Hi all,
Well, we
are moved in - partly. We still have about three-quarters of our stuff down in
the garage here to sort out, but we will take things quite quietly, and sort
stuff out slowly over the next few weeks. We will aim to get things where we
want it; and recycle the things that we no longer use. I have six cartons of
kitchen stuff that is going on TradeMe as soon as the rest of our belongings
are sorted!
The
housewarming was a great success, and it was wonderful having so many people
here to celebrate with us. Jeremy estimated at one point we had about 70 people
there. We had lots of people from Roses Road come to see the house, as well as
lots of friends and family. Thanks heaps to Tina & Jeremy, Mike & Birthe,
Sam & Moose, Pat & Marjie, Hui-Ping, Shelley, Bertie & Warren &
Tracy (and all their short people) for travelling to Nelson especially.
We moved
the last of our stuff from Montrose Drive yesterday; that mostly being Jan's
safe! Warren & Max came along to help, which made getting it on the trailer
a five minute job. Jeremy & Jan managed to prize it off at the other end,
and now the builders have said that they will help roll it into position in the
basement - hopefully after Jan has had the two holes welded up on it that mean
that the blasted thing is neither fire- nor water-proof.
The new
carpet has been laid at Montrose Drive, and Jeremy shampooed the remaining
carpets yesterday, while Tina, Jan & I cleaned the garage, weeded,
harvested our pumpkins, nailed down loose deck boards & generally got the
place looking tidy. The chimney is being cleaned and the grass is being cut
this week. The new tenants move in this Friday.
While
Tina heads home today, Jeremy, Otto & Lara are here until Saturday, so we
have lots more time to enjoy their company yet. We have been to the Mapua fair,
which was great. We caught up again with Warren & Trace, Max, Karen &
Bertie; and Sam & Moose. Yesterday we went to lunch at Founders with Jeremy
& Tina, my folks, and joining us later on, Pat, Marjie & Pat's brother
Matt & wife Sarah. On Sunday avo, Rob - whom I teach with on the B.Sport
& Rec at NMIT - & his wife Eileen came up to see the house. We had a
very nice time sitting around & quaffing wine :-)
Yesterday
Magda & Julie came out, bringing Julie's twins, Sterl & Siobhan. Julie
is currently working on passing her fitness test for active fire-fighting duty;
she is heading back into fulltime work now the twins are nearly 15 months old.
I can't believe it has been nearly a year and a half since Sterl died, and wee
Sterl is the spitting image of his dad.
I still
have to organise quotes for the range hood cowling, and the stainless steel to
go behind the kitchen hob bench to prevent the possibility of the gas igniting
the wall - we put it off to ensure accuracy of measurement! Michael Bender will
start on the big bookcase for the lounge when he gets back from holiday later
this month. The builders are back tomorrow, to finish off some bits inside the
house, such as architraves and handles, but mainly to get onto constructing the
decks outside.
Jan is
still busy at work, but he hopes to catch up with Sam today for a round of golf
in the avo before Sam & Moose head back to Wellington. My students have all
successfully completed their first assignments, and I am currently marking my
Leadership class' first assignment. Things on my second-to-last CAT unit have
been put on hold; I haven't really had time to do any more on the assignment
that I have in progress. However, I will have to get onto that now as there are
still two to go.
We have
been to a couple of concerts - the gala performance for the new Steinway which
Jan's boss Murray Sturgeon donated to the Nelson School of Music, and to the
first of the Nelson Symphony concerts for the year, which Jan didn't play in
(too busy with the house), with a country theme - some NZ music, Beethoven's
pastoral symphony & some Weber (very enjoyable!).
We are
now firming up our plans for Europe, ending at the Edersee for all the Schütte
family celebrations, and including a few days in Freiburg, and visiting Rainer
& Regina, then heading off to see Andreas & Katrin. We also hope to get
to visit Holger, and Simone & Michael, but we haven't yet worked out how
that will work! Now that we are in the house, we will spend a bit of time in
planning & come back to you all with the first draft.
Jan & Sam
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