R-Day

The removalist truck rolled in at around 7:30 am this morning, just as everyone was waking. Then it was all hands to the wheel and slowly but surely the house was emptied of all furniture and pre-packed boxes.  The team consisted of three young guys who obviously have backs in much better condition than I do.

I am standing as I type this as all the chairs have been packed and are in the truck!

Wednesday afternoon was spent with me just looking busy or keeping out of the way.  I downloaded a couple of movies and did some web surfing. Trish was flat out with some cleaning.  Kate discovered she now has an extra shelf in the pantry.  It had been removed and was sitting on the pantry floor!

At 5pm we were on our way to Pat and Graeme's to catch up, have another lovely meal, enjoy a few drinks and a have great chat.  It was extremely pleasant.  We discussed the kids new lifestyle in Saudi Arabia and compared it to what their daughter had enjoyed in Dubai.

Arj has a blog on getting ready for their adventure.  You can read about it HERE. Hit on the "older" link at the foot of his post's page to view his previous blog postings

There will be even more cleaning this afternoon before we all head off to Arj's parents home where they will spend their last two nights.  We are required to cart some stuff they will be leaving at Arj's parents home.

From there we will make our way to Mordialloc and the home of Eddie and Patsy Riordan where we will spend the night, a great meal, a few drinks and a look at the footy.  There is one of very few Thursday night matches on tonight. 

P-Day

P-Day, "Packing Day" has arrived and the place is going crazy.  The big winners will most likely be the local Salvation Army as heaps of stuff is being tossed out.  Mostly it is kids' clothes which isn't worth storing as the clothes won't fit when they return in two year's time.

And it appears the cat, which went to our daughter's unit in St Kilda, is beginning to become accustomed to its new home.  It took quite a few hours before it appeared out of its carry case but more recent photos show it is beginning to find its way about.  It won't belong before it is sleeping on someone's bed!

The two professional  packers are here and are older ladies who appear to have done this job many many times before.  The biggest hassle they have is writing "Bartholomeusz" on each of the boxes.  That seems quite a challenge at this stage!

The dinner dishes etc will be packed as well so an old store of plastic plates, cups, knives and forks is being put to use.

The bins, rubbish and recycling will be over full!

There are boxes everywhere and the constant sound of tape for the sealing of boxes can be heard in the background!  We still have the fridge to empty but I guess that will occur later in the day.

The photo (left) shows our stuff which has been plonked on one of the beds, well away from anything which is to be packed.  We wouldn't want any of our stuff to finish up in storage for a couple of years.

Last night we enjoyed a lovely evening around with Keith and June Damon.  We get on very well with them and they are being extremely generous in storing the kid's car for them while they are overseas for two years.  Not only was the company great but the meal was delightful as well.  We were able to assist June with Skype on her iPad and she spoke with a grand daughter in London when it was all set up.

They were amazed it was all possible at no cost!

My job today is to keep out of the way!  After running a school to now be told to go in there and do something on your computer is a big come down!  But I will get over it.

Tonight it is a meal with good friends, Pat and Graeme then back to the kids' home for our last night with them. It is R-Day tomorrow, the removalists come in to empty the house!  Then comes the house "cleanup".  The kids will spend their last two nights with Arj's parents before fly out time at 10:40 Saturday night.  We will spend a night with good friends Patsy and Eddie and then on Friday we will move and stay a couple of nights with Kim before we set of for Caloundra Sunday morning with the two cars.

I am not sure when I will have internet access again so the next blog entry may not be until we get back to Caloundra on Tuesday August 5th.  Kim does have wifi but there may not be an opportunity to get online.

There is usually free wifi at motels nowadays so I may get a quick entry in while we are driving home.

Shippers, Packers And Removalists

D-Day, the day Kate, Arj and the kids fly out to take up their two year teaching appointment in Saudi Arabia is getting closer! They fly out at 10:40pm on Saturday!

The "Shippers" are here right now, packing the 800kg of luggage, some which is to be shipped by air to Saudi Arabia.  This will possibly arrive in a couple of weeks, the rest will arrive up to 2 months later.  The guys have done this so many times before it is pretty straight forward for them to do.

The bikes have been partially dismantled and packed ready for shipping. The photo shows one of the piles of boxes ready to go!

