The house hunters

We've been scanning the websites for weeks now, know all the suburb names by heart and enjoy sitting around with the calculator trying to figure out whether we can afford the townhouse in Waramanga that comes with gas cooking and a dryer. During the day, at seemingly random times, there are inspections, so I drive off to look at apartments. Beginning to give up on anything around the $240 mark. It is either complete shit, or nicish but incredibly tiny.

Going to see a granny flat for $250 this afternoon. Have strong misgivings about the idea of living in a granny flat. I'm guessing that means that the owners live in the house in front of the granny flat. If that is the case, I will feel very uncomfortable. I will see how private it is and whether it has separate access and outdoor area. Don't want to feel like I'm sitting in someone's garden. Couldn't they at least have called it a unit?

Don't know yet whether we've been accepted for the places we applied for on Monday, of course. Drove out to Hawker today to inspect an apartment. People were still living in there, though not home. Thoroughly depressing. Got lost driving there and got lost again on the way home. I decided to try a different way back to where we are staying that I thought would be quicker. Now, I'm not quite sure how this happens, but it seems to happen to me a lot here, but I take a turn off, follow the signs in what appears to be the right general direction, and end up exactly where I started. Today I jumped off a major road (built like a freeway with exit ramps, etc), took the bridge over the top of it, took several rights and several lefts, and came out.... entering the very same freeway a couple of hundred metres further along- I didn't even know I crossed back over (or under it) again. Then I jumped off again at the next exit, went under the freeway again, and finally found the road I was looking for.

Yesterday it happened to me too. I was looking for a petrol station, missed the turn off I wanted, took the next one with the intention of going around the block, ended up driving past the Dutch and German embassies and pretty much back on the same road, without having located the petrol station. All the roads twist and curve around so much that I lose all sense of direction.

Well, see you, better go inspect the granny flat...

Chaos theory

Actually I know nothing about chaos theory, but it seemed to reflect how I feel about the last few days.

My internet server was down for about 24 hours, and when I finally got back online on Friday, there were two emails there from my mum. The first said that my brother Leon was almost arrested as a burglar after prowling around the streets in a ninja costume for his end of year 10 hi jinx. It also mentioned that my cat Coffee, who is temporarily residing with Mum, hadn't come in that night. The second email said "Coffee is still not back, haven't seen her for two nights, have called the microchip people and given them my number, and will put up posters around the area, and notify local vets to keep an eye out for her. Has she ever disappeared for this long before?"

Actually, I don't think she's ever disappeared for more than a few hours before, so I was feeling pretty frieked. Although she is independent spirited, and distrustful of strangers, she likes plenty of affection from people she knows (and she's stayed with my mum for long periods before) and doesn't stray far from home.

That afternoon I picked Scott up from work and told him that she was missing. We had been planning on going to inspect an apartment, so we drove down to Mawson around quarter to five. In Canberra, they don't give out keys or give guided tours. They advertise on the internet "Open house: 5-5.15pm" and you have to rush through the place with a dozen other people or you don't have a chance of getting it. It was a very attractive top floor (level 4?) apartment with a balcony and I was quite enamoured of it. However, when I asked the real estate agent whether they would take pets, she said no. I took a deep breath and admitted that I wasn't actually sure whether I still had a pet.

We got in the car and drove about 100 metres before it conked out. We were actually in a slight hurry, because we had to get to the electoral office to vote in the Victorian elections (where we are still registered) before it closed at 6pm. That was our last chance. Scott looked over at me: "Did you put in any petrol?". oops. Petrol gauge only works about a third of the time, so I usually just fill it up regularly. Unfortunately, I depend on driving past petrol stations and thinking "that's a good idea" but in Canberra, petrol stations seem to be hidden away in back streets that I haven't yet had the fortune to drive through.

We had spotted one down by the Mawson shops (but we'd been on foot at the time, so hadn't dropped in to fill up). So, we walked down the hill to the petrol station, bought a can of petrol and walked back up. Looked at the can, looked at the car, realised that all we were going to achieve was to slop petrol down the side of the car without a funnel. Scott was about to head back down the hill to the servo, but I said "wait" and opened the boot with vague ideas that there might be something I could use. All that was in the boot was an xray of Scott's knee. It doesn't normally live in our boot, but the removalists had failed to pack it, so it got shoved in the boot with the rest of our junk, and ignored when we unpacked the boot. In case you ever find yourself caught in a similar situation, an xray, rolled into a funnel, is excellent for putting petrol into a car.

Drove back to the servo to return the can and put in more petrol, then drove to civic in a race against time to vote in the Victorian state election. We lost the race. We failed to vote, in the full knowledge that our vote doesn't count anyway, as we are registered in the safest labor seat in Australia. If they try to give us a fine, do you think they will believe us about the petrol and the xray?

