Sorry it's been a while since I've last blogged but the internet has been playing up and either been incredibly slow or refused to work. Seems like it's working OK now so here we go....

Steve has had a busy first week at work, getting used to taking the bus and getting a couple of shots done before Monday to preview. He says the people are nice and he's now met the big boss who seems cool and looks like a skinny version of Cheech (as in Cheech & Chong for those who don't know!).

Whilst Steve's been at work I've been looking for a new apartment, as although the hotel is nice, living without a proper kitchen means we can't cook which I really miss doing! So today I set up 2 viewings after Steve finished work. Both places are closer to his workplace so hopefully he can walk instead of taking the bus which will be so much better for him as the bus is usually packed. I got the bus to go meet Steve outside his workplace and it turned up late and even though I had a map I didn't really know where I was going because of all the 1-way streets it takes a really weird route! So I thought I was going to be late but made it in the end!

We were supposed to meet the agent at 5pm outside the first apartment but she didn't show up. We weren't that disappointed as the area didn't seem that nice anyway. Whilst we were waiting a homeless guy wanted to sell us a special newspaper which he said was like the Big Issue when he found out we were from the UK. We don't normally give to beggars as most of them are just plain scary, but he was so polite and unaggressive that we gladly gave him some money. He was a really nice guy and even gave us a quote by Mark Twain when we spoke about the unseasonably hot weather: "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."

Our next viewing was at 6pm so we hot-footed it across town as it would take about 25 mins to get there. The second place we went to look at is in a new apartment complex on one of the main streets in Downtown San Francisco. Straight away we were impressed with the cleanliness and the security of the building, but once we got to see one of the rooms on the 20th floor and the view overlooking the city and part of the Golden Gate Bridge we were blown away! It has a proper kitchen and a washing machine in the room (my mention of this household appliance will became apparent in a later blog!) and the complex also has a gym so we don't get too fat! The rent is cheaper than the hotel we're staying in but we'll have to rent furniture etc so it will work a bit more than we're paying now but it'll definitely be worth it. We managed to get them to hold it for us until Monday when Steve could get his work to fill out the application forms for us - we were both so anxious that we'd lose the apartment over the weekend!

After finding our new pad we walked all the way back to near where Steve works as that's where Safeway (yes really!) the big supermarket is. It's tricky buying healthy food to cook when you only have a microwave but we managed to get some good stuff and stayed away from the huge box of 8 danish pastries for $7 (about £3.50!!! Kathy you would love it here!). We also managed to save quite alot of money when the checkout guy gave us a Safeway loyalty card so we were well chuffed!

Back at the hotel around 9pm we were watching TV and the bed suddenly shook (yeah baby!) and so did the TV. The room-shaking wasn't preceded by a bang or anything like that so we guessed it must have been an earthquake! On the internet is said a preliminary report put the quake at a 4.0-magnitude and the temblor's epicenter was near Alamo, California about 28 miles east of San Francisco!