Nightlight
So there I was, at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, 31 March, in my new residence, all the lights off, all the electric outlets switched off at the wall, sitting in the dark with the cats, experiencing life without electricity for the first time in many years. Funny, but the house where I’m living goes back to the 19th century, so the experience would not have been entirely unusual for its original inhabitants, who, at least, would have had gaslight, but no radio, no television, no refrigerator, telephone, any of the things we pretty well take for granted. Earth Hour would have to have been reckoned a success.

Except for the older couple next door. I could hear they were watching the rugby, cheering for some notable play. Sports-mad, some people.

But there you have it, yes, all moved in. The movers turned up late on Saturday morning, just two guys, but big, and fast and professional, too. They were flying through, until someone stole the lift key for themselves about halfway through, so moving out ended up taking three hours. By then it was just after noon, so before unloading, we stopped for some Thai food in Newtown, just the next suburb over from our destination. There are a lot of Thai restaurants in Sydney, and sometimes it seems like most of them are in Newtown. This one was pretty good, and we all felt energized for the remainder of the job, which only took another hour, even though they had to haul the bed in over the front rail of the upstairs balcony.

I unpacked for a bit, just getting some of the necessary stuff out, and headed back for the cats. I’d left a few other things back in the apartment, with the idea of cleaning and so forth, to leave the place in good shape for the new owners. I spent an hour or so on that, stuffed the cats into their carrier and headed back to Camperdown.

For the next little while, I unpacked some more, but the cats wouldn’t leave the security of the carrier. It took about an hour for the brave one to venture forth, but I’m not sure when the other got his nerve up. It wasn’t enough, however, because he went straight in behind the couch.

By Sunday morning, they were pretty free with making their way through the house, having finally ventured upstairs to sleep on the bed with me overnight and to be there to ensure they got breakfast on time. They needed a lot of reassurance throughout the day, but Felix is a nicer cat with some of the arrogance knocked out. He’ll be a trial before long, I’m sure.

I went out to Ikea for bookcases and some incidental furniture, probably buying more than I should have, but did pretty well for myself. The carts they provide to self-serve your furniture don’t take but two sets of bookshelves, though, without becoming nearly unmanageable, and I ended up employing three of them, and having to get some staff to help me move them through check-out and over to the delivery counter.

After a lot of back and forth, trains, busses, cabs, walking along Parramatta Road, I was done by about five, and even unpacked, with the flattened boxes put away in the attic. There are still things to sort out: no phone jack in the room set aside as the office, for example, so I’ll need an electrician, and I’ve got to talk to the landlord about hanging a few pictures (most of the art’s up, because there were posts in the walls already, albeit in odd positions). I’ll fill out my copy of the condition report today and that’s the lot.

Next weekend, I’ll spend Thursday putting together Ikea furniture, loading up bookshelves, and then it’s off to explore the neighborhood.