Recently in Stuff that Happened Category

It's a boring rant, but I need to vent, then I will move on.

I finally got the bond back on my previous place on Monday. I wasn't keen on posting about the whole ordeal until I had it.

A couple of issues simultaneously made living at my old place a nightmare. There is an issue with a tree (noxious weed species) in the back courtyard that drops berries for 6 months of the year, rendering the courtyard, and particularly the clothes line, unusable. I had been trying to get my former landlord's agent (let's call them FLA - no, I won't name the agency) to act on removing the tree for 18 months, but at the inspection I had in July, I was told to put it in writing. I pointed out that I had, *twice*. I got only a sarcastic comment in return. I would have thought a business dealing with written correspondence should provide a written response. Writing to the FLA results in a black hole. Oh, and don't bother ringing them, they tell you to put it in writing. The same day that this occurred, my immediate neighbour made a complaint about the tree (without knowing about the exchange I had just had) to the owner's corporation. Cue the FLA black hole...

The inspection also set off another chain of events - the FLA did not communicate anything to me at any time, but sent two tradesmen to make quotes on the carpet and replacing a vanity unit and the toilet cisterns. The complete lack of communication meant I had to come to the worst-case scenario of what would happen next - that the place would be put up for sale. This made me very uneasy, and it was at this point I found my new (current) place, but I had to wait a month before I could move. I ended up putting in writing to the FLA that no tradespeople could enter the property, since nothing had been communicated to me (to stall until I could put in my notice). That went into the black hole too - they didn't even communicate to at least one tradesperson what was going on, and I had to tell him.

Another issue that continued to grind away in the background was a particular 'problem' neighbour. She is legendary for her need to come over and 'chat' such that you cannot get rid of her for three hours. There's more to it than that, this is the short version. For much of the time I lived at my previous place, the blinds on the front window were permanently shut. Problem neighbour was causing more than average grief in the block near the end (and since I left).

There's all those little things that build over time - the place was impossible to heat or cool, received very little sunlight, I was knocked back on keeping a cat, the carpet was knackered, and on it goes. And the rent had risen steeply within the first 18 months I lived there. For the same money I was expecting the rent to rise to (now proven), I could have... exactly what I have now - a free-standing house closer to work.

The weekend before the removalists moved most of my belongings was very stressful. I discovered that the driveway was more of an issue than I had thought when I had inspected the place a month earlier. I could not get my car into the garage, and put a dent in the side of car to prove it, as well as putting myself and the car into a situation in which I was in fear of my life! My parents visited, and I had help from them in moving some of my belongings. My Father got their 4WD stuck half-way up the driveway at one point. It was not pleasant. Thankfully, when the removalists came in, it all ran relatively smoothly. The only damage was a dent in the microwave (which had been damaged moving to Armidale in 2003 anyway - Yay! I now own a dedicated dyeing microwave!).

I cleaned the old place out - leaving it cleaner than when I moved in, as usual. I had a professional carpet cleaner come in (despite suspecting the carpet would be ripped up) as I'm fairly certain FLA had the carpet cleaned a second time after the tenant before me. I did not have time to attend the final inspection as I was deep in exam marking that I was running late with. FLA sent a list of what they were not happy with. It ranged from items that were not clean when I moved in, to the petty (the toilet roll holder being dusty was my favourite!). They clearly went looking for issues (they picked up that I had cleaned the outside of the front window but not the inside - that was because of the 'problem' neighbour trying to 'catch up' with me!). I had no energy to either try cleaning what they wanted or to engage in argument, so I paid what they said a cleaner would cost to do it (especially as what was quoted was probably half what I thought it would really cost). Their final parting gift (or not, can't prove a thing of course) was to leave the last digit off my back account details so that the rental bond board was unable to return my bond (hence my only getting it this week). Charming. Pleased to be rid of you, FLA!

My former immediate neighbour rang me on Monday. The vanity unit or the toilet cisterns were only installed on Monday - the tradesman turned off the water to the wrong unit - while she was in the shower! The carpet was replaced, the tree is still there... And despite my arrangement for any addressed mail to be collected by her (only unimportant stuff as I have a PO Box), the 'problem' neighbour has got hold of it! I lodged a mail redirection with Australia Post yesterday to end that!

I actually have sympathy for the owner of my previous home - I suspect she is not aware of what has been going on, particularly with the tree (the owner's corporation are unable contact her to deal with her directly), and is presently out of pocket at least a month's rent (and the place has been advertised for the past fortnight for a new tenant without success!).

It is much better now it is over. I'm loving the easier trip to work, the neighbours being a bit further away than right on top of me, and the cat is now legal. (Cat? She gets a post of her own. Next time.)

