Packing tips

I used to ride a bike and packing for a camping trip takes on a perspective all of its own. Though I expect hikers know what I mean. For example, you can pack socks inside shoes, and shoes can go inside other things. You quickly learn to fill every nook and cranny. The following tips don’t go to that extent, but if you have the time and want to minimise space and cost that style of packing may be worth considering.

1. Packing may take longer than expected. It’s also not something you can work at continually. It drove me nuts after too much of it, and I found I needed rest periods to get my sanity back before I could go at it again, and anyway you will have interruptions that eat away at your time. Unless you have experience, plan for thee or four times your initial estimate of how long it might take to pack.
2. Get a supply of small cardboard boxes to help with your packing. Hardware stores often throw them out. Small boxes are really useful for packing delicate items, and they will pack better and safer than simply wrapping you small precious items in paper in a large box. The vegetable markets have some very study boxes used to pack fruit. These boxes can be greasy, but are just the right size for hanging files, from the filing cabinet.
3. Your removalist company will have a supply of butcher’s paper for wrapping crockery and delicate items. Paper is essential. Rolls of paper are unsuitable; get a stack of individual sheets of butcher’s paper. Old newspaper pages are not nearly as good, but of course they will do at a pinch.
4. Pack several boxes at the same time. Something that is a poor fit in one box may fit better in one of the other boxes. Don’t leave any empty spaces in the removalist boxes to prevent things from moving around, but never force anything inside. If there is a risk of things moving around and getting damaged and you don’t have anything to fill the gap in a box, place a few socks in the space, or if it’s a large gap fold up a towel or two and put it into the space.
5. Try to use standard sized boxes; it will keep the removalist people happy. Get them from your removalist company, or pick them up second hand. People who have moved previously might have them available as giveaways.
6. Don’t pack your removalist boxes too heavy. Think about the people carrying them. And think about your own back too. The heavier they are the greater will be the chance of them being dropped and things getting damaged.
7. Delicate items can be placed inside kitchen containers. Sturdy sealable plastic or metal containers and saucepans make great containers for fragile items such as ornaments. Of course, ensure your delicates are suitably wrapped to prevent them from rolling around inside the container, and don’t forget to tape the lid shut unless it’s a click seal plastic container. And when you pack your circular kitchen containers you will have a lot of gaps between them. Those gaps are just calling out for tea towels, socks, underwear, t-shirts etc; firstly, to fill the gaps between them, and also to stop them from being damaged by rubbing against each other.
8. Mark important boxes clearly to make them easy to find. Such things may include perishable items or clothing for the first day back at work. A clear mark might be a splash of red on all sides of the box to make it stand out. The last thing you want is to identify your kitchen items in a week or so after you get to your destination by the number of ants crawling over the box.
9. Boxes full of crockery will travel well if each item is carefully wrapped. Bubble wrap may be best, but butcher’s paper works very well and doesn’t take up as much space, and I’ve had few damages to crockery using butcher’s paper.
10. Pack dinner plates and larger ceramic plates at the bottom of the box on their edges. Plates can be wrapped in groups with each one separated by a sheet of paper. To wrap a group of four plates, place the first one in the centre of the pile of butcher paper, fold one sheet of paper over the top of it, and place the next plate on top of the first, and fold the second layer of paper on top of that one, and continue in this way until the fourth plate has been placed and fold a sheet over on top of it, then finally, wrap the lot up as you would an ordinary parcel. Fill the bottom of the box with these parcels of plates on their edges, and if you don’t have sufficient to fill the bottom, pad it with something to prevent any movement.
11. Wrap cups and other items individually in one full sheet of butcher’s paper. There is no need to tape each item when wrapping them. If the paper wrinkles that can be good as the air gaps will act as a buffer from the other items. Pack the heavy items at the bottom, and place the lighter items on top, leaving no or few gaps.
12. If you don’t have access to boxes designed to carry books, distribute your books between several boxes to spread the weight over many boxes. Paper is very heavy.
13. Buy an industrial type tape dispenser to seal the removalist boxes. They are inexpensive and help seal the boxes well. Your removalist company might have tape giveaways or a cheap supply.
14. Label the boxes appropriately so that the boxes with fragile items don’t get dropped or packed underneath boxes of hardware. Don’t forget to put your name and a contact phone number on each box.
15. Linen and clothing can make excellent padding for breakables, and I found it useful to pack both together.
16. Make sure garden tools are clean, and empty the garden hoses of water well in advance of moving day.
17. Have a look at some of the removalist company web sites for a check list of other tips and tricks. Some of them are quite useful.
    

Some reflections on the move

Now that the shift is over, well mostly, I can reflect on the various experiences. I hope my experience will help you avoid some of the traps that caught me.

Here are a few things that might be useful to do months before you pack. These things all take time, but they are worthy of consideration.

Trash or treasure
Have a look around the house and work out your valuables from the junk. Transporting stuff to your new home that will get thrown away after a few months might as well be thrown out before you go. It can take a lot of time going through stuff. Make a realistic assessment of all your stuff. Start doing this early. Try for three to six months early. You’ll need a long time because you don’t want to get rid of good stuff.

Garage sale
You should consider having a garage sale. I’m not keen on them but I’ve heard of them working for others. The best garage sale ever I went to was organised by the street residents, and about a third of all homes in the street had stalls. It was great just wandering up and down. They may have got more people there because everyone was close by with less need for driving around.

ebay sales
I found ebay worked remarkably well for me, but of course these sales take time with photographs and the write-ups you have to do, and because of that should be organised many months before moving day. Ebay got rid of some large items that would have caused me a problem, and included an old rusty car with a blown up engine. I also had a rusted out trailer which also sold. Why anyone wanted them I don’t know, but they brought in a bit of cash when I would otherwise have had to pay someone to take them away. Ebay was also useful for getting rid of some left over mild steel that I had (recycle merchants won’t pay for steel unless you have a truck load, so you might as well sell it; they will pay for copper and aluminium etc), a motorcycle and cement mixer were also sold, along with various other stuff. It didn’t all sell, but most did.

Damage and insurance
Think about insurance if you are doing your own move. If you are being moved by your employer the chances are high that you will be covered by the company insurer, but check.

Take photographs of your valuables to help with that insurance claim you hope will never have to be made. Digital cameras make this so easy. Just think about it. If you get your furniture to your destination and find your antique dresser has been gouged by some mishap you are certain occurred during transit or storage you’d be disappointed and angry if the insurance assessor knocked back your claim. An accident could happen during transit, and some employee not wanting to upset their boss by their incompetence may have kept quiet about the incident and rubbed some dirt or stain into the fresh scratch to cover it up. The insurance assessor might reasonably assume it was you who had damaged the item before the move. A few suitably date proven photographs before and after may help with your claim. And if you are going to do this do it well otherwise don’t bother. As well as a distance shots of the items, get your camera close up and cover all surfaces, and have good lighting on the subject.

Melbourne to Canberra

We managed to get everything into the campervan (with a few things in the car) on Sunday morning, and headed back to Canberra. This was our last trip!

Of all those trips I’d spent on the Hume Highway between Melbourne and Canberra over a period of almost a year, this one was now the last. I’d grown fond of the drive, listening to all those audio books, and I became familiar with a lot of the landmarks along the way. There are some wonderful landscapes on that trip, if you take the time to look around.

