No Internet over Christmas

It is very frustrating not to have Internet access. It takes 5-8 working days, and not many of them this time of year. I have escaped to an Internet cafe to check the most important things.
The move to Manly was very hard, but we are in and trying to unpack. Martin goes swimming several times per day and in the meantime we sit on the balcony admiring the view. There is nothing between us and Chile, South America. The building we moved to is very nice. In the city we lived in a block with many small units and young people who did not say hello and never seemed to stay very long. This building was built 1968. Very high quality. Everyone are very friendly.
Christmas eve we were invited for drinks at our next door neighbours. 4 hours later we exited having had a very nice evening.
Christmas Day we went to meet Asa from work and her dad who was visiting. We had a very pleasant afternoon and stayed longer than we planned, but just made the last ferry home.

Hurts everywhere (I really do appreciate my friends hard labour 8 years ago)

It has been so long since I moved house by myself, i.e. without a removal company.

History (skip by anyone easily bored, but read item 19)

1. MK - Sydney 2008, was done by a company sorted out by NSN and I was not even there (Martin was supervising)
   
2. London to MK 2003, was professional removers, but we packed most of it, but not in a day or two.
3. London (Soho) to London (Kings Cross) 2001, Hired 1 MAN & a Van - helped, but we did not have much in the flat
4. Cambridge to London (Soho) 2000, Borrowed the company van from Simoco. Bouncer from Night-club downstairs helped with tricky items (like a Swedish 200x160 cm wood framed bed which would not do very tight 90-degree corners), then the neighbours upstairs had a party and invited us and gave me a me a cranberry drink, probably something like a Cosmopolitan) but I was not trendy enough then - and still not am).
5. Cambridge to London (Kings Cross)2001, was done by an old guy half my size who could carry anything on his back.
6. Stockholm (Essingen) to Stockholm (Soder) 1999, by Martin and his friend Alistair, putting the sofa on the top of a very old Ford Escort - and other things as well.
   
7. Stockholm to Cambridge 1999, by professional removal company paid for by Simoco
   
8. KL to Stockholm 1998, professionals paid for by Ericsson
   
9. (Martin) Nanjing to Stockholm) 1997, paid for and organised by Ericsson
10. Nanjing to KL1996, very little stuff professionally removed, paid by Ericsson
    
11. Stockholm (Torsgatan) to Nanjing 1995, very little stuff, professionally removed, paid by Ericsson
    
12. (Martin) Stockholm to Nanjing, 1995. Professionally removed, paid by Ericsson
13. Stockholm (Torsgatan) into Storage 1995. Professionally removed, paid by Ericsson
    
14. (Martin) - Gamla Stan to Gotgatan 1995, organised and paid for by Ericsson
    
15. Guildford to Stockholm (Torsgatan) 1994. Professionally removed, paid by Ericsson
    
16. (Martin) - Alexandria VA to Stockholm (Gamla Stan) 1994, Packed by Martin, 3 cbm, Picked up and Paid by Ericsson)
    
17. Stockholm (Torsgatan) to Guildford 1992. Professionally removed, paid by Ericsson
    
18. (Martin) - Moved MK to Alexandria VA 1991 or 1992 not sure, Carry - on Luggage only
    
19. Stockholm (Asogatan) to Stockholm (Torsgatan) 1991). Professionally removed by all my friends and me. Thank you all so much! It was very much appreciated.
    
20. Linkoping (Hamngatan) to Stockholm (Asogatan) 1990, Cheap-ish professionals (I did not carry anything, but I got a free ride in the truck)
    
21. Linkoping (City - can't remember the adress) to Hamngatan 1989, did ourselves, but did not have much stuff
    
22. Linkoping (Ryd) to City 1989, did ourselves, but did not have much stuff
    
23. Linkoping (Ryd Student Room) to Ryd (apartment) 1989, did ourselves, but did not have much stuff
    
24. Linkoping (Tannerfors) to (Ryd Student Room) 1988, did ourselves, but did not have much stuff
    
25. Linkoping (Arbetaregatan to Tannefors) 1986, so close - carried it across tha road (I think)
    
26. U-V (Fresta) to Linkoping 1986, 0 we were 3 people leaving home, sharing the smallest truck available and helping each other
    
27. U-V (Skalby) to U-V (Fresta) 1977, I was only 8 so my parents did most of it. However I really wanted to have been allowed to sit at the back of the truck to help hold the 2m (6'8" cactus)

So, the point I am trying to make is, that the last time I packed up and was responsible for moving all my belongings was in 1991. Everyone I know then turned up to help. Having done it by myself with the help of Martin and a British back-packer found on Gumtree, I am very thankful, but also feel very old as I back hurt very much and we have another day to go!

