I had no option but to venture back to the snooty bike shop to get my mysterious self-deflating tyre fixed this morning. My bike was met with the same disdain as ever, but at least it got fixed (the inner tube that was taken out of the flat tyre was so flat it looked a bit like a dried snake skin). I asked them to look into why the chain keeps falling off, but it'd cost $20 to fix and I don't have that kind of cash right now.
In fact, that's very much the dominant theme in our lives at the moment - saving money in order to adapt to the pitifully weak pound. When we first got here, the dollar was 1.98 to the pound, so everything was basically half price. It didn't hurt that I also had a whole month of wages from London to fire through, with which Mr Gap was kind enough to oblige.
However now, the dollar is floating around the 1.4 mark - going as low as 1.38 sometimes - so not only is everything more expensive now, but the £1000 of Max's salary that we get put into our american bank account every month has gone from being just under $2000 to $1500 or so, and we really didn't have a spare $500 kicking around each month before, so are finding things a little tough.
But when I say a little tough, what I mean is we can't eat out to the absurd degree that we so enjoyed when we first got here, we're no longer able to afford two trips to the cinema of a weekend and are having to turn down invitations, like going to see 'Gran Torino' with Joe and Molly - we're going to wait for it to come on NetFlix instead.
Unfortunately it also means that poor Cindy only got a birthday present worth $3, hurriedly picked up on the way to meet her for drinks in a bar tonight. It's very convenient that neither of us are drinking, because that'd be another strain on our wallets.
Cindy's birthday drinks were at the 18th St Lounge - that cool place we first ever went for drinks when we arrived in DC - and it was nice to see her and Jim. They're keen to meet up and 'do' the inauguration together, which is great news, because Max will be working and Mat and Jo, who were going to come down from New York and be my inauguration buddies, can no longer come, so it was looking like I'd have to brave the crowds alone. Also, Jim and Cindy invited us to their Superbowl party, which is excellent - another American experience to tick off the list!
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