It’s good to see some road works going on in NSW, and hopefully there will soon be more freeway sections of the road coming into the Hume Highway. In fact, it doesn’t seem so long ago that going through Albury was a 60 kph slow zone through the Albury city streets. Now the new bypass speeds you through Albury. Wodonga has been bypassed for so long I can’t remember. Albury was such a nuisance with so many left and right turns as you twisted through the centre of town hitting traffic light after light. One disappointment for me with the Albury bypass was the discovery of a roadhouse on the northern end just outside Albury that sold great fish and chips. Of course, it was a truck stop, which is often a sign of good food on the highway. Well, the freeway has bypassed that service centre. But the smooth-as-glass road surface of the Albury bypass is brilliant.

Of course, the more freeway sections that are added the more small towns will be bypassed, which may affect the viability of some of them. Of all of the small towns, Holbrook is one that caught my eye despite my never having stopped there for long, except once for some chips late one night. Holbrook is submarine town. I don’t know how far Holbrook is from the sea, but to have a full size submarine in the town centre is no mean feat. And I don’t think the river system in Australia stretches as far as Holbrook. Alas, the old subs must have arrived in sections by truck, unless there is an artesian basin running under Holbrook. Perhaps, I’ll get back that way for a weekend drive sometime and check out the sub. What a bizarre thing for the city council to do.

Another fabulous section of the Hume Highway, as far as engineering achievements is concerned, is on the northern outskirts of Melbourne, just south of Craigieburn. I used to get badly lost before the freeway section was completed if I missed a road sign or detour sign on the way into Melbourne. It seemed such a hodgepodge of roads through an industrial area of town. Not only has this section of the road been made top class, but there are a number of wonderful roadside sculptures that are worth more than a glance, and they look stunning at night the way they have been lit up, and look here for more. Look out for the speed traps that are in this new section, and also in the final run up to Melbourne; there are no warning signs. You just get caught.

Our last pickup

S got sleepy on the way down and wanted to stretch out in the camper. I had to stop in a parking bay just north of Albury because I was flaking out too, but had a lousy rest. There were so many trucks whizzing by in such close proximity that they forced me back on the road behind the wheel in search of a better spot. We drove on and found a quieter rest spot just south of Glenrowan.

We both snuggled up for a while, and got on our way shortly after 8.00am, arriving in Melbourne for breakfast in Volumes at about 11.00am. Since we had the camper on the ute I had intended to drive to a caravan park that wasn’t too far from Warrandyte. We were planning on staying there for the night and spend the next day packing the campervan, and then back to Canberra. We were on the verge of heading off to the camping site, in drizzly rain, when S casually mentioned the motel we stayed in last time. We had almost driven past it. But it was too tempting, and I drove in and booked another room with a spa bath for fun, and then loafed around.

Melbourne to Canberra

We had another very slow trip back to Canberra, with lots of breaks. I was particularly aware of how things were packed in the truck and was very tentative in driving over rough sections of the road. Parts of the Hume Highway are not as pleasant to drive on as you’d expect for a major highway. So, I slowed at those sections, and I didn’t care how much I held up the traffic. This highway badly needs an overhaul. Even parts of the Victorian side of the highway, which is freeway for the whole length of it, is beginning to break up with the heavy traffic; probably truck usage more than anything.

A fog began to develop when we were somewhere near Glenrowan and it didn’t let up until we reached Gundagai. I wonder if it was from the Murray River system. It was quite eerie. The headlights seemed to shine in the wrong directions, with low beam being the best. It got so thick at times that we had to drive slowly.

I recall listening to a news broadcast many years ago. A couple of motorists driving in Germany had succumbed to an accident on a highway. They were driving on the same road but in opposite directions in a very heavy fog. It was so foggy that both drivers were having trouble seeing the road ahead. To alleviate the problem it seems that both drivers had preferred to lean out the window and drive by keeping the painted line on the road surface in sight. They encountered each other suddenly, not in a vehicle collision, but when their heads impacted as they drove past each other. They should have stopped if the conditions were so bad. It sounds like a tall story, but it was reported on ABC Radio news.

Fortunately, the fog was not so heavy on the Hume, but it was a lovely experience to see it. This trip must have taken around 12 hours, including breaks. S was desperate for sleep. Every time I had to stop for a nap, she could only rest in a sitting position in the ute. There was more room to stretch out in the truck so we swapped and she got a good rest for a few hours. I noticed while in the ute, that as comfortable as the car is to drive, you just can’t get into a decent position for sleeping.

Home at last. A short rest, and then realising our time was short in which to return the truck to the rental company, we almost threw everything out (and it still took about 2-3 hours to unpack). We rushed to fill the tank, and get the truck back to Fyshwick by 5.00pm. Actually, filling the tank was an interesting experience that I shared with my credit card.

With fuel prices seeming to be in an upward spiral it becomes annoying to watch the dollar indicator spinning around ever faster as you fill the petrol tank at the end of the week. When I stopped the truck to fill the fuel tank, and saw the size of the tank you quickly understand that paying for fuel in a truck takes on a whole new meaning that motorists never experience. Actually, it was an experience in more ways than one. With a truck, the nozzle goes straight into the tank. There are no bends in the filler as cars have, and refuelling stations have diesel bowsers specially made for filling truck tanks. High speed bowsers. Now if you want to see the dollar indicator spin, fill a truck tank at one of these bowsers.

Actually, filling the tank was the single worst experience of driving the truck. The bowser nozzles were generally messy; soaked in diesel spillages. And it stinks, and stays on your hands and clothes. I suspect some people with diesel engines in their cars go there to avoid lining up in the queues at the regular bowsers, and of course the high speed bowser pumps mega volumes of fuel out like you wouldn’t believe. Of course, it blows back, spills, and before you know it these people are stuffing things up for everyone else.

It felt really peculiar getting back into the EXA, after driving the truck for so long. The car was so low to the ground that it felt weird, and it was a bit rough being an older vehicle that it felt like I was driving a truck; compared to the rental truck which felt like driving a car. Home again. An Indian takeaway, and then bed.

Finally cleared out from Warrandyte

We rose, not so early on Sunday morning, and got back to Warrandyte for more packing. We quickly realised that there was no way all our stuff was going to come with us. So, we loaded the hardware and things that wouldn’t come, and took it to our storage at Fort Knox.

We had an amazingly large amount of stuff (three trolleys full), and an amazingly large amount fitted into the space we had. Some of it was balanced precariously. We’ll have to make another trip later.

After a while we both became very casual when crossing the road with approaching traffic. Hey, this is our street; keep your speed down: See, we’re not rushing out of your way. Actually, you could hear the traffic coming a long way off because of the wet road. The wet weather made things miserable. But, gradually things came together.

As I was loading the truck I had a curiously large number of motorists toot at me and calling out unintelligible things as they drove past. Were they feeling sorry for me, seeing me packing in the dark, or telling me to get off the road? Maybe they thought I was up to no good, and robbing one of the houses on the street. No idea. It was bizarre.

I squeezed our boxes into every nook and cranny, and almost packed them to the ceiling at the front of the truck. It was very loaded well.

I had to ring the rental company and apologise for not returning the truck on time. It was due back in Canberra at 5.00pm and here it was 4.00pm with us still packing in Melbourne. We needed another day.

