition to the convenience of having someone who knows the city drive us around to the various properties, Claire more than earned her fee by giving us a tip we would never have known.  In renting in Dublin, the rental price is negotiable.  We would never have dickered with the landlord on the rental price without Claire's advice and we saved more than twice her fee by doing it.  She helped right through the process and tomorrow at 2:45 we sign the lease.

Our place is in Sandymount, two blocks from the sea and on one of the few beaches in this seaside city.  It's also just a short walk to the village and easy public transit by commuter train or bus to the city center.  During a trip to Ireland in the 80's Alan and I stayed in this area over Christmas.  It was lovely then and remains so.  The community figures prominently in the work of James Joyce and we are looking forward to discovering its charms during our stay here. 

The three-bedroom apartment is on the top floor of a building constructed during the Celtic Tiger on the campus of the Anglican Church.  Right now, it seems perfect and surely fulfills our initial requirements.  I expect there will be things we wish were different once we move in, but right now, it seems just short of perfect.  I'm not happy with the sofas, but have already scouted a few places for slipcovers to mask the most egregious aspect, their faded pink upholstery. 

In addition to its charms, having an address goes a long way in solving the banking problems we have been having on both sides of the pond.  We can't get our bank in the US to wire funds without giving them an address for the Bank of Ireland (BOI) account and we can't get access to our funds in the BOI, except when the bank is open because we don't have checks.  When we arrived we did have a BOI ATM card they sent to the states after we set up the account, but when Alan visited the bank and noted that his last name was spelled wrong, they took the card away and wouldn't reissue until they could send it to us.  In retrospect he should have lived as Mr. Bakeman for a few weeks, but who knew? 

We will officially move in on Saturday.  Today, Friday, we have an appointment at the American Embassy in the morning and the lease signing in the afternoon.  I'm sure it's going to be a busy day learning about cable and wifi and electricity and gas and water and filling the larder. 

After all that is done, I'm  looking forward to turning my attention to cultural and entertainment pursuits.  In coming posts I want to be writing about our travels around this city and other cities in Europe, meeting new people and making friends and hosting guest from the USA.  We have glimmerings of all these things now and once we are settled into our place will begin to devote our energies to these pursuits and away from the bureaucracies and logistics of setting up the household.

My plan now is to post on Fridays and, if nothing else, use this blog as my own diary of our time here.  I'm excited about the journey ahead.