A Nice Pair of Tits

Wandering out into the garden on Saturday, I noticed a tiny fledgling bird sat on the grass. A little research lead me to believe it might be a blue tit. A little later, another one turned up near the garage. Obviously they had dropped/flown out of a nearby nest but we couldn't see where. They were sadly unable to fly very far and simply fluttered off your hand and down to the ground. We dug up loads of worms which one was eager to eat, but the other less so. Alas, they both croaked during the night. Nature is harsh sometimes.

We seem to have acquired a nasty cold of sorts although I seem to be weathering it a little better than Di, who is complaining of aches and pains in addition to the coughs and sneezes. She reckons it's swine flu. Clearly time to break out the oinkment. Anything to ward off the aporkalypse.

We've taken the plunge and confirmed with PSS that we'll be using then to ship our stuff to NZ. Also, we're parted with £4,500 for air fares. Just when we thought we'd offloaded one of the kids, Craig has now decided that he is going to come with us which will of course mean that he's going to have to bunk out of his flat before the tenancy is up and will loose his deposit. He is allegedly saving as much as he can since he's under no illusions of a free ride when he ends up in N.Z. I reckon the main reason he's coming with us is that he was somewhat bricking it at the thought of having to figure out how to navigate round various foreign airports.

The great junk disposal continues. I was going to chuck my old Sinclair ZX81, but they seem to be attracting a few quid on fleabay so I thought I'd have a go. I have one bid and three watchers already.

Back On Line

It's been a while since our last blog entry, and this is essentially because we've had no Internet connection since we moved out. What follows is not necessarily in chronological order.

Lack of broadband is largely a function of BT being a set of useless morons. We arranged to have the business line moved to our new address and thus retain the same number. Unfortunately they can't move the broadband signal with it so you have to cancel the ADSL service (5 working days notice and £20) and once it's cancelled, which does take 5 days, you have to order it again (5 working days notice and £45). Thus I've been enjoying the delights of dial up modem Internet. Even though I'm pretty handy with Linux, I've never managed to get PPP working, so I was reduced to using Internet connection sharing by bouncing off the laptop. I guess getting a Vodafone dongle might have been better after all.The phone line itself only appeared on Monday, but did seem to involve a fair amount of malarkey, judging from the number of times the cheeky chappy who they sent round bright and early to sort it out had to climb up the pole.

The absolute last things we moved out of the old place was the router itself, literally with our buyers stood there watching me unplug it all. We kept taking the laptop round and checking email etc. Annoyingly, today I've discovered that there are no less than three unsecured wireless networks in the local vicinity, all of which could have given the kid's PC internet access, albeit illegally. Neither of the laptops saw anything other than our wireless and I never thought to check the PC with its external aerial. Good job too, since the temptation to freeload would have been immense, so slow was the dialup.

We didn't use a removal company, preferring to do it all ourselves. Everything fitted into the back of the Seat once the seats were removed. Even the superking size mattress, the sofa and all the beds went in, but obviously not at the same time. We even managed to get the boot shut. In hindsight I'm rather glad that the car didn't sell a couple of months back, since we'd have been stuffed without it. It has just sailed through its MOT, so maybe it is time to get rid now. The BFG managed to pick up a stone chip in the windscreen, in fact it was two 10mm apart which apparently can't be seen to. However I did get a quote of £90 for a new screen, which seems stonkingly cheap so we're watching the crack to see what happens. So far nothing :)

We also had the misfortune to be using "More Than" as our car insurance company. Alas they seem to want to charge a £15 "administration fee" just because we've moved house. I've declined to pay this and they got all stroppy, in their best Mumbai accent about how we couldn't claim if an incident were to occur at our new premises. The bizarre thing is we actually are parking on the driveway now because it's A) big enough and B) there's nowhere else to park as we're on a busy main road. I suspect I will need to pay yet another fee when I cancel the policy which will of course happen when I sell the car.