S had collected a lot of magazines over the years, and wondered if Melody would have liked them. Passing them on would have been a way of getting rid of them. No, she wasn’t interested. Fortunately, it was rubbish night in Warrandyte, and the neighbours’ bins became very useful. Every bin in the close vicinity began to bulge as we filled them with our magazines and other rubbish.

Despite packing carefully and stacking the various boxes as high as possible so that there would be the maximum amount of floor space for our plant pots it became apparent that there would be insufficient space for them all. Drastic measures needed to be adopted: Large pot plants were placed next to one another on the floor, with tiny pots located in the gaps between the larger ones. Now came the tricky bit. Another layer of pot plants was placed on top of the first layer. That’s not something you would think of doing if you valued the pots or the plants in them. It was desperation. Then came all the last minute things, and before the truck doors were closed things were literally being thrown inside. Brooms, strips of wood and other stuff that I can’t recall, were literally thrown inside on top of everything else. There was no choice really. We finally left at about 10.00pm

Clearing out of Warrandyte

This was another trip to Melbourne. I had this grand plan of having an early night the day before, and then hitting the road during the early hours of the morning. As much as you might try, it’s almost impossible to break the circadian cycle. Our planning for this trip involved being in bed shortly after getting home from work, getting up at about 2.00am to drive the truck through the night to arrive in Melbourne in daylight. In this way we would be fresh enough to make the drive and get on with our work without much need for rest. We planned to have breakfast at Volumes, one of the local Eltham eateries, and then get to work. But it’s difficult to sleep when you don’t need rest, and the best I did was doze on Friday evening.

I got up about midnight after a very patchy rest. S didn’t sleep at all. We headed off, S in the ute and me in the truck. S had cruise control set on the ute which made it difficult for me to keep up with her. She could go up and down hills at a constant speed, whereas I found that difficult in the truck. Inevitably, we drove for a bit, got tired and had to stop along the way, just south of the Victorian border. S later had to stop again for a rest, while I kept going. It was drizzly on the way down the Hume Highway. It was a miserable dirty night.

I went straight to Fort Knox self storage while S was napping somewhere on the Hume Highway. I wish I had a camera with me when I opened the door to our storage. It was a sight to behold. I don’t know how I got everything inside. I set to work packing everything into the truck. The rain was clearing, and S arrived just as I was loading the desk. Loading took much longer than expected, and I was running out of energy.

S spent the rest of the day cleaning out the garage at Warrandyte. I forgot how much stuff we still had lying around the place. Of course, Melody had moved into our old house by this time. I began by loading the campervan onto the ute. I was tentative about doing this.

Loading the camper took me ages, but the repaired jacks worked just fine, and fortunately the anchors I had fitted to the ute were in the correct positions, which was a great relief. I was also dreading connecting the trailer extension lead, expecting to see problems with the electrics. The last thing I wanted was an electrical problem, but it was perfect.

I began loading a few boxes onto the truck that S had packed. It took so long. I don’t know how many times I’d walked up and down that driveway. It was tiring. There were so many little things to go into the truck that carrying everything down the long driveway and then walking back up that long, steep, drudge, time after time was painfully slow and sapped energy. We decided to borrow one of the trolleys from Fort Knox to see if it would help. The trolleys were heavy duty things, and would probably support the load of just about anything you might care to put on them. They were on casters and really so easy to manoeuvre.

It was a failed experiment, and we returned the trolley after using it only once. The trolley was a bit like the ones you see in railway stations or airports, hooked together to carry luggage, and pulled behind those funny little motorised vehicles, and about the same size as those trolleys too. I didn’t realise how heavy the trolley was, and it took quite an effort to push it up our drive. We got it loaded up with some of our boxes, but it took both of us all our energy to stop the thing from careering out of control as we took it down the driveway, because of the weight. The casters also made steering difficult as it tended to follow every variation in the driveway, rather than straight. The drizzle and wet drive didn’t help. What a flop of an idea.

There was nothing for it but to return the trolley and carry on loading the truck by carrying each box down the drive one or two at a time. Had I known the campervan would have gone on the ute without trouble I would have loaded it last and used the ute to ferry everything down the drive to the truck. But I didn’t want to have trouble and be trying to fix problems in the dark. The lesser of two evils. Though, it would have been a great time saver.

Eventually the day started to lose its light, and a continual drizzle settled in. There was a lamp in the back of the truck, but it was very bright and dazzling on the eyes, and would have flattened the battery quickly. So, I didn’t use it. There was a street light about a 100m away which shone into the back of the truck somewhat, and I found that car headlights shone into the truck as they drove down the street, and both provided adequate lighting for packing; funny about that. It’s interesting how your eyes cope with poor lighting conditions. The drizzle continued, and we gradually got drenched carrying the boxes to the truck.

S was buggered, and so was I to tell the truth. And, we went off in search of a place to stay, and called in at the Eltham Gateway motel. We’d both passed this place thousands of times while we’d lived at Warrandyte. It was funny to be staying there now. We must have been a sight; both of us wet, grubby, and untidy. We had been working hard and it would have been difficult to tell whether the dampness on us was sweat or rain drops; probably both. I was wearing t-shirt and jeans and when we arrived at the motel, it seemed a rather pleasantly mild evening. Everyone else was rugged up in coats and shivering; it’s all relative, I guess.

The spa bath after the day’s effort was irresistible, and we had a lovely meal at the motel restaurant, and a real bed. Our furniture hadn’t arrived in Canberra as yet and we’d been sleeping on a blow up mattress. The bed in the motel seemed luxury. I felt as though we were on holiday.

Canberra to Melbourne

It was time for another trip to Melbourne. We picked up a truck from Sargent Rentals at Fyshwick this time. This truck was manual rather than automatic as was the previous one. It took quite a bit of getting used to. I didn’t get off to a great start, as I was selecting the wrong gears and was a bit unsteady on the road because of my fumbling with the gear shift. It’s not that I don’t know how to drive a manual. It was just a matter of getting used to the truck and I didn’t realize first gear would be so low. At least I’d gained some experience in driving a vehicle this size a few days ago.

We loaded the truck with our empty cartons, a change of clothing, and some tools ready for the trip, and of course, the repaired campervan jacks.

The campervan jacks had become seized preventing me from bringing the campervan back to Canberra, and was presently stuck in Melbourne on our old property. This was a setback that had hopefully now been resolved. I took the two jacks to my trusty Belconnen mechanic a few days earlier to see if he could repair them. I guess I could have bought new jacks, but in the vicinity of $1800 I’ll try the repair first. And it worked. When I picked them up from the garage I was more than a little curious to find out how they were un-seized. Apparently, the mechanic had difficulty with them.

The solution ended up along the lines of securing one end of the jack to the hydraulic hoist of the type used raise cars into the air for service, and then securing the other end to the floor. The jacks were heated with an oxy acetylene flame, and pressure applied to the mechanism by turning the jack handle, while at the same time applying pressure by raising the hoist. I squirmed a bit when being told, but hey, if it works. Innovative!

I was so pleased they had been repaired. It wasn’t just the cost of the replacement jacks that concerned me. According to the web site I found, and thankfully they are still available, I may have had issues if I bought new ones. My campervan must be more than 30 years old. I bought it second hand and in one of the drawers was an old book of matches. The photograph on the book of matches was that of Prince Charles and Diana at their wedding. That’s getting back a few years. Anyway, according to the web site, you buy four camper legs, as they call them, in a set (I only need two), and you buy them with accompanying brackets. The brackets are fitted to the campervan, and the legs hook into the brackets when in use. Well, my campervan already has brackets fitted, neatly tailored into the aluminium sheeting and the structure of the unit. What’s the bet the new legs wouldn’t fit the existing brackets, and replacing the brackets would be a major ordeal. Not the sort of work you’d want to attempt interstate.

