Oh, my paws and whiskers. :(

I contacted the Bombay Kitten breeder a couple of days ago because I worked out that the kittens I ordered would be about four weeks old, the age when I would be allowed to see them.

She emailed me back to say that the litter was born prematurely and they all died. She has two red Burmese females available and some Burmillas but I have my heart set on the little black ones so I will wait a while. She told me that she has two pregnant Bombay queens so hopefully I will get my kittens eventually; otherwise I will have to settle for Burmese, a breed which I love dearly - but not red ones and not two females, although two females might be easier to manage in an apartment.

I had my first lunch guests on Friday; Himself and Herself. The idea was that i would have my pictures up and herself and I would go and look at Persian rugs, leaving Himself to familiarize [sic] himself with Win 7. The picture rails are up but Second Wife and the Ex have gone overseas and she seems to have intimidated the picture person to the degree that he expected to wait until she got back before the great day of hanging.

So Herself and I went and explored the shops underneath here and when we got back Himself was having a postprandial power nap. If he gets stuck trying to teach Win7 I will be there to help if he can't work things out; I am still coming to terms with Win Live Mail myself so the two of us will muddle through somehow. Anyway - they are going overseas in a few weeks for him to receive his Doctorate from the University of Malta.

Replenish Salt

"Replenish salt" is the catch-cry of my dishwasher. If that doesn't work it tries "Replenish rinse aid". I soothe it with a couple of OKs and it settles down and lets me use the three-in-one blocks. My refrigerator whistles at me if I leave the door open for too long and since it doesn't swing closed this happens quite often.

I have been in the new apartment for four weeks today and am gradually finding things and replacing things in more appropriate places and then forgetting where I put them but gradually it is all getting sorted out. It has become home but is not customised in the way my house was. Over the years I had got things just the way I liked them and i doubt if that will ever happen here; there is too much stuff built in. I am getting used to the microwave and no longer have to sit on the floor to work it but still have to bend over to put things in and out so, along with the very heavy doors to the service areas, I am going to have to stay fit.

I do like the gym though and spend about 45 minutes most mornings doing a workout and stretch. And I really like some of the shops; there is a shop which sells different varieties of tea and another one which sells coffee beans, chocolate, pulses and a very interesting selection of herbs and spices. If all else fails there is Farmer Jack which is open until late seven days per week and seems to sell just about everything except the blue cow-type cheeses so I might have to go back to the Boatshed Market for them ... and salmon.

Replenish Salt

Replenish salt is the catchcry of my dishwasher. If that doesn't work it tries "

My sister died this morning

My sister died early this morning (20th August in Australia) in a hospital in Victoria. After her usual fashion she had refused to admit to any family and Little Bro and I only found out that she was ill a couple of weeks ago. As it turns out, she was processed through three hospitals and it was only two days ago that I spoke to her nurse and her doctor. Her doctor said that she was not responding to treatment and that she was unlikely to recover. It was her friend in Mentone, rather than me or Little Bro who was told of her death.

I am not sad about her dying but I am very unhappy that we could never be friends; she didn't like me or any of my works and I gave up when she informed me that she had intended to sue me but that her lawyer had advised against it.

She lived her life the way she chose to, cutting herself off from her family and living as far away as she could. Perhaps I should have kept on trying but she had no intention of changing; that was her choice and eventually I decided to respect that choice.

I think that I am mastering the microwave oven

Tonight, for the first time, my dinner was all hot, evenly thawed and ready when wanted without several tries at getting the vegetables cooked. The fact that I have to sit on the floor to see the controls is beside the point and I am going to remain fit and flexible into my dotage with all the crawling about and opening heavy, heavy doors.

This place is very badly designed but I had one more small success today when I was able to buy three unbreakable soap rest thingies for the bathrooms, something which Coles seems not to stock.

A new problem has arisen regarding the delivery of stuff if I am not home, and where do the delivery people park in order to deliver their goods. The Building Manager suggested directing them to level 4 which is a bit like driving through a maze (which she admitted herself) and I would still have to be home to receive the goods. I think that it would be easier to park in the underground carpark and come up the escalator to the main shopping centre; but I would still have to be home.

And then the Building Manager mentioned that when the removalists came yesterday to remove the boxes they arrived an hour and a half before the time booked for the loading dock. They were booked in for the time when Grace said that they would be there. The BM is obviously starting to get a bit miffed at me but ...

I have moved

It is now a week since my household was all packed up ready for the big move. Last Monday 1/08/2011 all the small things were wrapped and put into boxes, except for my bedclothes.

On Tuesday morning at 8.00am I had to be at the new apartment for the telephone connection and the washing machine man but I received a phone call to say that the packers, back at the house, would/could not pack anything unless I was there; so I sat on the veranda for four hours and watched my furniture being carried down to the removalists’ truck. The loading dock had been booked from noon to 2.00pm but no-one at the loading dock was expecting them so I had to contact the Building Manager. They didn’t arrive until 1.00pm and discovered that the truck was too high to go into the dock. More delays!! However, the phone line was working and the washing machine had been installed, luckily with a comprehensive instruction book since I had missed out on the demo.

The Town Council had to be contacted for permission to park the truck on the footpath and everything was unloaded into the loading dock and then transported up to the apartment. It took until 6.00pm by which time we were all exhausted and the apartment was full of boxes.

On Wednesday I had to go back to the house to let the cleaners in and then back here to let the unpacker ladies in. They did an amazing job and neatly stacked all the boxes in the spare bedroom … but they put some things in very odd places and I am still searching for a packet of breadmix which seems to have vanished without a trace.

Techie came on Friday and sorted out the computer connections and hooked up my main one to the dongle so that I can use the internet until my server connects me. I have a nasty feeling that I might end up with a one [1] tagged onto my email user name. I have emailed them to confirm and protest but so far have not heard and I can still log in to my web-mail with the old user name.

It is all happening

Finally things are starting to move. I have authorised the funds to be transferred to the account of my settlement agent the requisite three working days before the settlement date of 25th July 2011 and have arranged to move in on 2nd August. The removalists will pack everything on 1st August and have from 7.00am until 3.00pm to get everything unloaded. I have arranged for them to deliver the fridge to Landsdale as I was concerned that it could be damaged if moved by amateurs, i.e Himself and his son in law. The building Manager has agreed that the washing machine can be delivered on the day of the move but so far I have not been able to contact the Asko representative to organise it; that will have to wait until next week.

I have arranged to have my mail sent on to the new address for a year and cancelled the newspapers from 23rd July to allow time for the final account to be emailed to me.

I hate leaving this house but have got to the stage where I just want it to all be over; probably a good thing as I am less likely to mourn the comforts of home.