The house itself is a lot smaller than we're used to, and we've had to cram the girls into two rooms. It's a tight fit and the first couple of days were an absolute nightmare because most rooms were basically a mountain of boxes. Fortunately the loft has been boarded out, so most stuff that we don't have an immediate need for has been relocated. The house is OK I suppose, but it still has an odd smell about it, even two weeks after we've moved in. It's a little rough round the edges, but most (but not all) of this dubious quality is recorded in a fairly massive inventory and condition report which we are supposed to sign and send back. The most bizarre thing about the place is the complete absence of any tiles in the bathroom. Particularly odd since the shower over the bath has no place to run except down the wall. The electrics also seem a bit dodgy, with various flashing lights which may or may not be related to an excessive number of dimmer switches everywhere, making it near impossible to use energy saving light bulbs. We had to stop using the "touch" lamp which worked just fine at our old house, since it kept turning itself on/off/up/down without warning and seemingly at random.

Since moving out was such a rush, we've not really had time to work out what we're taking and what we're not. Hopefully over the next couple of months we'll be able to resolve this one fully, and of course make sure that it all fits in the container. We have got rid of my old stamp collection (£140), which has lurked in the cupboard for 30 years or so and also Granny's grandfather clock, which sadly is a piece of tat and only fetched £70 less the commission. We've also put together a fair collection of stuff for another car boot sale.

We've chosen PSS as our shipping company, since they have been recommended on all the ex-pat fora we lurk on and they were a mere £1000 cheaper than Anglo Pacific who wanted to charge an extra £50 if we filled the container. We also need to get our fingers out and tall to HiFX since the New Zealand budget is due next week and there may be some large fluctuations on the currency value.

Moving in Earnest

We still have net access, so here goes:

I rang Churchill up this morning to try and move the house insurance. I was pleased to find out that as we only need contents cover now, that I got a £93 refund. Bonus. The policy itself was only £150 so this is a result. For peace of mind, I added a £2500 away from home personal items cover (for the guitar, since I will be attending West Dean this year) which was a mere £35 so the refund is now just under £60 - still better than a poke in the eye.

We began shifting most of the heavy stuff out today, including the fridge/freezer. Alas, even after leaving it to settle for a couple of hours before switching it on it refuses to function. The lights went on and off a few times in a really bizarre manner and then there was a large electrical splatting sort of sound and now nothing. Really quite annoying. It's not the plug fuse and it does seem to be drawing power, but I've no idea what it's doing. Thankfully we'd eaten all the frozen food except for a bag of peas, so no massive problem with lots of thawing food. Here's hoping Freecycle can get us another one that will last a few months.

The telly seams to work OK on the aerial inside the roof space, or at least it does in analogue channels. Freeview is a bit iffy with some channels not working at all. Annoying again. Maybe a different digital aerial might help, the one in the loft looks nothing special.

One of the girls is at a sleep over tonight, so we've moved her bed over which also gave me a chance to screw the drawers back together. The rest of the beds will follow tomorrow and Sunday will be our first night under our new roof.

Sh, it Happens!

5 days before we're due to complete the sale and get out, I am informed that the toilet isn't flushing. Great. Just the sort of job I love. It turns out that the manhole cover at the back of the house is a mere 2 inches above the "pooh" level. Ah. Not good. Front cover is empty. I ring a mate up and ask to borrow his drain rods which he duly lends me and I go-a-rodding. Lovely job.

It's not such a problem getting rods down the drain, but when one needs to remove them, they are how shall I put it - "soiled". I did try to find some gloves, but alas all I could find was a single solitary marigold hence the job became a one hand operation - well mostly. I plan to shake hands with everyone in the boozer this evening before relaying the delights of today's events.

I had Granny's clock valued and as I suspected, it's basically fire wood. Definitely not worth shipping to NZ. On the plus side, we may have a buyer for the dish washer and there's a chance it'll make more money than the clock.

