Oh, if the name sounded relaxing and recuperative, I'd like you to think twice.
It's actually the street name of our new house, and it only spells disaster and loads of troubles when it comes to moving new houses. So, it all started when I got back to Australia.
It. Was. Scorching. Hot. None like any other hot weather I have ever experienced in Australia, and those that remained in Australia throughout the summer had claimed that it was one of the hottest days. Hell. Imagine my discomfort after alighting the plane, with all the jet lag and that depleted stamina. I could only stay in my friend's house for the day and frankly speaking, it was really uncomfortable, and it's not their house is at fault. That night I had to sleep on the floor, yes, with just a superbly thin comforter which you can find on an airplane (with pillow oh god thank goodness). Not to mention a whole forehead of continuous sweating. However I still have them to thank for, as in for taking us in. I slept in pretty early, but in all honestly I couldn't sleep, I was actually waken up by a sudden stroke of heat. I was sweating. Badly. There and then I realized I really couldn't do this. I went downstairs and sorta get a drink and chill while figuring how am I suppose to spend the night.
This, you have got to believe me. Somehow, there's a voice at the back of my head just whispered to me "Lester, remember? You have a fan." AH! The joy in realizing that! I immediately ransacked my properly sealed boxes of stuffs that I have left in their living room last year, and recovered the fan. OH, thank god! The night was a ton better with that fan. Although it was dry still, at least it stopped my sweating to a significant amount. The next few nights were so much better with the change in weather, and I moved downstairs to occupy my friend's queen sized bed with another friend.
Until the next major move, I sorta filled the days with Starcraft 2. Hell, I think I improved by NOT playing for over an extended amount of time. Oh, did I also mention my class had already started? And that I miss the first lecture, on the first day because it was raining. Oh c'mon, it's not like I skipped one for the sake of skipping one. Besides, we actually went shopping for some stuffs for our house. Washing machine, bread toasters, vacuum cleaner and furniture are to be named. We already plan to hire a van and drive on our own after making those purchases, because paying delivery for both Harvey Norman and Ikea is unwise. Plus, we had to move our own boxes and belongings. It all started at Harvey Norman. Somehow, I just feel like God has been very kind to me, and I'm starting to oversee all the hardships he had me encounter. One of my housemate, JiaYean , her brother had a friend who worked in Harvey Norman - discounts!
We picked several of the items of our choice, and head to look for her. Apparently she's placed at a HM booth outside of the store, whilst still being in the mall. She had the desktop to issue invoices and prices, so she did so. At nearly the price of the original cost of the item. She was really nice, and to top it off, she even made us coffee using Nespresso which is like insanely expensive. With the invoice, we made the payment first and have it collected another day. That, and we scouted Ikea and noted the items of our choice so we could make haste with our purchases the day we got the van. That being said, I did check whether Ikea provide storage services, apprently they don't, unless with a charge. Meh.
So, if I'm not mistaken, it was last Wednesday. When all hell broke loose. The plan was to hire a van on Thursday, however I was waken up by a phone call by JiaYean that Ikea has 30% sales on god knows how many items, and we're guessing our items would have a chance of getting discounted. (Just FYI, none of our stuff had discount). So I had to quickly get up the bed and get ready to rent the van because they were already on the way back from campus. I had to call HM and the van rental place to check for their availability. Well, that would be my first time driving a van. Although it was auto, 10% of myself actually wanted to drive manual just for the thrill. Heck, driving is serious business so I stuck to auto. HM was cake, we arrived at the HM warehouse and grabbed the washing machine. Then head over to Ikea (which HM is in the same mall as well).
This is the very interesting part. I had four items to grab in terms of furniture. A chair, a bed frame, a mattress and lastly the bed support plank. Chair and support plank was in abundance. The bed frame and mattress ran out completely. I swore I cried inside myself. The next jump from the bed frame was around $39 to around $139, so was the bed, which is a hike of around $60. "Who gives a shit about bed frame aesthetics, the bed is meant for sleeping, I'm just a student! I'm suppose to save!". I requested the staffs to help check for any existing stock and explained my predicament that I have the van only for today. One tried, the other couldn't be bothered. Bitch. So unsure about whether the other staff would actually check, I decided to stay there for a moment. Until my senses told me to give it up and look for alternatives. I was really reluctant, but I had to. I mean, what choices do I have? So then I started looking for another mattress, and the moment I picked one and about to leave the shelves, something caught my eyes. Two mattresses magically appeared on the shelf. I approached it doubtfully, and checked the code.
JOY. IN IT'S PUREST FORM. Oh man! I caught a glimpse of a staff pushing a huge trolley away and I presumed they placed it back due to customer's change of mind. "Thank you God!" was all that in my mind. However, the storm's not over yet. I still have my bed frame to be worried about. So I did the same thing, however more willingly since I've got the good deal of getting a decent and cheap mattress. God bless that man that heard my cry and dire request. He came back with loads of the bed frames, which he actually did go to unpack extra for me and another China dude who requested the same thing. I thanked him, but he seemed to be very preoccupied with loading the frames onto the shelves. I really wanted to extend my gratitude, really, but I'd look like an idiot. So I could only walk past him after the simple "Thank you so much" and pray silently for him.
Well, that's that for the day, we dropped what we could at our new house and called it a day. Next day was pretty frantic and hectic as well, as we were rushed by the due time of 12pm and at the same time having the need to do grocery and grab winter quilts and bedsheets at a mall. We exploited the van to its fullest it seems, buying all heavy items for grocery such as rice etc. The unloading was hurried as well. However we still manage to get everything done, just taxed our body's stamina that's all. It was worthwhile really, at least we get to save a lot of money,
Moved in yesterday, including today we've done cleaning for the total of 2 days. That includes a lot of vacuuming and cleaning. The previous tenants were nice to arrange and pay for carpet steam cleaning with their own expenses. That is my room thus far, and I'm missing a study table as you can see. Getting one from a friend this Thursday. House's pretty cozy and huge, rental's relatively cheap as well. I think everything is still tentative until this Thursday where I had to drive a van again, this time down the city, to fetch sofas and tables and beds for the rest of us. A lot of adjustments and arrangements had to be made, but that's expected. Everything went pretty smooth actually. Again, I have God to thank for.
Guess that's that for today, next time would be an upload to be facebook with a video of a tour of the house and perhaps more pictures! Hopefully this weekend, and hopefully I could get a trip down a beach going this weekend as well. Oh and the Yarra Valley vineyards, ah.
