Saturday, August 23, 2008

Good ol' regulars: Sally's and pizza

Nick had an arrangement to be at the house at 9 this morning, meeting with the fire department and Teddy to move all the pews and the organ and piano out of the church and into the manse so that they don’t get rained on and more damaged. While they were there I could gather a few more belongings from the house, loading the car up again. The boys weren’t really allowed in the house, so they played outside in the front for most of the time, but snuck into the lounge where there was plenty of furniture to hide under or behind! I was due to meet Pam at Prince Andrew at 10 so we could do some internet shopping for the holiday club. I ran late, getting there at 10.30 (had to time it with the upward traffic on Shy Road anyway), but made up for my lateness with a chocolate cake we had been given! It was one of Jennifer’s, bought by the HIV/AIDS consultant who is a lovely Indian lady, for the boys – it was very kind of her! I don’t know how she thought the cake would actually get to us since we don’t live in town anymore, but she had passed it on to two nurses who happened to be driving past the manse at the very time I was outside loading the car. Isn’t that amazing? So, once at the school, we sliced up the cake with a ruler and enjoyed it thoroughly. Pam had Maddison with her, so the three of the kids played on the computers doing maths games on the internet. They thought it was fun. Pam assigned me to another computer and tasked me with downloading digital scrapping goodies and gathering links to sites for her. Wow, what a non-odious job for me! Unfortunately the internet connection was very slow – the entire school has a residential connection, split across about 20 computers. I couldn’t grab very much, but that’s okay. At about 12 I realized that I needed bread – if you go too late there is nothing left. Pam, Jeff and Maddy left then too, and I followed them into town using the alternate route, as Shy Road was still up bound. Once I had bread and a few other shopping items, I tried to find Nick, as I thought by now he would be finished at the manse. Teddy was going to give him a lift either all the way home or to his house which is halfway. I phoned Teddy’s place, Steve and Maureen’s place, our house, and as a last resort, the manse, where I found him. We decided to have lunch at Sally’s as per our usual Friday arrangement, then found a DVD to watch for tonight. I had to squash in at the back with Aaron into half the back seat, as the rest was taken up with the TV, lego blocks scattered all over, the vacuum cleaner, scrapbook stuff and packets of groceries (the boot was taken up with the breadmaker, more scrapbook stuff, clothes and various oddments. We were finally home at about 2 pm, and then there was more unpacking, organizing and sorting to do…but all nice stuff. It’s good to have more than just the bare basics now…soon we will be able to start really living here! I needed to make another trip back to Steve and Maureen to collect some things we had left there, and do a bit of tidying up (cleaning toilets and stuff). I’ve left the vacuum cleaner there so I can do a proper clean up in the next few days. During the afternoon while we were here, the boys disappeared. I think that’s going to be the way of it when we are here and the school holidays are on, or over weekends – they already knew Kayleigh and Josh, two South African kids (actually from Pretoria), and have made friends with two or three others living here. It’s super for them – there is a constant supply of games going on, always outdoors, like soccer or running or hide-and-seek. They are very happy! Once I was home from Steve and Maureen it was time to make pizza – so nice to be comfortable in the kitchen with my own bowls and trays and knives and things. I’m a little disoriented still but I’m slowly getting used to where things are.

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