Catching Up

Well trying to do so, anyway.

At the moment I am waiting for a plumber to finish installing a laundry tub so I can go down to the city and begin booking my round world airflights for August to November.

Things have been go go go since my sister arrived on March 23rd. Despite being older than me she has far more energy. When I wanted to have my afternoon siesta, she polished the furniture. When I wanted to rest after hanging 6 paintings/pictures, she insisted we keep on going (there are 33 of these throughout the lounge/dining and hall). She was in her element dealing with tradesmen and choosing colours while I absolutely hate it. The decorator gene which is suppose to accompany the gay gene does not apply to me eg I was amazed at having to decide between different shades of white for the bathroom tiles, white is white to me.  Sadly we had several explosions as we have had all our lives but these blow over. She admits she can be bossy and I know I can be lazy and hate making decisions.
I have had trouble finding time to read the blogs on my list let alone writing my own.

My sister arrived on the evening of March 23rd and stayed for 3 nights in the hotel where I had been living for nearly 8 weeks. The first day she saw the house, loved the layout and location but realised there was a lot needed doing especially as the previous owner was a DIY person who really had no idea.  I have seen a number of tradesmen scratch their heads in amazement.  We made many trips to Mitre 10 the mega hardware store in Dunedin. We also chose new dining chairs and a reclining chair so I will not need to lie on the lounge to watch TV in future. These finally were delivered yesterday.

The following day my furniture arrived, all 90 boxes.  Fortunately it was mainly in good condition. Some mould on a few items of furniture (Sydney's humidity?) which led to the polishing already mentioned and a few scratches. 20 boxes were of books which I only began to open yesterday. We moved in the next day, March 26.


I had already had new carpet laid in the lounge/dining to match the carpet the previous owners laid in the rest of the house only a few months earlier and had all the electrics checked and new power points installed.

Now we began the job of arranging for the kitchen to be completely remodelled and the bathroom/laundry to be renovated. This led to the choosing of colours etc already mentioned.  The bathroom is being done as I write and the kitchen cupboards will be a few weeks. New blinds through much of the house have also been chosen and will arrive in a few weeks.

We did manage to have a nice lunch the first Sunday at the beachside suburb (a late birthday lunch for me) and went on 2 walks with my walking group. The first was just a few hours to a nearby hill and past a lake while the second was on Easter Monday and we were away for 6 hours travelling to the mouth of the Taieri River south of the city and walking nearly 8km

Finally I took her away for 3 nights to Queenstown and Christchurch from where she flew home last Friday. I will post some photos of this trip in my next entry.

I am afraid I did not give as much time to Lent and Easter as I would have liked.
On Palm Sunday we attended Sung Eucharist at the local parish before going to lunch at the seaside.

My sister does not like the solemnity of Good Friday and I knew the long services would be difficult for her so we attended on Thursday night which has not been my custom in the past, living such a long way from my previous church.
The service was fairly informal and was held in the hall and we sat in a circle. We did not participate in the feet washing but were not alone in this. I knew my sister would be uncomfortable and must admit it would have been a first for me. The Eucharist was distributed around the circle as we each administered the bread and wine to our neighbour.

Then we processed in silence into the church where the altar etc was stripped before we left in silence. Both of us found the service very moving.

Good Friday has always been a very holy day for me but this year we just ate hot cross buns and fish meals to acknowledge the day.  In the afternoon we drove north along the beaches and bought an ice cream in a small town which would have been infra dig  for me in the past.

Easter Sunday we chose to go to Choral Eucharist in the cathedral as the family service advertised for the local parish did not enthuse me. The choir singing was beautiful but I did miss St James, King Street.

Unfortunately my sister had one of  her TIA turns. This is not unusual if we have to stand for long periods and there was a baptism of 3 adults so we had turned around in the pews to face the font. Usually she realises an attack is coming and sits down but she was embarrassed to do so and as I was facing away from her I suddenly realised she was falling onto me and luckily managed to grab her and sit her down with the help of one man. She lay along the pew for most of the sermon and as usual was completely recovered 20 minutes later. I do worry about her attending church by herself as the attacks mostly occur while standing for long periods.  There is a risk that one of these attacks may become a full blown stroke so your prayers would be appreciated.

Next year I would like to be in Sydney at St James for Easter but time will tell.

My sister says she enjoyed her 17 days in New Zealand although I felt too much of the time was spent in hardware and furniture stores or dealing with tradespeople. However it was good to have her advice and assistance (well most of the time).

Leaving Australia Pt 1

I know, I left 3 days ago but things have been so hectic.  I had to post about the sermon at church while it was still fresh in my mind but I will go back to the moving out of my home of 28 years nearly 2 weeks ago now.

The removalists were booked for Tuesday and it was a stinking hot, humid day.  Even the fit young men said it was not the weather they expected in the Mountains. You did not expect it 20 years ago but it has become more and more common.

The Ezi-Bin had been delivered the day before and so first thing, I dragged my bed of over 30 years into it. Luckily my neighbour saw me struggling and she came and helped me with the final heave ho of the base.  By the following night, it (4 cu m) was full, so was my Otto bin and the recycling bin (they had been regularly filled for the past 3 or 4 weeks) and I had taken a trailer load to the tip. I sold my car and trailer to the guy across the road and he was happy for me to use them up until the Wednesday although he paid me a week before.

