Relocation! Relocation!

I'm not sure if other people have experienced the same crazy stress, rush of emotion and random happenings during a house move but as I've just sat down at the end of another long day unpacking I'm having a little giggle to myself now that its all done. (well almost all done, but if i close the door on the spare room then it LOOKS all done! Shhh!) 

All of the beginning to move happened as usual, of course I got sick halfway through packing and needed several long naps, then work tried to call me in to work on a day I'd arranged to have off- all those usual dramas. Despite this by the time the truck arrived we were basically ready to go- I was doing the packing, or rather i was sitting on the floor with boxes everywhere reminiscing with every object I tried to pack. Basically off on a journey down memory lane while the guys sorted, lifted and moved all around me! Once we get to the new house I'm amazed there are no dramas, they keys open the door, we have electricity and water and all the furniture (after some serious debate and rearranging) fits in well. 

We are about halfway unloaded when I get a call from my housemate, she can't find her cat. Poppy is a curious little Burmese that Chris had taken out of the truck before we left as she had been exploring. We did a quick check and my heart sunk a little. The boys had stopped in St Kilda to load some of Chris' stuff in as well- what if the cat had jumped out then and was wondering around Grey st with the hookers? Common sense told me not to worry as Poppy was probably still at the old house, just not within earshot. So I put it out of my mind and focused on the more important job of lining up all the fridge magnets in order. You know what the next bit is right? Another 30 mins goes past and I hear the shout. "I found the cat!… Oh no. Yup the cats pretty dead. It's been squashed." (This is from my brother Kane who has the sensitivity of a caveman.) I start to shake, I'm too scared to look. Im so upset, my  housemate treats Poppy like a child and we've squished her! Just as the panic really starts to set in, the cat (alive, not a zombie cat) jumps from in between the sofas and down from the van. Kane's idea of a practical joke! My heart was still beating so fast! Thats brothers for you, bloody idiot. 

Once I recovered, the cat had been collected and the only other event was me screeching when i saw a cockroach we decide to have our showers and call it a night. Only problem? No hot water. Of course. Its close to midnight and we spend almost an hour of looking for switches, pilot lights and boilers and other things I have no idea about. Cursing the gas company we give up and hit just about our lowest point- boiling the kettle and pouring it into a little red bucket to wash with. Standing in the cold bathroom, in the shower, soaping and rinsing ourselves like it was the middle ages. I must admit it was a bit of a laugh and I did even try to snap a picture of Chris (but he was too quick- and he would have killed me!) 

By this stage its midnight and we were so exhausted and ready for bed.

The problem is that trying to sleep in a strange new house can be hard. I was particularly wired after forgetting to eat anything except lollies and drinking about 8 cups of coffee during the day to keep me going! The room was so dark and so silent that my ears were straining for any little sound, my mind was conjuring up images from every scary movie I'd seen; ghosts walking down the hallway, murderers faces at the windows, you name it. Poor Chris was so so tired but being the good boyfriend that he is gave me a little cuddle and tried to keep my mind off it,  however we were both so aware of the strange silence of the new house.

 Suddenly there was a HUGE CRASHING sound! Im not kidding- i almost peed my pants and I was positive that we were in Paranormal Activity 4!  Chris jumped up to turn the bedroom light on and we both stared at each other, hearts beating. Luckily he is the more logical one of the two of us and realised it was probably something falling off the wall (but he still wanted me to come with him into the living room to look!) So Chris put his shorts on- I have no idea why, perhaps he actually thought  it was a robber and he didn't want to confront them in the nude? We crept down the dark hall and fumbled for the lights… I was bracing myself for the worst- I've never been so scared. The light came on and my heart was in my throat as my eyes adjusted… It was just a picture that had fallen off the wall. Of course.  I let out the breath that I'd been holding and had a nervous little giggle. A quick check to see there was no damage and we went back to bed. We were still a bit silent but the noise had broken the ice a little and the strange relief made us laugh at ourselves, although the whole time neither of us had admitted to being scared.

We went to sleep easily after that and I find it funny that I was so worked up, although it's easy to do in a new house. Its like when you need to get up in the middle of the night and for no reason you run back and get into bed really quickly? Even though your logical brain tells you one thing, in the dark its so easy to start imagining things that aren't there! 

So now we are in, almost completely settled and I can't wait to start feeling like this place is home- having a hot shower this morning once we'd had it fixed definitely helped.

They do say home is where the heart is and mine would happily follow Chris anywhere, even into a dark living room when I'm scared or if it means having to use a little bucket to wash!! 

xxx