Moving during the holidays
Moving house is never an easy proposition at the best of times but during the holidays it’s much more difficult and stressful. If you’re moving across town it’s a lot of work but moving to another country can be a pain in the ass. Ok, I do realize that I have a choice to move or not to move but knowing it’s something I want to do hasn’t made it any easier. First, try finding a moving company that will work during the holidays. No, your stuff will go sometime early next year, so until then bring what you absolutely have to have with you.
Next, if you have pets, pencil in about a week to take them to this vet and that quarantine place and get all the paperwork ready AND take them on a 3 1/2 hour drive the day BEFORE you actually fly off so they can sit in their little crates overnight so they don’t miss their flight at 2pm. The dogs (2 jack russell terriers) were not impressed.
If you were beginning to feel sorry for me, don’t. I’m only moving from Australia to New Zealand. The dogs didn’t even need to be quarantined for an hour. Just pay the people a lot of money and they hand them over.
I do have a new language to learn but mostly it’s just changing around the way the vowels are pronounced. I listen to the radio and wonder if in six months I’ll be talking like that. Some lady said yesterday, “It was elicktrifying,” when talking about a performance. The vowel i sounds like a short u. The vowel e sounds like a short i. So six sounds like sux or even sex if you get someone with a heavy accent. The shopping carts are called trundlers (I kid you not, there’s even a trundler park in the parking lot at the supermarket which is a car park.) They also use the word wee a lot. We took the dogs to the vet so their chips could be registered the morning after we arrived. The vet wanted “just a wee look.” A guy who reads the news on TV was going on a “wee holiday” — until the end of February! I probably have a lot of new words to learn as I get adjusted here.
Because there are no foxes here, chickens and ducks are in the local park by the dozens and happy picnickers feed them the leftovers. People who can’t take care of their chickens just leave them at the park. Some are quite beautiful. I have no idea who gets the eggs.
Tonight is Carols by Candlelight at the Old Stone Store and Kemp House - where the first English settlers landed in New Zealand. It’s right by the one lane bridge between where we live and town. I might have a wander down tonight in my shorts and sing Jingle Bells and White Christmas. Ok, it will remind me of my upbringing in Maine and my adulthood in Tennessee where it did get cold. After all the years I’ve been away, I still can’t get my head around Christmas with daylight savings. Christmas should be cold and dark at 5:30 and dinner should be turkey or ham or duck - not cold seafood because it’s too bloody hot to cook.
So what does this have to do with feeling flirty? A lot! Put NOT in front of it and that’s how I feel after moving and cleaning and putting things away. I think I felt sexier having a root canal than I have this week. The good news is that it’s all over and I’ll sing those carols tonight and think of all you lucky people in the cold and dark eating roasted food.
i know how u feel flirty..i already moved out and moved in 5 times..first to pack the things and have to unpack..omg…
anyway wish u luck in new zealand..u r so lucky to be there..what a quiet and beautiful place..
merry xmas and happy new year to u
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Enjoy your new home in New Zealand. sounds like a place with some very good ideas.
The chickens in the parks sounds like a great idea for helping the homeless. I wonder if they gather the eggs. and if it would work here in the USA.
James
The dog pics are awesome!
Moving sucks at the best of times…..It sounds kind of cool though…chickens in the park…
The Carols by Candlelite sounds neat too…
Hello, Flirty–
I was about to fill in my current Facebook status with, ‘getting used to the idea of not having sex with another living person during this lifetime’ but found you & some positive vibes instead. Instead of staying ‘home’ in Puerto Rico while it finally cools down & drizzles thru the Holidays, I’m in Mendoza getting ready for Argentina’s plunge into Daylight Savings!
A downEaster by birth, eh? I learned to unscramble Kiwi as a volunteer at New Alchemy Farm in Cape Cod during Winter of ‘83- ‘84 when John Quinney took over as Biz Mgr from Gary Hirschberg, now famous for pioneering ’social capitalist enterprise’ Stonyfield Farms (–since sold to French lactoGiant Danone!)
Anyway, I don’t have much of a life except trying to figure what to do with my so-called grown-up life before it’s over! Not exactly a barrelful of monkeys– very good at self-criticism, an especially intense, brooding 18 year-old poet grown up into curmudgeonly adult child…so I’ll see what kind of self-help motivation I can find in these rooms– er, pages.
All the best in 2008 to ya, please have a glass of some of that great Pinot I hear/read is being made down there now!
Abrazos tropicales, DJR
Hi David,
I don’t care what age you are - if you are over 18 you should never give up on sexual intimacy. There is someone wonderful for every person on the planet. Of that I’m 100% positive.
I must admit that I had a bit of a wonder at the word curmudgeonly - but let’s hope you said that just for effect, right?
There are some great wines in New Zealand. I’m a bit fond of a Marlborough merlot myself. I’ll check out the Pinot just because you said I should!
Where are you heading in NZ? Don’t miss the Bay of Islands up north, shake off any winter blues
LOL.. Thanks Bay of Islands. We live in Rangitane just across the road from the jetty.