A truck came and collected my 34 year old refrigerator, 20 year old washing machine and microwave and an old filing cabinet that was probably used in the Ark by Noah (I purchased it 2nd hand when I was studying at university in the 60's.

My sister arrived soon after the removalists but there was not a lot we could do except empty out some of the area under the house. We just tried to find somewhere to keep cool.

By the end of the day my possessions had been reduced to a quoted 18 cu m (90 boxes) which is to travel over the Tasman by ship, 3 suitcases weighing a total of 42 kilos which I sent as unaccompanied air luggage a week later and is supposed to arrive by the end of this week and another case with 21 kilos plus onboard bag including laptop which I brought with me.

The removalists took about 6 hours to pack and load.

My sister drove me to a nearby motel for the night and I took her to dinner at the Sports Club.

Wednesday thankfully was slightly less humid.  My sister, as usual, took over and worked very hard with the vacuum cleaner, while I went to the tip as described and cleaned out cupboards. I thought it would take about 4 hours but it was closer to 7 hours by the time we left and returned to the motel in a heavy thunderstorm and again I took her to dinner, this time at a hotel in the local town.

Thursday was much cooler after a southerly change and there was  mountain mist which I remember on the afternoon of my first day in the house - January 4, 1982.  We made our last visit to the house to collect my remaining suit cases and my sister's cleaning equipment and visited my neighbour who was in tears and then took the keys to the estate agent. Strangely I was not as upset as I thought I would be.

I went to my sister's home near the city where I was to stay for the next week. That afternoon I bought her a mac laptop so that we are now able to keep in contact via Skype. Her Mac Mini did not have a microphone or camera. The laptop is slightly more powerful but just a little more than half the price of mine which was purchased in May 2007.

Moving Update

Am having trouble keeping up with reading blogs let alone writing anything. Actually I seem to be awake half the night but am trying to resist actually getting out of bed, a few chapters of a book sometimes help. The doctor gave me some tablets but they were only enough for 12 days so have been taking them half strength. They do some good as before I started I was awake before midnight, now it is nearer 3am.

My sister always complains that I inherited my Mother's thick hair while she got Dad's stringy hair but she does not understand that I also inherited Mum's ability to worry about everything.

Really I am so lucky, all my worries have been needless but try telling my body that.
The house and land sold 4 weeks after going on the market for the top price I expected. The only problem is the purchasers wanted to be in by 14 Jan, a bit quicker than usual and, of course, across the holiday season.

I had 2 garage sales and both were lovely fine days after a week of rain. I do not have an actual garage, just a sort of carport so rain would have been disaster. They were moderately successful.

I was not able to sell my dining and lounge chairs but they were collected by Vinnies last Wednesday. I now only have a lounge, a high kitchen stool and a computer chair on which to sit. Some other chairs went in the garage sale.

I was worried about selling the car, needing it until I move out on Wednesday. Put an advert in the local paper last Wednesday and was inundated with calls so perhaps I offered it too cheaply but the guy who has lived across the road from me for 28 years offered to buy it (I just happened to mention I was selling it when he stopped to chat) and has paid me cash while allowing me to keep it until Wednesday.

The 33 year old refrigerator, 20 year old washing machine, 15 year old freezer and pre war filing cabinet are being picked up free on Tuesday. The same day all my goods are being packed and taken for shipping. Unfortunately moving overseas does not allow one to throw some odds and ends in a box in the car to take to a new house.

As I will not see the goods until I have purchased a new house (it could be 3 months) I have packed some suitcases with bed linen, blanket, towels and clothes to be sent by air as unaccompanied luggage (a bit expensive). I should be packing the bag I will be taking now so as to see what has to either be put in the shipping container or the unaccompanied bags.

A large skip is to be delivered tomorrow to take all the remaining junk (the detritus of my life).

My sister has spent 2 days here organising me (she has done that all her life) and will be back on Tuesday. We have booked into a motel for Tuesday and Wednesday nights then will hand over the keys and I will stay a week with her before the flight. I was going to stay in a motel near her but that little unpleasant scam last month convinced me to accept her offer to save some money and stay at her home. There is not a lot of room there.

My final worry is about accommodation in Dunedin. I have booked into a motel for 10 nights but will need to find something cheaper, at least partly furnished until I am able to buy a house. I have rented a car for 10 days but will have to buy one for after that.

At least the weather is reinforcing my decision to move. We have had a lot of rain which is good to prevent bushfires but the weeds have run amok. Am a bit ashamed of the condition I am leaving the garden.

Now the rain has gone, the temperatures are in the mid 30'sC and the humidity is horrendous. It is very unlikely we will have bushfires now as we would need the dry north westers to blow for a week or more and that has always been unlikely after January.
While the temperatures up here in the mountains, (while higher and colder in winter, we do not get the seabreezes in summer) are forecast to be around 30' C until Thursday when it will cool down to 21'C, in Dunedin it is forecast to range from 14'C up to 20'C next week.