It’s been pretty intense

It has been quite the ride since I last blogged.

My second move from the new apartment’s garage to the third floor had to be delayed by a day because the new flooring wasn’t ready. It cost almost as much to do the second move as the first one.

Double handling is an expensive exercise.

The floor layer also accidentally walked everywhere with glue on his boots, so we need to work out how to remove all the tread marks.

The power didn’t work and I got sent round and round and round the traps by various energy departments. By the 10th phone call I cried buckets, so the bloke took pity on me and sent someone out to help.

But I am finally in my new apartment and I love it. There are nice breezes and big windows and it is so close to everything. It feels like I am on holidays, but I live here.

There are even distant water glimpses, which weren’t in the real estate ad and I didn’t notice them until a friend of the eldest’s pointed out the sliver of water and sailing boats.

I’ve found a few fabulous cafes nearby that make excellent double shot flat whites with half a sugar. Woolies is literally two blocks away, there are delicious ramen noodle soup restaurants everywhere and a burger place a block away.

The downsides include the dogs having to be carried down (and back up) 24 stairs to go to the toilet, due to Charlie’s bad back and Bilbo’s anxiety issues.

DD bought them a fake grass piddle pad thingy for the balcony, but Charlie prefers to sleep on it rather than pee on it.

Also the traffic is a bit noisy, but I already don’t notice it that much. Oh and there’s virtually no cupboard space in the kitchen, which is problematic for someone with an addiction to gimmicky appliances … there’s nowhere to put my churros maker and my gingerbread man maker and my sausage roll maker and my waffle maker and my omelette maker and my George Foreman grill …

DD is in equal parts relieved that I am gone and missing my chaotic presence. Actually, maybe not equal parts. Life isn’t very peaceful when I am around.

But we had such a lovely time together on the Northern Beaches. He decreed that we would not be cooking a single meal so we went out or had takeaway every night. We ate everything from burgers to the delicious grilled octopus salad pictured above.

The dogs got a holiday too. DD fenced off his yard so they were safe and we took them on lots of walks – they even went to a bar one night to soak up the ambience.

I have decided that I really want to live on the Northern Beaches one day. I love it up there.

However, after driving to work from there, plus deciding to drive to Marrickville one afternoon to go to a party – both trips took 90 minutes one way – I have resolved not to move to the Northern Beaches until I stop commuting.

But the Bob Hawke evening was worth the trip – it’s awesome, such a fun place.

I was there because Hawke’s Brewing Co was celebrating its Marrickville headquarters – the Bob Hawke Beer & Leisure Centre and Chinese-Australian bistro The Lucky Prawn – moving to seven days trading. They commemorated the moment by unveiling the biggest golden prawn in the Southern Hemisphere.

The statue even has mechanical, waving arms! You can read more about it here.

In other big news, DD and I have decided that when I move to the Northern Beaches we will not be sharing a bedroom (we might not even share a house). We lasted about three nights together during my visit.

I woke up early one morning and edged my hand out to get my phone to write last week’s blog post. I tapped away still and silent for 45 minutes then realised I couldn’t hear DD breathing.

I looked over my shoulder and fortunately he wasn’t dead, he’d just moved to another bedroom. That night I moved out of his room and into one of the spare ones.

And we happily co-habitated in that fashion for the rest of my visit. We are both restless sleepers and like our own space at night.

DD has been a huge help with the move. Yesterday he came over to install my new dishwasher, as the one in the apartment was broken.

He really likes my new place. Though he was looking a bit shattered by the 44 steps up and down to the garage by the end of his visit.

I can’t do the big reveal of the apartment yet because there are still boxes and crap everywhere. Oh, and there’s no furniture. But stay tuned.

In other news, we celebrated my nephew’s 21st birthday over the weekend with an extended family teppanyaki dinner and a big, fancy dress bash at his dad and stepmum’s place

I rounded out the weekend by having dinner with some of the Justice for Kathleen Folbigg team ahead of the second inquiry kicking off today. That’s another stay-tuned situation … it’s going to be epic.