Diny
24th July 2005, 09:01 PM
What a week !!!!!!
Have been trying to get a moment to grab a PC and give an update - this is the first opportunity I've had.
Well we've been here a week now and I'm amazed at how much we've managed to fit in. We spent the first few days hunting for a rental property - plenty available but naff all in the area we want. Anyway - got a viewing on one on Friday afternoon and decided to take it. It's an old house - a 'colonial villa' style. It's massive !!!! Got 4 bedrooms, a kitchen/dining room the size of a foorball pitch and a 'best' sitting room the size of 2 football pitches. Apart from the bedrooms, all the floors are polished wood. They look great but heck they're noisy. The owner lives next door in the 'granny flat' (not quite a sleepout). We've spent the weekend cleaning and sweeping .... is it normal for the new tennents to clean the place when they move in instead of the old ones cleaning on the way out? Mark has spent all afternoon trying to clean the bath. He's got it looking really god now but he had to use something called 'Spirit of Salt' which he had to show I.D. when he paid for it (apparantly it's used in the home manufacture of 'P').
It has 2 really lovely fireplaces. The one in the olympic size sitting room is an open fire and the one in the family room is a 'kind of' wood burner (not sure what they call them) with a wetback. Very ornate carved wooden mantelpiece ..... very nice in fact.
The owner is in the process of doing the house up and hunts high and low to get all the original old style fixtures and fittings. I imagine it will look great when it's finished but at the moment it's very much 'work in progress' and I'm thankful that it's only a short term rental. Didn't have to sign up for any set period, we just need to give 21 days notice. I will post some pics when I get the chance. We hope to move in over the next day or so - Tuesday will be our first night there.
Have had to go out and buy some 'essentials'. Just as abit of a handy hint ....... whatever you've budgeted for buying things to tie you over until the container arrives .... double it at least !!!!! We've bought 2 'put you up' foam beds and a futon sofa bed from the Warehouse, a brand new top loader washing machine, a new (but dirt cheap) 3 piece suite and a table and set of 6 chairs from a 2nd hand store. Also bought new quilts and covers and have managed to pick up some really nice towels which were half price in the sales. Have also bopught all the usual stuff like a new iron, new toaster, cleaning stuffs, clothes horse, a couple of covector heaters etc etc. Have done nothing but hand over my credit card over the last week ..... gets abit scary after a while.
Have managed to fit in a couple of days out too. The other day the 4 of us went to Tangimoana Beach. It was FREEZING and very windy. The bleached driftwood that covered the place made it look like something like an abandoned Mad Max movie set. We then moved onto Foxton Beach which was even colder (a good excuse to go into the local cafe for fish & chips).
Oh yeah ..... we've bought a car too. Marks folks bought a new car a few weeks back and the old one has been sitting in the garage ever since. It's a Honda Integra, not the flashest car on the block but is working out to be a God send for running back and forth. Next week Mark will trawl the car yards for something different ....... each day he changes his mind about what he wants - I shall leave that up to him.
This week the boys are going into school to meet the head mistress and to have a look around. They will probably start a week on Monday. We were quite prepared to let them have a few weeks off but they have both stated that they want to start sooner rather than later :eek . They're feeling abit lonely as they have no friends of their own ages and they reckon that things will be abit more exciting once they're out there meeting new buddies. So far they have been fine, Henny seems to be taking things alot more in his stride than Fergie. Have to admit that both Fergie and I are suffering from 'missing family' syndrome. Can't say we're homesick 'cos it's not as though we want to go back, but we'd love to be with our family - a strange way to be really, can't really put my finger on how I feel. I just know that I'd love ALL of my family to be here with me. That's not going to happen so it's a case of just getting on with it.
As for the weather. Today has been great. Very mild, we went to the park this morning to play cricket (yeah folks, rounders is off my activity list now .... I'm a ciricketer) ...... remember all those times I said I hated sport. Anyway - ended up in t-shirts for a while. A very clear bright sunny day - really quite amazing.
The in-laws house is like a blooming fridge. Just to let you know how cold it is. I left my toothpaste on the bathroom window sill and by morning it was so cold and hard in the tube it took 2 hands to squeeze it out. It's just not normal to live in conditions like this. Fergies asthma is giving him some gyp - I'm quite concerned about him actually ... this cold and damp is NOT good for him (or me).
Anyway - I need to hand the pc back now. We'll be on-line more over the next couple of days after moving into our own place.
So far I give everything a thumbs up. It's very early days and we've not really had much time to gather our thoughts. Mark is loving being home and the boys and I are enjoying visiting all the familiar places from previous trips.
