Thursday, August 21, 2008

Home sweet home?

We picked up the keys for our new home today – 5 Piccolo Estate, Longwood. It’s right next door to the Williamson’s unit – identical in layout. They would have been lovely neighbours! We took a drive there this afternoon after lunch, and it’s very adequate if not actually quite nice! It has three bedrooms, although the third one is designated as a study as there is a desk and bookshelf in there and no bed. The boys’ room has two single beds and of course ours has a double. It has a separate toilet and bathroom, spacious lounge/dining area, and separate kitchen. There are loads of cupboards and worktops in the kitchen and lounge etc, and lots of cupboards in the bedrooms. So I think we’ll be very comfortable there. It is fully furnished, but has no bedding or kitchen goods, so once we have extracted what we need from the Manse we can move in. The police phoned this afternoon to offer to escort us into the Manse tomorrow, so since Nick has sermon prep to do, I will go on my own to fill the car with as much as possible. It’s going to take a number of trips and a few days to really empty the manse for the next few months, but there’s no immediate rush. We’re looking forward to moving in though – it’s like a holiday house in a way, and will be ‘ours’. We signed a three-month agreement, but if we need it longer then they will simply renew the agreement. The government is being very good to us – our tax money is working for us! The boys are looking forward to being at Piccolo where there are two other South African children; there’s lots of space to run around and play and if we could get their bicycles out of the workshop it would be an ideal place to ride. I’m not sure if the bikes made it though.

The emergency services were busy in the church and schoolroom this morning, stabilising the properties. This meant that they were pulling down anything loose which was threatening to fall down – so the sounding board at the front of the church has been taken down but quite sadly broken. They had to get into the church ceiling and throw down a number of rocks, which added to the rubble all over. More damage. Nick noticed that the flat pack kitchen stuff being stored in the schoolroom was picking up dampness and the counter tops had started swelling, so together with the firemen who were there he unpacked it all and laid it out so it can dry.

It’s been lovely at Steve and Maureen’s place with the fireplace going in the evenings…it gets very cold in the country, so every night Nick has been lighting a fire. Tonight Aaron wanted to help…Nick showed him how to light a match. The last time he lit a match was when he was 2; it was without adult supervision and he was severely disciplined for it!

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