Anyway, our two cats will have a huge helping of food to tide them over for the weekend, and here goes another trip down the Hume Highway.

Melbourne to Canberra

It was very late when we left. We had said to Melody we’d phone when we leave, but that didn’t work out. I doubt she’d appreciate being wakened at 4.00am.

We were both desperately craving sleep, but we had to continue working. Our cats had been drugged in readiness for the trip, but seemed wide awake. We got some drugs from the vet; cat valium, I guess. It was almost time to leave and we couldn’t get them to pee. Then they started to become wobbly on their feet, which was so bizarre to see. Drunken cats!

S wanted more things loaded into the cars. There wasn’t room. There should be a rule when packing. Namely: if one person is doing the packing and the other is bringing the stuff out. The rule is, when the car is almost full, but not completely full, the packing person should make an announcement: “Hey, the car is full.” That way, when the other ‘last minute’ items that must be packed are eventually brought out, and they will, there will be room for them. Of course, I guess you could just survey all the stuff that has to go and try and make an estimate. This is a difficult time.

To my regret I got grumpy with S. My grumpiness came out in my manner and in the things I said. I tried not to grump, but stuff slipped out. I was too self-absorbed in packing the car that I didn’t appreciate what S was going through in the house. I expect lack of sleep may have contributed. We had been going at it all day, and into the evening, and now it was some ridiculous time in the early hours of the morning.

So that was it. We weren’t able to shift everything, but we were out of the house. S had left a bottle of champagne as a welcoming gift for Melody. I had a final quick look around the house one last time; to make sure everything was out. And I took a few photos for the memory of it all. S wasn’t interested. I think she had had enough of it and just wanted to go.

So, we got under way, and with just a few hours remaining before sunrise we hit the road. We’d been on the road for less than an hour and I was hanging out for a place to pull over and sleep. I couldn’t go on. I spotted a parking bay. The first one on the Hume Highway just north of Melbourne past Craigieburn. I had to stop and rest. We slept for about an hour. It’s difficult to sleep in a sitting position. There was no possibility of stretching out because both cars were packed to the brim. There was no real sleep here. It was just a rest, and the rest didn’t seem to help that much. We were both still tired.

We were disturbed by dozens of trucks zooming by and shaking the car as they went. We eventually got on our way again. I’m supposed to be back at work in a few hours’ time. Ha. Oh, yeah, right.

I had Squeak in a cat box in the EXA, and she was surprisingly well behaved for the scaredy cat she is. S had Elsa also in a cat box, in the ute, and she may have had a reaction to the sedative we gave them before the trip because she was farting all the time and stinking up the car. Poor S had to put up with the smell. We drove for another hour or so, and I had to pull over at a service centre. Another place to park and sleep. We slept for another hour which again was another horrible rest. The cold weather didn’t help any.

We had a snack before leaving, and with daylight’s arrival staying awake was beginning to become easier. Then I had an interesting experience with a couple of police officers in the middle of nowhere somewhere between Melbourne and Canberra. I can’t remember where. Things were a bit hazy you must understand.

The road ahead was just a blur. A strip of grey-black that wriggled and rolled around in front of me, sometimes passing through towns, sometimes not. I’ve never been on such a boring horrible trip. Anyway, somewhere in the middle of nowhere David, my Virgin Home Loans contact, called to congratulate me that settlement went through, which was really nice of him. While on the phone, I spotted a cop car driving by in the opposite direction. The section of the road I was on was straight but undulating a bit. The cop car was over the hill and out of sight behind me in a few seconds.

I had a notion they might have spotted me with the phone to my ear. I pulled off the highway as far over into the dirt as I could, and stopped. I switched off the engine, continued talking to David on the phone, and waited. Either nothing would happen or there’d be a tap on the window.

The journey from Melbourne to Canberra is about an eight hour drive. What are the chances of someone calling, and a cop car passing, just at that instant? For the few seconds it takes to pick up the phone when it rings, why that particular time? The gods were against me. Had the call come at any other time or even a couple of seconds later this would not have happened. Bizarre.

I can just imagine it. Two cops driving and one eagle eye says to the other, “He’s on the phone. Got one.” They screeched to a halt, chucked a u-turn, on with the flashing lights, and raced after me. They probably thought it’d be something to do on a quiet afternoon.

So, I’m sitting there in the car, parked at the side of the road, and a moment later I caught sight of some flashing lights in the rear view mirror. A cop car was pulling up behind me. They didn’t stop me; I was already parked by the roadside. A knock at the window, and the young police officer says he saw me on the phone when they passed. They must have good eyes.

I admitted it. I couldn’t deny it. I still had the phone to my ear. I rang off, and gave my attention to the policeman. I said as soon as it rang I pulled to the side of the road. That’s difficult to dispute, particularly with me parked as I was. He said that I shouldn’t have answered it, and issued a warning. That was a narrow escape. I wonder how it would have gone had I kept driving.

Our traditional stopping spots when travelling on the Hume Highway were MacDonald’s (near Glenrowan) and at Gundagai. At both stops we allowed Elsa and Squeak a breath of fresh air outside the cars, and perhaps to take a toilet break. But at Glenrowan they didn’t want to leave the safety of their cat boxes. Squeak came out of her box at Gundagai. We put a leash on her, but she didn’t want to explore. There were a few dogs around the place, which may have put her on edge. At one point Elsa squeezed into the same pet carrier as Squeak; poor things: scared.

We continued, and once again had a late arrival, but this time it was at our new house. B, our Canberra real estate agent, had left a bottle of wine and a couple of glasses for us, but we had too much to do to sit and drink it. Perhaps we should have had some. Wasn’t that nice of her? Isn’t that great marketing?

It's not coming together

We planned to vacate the house at Warrandyte at 8.00am, but it just wasn’t happening.

Despite what I thought was my diligence in packing our remaining stuff into cartons, S seemed to keep on bringing more and more stuff into the room. Was it breeding? Was I in the Twilight Zone? The lounge room looked a wreck. There was stuff everywhere. Then Melody came by to show off the house to one of her friends. Just what we needed!

I didn't know what to do with half the stuff. A few hurried visits to Fort Knox self storage helped, but not much. Our storage space at Fort Knox was now badly packed (which meant there was wasted space), but it was full. Some of the stuff in storage was precariously balanced too; I hope there’s not too much disturbance from passing trains vibrating the ground as they go by. It’ll all come tumbling down in a heap if the floor vibrates.

A trip to the dump was required, and while there I also took the opportunity to get rid of some good stuff by donating it to the recycle shop. This was a small thing, but despite hurrying it still took much more time than we could afford. This is actually a nice service the Nillumbik council provide. They run a shop at the dump. Anything that looks mildly valuable is put in the shop and sold. It’s a kind of a really down market op shop. It’s something that should be encouraged.

As a kid I used to love going to the dump. The treasures you could find at the dump kept me distracted for hours, and funnily enough I’ve still got one or two bottles I found as a kid.

