We have moved! Successfully! Mostly!

Let's not talk about the stupid bits and pieces still hanging around the old place because I AM SICK OF THEM. I never want to see that place again. And, strangely, I'm not sitting here, wishing I was still living there. I thought I was going to hate it here, simply because it's not my lovely old place in the quiet street under the giant tree.

But it turns out I kinda like this quirky place on the hill.

We are still without internet, as we decided to change to the type that doesn't require a proper phone line. This means we have to wait up to three weeks (for faster internet, admittedly) rather than a couple of days. In the meantime, I am subsisting on mobile broadband and my iPhone.

I still managed to upload a video this week, though! It's very short and the quality is not fantastic, due to the fact that I recorded it on my shiny little netbook. I thought it would take forever to upload on mobile broadband, but it actually took about two minutes.

Oh, and I make a rash promise in this video, so watch on to find out what it is. :D



And now, I have breakfast to eat, so I shall run off and take care of that business.

Dear merciful madness, I won't have proper internet until some time after Tuesday. My new telephone number doesn't even exist yet. I know this, because I get to work from home on Tuesday so I can wait for a million hours for a Telstra person to come up and telephone-ise my house. This is strange, because it's not a new house AND it has at least two telephone points in it already, but there you go.

I'll just have to make do with my mobile broadband and iPhone in the meantime. I won't be entirely cut off from the world.

I may even read a book or two. Get into some beta-ing. That sort of thing.

Also, there will be no more central heating for me. Considering I grew up in a house whose primary source of heat was an open fireplace, this won't be too much of a problem. But I rather fear I have become accustomed to central heating... the lovely whooooooming of hot air flowing through the vents, the delightful joy of standing over a vent for extra warmth, the pleasure of having one's towel heated while one is in the shower...

Ah well.

So yes, we are moving against our will. Yet again. Huzzah for landlords who keep selling the houses we're trying to live in... The new place is OK, I guess. It's high up at least, which is a good thing for someone who has an inexplicable paranoia about floods. Ain't no floodwaters going to reach this house. Well, unless something biblical occurs.

And tomorrow is the big move, which is thankfully going to take place while I'm at work. I'll be coming back to a new house and lots of boxes and things to pack away. Or throw out, whichever works.

I shall see you all on the other side of it!

There appears to be balance in all things. For every kitten, there are no fewer than one hundred, hideous spiders, at least one of which will be lurking under your pillow. For every beautiful sunrise, there's a rainstorm just as you step off the bus.

Mine go a little like this...

We're paying a little less rent lately. Which is good... except that the reason behind it is that the landlord is trying to sell. So yes, a year after having to move because our previous landlord sold, we're now looking at having to find a new place for exactly the same reason. I'm beginning to feel a little cursed.

Our landlord has appeared to be reasonably easy-going and hasn't created any troubles for us, or delayed repairs (unlike previous landlords). Which is good... except he's an idiot. He's trying to sell the house with no backyard and no garage, since that space is going to be taken over by a new, double-storey townhouse, construction of which will start very soon. And when I say no backyard, I mean no backyard; the back of the house will be practically against the fence of the subdivided property. Plus, the new owners will be living next door to a construction site for the next few months. Who wouldn't want that?

The balance thing works the other way, though. For instance, I have no time for anything lately. Which is bad... except that it means I'm doing so much new stuff and learning new things and getting to know new people.

Or take the fact that I had to stuff around with a dodgy video camera and return it in exchange for a different. Which is bad (well, it's more irritating, really)... except I now have a video camera that works and that actually shoots in proper widescreen.

And then there's stuff that's just plain old straight-out good: the fact that I'll be on holidays in just over a week; the fact that I'm going to be spending a weekend with friends I haven't seen for ages in... just over a week, too; the fact that I'll be visiting the parents and consuming eggs of chocolate the week after.

So, take heart, my lovely flisters: for every piano that falls on your head, there'll be a compensating random singing montage as you walk down the street.

And the promised pictures arrive!  We won't mention the fact that I had intended for them to arrive on Friday, for it is irrelevant.  Never mind my half-serious resolution to keep updating at least every Friday.

Not relevant, I say.

Anyway, without any further pointless rambling on my part, I would like to introduce you all to my new house.  Previous, standard, boring-type photos as taken by the agents can be found here.  I, however, am going the route of the slightly arty photograph.  In doing so, I run the risk of actually presenting the world with slightly pretentious and stupid photographs instead, but I'm hoping for the best.

( Let's start outside, shall we? )

So there you have it: my new place of residence which I currently adore.

I am writing to you from my new place of abode, thanks to my mobile internet which works. Although, admittedly, sometimes the software likes to pretend the modem doesn’t exist, forcing me to connect through the network centre... but we get there in the end. And the dear little modem/router that usually deals with our ADSL is very generously giving me local and internet access via the home network, although I have no idea how it’s planning on making good on the internet component of that promise.

Things, in short, are going suspiciously well. Here’s how the tally stands:

Boxes: 0 Me: 1
Furniture: 0 Me: 1
Internet: 0 Me: 1

With no defeats yet suffered, I think I can call that a victory without being premature or anything. The place feels like a home already. Just this morning, I was sitting at the table, eating my breakfast and reading the paper. If that’s not civilised, then I don't know what is. (Yes, I may no longer be living across the road from a supermarket, but I am living around the corner from a milkbar and newsagent, which is almost as good.)

There will be photos. I keep running into hurdles with them at the moment. Firstly, I forgot that I needed to run a virus check on the camera I brought home from work... so that’s not going anywhere near my computer, despite the fact that I took a whole bunch of photos on it. Secondly, I took another set of photos with my own camera... until it ran out of battery. And thirdly, I don’t actually have any graphics programmes on my laptop, so I can’t re-size and fix the photos without first running my old desktop and getting some replacement batteries for the camera.

