Tele-miscommunications

Enjoying city live - and a spot of Japanese



I haven’t been able to blog for a while because, quite frankly, telephone companies in NZ suck.

We organised for our phone and internet to be connect nearly a week ago - and we're still waiting.

An initial 1-5 business days, became 3-10. Every time we phoned, we were told something else. Finally today, we’ve been told we won’t have internet or phone until the middle of next week. Which means, another week off work for me. And surprise, surprise, I'm not happy about it.

Don’t get me wrong. We’ve kind of needed me at home, sorting out car ownership, insurance, supervising moving men, unpacking, supervising fix-it men, picking up and dropping off kids, dropping off Husband to work (though he walks home if it’s not raining) and the rest. But I’d commited to starting back again with one of my Aussie magazines last week, and the delay probably annoys them no end.

At least moving day went well, though we found half (okay, a few) of the things in our townhouse were broken or missing – little things like sink plugs, dishwashers and a grill for the oven. Worse, the place was infested with FLEAS! (The previous tenants had a cat apparently…)

All is being dealt with, but you can imagine the reaction of the rugrats. And the first itchy night at home.

The townhouse is spread over six levels, which sounds grand until you realise there is only a room or two per level (and that includes the basement storage area, or dungeon as we like to call it).

Unfortunately, the many narrow flights of stairs meant that even our burly removal guys couldn’t manage to get the fridge into the kitchen. And so it is downstairs in the office! We’re managing though. We may get a small fridge for the kitchen if and when we get more financial/get too annoyed with having to climb the stairs everytime we need milk for tea/coffee. (Oh okay, every time I feel like a cold glass of chardy…)

In spite of all that, we are enjoying our taste of city life. We can walk to the supermarket, Husband can walk home if he’s feeling energetic, and the kids are loving the pool and spa. The pool, while heated, is still a bit cool for me, and I’m still feeling too sick to exercise. To be honest, just climbing the umpteen flights of stairs each day, leaves me breathless and is more than enough exercise. That’s right, my pneumonia has come back again! I managed to find a doctor who would take on a new patient and he’s fixed me up with a load of drugs, so hopefully I’ll come good soon and be able to stay up later than 7.30pm! Doc said Auckland is notorious for chest troubles, and as mine was a bit dodgy to start with, I probably got in early.

In spite of a few itchy nights, we are sleeping well in our own beds. The Princess's room has a view of the SkyTower, while the Little Dude's is bigger. Both are pretty impressed. It was funny hearing them – particularly H. – renewing friendships with their toys. “Oh hippo/lion/pony/whatever, I’ve missed you so much!” she would say, kissing them each one by one and laying them reverently on her bed.

We’re still not completely unpacked, but we are getting there.

Mind you, we could have done without the visit from the quarantine/customs guys, who got all concerned when they found red back spiders - and a few eggs - in K. and C.'s bikes, despite K's efforts in cleaning them prior to the move.

Unfortunately, the bikes have to be sent off to be specially cleaned - at a cost of $250! When we told them the bikes probably weren't even worth $250, we were then invited to pay $600 to have them disposed of (the bikes, not the spiders).

I feel the need for a nice cold chardy coming on. If only it wasn't for all those stairs...