After some intermittent internet connections and some more unpacking (and more procrastination), I’m back.

Work is busy, social life is busy, parents are visiting and knitting needles are flying.

More to the point though…

Moving and settling

So, the big move. It was all rather quick and we’ve only just caught our breaths now. It was less than two weeks of being offered the place to us getting the keys, and we started to move straight away. The Friday that we collected the keys, we did four or five runs with Kat’s car of the little bits – things I could carry up the (three flights of) stairs and that we didn’t trust removalists with. My legs held out and we were fairly successful. As we started to move stuff in though, we began to panic that all of our stuff wouldn’t fit. This was to be proven wrong the next day.

On the Saturday, we did a couple of runs (with extra hands of course) in the morning before the removalists came. Once they turned up, it was around an hour to pack up the truck, with all of us helping carry stuff out to the truck. I was predicting up at an hour per flight of stairs at the other end, but it was done much quicker than that. The plan to get removalists was a good one, as it would have taken hours (and days) for Kat’s back and my knees to get everything up here!

As it turns out, once there was furniture around and beds were set up, the rooms seemed biggeer. It was clear from the start that we were downsizing, but not by as much as we though. Everything fits, and we’re only clearing out stuff so that we can buy more (mostly in the form of books!)

I’m quite content at this new place. I’ve quickly adjusted to taking the train to work, but thankfully it’s never too busy (standing on the way in, but always get a seat coming home) and I had paid for monthly tickets at times when I was temping at the old place, so the cost wasn’t a shock. As the last boxes are being unpacked (or we permanently position them in corners of rooms), the place is feeling much more like home. However, if (and that’s a big if), we move again, the furniture is all staying up here. I’ll buy new stuff for the next place!!

On top of this havoc, my parents arrived in the country on the 30th. They’re here for a month, but only had 3 nights in Melbourne initially before going over to Adelaide by car. It’s certainly good to see them again, but it’s strange seeing familiar faces in place that I’ve never seen them. We caught up for dinner the three nights they were here, and will do so again at the other end of the trip when they come back before they fly out.

Other than that, it’s just been a matter of settling in and trying to get on with things. I’ve been knitting quite avidly for the last few months – first for my friend Kayleigh, then for my colleague who has just left on maternity leave, and now another friend has announced his wife is expecting, so I’m planning the next thing. On the wonderful Ravelry, I found a pattern for very easy booties, and I’ve done three pairs of these with leftover yarn which would otherwise be passed onto the Salvos or hoarded until I come up with a better plan. I’ve done a pair in under two hours, so it’s a relatively quick pattern (for my speed of knitting), and they’re easily done on straight needles. However, after two relatively plain baby jumpers, I’m about to branch out a little. More details as they’re decided!

I’ve moved house and it went moderately smoothly. There are still boxes everywhere, but I have the Internet, so they won’t get unpacked now. Ever.