This will be the last entry for a while, since the phone line is allegedly being moved with effect from tomorrow. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

Bills, Bills, Bills

I made several phone calls today, cancelling various utilities and ordering new ones. Southern Water was quite painless, and the very nice Portsmouth Water people have already credited me with £14 on the new place, since I've overpaid here, such are the perils of paying biannually. A major result was achieved with the council tax, which I was expecting to have to pay in full on both properties concurrently. Apparently, because we've not placed any "furniture" in the new place, we are entitled to a "class C" exemption until our completion date - which is rated at 100%. Huzzah! We just have to be careful not to put any "furniture" into the house until the last possible moment - which won't actually be a problem, unless a single solitary desk buried under a pile of boxes counts as furniture.

The buyer for the Benelli turned up this afternoon, and took his prize away. I was a little sad to see her go - even though she's been stood nearly 20 years, I still have fond memories of her impeccable road holding. He was kind enough to help me move the FZ down to the new place, avoiding a rather sweaty push across town and unwelcome attention from the plod.

Flog the Post Office

We tried to set up mail redirection on line - what a nonsense that was. We put all the details in but it wouldn't accept payment. It transpires that it is allegedly "checking whether a person with that name exists and has a bank account". How exactly are they allowed to get hold of my bank details unless I choose to advise them? Hmm? We only found this out by actually standing in the *massive* queue which was literally half way down the street at the only remaining post office (all the really handy sub post offices having been inspiring closed) and told this by one of the 4 jokers who was actually sat behind the counter. Naturally half the positions were empty but they still had plenty of staff to flap about ineffectively asking you if you wanted car insurance (no thanks, this is a POST OFFICE YOU MORON) or a lottery ticket. Having turned up in person to sort it all out, they then decide they need photo ID! FFS, they don't need it on line - why the hell would they need it in the orifice?

British gas (argh! no!) have sent us our first electric bill for the new house. £2.46 for 4 days. I've no idea who's supplying the gas - presumably Southern Electric although I suspect it's a dual fuel arrangement. Oh yes, and apparently my name is now "Joe". Hmm. Southern Water have me down as "Jerry". I'm beginning to loose my grip on my own identity.

We've got the phone line sorted! Our firm uses Southern Communications, and they're prepared to "move" the line from one house to the other in exchange for £99 inc VAT, and continue the existing contract, so no termination penalties. Allegedly. No home phone, but at least the business line with its broadband capability is sorted. Phew. Hopefully the transfer will be seamless. We shall see.

Two of the three schools the kids attend were happy to accept our verbal notification of change of address. The other one however is citing "new guideline" that insist on seeing a tenancy agreement or utility bill. I have declined to play their game since it seems like overkill and the other two schools don't seem to care.

The Move Begins

The process of packing stuff into boxes and moving out has begun. It's difficult for an habitual hoarder like me to throw out stuff that I may have a use for at sometime in the future. Isn't it always the case that you always need something you lobbed out last week? We've moved several car loads of stuff to the new place, and we're beginning to see where the walls meet the floor. I also see where I've cunningly painted only the skirting board that you can actually see, so I might have to attend to that before we move.

We attended a car boot sale on Saturday, where we managed to get rid of a load of our old tat and raised £75. That's about £75 more that I thought we'd get. There's enough left for another event later on and I dare say we'll have found some more to add to it. I'm amazed that none of the kids managed to end up buying loads of other people's rubbish, which is what often happens. Either that or all the proceeds end up being spent on drinks and the omnipresent sweat-burger van.

After the sale we made a flying visit to see some friends of ours who we've been meaning to harass since October, when they became parents for the first time. Mike was best man at our wedding and was always thoroughly anti children. It was somewhat amazing if not a touch surreal to see him making cooing noises and generally being a doting father. I'm pleased to say he still managed to do significant damage to a cask strength bottle of Frog I took along, with a fair bit of help from me. :-)

When we got back, we took up Petra's offer to go and see how Daisy was settling in. She had been having a bit of a rough time at the hands of the resident drake, who'd obviously taken a shine to her, presumably as she counts as talent, if you're a drake. She'd now given in to his attention, and seems to be at the centre of things, as you can see from the photo opposite. The kids got to molest Daisy's offspring, most of whom are still running around the place. It's good to know that barring a visit from the fox, that she's going to be happy in her old age.