Home, Sweet

Hello ladies and gents! We are officially moved in! Still internet-less of course, so this is a bring-to-work-on-USB-for-final-tweak-and-post blog. Our 3G network is pretty slow, so I've managed a little Instagram and Twitter, but mostly I've had a weekend away from the outside world, which has actually been really nice. More about that later, but first - the move.

It was no fun, no fun at all! The past few (eight, nine, ten? Who's counting? Hi, Mum and Dad) times I have moved, my parents and other family members and friends have helped us lug furniture and boxes to and fro a hired van or truck. This time we decided to hire movers, and I booked them in a couple of weeks ago via email.

My personal policy of always emailing service and trades people rather than phoning (so there's a written record of an arrangement... and because I hate phone calls) proved valuable for my sanity- the movers were under the impression they were helping with a 'small move' (their words) and moving just half a dozen items of furniture, rather than half a room of packed boxes. Fortunately they had a large furniture truck and two workers available, who were understandably a bit pissed off at having to do so much unexpected work in the afternoon, but were amazingly efficient. So it all got finished in the end, and I have sent an email to the office which I don't really expect them to read and don't anticipate a reply to... but it made me feel better. It really irritates me when companies list an email address as means of contact, and then are rubbish written communicators. Anyway. The movers themselves were awesome, and we would use the company again... but with a lot more caps in the instructions, I guess.

The other drama was that because (I guess) the flat had been empty for a few weeks while renovations were carried out, so the power had been turned off just before we moved in. I'd arranged with our power company for someone to come in the afternoon to turn it on, and was happy to pay a fee for that person's time. Long story short - no one showed up, I played phone tag with the call center for a couple of stressy hours, they said they could send someone out after hours for an additional extra fee... and then in the end they reconnected us remotely so all we had to do was push a button. So we finally got power in the evening which was such a relief, but now I guess I'm in for a bit of arguing with the call center to get that connection fee wiped from our account. Being an adult is such a pain sometimes.

So that's my lame whinging out of the way (I felt I had to elaborate a little on my grumpy Tweets from Thursday).

Once all the moving was complete, we put Wallace in a carry box at the old place, and walked him over. Poor little guy was so frightened that all his stuff had disappeared, and wriggled around in his box the whole way. Once we got to the new place and let him out we found he'd pooped himself with fright (I feel like a mother sharing an embarrassing story about their kid). Although maybe he was just busting, cause as soon as we let him out he started strutting through all the rooms, checking everything out.

We've been living here four (five) days now, and so far he's seemed very much at home. He loves sitting in the window watching the view, and lying on the couch in the sun, and besides being curious as to what's outside the front door, he hasn't been crying to go outside or anything. The only time he gets a little frightened is if the neighbours are talking/moving outside the front door - he runs to hide under a cabinet for a few minutes.

Everything is pretty much all set up now! Our washing machine's being delivered on Tuesday, we still have a couple of boxes of clothes and linen to unpack (and a huge stack of collapsed boxes to dispose of), and we're on the look out for an opaque free-standing screen - either one of those Japanese panel-style ones, or perhaps hinged MDF painted or covered in fabric. And I also have to buy a bunch of picture hooks so I can hang all my framed art and prints. I was super stoked when our landlord said he doesn't care how many pins and nails we put in the walls - especially as quite a lot of painting had been done.

My sister was in town for a party, so I spent a little bit of time with her over the weekend. Once almost everything was unpacked, I spend a lot of time lying in the sun, admiring the view and reading my book - the Nancy Wake biography I need to check off my goals list. I might write about it when I'm finished, it's fascinating so far.

I'll post some better photos eventually, but probably not until we have the internet at home. Phone photos will have to do for now. Hope you all had a great weekend!

I'm not really sure I'll ever do justice to the view in a photo - it's magic.

One of Wallace's new favourite sleeping spots.

I got such a fright when I looked over at Wallace and saw him frozen like this... after a moment I realised he'd spotted seagulls flying over head

This (the hallway) is probably my favourite spot of the whole flat so far. Rita Angus print, torch lamp, my new ring holder, and a bunch of my favourite prints on the wall.

The kitchen is pretty old fashioned which is typical of Wellington flats, but perfectly adequate. A bit bare at the moment, but I'm planning to hang a couple of Wellington painting prints in there. I have one which features our new house, and another of Summertime Wellington by Marianne Muggeridge which is almost exactly the view from our previous flat, as it looked in the 1980s. Anyway, they're both fairly common prints around this city but I think it's cool to have a personal connection to them.

And lastly, we have a bath. It's not massive, but it's brand new and... it's a bath. Thrilled!