We took some rubbish to the dump about three years ago during one of the council’s hard rubbish days, and noticed there was a pile of brick pavers there. Well, having a ute and seeing them looking quite good it didn’t take too much consideration to start loading them into the ute. There wasn't a huge number of pavers there, but there was a nice amount. We collected them and took them home, and within a few months we had dug out an area and paved an area in front of one of our park benches, and we built a raised garden bed next to it, and it all looked very nice.

Anyway, I'm getting distracted. There was still too much stuff remaining to be packed, and really no where for it to go. There was only one solution: it had to be left.

I rang Melody, and asked if we can leave some stuff at the house. She obliged. So, this was our situation:

• our immobile camper was now propped up and would stay
• the camper was packed full with stuff as a temporary measure
• more stuff (tools, steel, hardware) was stored below the camper,
• more stuff was stored in front of the camper
• pot plants were placed at the sides of the camper
• The garage bench was chockers full of stuff
• the space between the bench and the garage door was full of stuff
• the tool room which runs off the garage was also full
• there was also an overflow from the tool room into the garage, and
• the shelves in the garage also had our stuff on them.

There was obviously a lot to do still.

Melbourne to Canberra

So, with S in the MR2, packed to the brim, me in the truck, we arrived in Canberra not at 11.00pm on the same day as we had hoped, but 8.00am on the next morning. It was a lousy trip. We were both tired. Watching the tail lights of the car in front bob around, rather than remain focused. Was that because they were bobbing around or because I was nodding? We took lots of breaks. S was driving behind me said she began to see a face on the back of the truck. I woke with a start at one point to the sound of a horn then realised I was leaning on the steering wheel. There was no way to get comfortable, and you can’t sleep in the driver’s seat.

It was early in Canberra when we arrived. I dropped off S at my lodgings. I’d previously flagged her arrival with my landlord. She went straight to bed. No sleep for me as yet, and I drove the truck to Flynn, which fortunately wasn’t too far away, to unload our stuff. We had made arrangements with the owners, who were still living in the house. They were happy for us to drop off our things. Anyway, most of the truck was loaded with pot plants and other bits and pieces that could stay outside or in the carport.

Gerald was there. He is a friend of the owners, and he helped me reverse the truck up the driveway, which was good of him. It would have been tricky on my own.

There was surprisingly little damage to the plants during the journey. The table tennis table had been set up as a table inside the truck on its trestle legs. I had screwed them open and linked them together with a piece of timber to prevent them moving during the trip. Having legs collapse during the trip would have been nasty. And it all worked very well.

I had placed large plants under the table with smaller pots on top. I also had a couple of pieces of steel reinforcing mesh; the type that concrete workers immerse inside concrete. I was going to leave this behind, not really having a use for it, and then S said it would easily go on the floor of the truck. In fact, it helped locate the plant pots in position and prevented them from moving around.

I was unloading the stuff, and the whole family turned out to greet me. K showed me through the house, offering me a coffee which was welcome, and we had a chat which I couldn’t afford. I wanted to get on with things, catch a nap, and get back to Melbourne, and I also had a very inquisitive little girl of theirs chatting and trying to help unload the stuff. What else can you do but go with the flow, and let her carry the odd thing. We were already a day behind because of the Wridgways removalist stuff up.

I had a worrying telephone conversation in the morning. My Canberra solicitor (Jaki) rang while I was unloading the truck to ask how I would be making the loan repayments. She said she had had someone on the phone from Virgin enquiring. I wonder why Virgin didn’t contact me directly. This was a bizarre question. Why didn’t they know this already? I’d already completed these details which were on the documentation that had been sent to me while in Melbourne, and had been returned to them. I told her how I’d completed the documentation and returned it by express mail. I was perplexed as to why they didn’t know, and said as much to Jaki. She was short with me saying that I’m not answering the question. She was rude. She worked with William Heague. I think it’s worth making a note of this. Anyway, she was correct; I wasn’t answering the question. I wanted her to tell me why they didn’t know something I’d only recently informed them of. She made no attempt to explain why they might be asking this, I provided the information, and she rang off. Virgin Home Loans or their legal people seem to be ignoring their own paperwork.

It’s bizarre that these legal people spend so much effort on sending documentation to customers, making it so difficult to cope with, and then when you return it to them including the basic information, like yeah, there will be a regular salary deduction toward the home loan, and they can’t read their own forms but have to ask you the same thing all over again. Nutty.

When the unloading was done I drove the truck to my digs.

I packed up the stuff that I had been collecting at my digs, loaded it into the truck. It was a handy bonus having the truck to do this. I drove it up to Flynn and unloaded it there. I had more stuff than I expected, filling the entire floor of the truck.

So, with the MR2 parked under the Flynn carport, we’re ready to set of on a return trip to Melbourne. Got to get the rental truck back to Melbourne before 8.00am. I’ll sleep in the truck while S drives.

Wridgways - a hired help company

We were up early again, this time to pick up the rental truck. We had booked a rental tuck from Europcar pretty much like this one. It was almost brand new with less than 10,000 kms on the clock. Very impressive! Driving something this size was quite an experience, but it was automatic which helped markedly. This was a small truck by any real standards, but seemed huge to me. It gave me a whole new level of respect for the skills of truck drivers.

The removalists had arrived after we’d left to pick up the truck, and when we got back I spotted the men hanging about not doing anything. I asked why they hadn’t started work. “There was no one here,” someone said, “and didn’t know what to do.” It would seem that Emily didn’t pass on our message to the men to say we’d be late, picking up our rental truck, and that they should start without us. Emily seems incompetent. I’m beginning to hate Wridgeways.

At least the men were on site and ready to go. They had brought a utility with them, and the lolly-pop men had arrived too. The plan was to drive their ute to the top of the driveway, load it with stuff, and then drive it down the drive and to an adjacent street where the truck was parked, and from there they did a swap from the ute to the truck. And presumably, the lolly-pop men held slow signs when the ute was entering or leaving the driveway. They were slow at first as the ticketing was being completed and while they got used to driving up and down the drive, but the pace quickened.

It was a frantic day.

S cleared out the attic, and passed furniture and boxes down the stairs to me. Funny how I’d forgotten how things got up there in the first place, when trying to get things down. Were they assembled or disassembled prior to putting them up there? I was washing out compost bins, coiling up garden hoses, and collecting garden tools. A lot of this stuff should have been done before, but there didn’t seem to be time.

We have an antique wardrobe. A brilliantly conceived piece where the top, bottom, back, mirror, and doors all separate for transport, and everything is held together with specially made wooden wedges and brackets. The wardrobe fell apart as one of the men tried to disassemble it. He said he knew what to do, but obviously he didn't have a clue. Then someone carrying part of the disassembled wardrobe on his shoulder scraped the polished wooden surface of the linen press while walking through the hallway. Hired help.

I was following this guy and saw him scratching the woodwork. He was unaware of what he’d done. I quickly grabbed the trailing end of it to steady it as he went. “Have you been working for Wridways long?” I asked. “No, it’s my first time,” and added, “and it’ll probably be my last.” This was probably a rather good plan if people’s houses and property is to be protected from this guy's destructive approach. Wridgways were dumb for hiring such sloppy, inexperienced people.

I asked one of the men who looked like a foreman not to pack my wheel barrow and hand truck, as I’d be using them to shift the pot plants into our rental truck. And then I saw the wheel barrow and hand truck being packed. “Oh, you want to keep them do you,” the same guy questioned. Thick as a brick.

