And reality has set in. We knew we were down-sizing – but that was the block. 4,000sqm to 650sqm is a substantial downsize. But it was still a four bed, two bath home.
The thing is, like most people, we bought stuff to fit our home. If we ran out of space to store the stuff we bought, we bought extra storage. I think it must be a first world algorithm.
- First law of stuff: if you have too many unoccupied shelves, cupboards and the like, fill them.
- Second law of stuff: if you don’t have sufficient shelves, cupboards and the like, buy more.
- Third law of stuff: if items are too small to fit comfortably in the space buy larger items.
If you’ve been following our adventure, you’ll know we divested ourselves of lots and lots of stuff. But not, as it transpires, enough – at least of some items. The books and CDs that we’ve kept have been comfortably accommodated. But some of our furniture is too big for the smaller dimensions of the house. At this early stage we’ve shoved quite a few things into the spare bedroom and closed the door. And the kitchen (quite frankly) is awful. Looks okay superficially, but is in many ways too small and impractical.
It’s important to understand that we intend this to be our forever home, so we’ll make it work, even if that means replacing the kitchen. I appreciate some of our gritted teeth simply comes from a lack of familiarity but we’ve both agreed the cooktop is awful and the oven is horrible, with a grill inside the oven (I hate that). The storage spaces are badly designed and there’s nowhere near enough bench space.
Added to that the previous owners didn’t clean the place before they left – despite the house being empty for a week before we moved in. The carpets hadn’t been vacuumed, let alone cleaned. The hard floors were dirty, as were the windows. The oven hadn’t been cleaned, either. I thought it was rude and disrespectful. We left our previous house thoroughly clean and tidy – inside and outside – for the new people. We also left information like business cards for people who had done work on the house, manuals for appliances, and when the bins were collected. Nothing like that here.
That’s enough whinging for one post.
We’re getting to know the chooks. There’s five, two big black and three brown birds. They’re trying it on with us, of course, so we need to set rules. The expression ‘pecking order’ comes from chooks, so dominance is important. We made the mistake of letting them roam without supervision and they got stuck into a small patch of ornamental garden which they’d clearly been forbidden to enter. We evicted them before the area was completely destroyed and only let them out now when we’re watching them from the large patio. That way we can shoo them away from sensitive areas. They have a separate area to scratch around in and are usually content to wander around on the lawn. In due course we’ll put a wire fence around the areas we don’t want them to go and then they can spend more time out of their pen.
There are other birds here. A pale-headed rosella came to visit a bird feeder and there are lorikeets and miner birds in the callistemons in next door’s yard.
I’m happy to say most of the boxes – for the house, anyway – have been emptied. So, we’re getting there. Everybody knows some boxes will remain sealed for six months at least and we’ll be carrying out a second wave of chucking things out. It seems to be a law of moving house.
Anyway, sitting out on the patio is pleasant. And we’re enjoying the fresh eggs.