It has been a bit quiet here on the blog, and it is likely to be that way for the next month or so. As those who follow me on Twitter would already know, I am moving house soon. This has been a very long time coming. It has been about a year, on and off, as you may be aware from my post back in January. Several 'issues' simultaneously came to a head towards the end of the school holidays and spurred me into find somewhere to move to NOW without continuing to try schedule moving around school terms.

It is really quite crappy timing as I have lots of marking in this school term. And marking is almost always the part of my work I can never squeeze into the working week. HSC trials are in progress now (those exam papers will hit my desk on Monday) and Year 11 sit their exam the day before I move and Year 10 the day after I move (in about four weeks' time). Throw in a Year 11 task that I will have to mark this weekend, and a Year 7 task somewhere in between the rest, and life is anything but a party! But I shall survive - especially as I have found somewhere very nice to move to. Surprisingly, unlike the many houses I looked at before, it's a very normal house. And there is plenty of room for my ever-growing fibre stash and collection of books.

The packers and removalists are booked, time off work arranged, and just some of the smaller details are left to be sorted. It's just a matter of knuckling down and getting on with it. Sadly, this means no time for my usual weekend knitting groups for a while, since my time is taken up either with school work, or sorting my stuff and packing it, or the necessary cleaning that comes with ending a tenancy.

It will be so good to get to the other side.

Yesterday was World Wide Knit in Public Day. It was also the day I rostered myself on the Guild stand at the Craft and Quilt Fair. Both were at Darling Harbour, so I spent the whole day there, immersed in crafty goodness.

The morning passed in a flash. I sat and spun at the Guild stand for more than four hours with few breaks as I hardly noticed the time. I spent about half that time spinning singles of the English Leicester/Kid Mohair/Bamboo roving and about half plying a full bobbin of two ply. Most of the usual interest and questions from people who came by. A number of Ravelers happened to come by and I got to put some names to faces. As I wanted to finish plying the full bobbin and not stop part way, it was after 1.30pm before I packed up my spinning wheel. I did a quick whip around a few stalls I wanted to visit, and bought some Habu silk wrapped stainless steel. I can't wait to knit that in front of some muggles!


It was hard work getting out of the Craft Fair and over to WWKIP day at the Bayside Lounge carrying a backpack, bag and my spinning wheel. I was late to the Bayside Lounge, arriving at something like 2.15pm - long after the problem of 50+ knitters and only 25 chairs had been sorted (they were told to expect 75 people - clearly knitting skeptics...). I was shocked that I was 71st to arrive! The total tally was 80 knitters. There were knitters inside:



And knitters outside:


I wound the yarn off the bobbin onto my niddy noddy, counted it for length then put it away. My fingertips were cold and numb from plying for so long in a cold down draft from the ventilation system in the exhibition hall, so I didn't want to do any more spinning. I wanted to knit but I was so tired and spent so much time talking (Yeah, surprising. Not.) that I barely knit a thing: maybe three rounds on my sock? Shortly after the prizes were drawn, I packed up and made my way home, completely exhausted.

This morning I have had out my sewing machine. I turned one of the two WWKIP day bags I bought into a drawstring project bag big enough for a large project. I've been using other bags borrowed from other purposes, and I much prefer a drawstring bag to keep everything for a project together. While I had the machine out, I made a second bag from the last of the Knitting Chickens fabric I bought a couple years back (I wish now that I'd got some of the accompanying fabric with the actual Knitting Chickens on it). So all my WIPs now have their own drawstring bag and some other bags have gone back to their original purpose.



While the camera was out, I photographed all the WIPs. There are Noro socks I shouldn't be knitting since the River Rapid sock still remains without a partner. I hate the colour and the yarn, but it is doing the Noro thing I so like with the stripes. I'm mid-turning-the-heel already.



A Revontuli shawl in the alpaca/merino handspun:



And the much neglected cardigan, even though I'd love to be wearing it right now:



And the English Leicester/Kid Mohair/Bamboo yarn is drying after setting the ply.


There's still more singles on the bobbins ready to ply, and a quarter of the rovings yet to be spun, so this skein is only about a quarter of the resulting yarn. The intention is that it will become an Ishbel, even though that pattern has gone viral. It's damn pretty.

If you were really quick (or use the feed), you might know that I started an update of the blog software yesterday. That post (didn't at the time of this post, but does now) exist anymore. Basically, I broke the blog. It's okay - I restored the database and started over - and even made some progress forward (in that I actually have templates now). I need to rewrite the templates to massage the blog back into something resembling what I want it to look like. Until then, I apologise for the mess (I still need to manually reset some templates, hence the mashed look of some pages), the broken links and anything else it does while I sort it out.

And thank you, Movable Type, for making this such an easy process... Ahem.

Sorry about the mess... I'm in the process of upgrading the blog software - it's long overdue. It will take a few days or so to fix the templates (I'm having to start over) and anything else that has broken.