Portland

Rachel and I explored the city on foot, attempting to get a feel for where we'd like to live. The factors in the equation are:

• room for the cats to roam safely
• easy walking distance to shops, bars and restaurants
• commute time to Hillsboro, and access to public transport in general

The city is divided Eastside from Westside by the Willamette river and North from South by a road called Burnside. We've managed to narrow our choice of area down to two options: an extremely convenient but slightly yuppified area near downtown in Northwest ("trendy-third" avenue) and a more bohemian but slightly less convenient neighbourhood in the Southeast called Sunnyside or Hawthorne depending on who's talking. Sunnyside is far cheaper, but this is not necessarily a blessing as it just means that the houses are ridiculously enormous rather than less expensive. Today we're off to see a few houses with our estate agent ("realtor")...

The city is, in general, laid-back and hip, a bit like a less-frenetic Brighton. I think we're going to be very happy here. Later!