At the New Office, Bush Gets Down to Business--Unpacking

Forty-eight hours earlier, he was receiving top secret briefings on the latest effort to tame Saddam Hussein. On Thursday, George Bush was another commuter--albeit in a three-car motorcade--joining the flow of morning traffic in Houston.

On the first full day of his retirement, he showed up at his office two hours later than was his custom in Washington--arriving about 9 a.m. clad in a tweed sports jacket and khakis and accompanied by Ranger, one of his two English springer spaniels--and turned to the chore at hand: unpacking.

Barbara Bush, meanwhile, had a word of advice for her neighbors, according to one local radio report: “Look out, Houston. I’m driving again.”

For Bush, Thursday was a day to get acquainted with his new surroundings and begin setting up his office. The government is providing him with a suite on the top floor of a nine-story office building a five-minute drive from his home on Houston’s west side.

Casual clothes were the order of the day.

“He told us we’d be unpacking boxes all day, which is what we’ve been doing,” said aide Andrew Maner.

Bush, who showed up with a couple of briefcases and a box, was said to have helped with the unpacking and began arranging mementos and other personal items he had kept either in the Oval Office, an adjacent study in the White House or at Camp David. He also spent time getting accustomed to the phone system in the office and to his office computer and kept track of others’ progress moving in.

“He’s all over the office, sticking his head in to see how everyone’s doing,” Maner said.

In addition, Maner said, each of the five Bush children had spoken during the day with their father, and son Neil stopped by the office for a visit. Several members of the Bush Cabinet called, too, to wish the former President well.

Bush began his day with a 20- to 25-minute walk in the neighborhood where he and his wife have rented a home from friends until the house they are building two doors down is completed.