Went home in exhaustion and waited for the phone to ring. Would our pet reappear?

Saturday morning we went out to Queanbeyan to inspect a place, as we'd heard that rent was much cheaper. We walked around the smelly, musty apartment, observed the two person (standing room only) balcony, the miniscule bedrooms, depressing view, the funky, disgusting kitchen and the stained bathtub and shower nozzle that would only come up to Scott's chest. Scott looked at me and raised his eyebrows "No brainer?". I nodded, refused a rental application form from the agent and went down the stairs. It was $180 per week. The same as our gorgeous house in Reservoir. I was gutted.

Back to Mawson to look at another place. It was pretty depressing too, though bigger, and with a courtyard. On the other hand, they will apparently consider people with pets, and the carpet, paint, stove, bath, vanity and curtains are all going to be replaced with new ones by next week. So we are going to apply. Wish us luck. ($270- ouch).

Spent the afternoon snoozing through the cricket. I had not slept well, as I had been plagued with dreams about my cat and woken at 3am and not been able to sleep. In the first dream, we were inspecting an apartment when a dying, emaciated Coffee came through the door. She also had a clone, so there were two of them. Although the apartment rules were "no pets" I raided the cupboards and fridge and found some food to feed Coffee and the Coffee clone, and they quickly gained energy and curled up to sleep on the couch. I worried that the owners might complain about the cat fur.

In the second dream, my friend Emma came over and asked that if Coffee didn't come back, could she have first dibs on the left over pet food for her cat Rain. I was very upset with her and ran very quickly down a mountain.

All day Saturday there was no more news, she hadn't been seen for three nights and hadn't touched her food. We contemplated the possibility of her attempting to go home from Mt Evelyn to Reservoir, being catnapped, lost or stuck in a tree or hit by a car and dying in a ditch. I was very upset, and by 10.30pm, Scott needed a break from his crying, distraught wife, and begged to be allowed to go to the pub. 20 minutes later, a call came from my mum to say that Coffee had just stalked through the door, looking a little dusty and skinny, but none the worse for wear. She apparently scoffed down a plate of food Leon gave her.

I called Scott, he cracked up laughing and then I washed my face, got changed and went down to the pub to join him.

Moving into our nation's capital

"Our nation's capital"- Sounds very impressive for a largish country town I think. Mind you, the other day I had to quickly pull over to answer my mobile, and suddenly realised I'd parked smack inbetween the US embassy and the French embassy.

We got here Monday at 1pm, and are staying in a tiny apartment that is across the road from Parliament house- one street south of there, actually. If you remember, it was stinking hot that day, (as it has been every day since- weird to think it was snowing last week!). We went grocery shopping, had a nap and settled in that afternoon. In the evening we went for a drive to one of the suburbs we've been considering moving into- it has lots of blocks of flats, is comparatively cheap, and close to work and the city. We drove past the shopping mall (Southlands), parked the car to take a look around and what do you suppose we found??? A baseball ground. (Picture Scott in seventh heaven). Actually, there is quite a bit of nice parkland around, which is particularly handy if you are living in a block of flats. The shopping mall was nice too. Two second hand bookshops, discount liquor, far too many hairdressers, little outdoorsy cafes, a cheap greengrocer, etc. Also found that meat and veg in the woolworths there is a third of the price of the supermarket in trendy Kingston that we shopped at yesterday.

Tuesday, Scott started work. The Commission is only a five minute drive from here, 7 minutes in peak hour traffic. I did some study in the morning and in the afternoon I went down to Woden plaza. Apparently, at these apartments, their idea of "internet access" (as advertised in the brochures) is limited to the presence of a phone jack in the apartment. So I had to find a prepaid dial up internet starter kit. I thought I'd try the telstra shop and get a bigpond one, but the guy there said they didn't stock them (although they do apparently exist), raised an eyebrow at me and asked scornfully why I wanted dial up. I put him in his place by saying I was only going to be living in the apartment for a month, so I wasn't too keen on a 24 month contract. He said to try Dick Smiths.

Last night we went for a drive up Red Hill, where there is a beautiful view of the city. There was a couple sitting up there drinking glasses of red wine. We thought: "What a good idea! We just bought a cask and it's in the boot." Then realised we had no glasses. I don't mind drinking from a bottle when the occasion calls for it, but even I couldn't come at the idea of drinking directly out of a cask. Came home and sat in the garden (a big garden with picnic benches shared by all the apartments) and had a glass of wine, read the paper and ate a green Thai curry. Very nice. I could get used to this.