But the photos will come in time.

Pickle has settled in just as quickly, although she did throw a hissy fit when she discovered the lack of window-sills. The ones in the old house were perfect for a cat to sit on and watch the world outside. Not so with these ones. At present, she’s half on a window-sill and half on the couch. No, I tell a lie, now she's sitting on the frame... which can’t be comfortable at all.

And I’m sure I’ll get used to this strange silence eventually. It’s quite a novelty to be hearing bird sounds instead of six lanes of traffic, including bonus buses.

Oh, and the sound of rain falling on a tin roof takes me right back to my childhood. ’Tis lovely. :D

I think I’m ready for this move.  Not that I have much choice, really, because it’s happening tomorrow whether I’m ready or not.  At the moment, I just wish I could be in one mind about the whole thing, instead of flitting through dozens.  One minute, I’m excited.  The next, I’m wary.  Soon after, I might be a little hungry and that will be swiftly followed by worry that we should have taken the other place, despite its pointless lack of wardrobes.

And then I usually run around for a while and then go and hide in a corner somewhere.

This is probably a pertinent time to list all the things I will miss about the old place:

1. Having a supermarket right across the road.
2. Likewise, Nando’s.
3. And an ice-cream shop, even though we only went there once.
4. Basically, living across the road from any number of shops will be sorely missed.
5. The electric oven.  I hate gas ovens with a passion - they’re out to get me, I’m sure of it.
6. The fact that the toilet here doesn’t share space with a second shower.  Still trying to work that one out.  "Hey, this space is a bit long for just a toilet...  I know!  Let’s put a shower in!"
7. The lemon tree.  I may have to attempt to grow my own in a large pot or something.

Things I will enjoy in the new place:

1. The pretteh native trees in the garden (seriously, the only native trees in this one are black wattles... and they sort of grew themselves during the course of our occupation).
2. The lovely oldness of the house.  Bull-nose verandahs and wrought iron lace FTW.
3. The quiet location.  What, no six-lane road just outside?  HOW WILL I COPE?
4. The enormous laundry, which means the dryer can be kept inside, instead of in the garage.  Because that was always so much fun.  "I need to fetch my lovely warm and dry clothes!"  Weather: *rains with a vengeance*
5. The silly door to the kitchen with a round window at face level, which the Bindi has already christened "the sailor door".

Of course, moving means we’ll somehow have to suffer through getting our internet re-connected.  This took a month last time, due to Netspace’s insistence on using faxes and their subsequent insistence on losing said faxes, thus forcing us to send through another one and start the waiting process all over again.  Hopefully that won’t happen this time around, but I have 3 mobile broadband just in case.  I haven’t quite gotten around to setting that up yet, but it’d better work or I shall cry.  It will be most pathetic.

So hopefully I’ll be seeing everyone again very soon.  And yes, I will accept any and all good wishes for the move.

(And I would show you a picture of me unlocking the front door for the first time whilst grinning like a loon, but it’s on Bindi’s camera and she doesn’t know where her usb cord is.)

What, I’m alive?  I have the whole heart-beating, air-breathing, walking and talking thing going on, so I guess I must conclude that I am.  Huzzah!  Ah, for the old days when I posted in LJ at the drop of a hat.  Because all of that hat-dropping was incredibly rivetting of course.  You have so many variables: the style of hat, the technique of the drop, the height, the person doing the dropping...

Fun times.

And speaking of fun times...

Actually, I have no idea where I’m going with that.  My life of late can really be summed up in a series of good and bad scenarios.  For instance:

Bad: I had to get some fillings yesterday.  My first ever.  This was going to cost money and be an incrediby boring experience (people fear the dentist for many reasons - mine is the fear of the boredom that comes from just lying there, watching the ceiling while weird stuff goes on in my mouth).

Good: I have a good dentist.  Even though he has wonky teeth - I’m not entirely sure that’s a great advertisement for his profession (although they are very shiny and white (but not too white - I can’t stand too-white teeth (quick, let’s end these brackets before it becomes impossible to find our way out of them...))).  Never having experienced a filling before, I was a tiny bit apprehensive of the whole sticking-a-needle-in-my-gums thing, but it went a lot better than expected.

Dentist: OK, I’m just putting this paste on so the needle won’t hurt as much.
Me: WTF, ‘as much’?
Needle: *goes in*
Me: *barely notices; wonders if he’s going to start making with the needle soon*
One side of my mouth: *starts to feel weird and puffy*
Realisation: *sinks in*

So now I have fillings, although I still need more.  Huzzah!  Ah well - better to have fillings than cavities, I suppose.

Next scenario:

Bad: Am insanely busy at work.  Insanely.  I currently work in a 0.7 position, but I’m being lumped with a full-time workload.

Good:  I feel productive.  Better than that, I feel more confident in myself and my abilities to do things.

Thus endeth the short and incredibly boring section of this post...

Final scenario:

Bad: Our idiot landlords decided to sell the house and to kick us out by the ninth of April.  Well, first they wanted to raise the rent by twenty-five dollars a week, to which we said “Hell, no” and started vaguely looking for somewhere new to live.  Then we got the sixty day notice to vacate, which just added a extra thick layer of stress to the whole situation.  And if that weren’t bad enough, people kept telling us how difficult it would be to find somewhere in such a short space of time and certain other elements told us we’d have even more trouble due to our inability to keep the garden looking perfect.  Hello, panic.

Good:  We ended up applying for two places: one we really liked and one that was practical.  And we were offered both of them.  So take that, depressing nay-sayers!  And just because I feel like dragging this out, ( please have this free guided tour of our new place. )