Then later they made lots of use of our hand truck, as well as their own? Okay, whatever helps. I asked them not to pack the table tennis table. It was going to be used in our rental truck, opened up as a large shelf to store items on top as well as underneath it. And then later I found it missing and already loaded. It was unloaded. I don’t think they were happy, but they didn’t seem to be listening. They had packed a dresser but had left its mirror behind.

I was up and down the driveway checking that they were taking the correct things. Every time I did this I'd see our rental truck parked across the road, doing nothing. And every time I saw it I thought: I'm paying for that and getting no use from it. That's because of Wridgways.

S had organised some morning tea and beer for men to snack on as they went, but few seem interested. I offered a cuppa to the lolly-pop men. They had a lonely job, afer all. One of them took up my offer, but I was dissappointed at the end of the day to discover that either the mug had been 'pocketed' or thrown away.

At the end of the day, Wridgways wanted to charge $40 for the rent of the witches’ hats that the lolly-pop men had put on the road. I refused to pay it. I don’t think S paid it. What was that about: let’s see if we can fleece these bunnies for more money. Oh, I really hate Wridgways.

As the removalist had finished early, I asked the lolly-pop men if they’d stay while I loaded my truck. No, they couldn’t help; they had been hired by Wridgways, and they all left together, but added that their contract started at 7.00am, and at 3.00pm they’d soon be on overtime. I wheel barrowed the pants across the street on my own.

I should say, in fairness, that I was carrying a particularly heavy pot plant down the drive on the hand truck. Perhaps it looked as though the weight was beyond me, and I got some help from this one guy. It was appreciated. He was a pleasant guy, but by and large the rest didn’t give a damn, and departed as soon as they could. Anyway, while both of us were pushing the hand truck across the street, I asked this guy what it was like working for Wridgways. “I don’t work for Wridgways. I’m a contractor,” he replied.

We finished packing our own truck just as nightfall hit. After a day like that, the last thing you want to do is a couple of hours of loading heavy pot plants. It was a great saving to have shifted the pots part way down the block on the day before.

So, with S in the MR2 and packed to the brim, and me in the truck we set off for Canberra. We were both tired and despite wanting to rest up we had to hit the road.

Wridgways - an unexpected experience

I took a drive to the Melbourne office of Wridgways to pick up some removalist boxes. I’d been building up a few boxes from people who had finished using them and had given them to me. I also had a lot stored in the attic from when we moved into the house about 15 or so years ago. Those old boxes were still good, but the tape had perished. I guess that’s not surprising after all that time. Anyway, although I had a lot I needed some more.

Ted, one of the Wridgways reps had told S that the cost of removalist boxes would be included in the quote. And so there I was at Wridgways office looking to pick up a few boxes. I was asked to pay for them. I’m not particularly impressed with that.

Emily came out to the front desk to speak to me. She was visibly annoyed with me, saying I shouldn’t have just fronted at the office without having telephoned first. What the hell?

This is a business, surely. A shop front. When has anyone telephoned before calling at a shop front for anything? When was the last time you wanted something from a business; a chemist or shoe shop perhaps, and have had to make an appointment first? With a doctor or dentist you need to make an appointment, but if you walk in from the street they are not going to refuse to sell you a toothbrush or something, and say to you in an annoyed manner that you should have rung first. What a load of rubbish. What sort of company is Wridgways?

Anyway, Emily, this overly aggressive office tyke said the cost of removalist boxes was only covered if the company did the packing for us, and as we were doing our own packing we’d have to pay for them. This must have been in the small print somewhere. I don’t recall anything like that, and I thought I was quite good at reading the documentation. I couldn’t help wondering if she made it up on the fly. I paid for my boxes.

Tiffany rang while I was at Wridgways. She’s the person I was in the process of buying the ute from. She said the cheque had been cleared and she’d be bringing the key around. She congratulated me on the purchase. After Emily’s little tantrum I didn’t feel in a particularly congratulatory mood, being more in an it’s-about-bloody-time mood. Emily had definitely soured my frame of mind. Which was a pitty because unfortunatley Tiffany copped some coldness from me.

The 'to do' list grows

I had a very large ‘to do’ list, and only got through part of it with the most important being that the home loan forms got signed, witnessed, and sent off to Virgin Home Loan’s solicitors.

A day of packing and even more packing. The garage is a mess. I hope it comes together in time for the removalists. Emptied a sideboard that was in the garage. That was where the old stereo and my old uni notes were stored, but rats had taken up residence. I wrapped the stereo in plastic and old sheets to keep the dust out, but all it was doing was keeping the piss in close contact with everything.

I had to throw out a lot of urine soaked photocopies. But then, if I haven’t used then in all this time, I’d be unlikely to use them at all.

I've just noticed the tags I've selected: I seem to have inadvertently placed rodents and solicitor in the one posting. I wonder if there is a message there. Freud might have been proud.

Packing is so boring

The packing is taking much longer to do than expected. I found I get one of the removalist boxes almost full, only to see that there remains a little gap that’s too small for the next item. The gaps were too big to leave empty, but too small for much else. I didn’t want to leave any boxes only partially filled, yet I could not find a thing to put into the box to fill it completely. Bugger it. It’s so frustrating that in the end I just stuffed the gaps with cushions.

My eventual solution: pack two or three boxes simultaneously. Any items that don’t fit into one box often tend to more easily fit into one of the other boxes. Packing is so tedious; I wish I had started a lot earlier, and then the job could have been spread over a longer period and would have been less of a strain.

I didn’t get much done to the ute. The weather has been drizzly. Perhaps the weather is just an excuse. I have to fit anchor points to secure my campervan. I can’t seem to find the appropriate pieces of steel to do the job. I have lots of steel in the shed, but couldn’t find anything suitable. Perhaps this is avoidance behaviour. You see, I don’t quite know how to tackle the job. I have a general idea of how things should be, but can’t seem to make a start. I don’t want to make a hash of it. It’ll all come together when I get the correct steel for the job. Surely it will. It has to come together as there’s not much time to get things done.

And the clock ticks on. The removalists will be here soon. Got to go faster.

Packing gets serious

Finished packing a stack of books into boxes. Books are very heavy, so I only packed them half way and filled the remainder of the box with linen. They were still heavy, but manageable.

I had listed some items on ebay, and amongst all the bits and pieces I had up for sale was an old trailer. Despite the trailer’s decrepit condition I felt sad in offering it for sale as I had built it as a young man, and it was my first major welding project. It was really very badly rusted, and the photographs I posted clearly showed holes in the metal. It sold, the guy who got it seemed happy, and once more ebay amazes me.

I got only one box filled with crockery. It’s slow going.

So far, I hadn’t heard anything as to our idea of dumping the solicitor in favour of dealing directly with Melody in the rental of our property. We have to stay in the house past settlement date and the legal fees for setting up such an arrangement is to cost $300. S was wondering if we should get the solicitor’s phone number. I had a better idea. I rang Melody and put the idea to her directly. Without hesitation she said, “paying the solicitor set up fees was stupid,” and was happy to have an informal arrangement. We’ll put $350 in her hand when she visits some time next week. So that’s organised.

Later in the day Fay, our conveyancer, rang in response to a message I had left, regarding the same issue. She said that she had contacted Melody’s solicitor, and as Melody was on a rostered day off today was not contactable. She said I would have to wait until next week for an answer. I was just off the phone to Melody and got it sorted. The reason I was able to speak her was because she was at home. They’re all next to useless.

