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“A home without books is a body without a soul” (Marcus Tullius Cicero) 

Well what a week. The accumulation of things that have happened is quite truly staggering and in their own way a little bit crazy. In hindsight to get off a plane at 6.00am in the morning, to then pick up a moving van a couple of hours later, then for Claire to have an interview on the way to make our first drop off the same morning was probably a bit wildly optimistic. However, amazingly we managed it. And with very good results, our two houses were moved in 2 days with us finishing at 12.30am on Thursday morning after 6 exhaustive trips across the city. We cancelled the removalists we had booked just in case and fell into bed for one of the soundest sleeps ever. To think we both went back to work on Thursday morning too.

 Thankfully we thought to hire a stair trolley to help with this effort. We certainly wouldn’t have been able to move fridges and washing machines without it. I look at my arms today and can see the bruising from all the lifting but surprisingly I don’t really ache that much from it.

 I enjoyed driving quite a big van across the city and I liked the fact that people tended to move out of the way of it. Although this could just be a reaction to my driving which although I think is relatively good, might not be an opinion that is shared by everyone.

 I have to say it’s nice being back in the inner north of the city. Kensington is a beautiful suburb only a couple of stops from Southern Cross and an easy ten minute cycle into North Melbourne. It’s a part of the city I’m very familiar with and a part where I find the people are very easy to get on with. After our late night moving antics we decided it might be a nice thought to buy some chocolates for our next door neighbours and leave them in their letterboxes. The next day, one of them popped round to thank us and brought us some herbs from her garden, a nice thought. The other one we ran into later, who I’d met briefly when I was moving. She introduced her husband to us and let us know that she hadn’t heard a thing but we were always welcome to put chocolates in her letterbox!

 Another nice thing happened to, as I was unpacking the van on one of the loads. A woman walked past me down the street and asked if I was just moving in. I answered ‘yes’ and she said she lived round the corner and welcomed me to the neighbourhood. Their certainly seems like a nice community in the area we’ve moved to and the street seems full of residents who’ve been there quite a while.

 It’s also nice to actually have a house. I’ve lived in my fair share of apartments and units over the years and finally I have quite a bit of room, which is in fact, unusual in the inner city. The giant shed will certainly come in use for the relaunch of my home brewing operations which has taken a back seat so far this year. This beautiful three bedroom weatherboard although may not have been my first choice when we were looking but has felt like home from the moment I stepped into it. With its nice high ceilings, ornate cornices, fireplaces and modern renovated kitchen and bathroom it’s been a treat to fill it with our possessions. Home though of course isn’t necessarily about the building or the location it’s also about the person who fills that space with you and I’m very thankful for Claire’s willingness to relocate to the north of the city from her base in the south.

 We’ve had a few teething problems with things like an internet connection (when doesn’t this happen?). However we are close to sorting these out and of course now we’re into the exciting stuff, making new purchases to fill the house, re-joining my previous gym at Arden Street and getting to know our new area better.

 Although we still have a bit of work to do it’s nice to start the new week in our new home, to dream of all the exciting times to be had there, the warmth, the laughter and everything else we can bring to it.

 Oh and we do have a lot of books.

 IJS