I am now living in my flat and it feels like home already. It feels right. The move has not been without its hiccups, particularly as the removalists turned up in the small truck. I’d provided a full list of stuff to move, however the truck could only take most of the furniture and a few of the boxes. The furniture was moved a week and half ago with all the boxes a few days back.

The first thing I did was construct my bed, closely followed by net access. The Unwired modem I had for the old place has been useful as it means I have uninterrupted net access. I am looking forward to returning to proper ADSL once more as the wireless fluctuates more than I’d like. I’m actually looking at a naked ADSL connection which means I don’t have to pay for a phone line, thus relying on my mobile for regular calls.

On the weekend, some friends helped me move in the rest of the boxes ie all the books. My loungeroom is no longer quite so empty, though it still feels spacious despite the appearance:

I moved the microwave over last week, however I didn’t find its tray til last night. I spent the intervening week polishing bookcases. I popped into the local hardware shop and asked the chap there for advice on timber polishers. He recommended a good polisher which I tested on one bookcase. The results were great so I proceeded to do the rest and they’re all looking much, much better.

These bookcases are over 40 years old and were built by my grandfather as a wedding present to my parents. They’re still in pretty good nick. There is one bookcase however that is a little run down. As near as I can work out, this was the bookcase my grandfather built for dad when he went to bible college. Needless to say, dad did not look after it as well as he might :-)

I had an interesting experience with the stove last week. Knowing I had a gas stove, I had bought a fire lighter. Turning the knob and pointing the lighter in the right direction achieved nothing. Read the manual a few times, still no clue. Rang gas company and they said they’d send someone out. Stayed home all day but gas techie didn’t show.

While on hold to the gas company the next day, I read the manual yet again. Toward the back of it, I came across the term “automatic ignition” and a couple of instructions and had a d’oh! moment:

“You turn the knob to the flame position and push it down til it ignites.”

Voila! Turns out, as a child safety feature, the gas doesn’t flow until you push the ignition. One of those times I was glad I was on hold and was able to cancel the techie. As my boss commented, it’s just as well the techie didn’t make it out as it would’ve been rather embarrassing :-)