Tomorrow we have the 'Packers" coming.  It is their job to 'pack' all the gear which is going into storage for the time they are away.  This will include furniture and the like.  Then Thursday morning the removalists will descend upon the house to load everything into their truck to put in storage.

Two lots of people who are prospective renters appeared for an inspection of the house late Monday afternoon.  Both seemed keen and are completing 'applications'.  Their rental record will be inspected as well as their ability to pay and hopefully the house will then be rented.

Arj and I set up "Viber" accounts on our phones yesterday so we can have some contact while they are away.  I am sure we will refine this when they get there and check out what others do at the school to keep in touch.

Yesterday afternoon I caught up with good mate Gordon and we enjoyed a catch up of old times and a couple of beers. Gordon and his wife Anne (with whom I taught for many many years) are holidaying on the Sunshine Coast in a week or so and we will catch them again shortly.  Gordon was the Assistant Principal for some of my time at Doveton North Primary School.

Tonight it is an evening meal with Keith and June, tomorrow (Wednesday) an evening meal with Pat and Graeme.  Keith and June may be looking after the kids' car.  It seems it fits into their garage OK which really takes the pressure off their need to sell it.

Today it really is keeping out of the way and helping as required!

The Sun Is Out

It is a bit blowy outside today (Monday) but it is expected to get to 18, a lot warmer than we have had for a while.

Our dinner with most of the family at Malaysia Garden on Saturday was a great success.  As it turned out, Kim came down with a nasty bout of "Gastro" so we didn't see her at all.  We enjoyed our favorites and it was great to see the grandkids jump into the tasty Malaysian food we had ordered.

There was Char Koay Teow, Beef Rendang, Boneless Chicken Curry, Sweet and Sour Chicken, Fried Rice and heaps of coconut Rice as well.  The prawn crackers were OK too!

Then it was home to see the last bit of the footy with Trish's team pulling off a great come from behind win!

As Kate and the family are going to a very strong Muslim country, Kate has been advised she will need to choose her clothing she wears outside the KAUST Compound carefully, especially when in the city of Jeddah.  She purchased an "Abaya" dress just to be sure.  She modelled it for us Sunday morning.

It isn't the most flattering of piece of clothing.  They are now hearing that as long as she is fully covered from neck to tow she should be OK.  But you can't be too careful!

Arj has received a "New Arrivals Handbook" providing heaps of info about where they will be living.  It is a 1.36MB pdf document which you can download HERE.  There is some interesting reading there!

Sunday afternoon saw us head to Drouin to celebrate good friend Barry's 60th birthday.  They were neighbours of ours for many years and we have remained great friends ever since.  We were the last to leave! It was great fun catching up and enjoying a few drinks.

Saturday Update

Our days go from unplanned to unplanned.  What we had planned to do during the day often doesn't happen.  I had a couple of things planned for yesterday but eventually spent the whole day at Kate's.  Impromptu baby sitting or changes of mind are now the norm.

We baby sat both Thursday and Friday as Kate and Arj went through a couple of their numerous farewells.  They have another farewell today at lunchtime, then tonight we are (nearly) all meeting up from our side of the family (kids and all) for a meal and more farewells.  Also this is a birthday celebration for both Chris and Wendy.

It doesn't promise to be a late night at all so we will just wait and see what happens.  And there is a very huge footy match on TV tonight of which we may see the later stages if things go to plan.

Now I have a new GPS I thought I might jump online and tinker with updating the maps on the older one we have.  Youtube was great for this and had all of the instructions on how to do it.  Usually I would have expected to pay over $100 for map updates for the old unit.  At that cost it was easier and cheaper to buy a new one.

Anyway I 'obtained' what I thought was the correct downloads from online but they didn't look at all like what I was meant to download from what I had seen in the film clip.  I went through a different process and I think I 'may' have updated it, but then I may not have.

It now says there are two maps installed on the GPS, the original maps and the updated maps so we will just have to wait and see what shows on the GPS screen when we are near a lot of new streets and roads near our home in a week or so.

The good thing is that the GPS still seems to work OK despite me tinkering with it.

Today we 'may' be heading to Fountain Gate Shopping Centre again, we may be getting rid of some of the clothes we permanently leave in Melbourne to the Salvos, and we will be doing a spot of baby-sitting!