Moving day was the nightmare that was. Monday was an incredibly hot day, and towards the end we ran low on energy, but the dramas with the buyers continued when they requested a pre-settlement inspection on the day we were moving out.

We had four moving men, two moving vans (we had to use mid sized trucks to be able to negotiate the driveway) and the buyers: husband, wife and child spent about an hour and a half inspecting the house. The final complaint was that the weep holes in the brick work were too wide, to which Mr FD replied, “Mate, I’m not rebuilding the house for you!” Even the agent told him he was being ridiculous. I just wanted to ram the end of my floor mop up his … but instead went to the farthest end  of the house.

And, AND he asked if we had to connect the electricity for them! I repeat, he asked if we connected the power for him! At this stage, I was ready to turn his head into a Halloween pumpkin, but the realtor sensed murder was about to en enacted so he managed to finally scoop them out the door. It was at this stage I decided I would leave the family bathroom tub in need of a dust…

Then our bank didn’t have the settlement documents ready for the booked time, and settlement had to be delayed for a half hour, which could have allowed any party to pull out, but eventually it was done, but the bank didn’t follow along the lines of our understanding, so there are still some issues to work through! Further reason to distrust banks, in my opinion.

The moving men, were congenial and made every effort to work carefully, but as the day wore on and they grew tired their care factor shrank and so all the carefully marked boxes got moved into any, and every, room, so now we have to search the entire house if we need anything specific. I spent most of Tuesday walking in circles trying to sort boxes and locate items that it seemed important to one of us that we find immediately.

My sister arrived with dinner and I could have kissed her feet. We now live only 10 minutes apart, in different towns but a very easy drive, so we can see more of each other. Sister brought Mother Flamingo Dancer to our new house on Tuesday morning, and though Mum had great difficulty getting out of the car, and negotiating the two inch rise into the house she appeared to enjoy her visit. I now live about 4 streets away from her care facility.

I ventured out to buy groceries in the afternoon, and had to drive passed a road side fire. Even though I drove to the opposite side of the road, the heat from the fire was intense through the closed car window. Luckily, the fire burned away from the road and so it had moved on a bit by the time I made my return trip.

Augie Dog moved in late Tuesday, and as Son  had to go out that night, Mr FD and I were left at home to moan about our aches and pains and dogsit Augie. Augie is 10 weeks old and he likes to chew things; poop and wee. He is so cute though that we all melt despite the mess. Of course, Son and Mr FD have poop patrol which was my condition, one of my conditions to agreeing to a dog.  Augie trots behind me as I wander the house looking for lost things, until he is exhausted then he flops and sleeps, while I still wander the house looking for lost things. The boxes, I must add, do work a treat to keep Augie boxed into the areas where he is allowed.

Third day in our House on the Hill, Son walked outside to find a brown snake sunning itself on the stone steps leading to the top terrace, which was going to be Augie’s patch and where the clotheslines is situated. Son watched as snake slid into the stone wall face. I went to phone the local snake catcher, whose number I already had stored, but despite messages left on his office phone and mobile, twenty four hours later I am yet to hear from him. Note to self not to rely on the advertised snake catcher.

I also called the pest control man, who said that he didn’t really handle snakes and to call his wife who had some numbers of people who did. So, I phoned his wife and she gave me two mobile numbers. The first snake man said he would really like to help me out, but he is was in Western Australia until December, by which time we both agreed he probably would not be able to help us. The second man was an hour’s drive away until the end of the day, and if the snake wasn’t in my house wouldn’t come until day’s end. So again, he was of little use. Pest control man phoned back to say he was now just down the road and would come to have a look, which he did, arriving with a steel rod with a hook (stick envy, here people) to pick up snakes. Naturally, by this time the snake could not be sighted, no doubt deep within the wall, and providing the pest control man with a “city slicker” story to tell his mates.

I also managed to emasculate Mr FD in the process (my job here is done) by calling in another man to handle the snake. Mr FD’s knee pain had driven him to find comfort on our bed and so I hadn’t disturbed him at first snake sight, so when the pest control man arrived, Mr FD had to prove he knew how to live with snakes. Son and I just wanted to live without snakes, but of course that isn’t going to happen. Did the damn thing have to appear the first week, though? The previous owner left a note instructing us to “keep the door from the garage to the house shut at all times, as there are snakes about!” Any further proof required to convince us was provided by the discarded snake skin hanging between the branches of a tree on the terrace.

The telephone company had no record of our application to connect a phone service, so we are relying on mobile phones and ipad for communication. It also means no cable television, but there has been little time for that anyway.  The ensuite shower bath creaks when we stand in it, and if it wasn’t a ground floor bathroom I would be worried, but we have always had plans to remodel it. A plus was the discovery of a brand new white shower base in the garage, which will fit perfectly, so one win!

A small kangaroo, or it might be a wallaby, as we haven’t been able to sight clearly through the trees as yet comes to eat in our garden each morning , so I am thinking the vegie patch might require a fence, as well as Augie needing  his own yard.

So three days in we have had fire, pestilence and no technology. Welcome to life in the country!