A week without internet

This post is a bit of a tome so pour yourself a glass of wine...

On Tuesday December 12th we met at the house with our builder and our realtor for a final inspection and to create a list of deficiencies. It was so nice to see the house all finished, even bug screens had been installed. Mr. Parhar, the land developer and builder, gave us an organized tour of the house pointing out all the features included in the construction. The house looks wonderful, and only a couple of things needed some adjustment. After we walked through we were told that over time we will find that certain things can do with some tweaking and we were to let him know right away so things would be to our complete satisfaction. Everybody at the Parhar Group has been very helpful with our questions and concerns over the last two months finalizing this construction.

The Somenos Marsh is a great place to take some time out and look at the wild life...

We went back to our B&B feeling completely content in the knowledge that this would be our best home ever! Our notary public informed us that all the paperwork was in place and there was no need to do any more checking around and the final monies could be paid out to the builder. We gave the go ahead and the next day we were informed by David, our realtor, that possession had been granted a day early. We went to the house and were given the keys. This came as a great surprise, and it was so much appreciated because we had quite a few balls to juggle. We took over a car load of artwork from the B&B and started shifting things over bit by bit. We bought a vacuum cleaner and started a deep clean of the carpets and floors, also the walls and window frames were given a good going over. There is always a lot of dust with new construction, this will continue for a while and is to be expected. Besides, the house isn't clean until Shelagh says it is!

Our Cube-It was delivered on time and we found it in perfect condition.

With the help of Sherri, the customer service representative at the Parhar group, we were able to hire a plumber and a gas fitter to hook up our kitchen. We were also provided with a phone number to a company that supplies labourers by the hour. We needed somebody to help us unload our container. Trevor came over on Saturday at 10:00 for four hours to help us unload and disperse our belongings throughout the house as we saw fit. He has worked as a professional mover for 13 years and can maneuver a piece of furniture through the house with great precision. His help was paramount in getting our furniture moved in efficiently. Within two hours the cube was empty and we were ready to shuffle some stuff into place. After that he helped me with the assembly of some of my IKEA Sten shelving in the garage so that I could get this space organized. By 13:15 I said so long to Trevor and we gave him a generous tip for his efforts. I could now concentrate on getting the garage in shape so the car can be out of the elements.

Meanwhile Shelagh went off to the Saturday market and stocked up on some of the things we have become quite fond of, sausages and meat pies etc. She also got our cell phone topped up. Once that was accomplished she got busy emptying boxes of kitchen stuff and got the cupboards and drawers organized. The kitchen will go through a few changes over time while she fine tunes the location of everything. So far it all looks very good with all my cooking stuff in places that make perfect sense. Bedtime was upon us and sleep came easy...

Sunday morning dawned with a slight nasal congestion and the fear of a cold setting in... Too much stress, we must take more breaks and slow down a bit, we are not young puppies anymore. After coffee and breakfast we got started unpacking some boxes. Soon I felt that Shelagh was more in control of this part, so I went to the basement to get the wine room sorted. I built the IKEA "Sten" shelves (bought these some 25 years ago) and got the room organized. The new wine room, or the cave as I like to call it, is much bigger than the previous one and I now have room for a large work surface to do my thing. Sadly I do not have a sink, or the possibility of installing one, so that will take a little getting used to. The downstairs bathroom will suffice. In the afternoon I got three wines started without any problem. So life is good. We went to the market and stocked up on veggies, then put our feet up and relaxed...

On Monday the unpacking continued. At times it became a bit overwhelming, so much stuff! We had sold off and donated a lot of things, but still the knick knacks and travel souvenirs kept coming. We have a very large closet in the basement where some of these things will have to be stored for the time being. Then, after six months or so, we will take a look at what has not yet found a new home and get rid of that. Late morning the Cube-it truck showed up and loaded the empty container and drove off. There was nothing to sign or do...

We made a trip to the municipal hall of North Cowichan to get some answers to questions like garbage and recycling pick up dates, property tax payment options and the like. A very helpful lady gave us printed copies of all the info we needed. We can now get rid of a pile of styrofoam packaging that surrounded our appliances. And a lot of cardboard, newsprint and plastic.

On Tuesday morning Shelagh was out of bed first, went to the window and said, "Oh my goodness! Peter take a look at this!" I got up and looked out to see five inches of snow on the ground and more coming down. We'll have a "Snow Day" and stay at home. Lots to do here... At about noon the snow turned to rain it became a typical west coast slush fest. When the rain became serious we went out to run some errands, the fridge was empty and that's not good. We also stopped at the Thunderbird Motel to check our e-mails etc. Our iPads still know their wifi password so that worked out well. This is when we noticed that our old Telus ISP was still billing us for service to the old house, so off we went to the local Telus store to have that problem solved. Nothing but excitement. Shelagh has been on the phone at length with Telus, mostly on hold, to close the old account, they are incredibly unorganized, the left hand knows not what the right hand is doing... Then to the store for a small grocery shop, some chicken, broccoli and mayo... (A life lived without mayo is a life half lived). And to the liquor store to buy some wine. I made a nice chicken curry with broccoli and rice and we have left overs for another dinner.

Wednesday started at 07:15. We had to be ready for a carpenter to install the mirror for the downstairs bathroom, two weeks earlier he had broken the original one. He was done in no time and as he was preparing to leave I asked him if he knew an electrician. He did, and he called his friend who would be able to hook up our dishwasher late afternoon the same day, we now have a dishwasher before Christmas! We will have him come back some day to install some dimmer switches etc.

We had a day of running errands and got some bills paid, then out for a nice lunch at our favourite pizza place, "Pizza Prima Strada" in Cobble Hill. We had some meatballs from the antipasti menu and ordered a spicy pizza, delicious, Shelagh has left overs… When we got back home I got busy downstairs to assemble our home theatre system. We bought new speaker cables, a slightly heavier gauge, to carry the sound better. Our old speakers still pack a punch! Shelagh got her closet reorganized with some new portable storage units. Slowly but surely the place is taking shape... 

Thursday up at the unChristian hour of 06:15 to be ready for Adrian, the Telus wifi installer. We showed him where I had set-up the televisions and after some chin scratching he went to work. We heard some sawing noises and goings on, but left him alone to do his thing. Not even two hours later he was done and ready to show us the set-up. Everything was in place. He set us up with new components and we are now on the latest and greatest fibre optic system available. The internet connection is blazing fast. We are happy campers. I made a simple lunch of tomato soup and crackers with cheese, and now we're off to do a major grocery shop.