Operation Hot Spot

Imagine someone coming to stay in your house for the weekend, to sleep on your beds, to shower in your bathroom, to hang out in your kitchen. Makes you want to scuttle to the remotest corners of every room with a mop and broom, doesn’t it? Now imagine someone coming to stay, nay, live, in your house for a whole year. Yeah. I know. I’m about to turn my entire house upside-down and give it a good shake.

As part of our moving to England for a year in my husband’s job switch, we’ve offered our house to the British teacher who’ll be replacing him. I’m happy to do this, beyond feeling a deep need to launch head-first into spring cleaning, I haven’t the slightest qualm about someone living in my home without me. Maybe I should, but I just don’t. In fact, I’m kind of tickled that we can make the transition smooth for our replacement by offering a comfy home, fully furnished, in a lovely neighborhood.

Being the list-happy fiend that I am, I plan to do a “welcome pack” of sorts that I’ll leave on our counter for the Brit. Lists of local stores, service companies like electricians and plumbers, favorite stores and restaurants, must-see San Diego tourist hot spots, and a slew of neighbor phone numbers (the non-crazy ones, of course). I may even leave welcome cookies in the fridge, depending upon how closely our paths cross at the time of switch. Those details are still unsettled.

To help me in the putting together the “must-see hot spots” section, I’ve hatched a plot to visit as many local tourists spots as possible. Beaches, fun parks, historical missions, you name it. We’ve got a good start on it, as we’re regulars at a lot of these places anyway, like the World Famous San Diego Zoo and Seaport Village and Belmont Park at Pacific Beach. But there are a few that have slipped under our radar for various reasons. I will be correcting that oversight throughout this summer, posting our progress as we hit the hot spots. We’re going to be tourists in our own town. So if you happen to be visiting San Diego this summer, or if you live here and hit the tourist spots yourself, keep your eyes peeled for three safari-hatted young men in a triple-wide stroller, pushed madly by one sweaty but chipper mama, in a shock-and-awe tourist version of Afoot and Afield in San Diego. Look out, San Diego, Operation Hot Spot is on!