Some logistics planning

I spent the day looking at a few more utes, private sales this time. Canberra used car buyers have the benefit of a great operation here. Around town on the weekend, various car parks in popular locations are set aside for the presentation of cars for sale. Anyone who has a car for sale may pay a fee, and would-be buyers are free to browse. It’s a very nice idea indeed. I spotted a couple of utes at a couple of these used car markets that took my interest and subsequently contacted the owners to arrange a test drive.

It’s been a while since I’ve been this close to newer utilities. Most of the newer utes I’ve looked at seem to be built with a lot more plastic that I’d like to have see on them. Constructing a commercial vehicle with a plastic tray seems darn silly to me. Sure it won’t rust, but will it be able to hold a load. Will you feel confident in throwing rocks and boulders into a plastic tray, as opposed to a steel tray? There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of choice whether you buy a Holden or Falcon.

I need the ute to transport a camper van that’s parked on the block at Warrandyte. This is the type of van that fits into the back of the ute – if you think of a caravan with no wheels, your half way to thinking of what it looks like.

Actually, there is a lot of transportation to be done in getting our stuff from Melbourne to Canberra, and not just our furniture and personal items. I got out a pencil and paper and began to go through the logistics. It may be difficult but not impossible. Here is one scenario. We’ll see what actually takes place when the time comes. Stuff has gone wrong all over the place so far. Anyway, the aim is to get our things to Canberra, and includes our:

• Stuff from Melbourne


• Ute from Melbourne


• EXA (which is in Canberra, with me)


• MR2 from Melbourne


• Camper from Melbourne


• Elsa and Squeak from Melbourne

So, here's my plan:

1. Assuming I buy a ute in Melbourne, I’ll drive the EXA to Melbourne on one of my trips from Canberra


2. Buy the ute, load the caravan on top of it, and drop it off in Canberra, and then drive back to Melbourne with the empty ute


3. Pack up the MR2 with as much stuff as it can carry, rent a truck and pack that up too, and both S and me will set off for Canberra together in separate vehicles


4. The MR2 gets left in Canberra, we unload the truck, and we both drive back to Melbourne in the empty truck, return the truck to the rental company, and drive back to Canberra with me in the EXA and S in the new ute with more stuff and our two pussy cats.

The problems will come with timing, bad timing, that is. If the lease of the ute can be worked out quickly and I get the caravan shifted early, that would help markedly. But if it takes ages, clashing with when we should be in the truck, then we will need to rethink everything. Or if I have difficulty getting the caravan on the ute that could be a problem too. If there are any problems such as this we may have to shift our stuff to one of the neighbours places for a few weeks. We don’t want to be renting this truck and getting in the way of the removalists.

I don’t have a photo of my own van, but here’s one I spotted on the web that gives an idea of what I have. These units are fabulous things. There’s no trouble carrying them really, except that they weight the vehicle down a bit. The only real hassle is getting them on and off the ute. They come with four heavy duty jacks that raise them to a suitable height to allow the ute to slip underneath. You then lower the jacks and the van sits flat on the floor of the ute, and you secure the van to anchor points that you have previously placed in suitable positions on the vehicle. And this is one of my problems in buying a ute. I will have to spend time fitting the anchors to the ute before I can attempt to move it.

I’ve done this work before on two other utes I’ve had, but manufacturers keep changing things. Each one has been a whole new experience each time, and it’s a very fiddly task. The last thing I want is to have hassles at the end.

When will the problems end?

I spent some time bringing some boxes and stuff down from the attic on Sunday. It’s surprising how much stuff was up there. I packed the car with some of it, and was off back to Canberra in the afternoon. It was a particularly cold trip without the heater. But the audio books were great, particularly the Bill Bryson tape of his book ‘Down Under’. Bryson has a fantastic view of the world and he has some really funny sections in the book, and I loved his views on Canberra. I have only positive memories of this book. It’s a must read, or in my case it’s a must listen.

I rang Virgin Home Loans to keep things on the boil. Yes, the materials I had faxed to them had been sufficient. The home loan application moved to the next phase, and a property inspection was required. So, when the property inspector gets in touch I will contact B, who will contact the owners to organise access, to get the evaluation. I don’t really know why they are bothering with a valuation. I’m sure they could recover their investment without too much effort.

I took this opportunity to enquire if the loan could be increased from $100k to $150k. I wanted access to some extra money, at home loan rates, should I need it. They didn’t think this would be a problem, but they had to do some internal checks to confirm it. Oh, they’re busy little bees.

Someone from Virgin also rang S to confirm this next phase, and to advise that it’d cost $490 to back out if we change our minds about using Virgin for a home loan, and to ask her for our credit card number.

A fax arrived for me at work from Deposit Power, to say that the bond certificate had been approved and the original was in the mail. This seemed to be one of the few things that had worked out with a minimum of fuss. There is a lot to be said for doing it yourself.

I rang Vickie, my Canberra conveyancer, and asked about settlement, and whether she knew about the 3-day hold up that banks impose on interstate funds transfers. Yes, she did know about it. I wonder why she didn’t tell me. I was tempted to unleash my rage at her, which might have made me feel good. I elected to keep quiet, not get her off side in the interests of good relations lest she deliberately put my file to the bottom of her priority list. This is exasperating. Aggh!

As we can’t change the Canberra settlement date we should try to change the Warrandyte settlement date, to alleviate this three-day funds hold up issue. S phoned Fay, our Melbourne conveyancer. She finds Fay grumpy, and they both get a bit short with each other. I rang Fay. I asked her not to write to Melody’s solicitor as she was planning to do. She agreed to put that on hold, at least until there was a plan that would work. Better to write to confirm something, than beg for something, or attempt to ‘press’ them into changing the settlement date. S tried to contact our Melbourne agent, but both agents were at a conference in Sydney until Wednesday. What next?

I email our Melbourne real estate agent with information I’d got from Vickie, our Canberra conveyancer, with information that indicates the date that would allow sufficient time to transfer the funds. That is, if Melody would change the settlement date, again. I would feel embarrassed about this, but as Melody stuffed us around with the deposit, I don’t really care. Anyway, this is the fault of the conveyancers in my opinion.

Here are the conveyancers details, should anyone be interested:

Melbourne
Canberra

I found it interesting that Vickie said to me that our Melbourne conveyancer said the date was “locked in to the 19th,” because Melody’s solicitor had said so. Nothing was ‘said’ in so far as I knew. I know this is a small point, perhaps on the verge of hair-splitting, but it turned out that Fay had a letter from Melody’s solicitor to say settlement would be on the 19th. Well, of course she did. It was me who asked our Melbourne real estate agent to ask Melody to set it to the 19th because B had asked me if the settlement date could be changed to the 19th. The lack of communication going on here is astounding.

Vickie also reported that she had received no information from the Flynn solicitor. I thought the owner was doing his own conveyancing. At least, that’s what the contract stated. I asked Vickie to keep me informed of any developments, and I said I’d keep her posted with anything I found out.

S rang Westpac to look into this 3-day delay that’s causing the current problem. Apparently, there was something called ‘portability’ that will allow the funds to be transferred. This sounded like a positive development, but I was sceptical. I don’t believe a word of it. I think this person is talking about transferring a home loan from one person to another. The home loan that we almost signed up for at Westpac boasts this very feature. It’s amazing the crap people will feed you instead of good advice.

