It's been hell

We moved in the weekend. And it didn't go according to plan.

First the new house is filthy. The departing owners did a perfunctory clean so the floors looked bearable but the cupboards were dirty, the oven is clogged with burnt left overs (you can't see them though as the door is covered with baked on grease and as the oven doesn't seem to bake anyway it is all a bit immaterial), the windows haven't seen any form of cleaning for years by the look of it, the windowsills are all growing things, and shower is a bit dubious looking.

Then they left a bit of stuff behind - a pool table sitting slap in the middle of a garage. They have that listed on trademe at a price a bit on the excessive side, about 30 bales of mouldy hay in the other garage (apparently sold - I wonder if it was honestly advertised and whether the buyer will actually take it, I wouldn't feed it to stock and 30 bales is a lot to stick on the garden) and a dead car (also apparently sold). Not to mention some sheep and a horse. All these things they feel we should just take care of until they get round to them. There has to be some give and take we were told. Believe me there is some give and take, we gave them a heap of money and they can take their rubbish away!

Apart from that I have a stomach bug which really adds to my pleasure in life right now. And good old Telecom have gone back to the you can't have broadband story. There was broadband installed here a month ago, but now apparently it won't work. It so obviously won't work that they won't even put through a connection order. Funny since if you go into the telecom website and put the phone number in it tells you broadband is available at this location. Spent an hour and a half on the phone to two support staff on Monday night trying to sort it out. The first one was trying to be helpful and put me onto his supervisor to see if he could help. He could have but he chose not to. (why is it when I ring these places I always get the stubborn and intellectually challenged individual, either I have very bad luck or maybe it is that most of them are idiots and I haven't a hope of getting one with half a braincell as those people have resigned in disgust) We had a yelling match in the end as I stated repeatedly "there used to be broadband here" and he replied repeatedly "well it won't work it is too far from the exchange" Grrrr. In the end I said I was bored and going to hang up. He asked if I had had a problem with the first person I had spoken to and did I want to make a complaint! (I replied that the first person had been fine, it was just him I found obnoxious). Rang back the next morning and got a human being with more than two braincells and we now have the technician booked to come out. So maybe that will work, eventually.

Apart from that there are plans being sketched on stray bits of paper everywhere. Husband seems to think that we need two more bathrooms (a total of three) on the assumption that doing two at once will be almost as cheap as one... he knocked a hole in a wall about three hours after we took possession. I must admit it is a vast improvement even if it looks a bit scruffy right now.