Will post pics soon. I here endeth this sermon.
Diny
Have been trying to get a moment to grab a PC and give an update - this is the first opportunity I've had.
Well we've been here a week now and I'm amazed at how much we've managed to fit in. We spent the first few days hunting for a rental property - plenty available but naff all in the area we want. Anyway - got a viewing on one on Friday afternoon and decided to take it. It's an old house - a 'colonial villa' style. It's massive !!!! Got 4 bedrooms, a kitchen/dining room the size of a foorball pitch and a 'best' sitting room the size of 2 football pitches. Apart from the bedrooms, all the floors are polished wood. They look great but heck they're noisy. The owner lives next door in the 'granny flat' (not quite a sleepout). We've spent the weekend cleaning and sweeping .... is it normal for the new tennents to clean the place when they move in instead of the old ones cleaning on the way out? Mark has spent all afternoon trying to clean the bath. He's got it looking really god now but he had to use something called 'Spirit of Salt' which he had to show I.D. when he paid for it (apparantly it's used in the home manufacture of 'P').
It has 2 really lovely fireplaces. The one in the olympic size sitting room is an open fire and the one in the family room is a 'kind of' wood burner (not sure what they call them) with a wetback. Very ornate carved wooden mantelpiece ..... very nice in fact.
The owner is in the process of doing the house up and hunts high and low to get all the original old style fixtures and fittings. I imagine it will look great when it's finished but at the moment it's very much 'work in progress' and I'm thankful that it's only a short term rental. Didn't have to sign up for any set period, we just need to give 21 days notice. I will post some pics when I get the chance. We hope to move in over the next day or so - Tuesday will be our first night there.
Have had to go out and buy some 'essentials'. Just as abit of a handy hint ....... whatever you've budgeted for buying things to tie you over until the container arrives .... double it at least !!!!! We've bought 2 'put you up' foam beds and a futon sofa bed from the Warehouse, a brand new top loader washing machine, a new (but dirt cheap) 3 piece suite and a table and set of 6 chairs from a 2nd hand store. Also bought new quilts and covers and have managed to pick up some really nice towels which were half price in the sales. Have also bopught all the usual stuff like a new iron, new toaster, cleaning stuffs, clothes horse, a couple of covector heaters etc etc. Have done nothing but hand over my credit card over the last week ..... gets abit scary after a while.
Have managed to fit in a couple of days out too. The other day the 4 of us went to Tangimoana Beach. It was FREEZING and very windy. The bleached driftwood that covered the place made it look like something like an abandoned Mad Max movie set. We then moved onto Foxton Beach which was even colder (a good excuse to go into the local cafe for fish & chips).
Oh yeah ..... we've bought a car too. Marks folks bought a new car a few weeks back and the old one has been sitting in the garage ever since. It's a Honda Integra, not the flashest car on the block but is working out to be a God send for running back and forth. Next week Mark will trawl the car yards for something different ....... each day he changes his mind about what he wants - I shall leave that up to him.
This week the boys are going into school to meet the head mistress and to have a look around. They will probably start a week on Monday. We were quite prepared to let them have a few weeks off but they have both stated that they want to start sooner rather than later :eek . They're feeling abit lonely as they have no friends of their own ages and they reckon that things will be abit more exciting once they're out there meeting new buddies. So far they have been fine, Henny seems to be taking things alot more in his stride than Fergie. Have to admit that both Fergie and I are suffering from 'missing family' syndrome. Can't say we're homesick 'cos it's not as though we want to go back, but we'd love to be with our family - a strange way to be really, can't really put my finger on how I feel. I just know that I'd love ALL of my family to be here with me. That's not going to happen so it's a case of just getting on with it.
As for the weather. Today has been great. Very mild, we went to the park this morning to play cricket (yeah folks, rounders is off my activity list now .... I'm a ciricketer) ...... remember all those times I said I hated sport. Anyway - ended up in t-shirts for a while. A very clear bright sunny day - really quite amazing.
The in-laws house is like a blooming fridge. Just to let you know how cold it is. I left my toothpaste on the bathroom window sill and by morning it was so cold and hard in the tube it took 2 hands to squeeze it out. It's just not normal to live in conditions like this. Fergies asthma is giving him some gyp - I'm quite concerned about him actually ... this cold and damp is NOT good for him (or me).
Anyway - I need to hand the pc back now. We'll be on-line more over the next couple of days after moving into our own place.
So far I give everything a thumbs up. It's very early days and we've not really had much time to gather our thoughts. Mark is loving being home and the boys and I are enjoying visiting all the familiar places from previous trips.
Will post pics soon. I here endeth this sermon.
Diny