S got in touch with our Melbourne real estate agent, who got in touch with Melody. That was a lucky break. No one could get hold of her before the deposit was paid. Maybe she was hiding. He asked her if the settlement date can be changed. Yes, no problem. Wow, something that worked.

I put the phone down after S’s call. A simple answer: “Yes,” and the problem had disappeared. I was stunned. She said, “Yes,” and the problem went away. Settlement date can be moved, yes. No need for bridging finance, yeah. We can relax, yes.

Nothing had been simple so far. I was staring at the empty cup in front of me. My eyes were focused somewhere about a mile below the cup on the desk in front of me. After a minute of so, I rang S again, and asked what she was doing. “Wandering about the house in a daze,” she said. So was I; in a daze that is, I said to her. S said, “This is awful. When will it end?”

Our gruff old real estate agent is well and truly a friend, now. And we have a new settlement date. That should do the trick. But we will have to rent our house from Melody for about a week. So, $350 plus set up costs will be a lot more pleasant that a bridging loan. Anyway, Virgin doesn’t do bridging loans.

Another Melbourne visit

Just back from another Melbourne trip. With daylight saving gone it became a very dreary drive, but the audio books I took were great. I should have been listening to them ages ago. They keep you alert and some of the stories are so entertaining. It seems to shorten the drive.

It was a bad week with so many bills to pay. Some of them were late, some huge. The car insurance had gone up by $100 – great. It has left us short, and the cost of petrol edging up steadily doesn’t help. If for nothing else, my time in Melbourne gave S a rest with my help during my visit with the house tidy up sessions, prior to each open inspection.

The neighbour’s cat, Abo, seemed to have taken up residence in our place. I wonder if that’s because S has been feeding it and its owners hadn’t been.

I got the garage cleaned up and made a bit tidier, and some boxes of stuff were put into our storage space at Eltham. I spent some time rearranging the stuff that’s in storage to allow space for even more things if need be. Our little spot is now one-third empty; it seemed full before the tidy up. It’s amazing how much you can get in there if you pack it correctly. I should have done this much earlier, but there never seemed to be the time with so many other priorities.

Our fish is still dangling on the hook, but with no acceptable offers the property is still on the market.

It was a cold drive back to Canberra. I wasn’t going to turn on that smelly heater unless I had to. Some mice or rats had taken up residence in the car heater some months ago, and to say it smelled a bit was an understatement. The extra clothes alternative worked fine: two long sleeved skivvies under a hooded pullover, and a blanket over my knees. I must have looked a sight. It was pathetic, really.

The last tidy up

It was an intensive few days in Melbourne. S had been advised by our stylist to make some changes to our house, the general theme of which was to reduce the clutter. So, we rented some space from the Fort Knox storage facility in Eltham and went to Rent-a-Bomb for a van to cart the stuff. It was a bomb to be sure, making my EXA seem like a luxury vehicle. Driving the thing was an interesting experience. It was difficult to tell the difference between 2nd and 4th gear, and at the first set of traffic lights in this thing I pulled the hand brake on and had difficulty releasing it. So, without really panicking, but feeling a sense of tension I worked at it. It doesn’t take long before the people behind you start honking their horns.

Anyway, the van rattled along and it did the job. We ended up putting the good desk in storage (we had two of these monsters), along with the chairs we’d been asked to get rid of, the box seats, filing cabinet, table and a few boxes packed with stuff. If you pack these storage facilities carefully, with stuff stacked well, it’s amazing just how much you can fit inside. After about two van loads the storage room still looked mostly empty.

The stylist said she had an arrangement with Fort Knox to give us a discount, but when we mentioned this they claimed ignorance, saying they didn’t know our stylist. Now that’s interesting. Someone was lying. Anyway, they gave us the first month free. Perhaps we just looked honest. It all helps.

S had done a surprisingly reasonable job of the painting, considering some of the work was very awkward, and she doesn’t like painting. I just couldn’t keep on going when I was at it a few weeks earlier. Anyway, I touched up some gaps on the ceiling that seemed to be missed, and fixed up the gaps in the cornices, which all turned out okay. I find it amazing how interior paint (flat or semi-gloss) can blend into the existing paint without showing any tell tale marks. Doing this might be a quick way of freshening up the place, with the minimum of effort. If you don’t have time to paint the whole place, and you can’t wash off any scuff marks that have developed over the years, just paint over the marks. It does a great job, and you’d never know there was a touch up, unless of course the paint is very old and faded.

We removed the lounge room curtains as we had been advised by the stylist, as well as removing the fly screen doors, and they went to Fort Knox. This seemed like a very strange thing to do, I thought. But it worked. This house was a bit unusual in that the front entrance had two standard sized glass doors that swung open, kind of like French doors, only larger. So with both doors open wide and no curtains hanging it left the lounge with a wonderful open feeling. The vista from the floor to ceiling windows, which occupied the entire length of one side of the lounge, was spectacular, and with the doors open it had a pleasantly inviting feeling. It brought a surprisingly pleasant atmosphere to the room, and made it very light inside as you’d imagine. Though, the effect was kind of cold and exposed at night, but was fabulous in the day. Anyway, the punters only come during the day, and it was done for their benefit.

Lots of little things were done. We dusted the lounge ceiling to get rid of the cobwebs (cathedral ceiling), got the whipper snippering finished, repaired the nest of tables, a bit roughly I must say. We removed the various boxes that were cluttering the place, and removed the wall hanging, which all went into storage. The amount of dirt that was impregnated in the wall hanging over the years was amazing. Tiny pieces of brick and cement must have been falling from the ceiling. You wonder how it happens. I got some boxes packed and into the EXA for the trip back. I also took the small filing cabinet with me, so the car was well loaded.

We got rid of a spare mattress from under the bed. Perhaps it should have chucked out, but why do that with stuff when it’s still good. People throw too much away. It went into the caravan for storage. It was a very neat fit in the caravan, standing on its edge in the walkway of the caravan.

I was disappointed I couldn’t clear an outside drain that was at the side of the house, and there was the smell of something dead somewhere out there too. Bugger. I hope the blockage had nothing to do with the smell; thinking something might have crawled down the drain and died. The smell of something dead is the last thing we needed when the punters come round.

I got most of the garage sorted. It’s funny how the stuff builds up in sheds. I was surprised by the amount of rat and possum crap all over the place, the smell of which was almost overpowering. Which was all very disappointing because I had some good things stored in there. I had a stereo amp, turntable, notebooks and textbooks carefully wrapped in old sheets, plastic wrapping and in cardboard boxes and the little blighters had used as building materials to build their nests. Their little teeth marks were everywhere, as well as the holes they had made in the timber sideboard to get to where the stuff was kept, there were nibble marks everywhere. Of course the cardboard boxes were no trouble for them. This material and the pages from my textbooks must have made lovely nesting material for them.

We were beginning to get ruthless in sorting through what could be kept and what gets dumped. That’s a lesson on starting the job in plenty of time. It takes a lot of time to go through your old stuff, and you do become distracted in looking through things you haven’t seen in years, reminiscing in old notebooks that you had at school or wherever. It can be difficult to decide whether to keep or discard them.

So, in the end a lot of work had been done, and although the place was cleaner, a whole heap of a mess was left for S to put out in the rubbish. A lot of work was left to do before the photographer came. Still feeling unhappy with the selling price. Considering talking to the agent with a view to increasing it.