What A Week

After spending Monday sorting out a scheduling problem with our MAF inspection, and paying the exorbitant fees we were charged on this end of the shipping process, we got clearance for our stuff, which was delivered on Tuesday. We've been unpacking boxes ever since, but it's finally starting to look (and feel) like home. Our new dining room set was delivered on Wednesday; the cracked table and 3 poorly assembled chairs were replaced this morning. With very little difficulty, I should add. I also had no problem returning the electric kettle when it shorted out this week - 10 ten days after we bought it - and blew out the kitchen's electric circuit. But the real excitement was Friday afternoon, when our living room furniture arrived.

With a little help from me, the lone delivery man and Ali managed to hoist the sofa and both chairs over our second-floor balcony. (It was instantly clear that none of it would fit through the doorway.) This involved the delivery guy balancing himself on top of the chest-high, rounded top wall which separates our unit from the townhouse next door while passing the chairs up and over the balcony railing. And that was the easy part. At one point I was on a stepstool reaching up to steady the sofa as Ali held it, dangling over the rail, while the delivery guy ran upstairs. They did managed to pull it up and over the rail without significant damage to sofa or man, but I sure hope we don't need to move again for a very long time.

Also this week: the hard drive on Ali's laptop crashed. No idea why, but I wouldn't recommend an IBM pc to anyone I liked. Fortunately, it was the day after our stuff arrived. Finding the box with the desktop wasn't too hard - I'd labled things pretty well - and it survived the trip without incident. (As did everything else, save one stemmed cordial glass - I've become an expert packer over the years.) We're back online, and Ali was even able to back up his data, but it's a been a week I'd rather not repeat.

On the bright side - and there nearly always is one - the weather has turned lovely. It hasn't rained in over a week and the days are warming up nicely. Plus, a Movenpick ice cream store is about to open in Parnell. Just up the road from our place. How convenient.

Cheers,
Sandie