January 15, 1993
Well I made it here. Michael met me at the airport and has found me a place to sleep in the basement. Meredith (my cousin) is here also so we’ve been using Michael’s car to tour the sights while he goes to work on the bus.As you might expect, the first thing I noticed about Seattle was the temperature change. We had a cold snap in Hawaii the couple of days before I left and it got down to about 17C. Of course here the temperature sits around 0C. Its always below freezing at night and it not at all uncommon to find patches of snow lying around.I arrived having no idea what Seattle was like. I only knew Michael was here, so I’ve been very surprised to find how spectacular it is.
The city doesn’t usually have snow itself but is surrounded all around by snow-capped mountains. It looks unreal! Especially since we’ve had such good weather since I arrived. Its only been overcast two days, the rest with spectacular sunshine on the mountains.Since its the only other cold place I’ve been it feels like I’m in Cooma. Downhill skiing is only an hour away. Theres about 13 different resorts within 2 hours drive! We went downhill a couple of days ago and it was pretty good. There are absolutely no crowds. Certainly no queues. In fact most of the time you could even be the only ones on the entire life. This was midweek. Mondays and Tuesdays most resorts have a cheap all day lift pass for about US$8-10 but weekend passes the prices double and get up to $26 (AUS$40). Most resorts also have night skiing where they light up some runs.The snow was excellent by Australian standards, but not insanely perfect. It was hard packed witha light dusting of powder. I was pretty happy, but the moguls here are murder. Plus I was skiing with Meredith, who is competant but not particularly daring or fast. It was good though going through the snow covered fir trees. Sadly on the easy runs there were no jumps or variations to keep me entertained. Whatsmore there is no-one around so I tended to ski rather conservatively. There’s no chance of meeting people on the lifts.
Another couple of days we went cross-country skiing, which I had never done before. I’ve decided that its really just a way to go jogging when there’s snow around. Something to give you some exercise but its only the scenery that keeps me from getting bored.On another day we hiked up a trail to one of the snow covered peaks around here. We never made it to the top since we have yet to come to grips with the fact that the sun sets at about 4:30pm! But nonetheless got some incredible views. I slipped and bumped all the way down since the track was a bit icy.Speaking of ice, in Australia they have this big thing when you go skiing about chains and putting them on when there’s even the slightest hint of snow on the road. Here, I haven’t seen anyone with chains whilst the road is covered by an inch of snow over an inch of ice. Everyone just drives right over it without even slowing down!
Seattle city strikes me as a rather wealthy place to live (although Michael does live in the North Shore type area). Haven’t found any slums yet and everyone is well-dressed and appear pretty affluent. The shops in the city are all very swish. The streets are unusually deserted. There are bookstores everywhere which gives the impression everyone is educated and well-off. Not very surprising when you consider how many top campanies are based here. Namely Microsoft, Boeing, Nintendo, and a bunch of others. Seattle does pretty well. We went and visited the Boeing factory yesterday. Saw a bunch of 747-400′s being made like giant model aeroplanes. The hanger is so big they have blowers at the top of the building to stop rain-clouds forming inside!!!
Michael is still working weekends – but seems to be enjoying it at least. He’ll be going to Australia in March for work. He’s put back on a little bit of weight again. He lives with 3 other Microsoft people, which makes for a very happy household when Microsoft shares go up. Work conditions are pretty rough. Everyone gets their own office equipped with the best money can buy. The buildings are quite plush – fields and walks all over “campus”. Free drinks (anything!) and nice kitchen. Free membership to the most exclusive gym I’ve ever seen plus medical insurance, shares and God knows what other perks.
When I arrived there was only Michael here. There rest of the household had all been flown somewhere on a business trip! There’s two other guys and a girl. Nerandra is an Indian with a very australian humour and sense of sarcasm. Phebos is greek and has a playful character. I can’t say anything about Alison since she came straight back from somewhere to fly someplace else. Eating arrangements are ad-lib, and since its about the same price to buy fast food as to cook, there doesn’t seem to be much cooking. It’s very hard to eat properly here….blah blah blah…Meredith is leaving early next week from Vancouver so my movements will hopefully be to use Michael’s car to drive her up there and to visit Whistler Resort while I’m up there to sound out a job. I’ll then return and go into Canada under my own steam. It’s a bit late in the season, but better late than never huh? Bye All
Love
John.
