Last Friday, at 10 am, we received the keys to our new house, on a day that was threatening to rain heavily. And it did, torrential rain.
For those people who live in England, you will be happy to know that there are glitches in all systems. The banks in South Australia are notoriously slow in processing mortgages, especially completion of mortgages. Therefore our house sale could not be completed last Friday, due to the sellers' bank not finalising the payment of their mortgage. But here there is a way around that, in that the buyers, providing they have the ready money or mortgage in place, and the house is vacant, can move into the house. We had to sign papers to say that, as the buyers, we would be responsible for all damage to the house, and that we had taken out insurance on the house. This arrangement is called 'Leave to occupy'. Thank goodness, there is this flexibility.
So we took over our house, last Friday, although it was not completely our house yet.
Lucy and me, standing in front of the house.
After we were given the keys, we toured the house and gardens, and looked in all the nooks and crannies. So exciting.
Walter and Lucy standing in front of the pool, feeling very cold. It started raining not long after this photograph was taken.
Our little gift from the estate agent, a basket containing McLaren Vale assorted nuts, biscuits and chocolates. Obviously our house was not expensive enough to warrant a bottle of good red wine and Riedel glasses. Donna and Patrick received this as a gift from the estate agent when they purchased their last, and much more expensive, house. Still the gift was a thoughtful touch. There was also a card from John and Jennie in England, which was a lovely surprise.
The afternoon was eventful by all accounts. First it rained heavily, all afternoon. And it was cold. I drove to Glenelg to collect some of our new acquisitions from Donna and Patrick's house. As I was unsure which button was for the garage door, I decided to pull the red cord which disengaged the electric element from the door. The trouble was, no matter how hard I pulled the cord in the opposite direction, following the directions on the label, I could not engage the door again, and therefore it would not lock. As I could not leave an unlocked house, Patrick, lovely man, came home from work early to fix the door, which he did, thank goodness.
In the meantime Walter was having problems at the house. He could not turn on the electricity, and ended up calling an electrician. After the electrician changed the earth leakage circuits on the board, and reconnected a broken wire connection in the back of the house, we had electricity again. Sigh of relief.
The previous owner, well at least the male part of the couple who owned the house, made many adaptions to the house which involved electrical points. We knew we needed to get them checked, but thought it would be later, not on the first afternoon. We think turning the power off, caused many of his electrical adaptions to malfunction.
No celebratory drinks on Friday night. We were too exhausted.
The next day, we were up bright and early, all ready for a day of assembling a couple of flat packed pieces of furniture and moving the rest of our new purchases into the house.
A welcome cup of coffee from our new coffee machine helped us get started on things. We now own four coffee machines, by the way.
We collected various family members together and started to assemble furniture, while Donna and I went food shopping for lunch and dinner.
New house, new owners and new toys equals problems. The television which came with the house would not work, but more about that later. We had trouble working out the flash double oven, and Donna and I could not put the drainage parts back in the dishwasher in the correct order. Luckily Patrick saved the day on both counts.
Just before dinner Walter cut his finger very badly on an overly sharp Aldi knife. We must make a complaint to Aldi, as their knives are far too dangerous. Walter was only carrying it to the bench when it happened. Anyway, Donna decided to take him to the local medical centre in Aldinga, due to the fact that the finger was bleeding badly, and Walter takes blood thinning tablets. Some of us were prepared to super glue the skin together, or put a plaster on it. Luckily Donna and Walter did not listen, as the cut needed seven stitches to pull the it together.
Now for those people who live in the UK, you will be very envious. The medical centre was a five minute car journey away, it was empty of patients and the treatment was bulk billed through Medicare and did not cost Walter a cent. They were only gone half an hour, and arrived back in time for dinner.
Some of the family, sitting around the extra long table, where we needed to shout down the table in order to get someone to pass the pepper and salt or ketchup. Roast potatoes, sausages and salad was not a bad scratch meal. My apologies to Patrick, who did not realise the photograph was being taken, and decided at that moment to take a mouthful of beer.
On Monday we decided to have a really good look at the house and its garden and appraise the work that needed to be done in order to make it into a perfect home for us.
We have arranged for someone come out and check the pool, the filter and the solar panels that heat the water for the pool. We were told how to do a few checks before the person comes out to the house. Checks such as turn on the water that goes through the solar panels, in order to check for leaks, and to find out when the sand was changed in the sand filter, and to check the water in the pool. I think we can manage this.
There is an enormous shed that runs along the edge of the property which has a large and nearly empty room in the centre. I thought a billard table would be ideal for this area, but could not find any enthusiastic family members to help me buy a second hand billard table. They weigh a ton apparently, as the tables have slate tops or something that could be equally heavy. Wimps. So it will be a table tennis table that occupies this spot. Everyone agrees this is a much better option. They prefer table tennis, they said.
