Moving Day

According to the plans I made in my head, we should be able to simply move into the new apartment, no hitches. Except that I might miss the old place, the convenience of a serviced apartment being no match to a rental one. So, there was this list of things I had to buy, so we could get started. Lists actually, there was the Friday shopping list, Saturday shopping list, Sunday shopping list and Monday shopping list. 

Come Friday and the evening's spent packing. Fill up the large grey suitcase, cram the  large black one, stuff the other large black one, the small grey and red ones, the blue bag, the brown bag, the other brown bag... it just would not end. I cannot believe the amount of junk I had to throw away. Has it really been only a month? How on earth did we accumulate so much waste? We packed till midnight. Out the window, shopping list 1. 

Come Saturday, lazy morning, slept in, soaked in the luxury of an expensive service apartment. Paid the bills, found a nice Punjabi cab driver, who gave us a good $4 dollar profit for the joy of having met Indians who could speak good Hindi and make enjoyable conversations (yeah, we rock). We finally moved into our new place. The feeling was nothing like I imagined. I enjoyed moving in, no apprehensions. That in spite of the fact that I did not have anything from my Friday list. I promised myself I would cover all of that today.

A breakfast of the best hamburger I've ever had and a great coffee later, we started unpacking. Just walking around the house, arranging things can be so exciting. I had never thought that was possible. Soon after, it was time to head out to the BBQ.

MC has this fabulous red Mini Cooper (with a Union Jack on the roof). At a hundred kilometres per hour, we zipped past beautiful landscapes, while MC and wife JC kept up an interesting conversation. 

The BBQ itself was immensely enjoyable. Fantastic food, choice of alcohol, great people,  not to forget the sun that played hide and seek with the clouds, giving us the perfect weather - a beautiful blend of warm sunshine and cool winds. Before we knew it, it was lunch time and the nibblies had vanished. Salads, steak, chicken and so on, what a spread it was. The afternoon just kept getting better. The more I meet people, the more I love this place. What stories they have, to tell us.

It is so true what people say about time flying when you are having too much fun. The yummy desserts arrived and Debra convinced me into trying the pavlova (one of the only couple of traditional local recipies; funny that it has a Russian name), by the end of which I was so loaded that I did not want to get up when MC said we had to leave. That is how shopping list 2 went out the window.

So here we are, the husband's reading a book, I'm hammering away on the keyboard, neither of us know how we are gonna eat dinner. There is rice cooking in the electric cooker, shiraz on the kitchen counter but we don't have plates to eat or glasses to drink from! Luckily, we have bed-linen to rest our drunken asses on tonight, thanks to my thoughtful friend who thrust it into my hands as I left his party. 

I feel pampered. Is that why I got so upset that I could not get to the other party, for want of favour? I wonder...

PS. I learnt about the Octopus only today, is it too late to join the bandwagon? Wait, gimme another couple of days, the TV is yet to arrive!
PPS. Did I mention my new bedroom has a walk-in closet? I am super-excited!