On new lodgings

Once upon a time, Nathan and Lynne moved to Colorado. There they searched for a place to live.

Eventually (ok, the fifth place they looked at, or maybe the sixth), they found a place that looked really nice in a good location. Even better, the placed was available almost immediately, which was *extremely* convenient.

So Lynne and Nathan moved in.

Nice new (secondhand) kitchen - so new it was still covered in construction dust (and the remnants of the previous owner's food gobs. Ick!).

Such a new kitchen that there was no water to the sink. Rather amusingly, when Nathan threw the water from the new tea mugs into the sink, it made a very odd splatter noise, not the tinkle-tinkle of water going down a drain.

Yep, the sink was not plumbed in in any way shape or form.

Alas, alack, Lynne had to take her bike and trailer out to not just one but TWO supermarkets to find a wash tub to do the dishes in - y'see the dishwasher also was not plumbed in and the crockery and glassware and pots and cutlery all had to be washed before they could be used. (I rode 20 miles that day mostly with the trailer - gosh I was tired by the end of it!)

The sink was plumbed in yesterday. Hooray! The dishwasher gets tied down today - it is plumbed in but has not been installed properly yet. Even the washing machine and drier were installed again (they are a bit dodgy but I am assured that the drier will work better now that its exhaust vent doesn't have a bird nest in it).

Then it was shower time.

Apparently showers in a lot of the rentals here do not have shower curtains/rods/screens. That is left to the individual taste of the renter. To an Aussie, this seems totally bizarre. So after we created a flood in the bathroom (I kid you not it was at least half an inch deep by the bath and there was no floor drain), Lynne took the bike and trailer out AGAIN in search of cheap bathmats (check!), some sort of shower rail (check!) and a shower curtain (check!).

In Target, they had adjustable rails - things that Lynne had never noticed before in Oz (nathan says he has seen them). They are designed to be temporary installations. You unscrew them, winding them out to a bit bigger than the gap they have to span, squish them in a bit and plonk them where you want them to sit (eg near the top of the tiles in the shower-bath). Ta-dum! Instant rail to hang a shower curtain on! Considering the number of these things they had available, they are obviously very popular.

So Lynne brought home a rail, shower curtain, new towels, new kitchen towels, new hand towels and a bathmat, and two used bathmats to be used for icky things. Hooray for new things!

But someone forgot to buy pillows. Again. Dangit!

But she did remember to go to Home Depot (I say it dep-o to Nathan and for the sake of the Americans here dee-po for Americans) and buy an extension thing for the shower, which was barely tall enough for the shorter of them to shower under. So at least the bathroom is all in order now!

On our first night here, when it got dark, we discovered that the loungeroom and the upstairs rooms do NOT have lights! Instead there are "light" switches on the walls that turn on and off powerpoints. Y'know when you look at a place during daylight, you don't think to look for lights. LOL So third on the list to buy is floor lamps. This is very possible once Nathan cons one of his mates into doing a spot of shopping. Anything over about four feet long doesn't fit on/into the bike trailer and Lynne feels uninclined to have to bungee-strap (we call them occy straps for octopus straps) things like lamps and brooms/mops to her bike trailer with a nice little flag on the bag to say long load....

So the new lodgings are great, but have some teething problems which are mostly readily fixable. After the kitchen is cleaned out (since the last of the work is happening today), we will start playing in the yard, such as it is. It appears despite the strong NO CATS/PETS prohibition here, the previous tenants had a silver tabby (evidence is that there are cat you-know whats in the gravel in our "yard" and the colour of the cat is apparent from the cat hair I've already found in fluff balls on the carpet).

Our visitors so far have commented on the lack of places to sit. Furniture? What is that? One of Nathan's workmates gave us some plastic outdoor chairs yesterday so now we have options to sit on a chair, not just on the stairs or the floor or our mattress (which currently sits on the floor in the living area cos upstairs was Too Hot and a base was Too Expensive yet). What a kind gift! (Chairs are another thing that don't fit into the bike trailer.)

After we get some pillows, a broom and a mop, we will have all the basics! Yay us! Then we can work on the rest. Cool, huh?

back 'ome

Ah the joy of saying, "Back 'ome" in a pommy accent. Y'see we keep finding ourselves saying, "Back 'ome" and then worrying that we sound like we are complaining like people who are new to an area and who don't like what they are finding.

So if I say "back 'ome" I am not complaining, usually, I am simply surprised by the differences between America and Australia. Yes, we are different places, and I expected that, it is just the little things that catch you out.

Like not finding the light switch cos it is colocated on the same plate as a power point. Back 'ome we have switches on our power points. So a switch by a power point is for the power point, until I remember I am not back 'ome any more.

Also what is with putting light switches on the middle of a wall? Back 'ome we have them either on the door jamb or within a hand's reach of the edge of the door. Here I fumble around in the usual place and eventually remember to go searching a bit further away. (or is that just this place we are staying at?) They can expect to find grotty pawprints across the walls as I search to find a light....

This afternoon we start looking at places to live. We are renting - we don't have $$$$$$$ to buy! Even renting currently will stretch us cos we have to pay two months' rent upfront for the bond and the rent in advance. We have lined up half a dozen places and will see how we go. I can also checkout if this place is the only place that has light switches neatly placed in the centre of a wall...

Fun, what?