My first few days in Houston were a busy time.
I soon realized that a Q-Card was a necessity for navigating the transit system as cheaply as possible for a person who, like me, uses it almost daily. Regular fair being $1.25, and there being no transfers, the card allows a person unlimited rides for 3 hrs. under certain conditions, and 5 free rides after every 50 uses. After a month of use it appears to me that I will have to put $60 – 70 on the card a month. Quite different than a $55, a month pass like in the OC.
Unlike many agencies in SoCal, bus schedules come in individual pamphlets, not an all-in-1 book for a $1 and the system can be a bit confusing for anyone not familiar with it.
On my first major excursion into the wilds of urban Houston to try to get my state ID (turns out I had to wait a month, I guess to see if living here would be agreeable to my, and Houston’s, digestive systems) I asked one driver directions when I needed to transfer to another bus and ended up going the wrong way, getting a 3 hour tour of a part of town, thus learning where 2 universities, and a huge bike trail were. :-D
On another trip, to get the cats their annual county licenses, I ended up waiting 90 min. at a bus stop for a bus, while 3 went by in the other direction. I ended up getting my first look at downtown, including the baseball stadium, by taking another bus to reach a bus that would get me home.
The legendary heat and humidity I keep hearing about mostly has taken a powder, it seems to me. :-D
While the heat and humidity have made a few appearances and I often take an ice filled water jug with me every day, I’ve never felt oppressed by the heat, and there have been breezy days, and almost daily clouds, even a few days of rain.
The cats have slowly acclimated themselves to their new digs, exploring every nook and cranny, quickly discovering the joys of plopping themselves down in front of the patio window, and once the cube tower was in place, sitting in the bedroom window ledge area as well.
It’s taken them a while to get back into their eating routines, but Nikita now is back to pestering me at 6am (4am Ca.. time, for crying out loud!), and Elvira comes running, as usual, at the sound of her kibble bowl rattling with food.
Super! I'm sending this to my daugher!
Posted by: Marilynn | October 25, 2012 at 09:22 AM