There is a winter pool cover, a bench and a mysterious machine, to me anyway, in the room. Apparently it is an air compressor. People who like to make and build things, would appreciate it, I am sure. What do I use it for? Pump my bike tyres up? Perhaps Walter may suddenly find an urge to potter around and use it for a project.
The 'man cave', the room at the end of the shed, used as a television room by the man of the house. It has an old type air conditioner and a heater in it. Dodgy electrics in this room, I bet. The grandchildren want to convert it into a cinema room.
The can crusher, a very useful addition, to an outside lounge area, once the bar that went with the dart board and the man cave.
I love the area behind the man cave. the air conditioner well protected from the elements by a lean to construction.
There is also a water tank here, and an empty compost bin, home at the moment to spiders, probably red backs, but I have plans for this area. Once I build up the soil, it will be an ideal vegetable patch. And no, I will not be cultivating my own little patch of marijuana, in this secluded and hidden away little corner. Definitely not.
The other end of the shed contains the pool equipment, the garden tools and Walter's tools when they arrive. We paid $100 for a lawn mower, a strimmer and a leaf blower/vacuum, all petrol driven and far too big for us. Beware all the very tall grandchildren.
In the corner of the garden there is a Norfolk pine, not one of my favourite trees. We had a stunted one in our backyard at Henley Beach, and they also lined the Esplanade. The sun disappeared behind one of them in the winter time. But perhaps this one will be useful as it could stop the sun as it is setting, on those very hot days in summer.
The back verandah with its wooden pergola, has pool security gates on either side of the house. We are not feeling particular happy about the pool security with gates and back door apparently self closing and handles too high for little fingers plus window screens that are locked. There are two pool compliance reports, one organised by the previous owner, and one done by the person we hired to inspect the house. They differ as to how compliant the house currently is, which is not entirely satisfactory. We think that we will put in a pool safety fence which will stretch from the shed, along the edge of the grass and then up onto the gazebo. This way the house will be completely separate from the pool area.
Some of the pergola is covered by a plastic roof, all rather tacky but easily fixed by using some of the new roofing materials out on the market. Or we get a new back verandah. Sadly the planter barrels will have to go, if we choose to put in pool fencing along the edge of the grass.
The other security gate, or rather a security door, which is the entry to the pool area on the other side of the house. At the moment if this door closes when you go through it there is no escape as the gate is locked at the other end. Panic will set in, unless someone knows you are there. The door handle is on the pool side of the door.. Scary.
The large and roomy outdoor kitchen, and behind those cupboard doors ...... there is nothing. The owner kept the wood for his chiminea in there. Great entertaining area though.
I think there were grand plans for this sink which never materialised, so no water and no drainage. Camping strategies needed here I think.
We love this huge outdoor area, facing sort of east, not sure exactly if it is south east or north east. We also have flashing coloured lights around the edge of the eaves. The same type of flashing lights are around the gazebo and the sitting area outside the shed. They could be the Crows colours, Andreena. A little difficult because the rest of the family are Port followers. Aussie rules football.
We inherited quite a few little Greek objects for the wall.
Darren's Toyota Celica looks very good in the garage. At the moment we are filling it with cardboard boxes, for him to get rid of for us.
The neighbours have a lemon tree, and many of the lemons are conveniently hanging over the fence. I must get to know these neighbours.
Oh dear, our mermaid fountain does not work. One of the victims of dodgy electric wiring. Another job for the electrician.
It is fantastic to have a huge driveway. Such luxury.
We have a park one house away. Really lovely.
This is the television we inherited with the house. No football last Saturday afternoon due to the television having no picture. Naturally I accused Walter and Patrick of lifting it from the wall to see what was behind it. On Monday, we rang a television person, who found the answer in five minutes. There was an electric booster plugged into the socket in the spare bedroom and it was turned off. So we paid a bit more money, and got a new aerial with its own booster in it, and now we have the best reception ever on the television. All ready for the football this coming Saturday.
Lounging on the outside suite, destined for the gazebo. At the moment it is all we have in the lounge room, other then the television attached to the new aerial.
Apart from some dodgy electrical gadgets and outside electrical lights, and a need to improve the back verandah area, it is a lovely house, and very comfortable.
Today we were told that the sale of the house had finally been completed. It is definitely ours now.
So looking forward to moving in permanently.
However our furniture is still out on the high seas, but according to the firm receiving the container, the ship should be in Port Adelaide tomorrow. Then it will be ten to 14 days being processed through bio security, before delivery to our house. Hurray.