CTP Green Slip

I finally received my Blue-slip for Little Car. This means he has passed the inspection, (MOT, Besiktning) and my next step is to get a CTP Green Slip. This is the Compulsory Third Party Insurance which I need to get before I can get him registered. Unfortunately the Blue Slip guy filled in the wrong model year (1963 instead of 1961) and I now have to get it re-issued. Ideally I need to get License plates by Monday when Martin will drive me up to Dural to collect Little Car.
I have been working out a suitable route, which is not the most straight forward one, but I feel it will be easier to drive back. Also I have no E-tag for Little Car, so cannot go on any of the toll roads.
Hopefully I can get the Green Slip tomorrow and after I have signed the new lease document for the apartment, I have the necessary proof of address needed for registration.
So Christmas with Little Car seems possible.

Eating out is not always fun

I ate out 3 times this walled glass, weekend. Friday lunch, Saturday lunch and Sunday lunch. It was all very bad, not sure why I am bothering.
Friday I went to Pirama just up the road from work. I had fillet of trout with chips and a glass of a glass of Verdehlo. No sure it can be called glass being only 150ml though. The trout was not properly cooked and the chips were luke warm and soggy.
Saturday we went to one of the pubs at Darling Harbour. I ordered a chicken wrap with pineapple without tomatoes and dressing. It came but the wrap had been sealed using mayonnaise so I could not eat it (why don't they state these things on the menu. Took out the chicken, lettuce and pineapple which I ate separately.
Sunday we went to the Frisco Hotel in Woolloomooloo, which had high ratings here: http://www.eatability.com.au/au/sydney/frisco_hotel
I think they probably wrote those themselves... To start with - there was no view. Then they did not have any English Ale, although it states outside on the red sign, they specialise in English Ale. They only had domestic cheap stuff which they only served in tiny little glasses. I ordered pizza, asking specifically about the tomato arrangement. I was told tomato meant real tomatoes, not tomato sauce and I therefore asked for it to come without. That did not work, it came without tomatoes but with too much tomato sauce to even begin scraping it off.
So I am going to cook my own food for a few days.

Cisra X-mas Party

Saturday was Martin's Christmas party, which was a bit more up-market than the NSN one we had in November. There was entertainment, speaches (by Japanese managers who knew very little english) and prizes to be won (mainly digital cameras - Cisra's main business is image research for Canon) and there was even a photo-booth for party-goers to take their pictures, in case they forgot what they were doing. We had to walk there and back but my feet, wearing party shoes survived. Martins colleauges seemed very nice.

Green light for Manly

So, we have green light for the apartment in Manly. We have found tenants for city pad (unfortunately they pay $150/w less than us - so we have to pay the difference) and our new landlord has accepted us. We just have to sign the contract, and the girls renting our current place has to sign theirs. Removal is booked for Monday 22/12 and I have enlisted two British back-packers to come and help with packing up our stuff.

We will now have plenty of space to receive any visitors and 50m to the beach. Read about Manly beach here:http://www.manlyaustralia.com.au/

Hopefully everything will work out now.

Dinner for Myself

Martin has gone off to a Christmas party, which I am not invited to, so I have the evening for myself. Not bad ;-)
As I had the this thinly sliced mega-long bacon left I decided to cook Sissi comfort food, i.e. Swedish fast-cook macaroni (imported by mistake) and make do bacon. It was very nice. I have only one more portion of macaroni left, so will save for next special occasion. You might think pasta is pasta, but these are special and I very much enjoyed it.
Friday is Sydney Newcomers Party
Saturday is Christmas Party at Martin's work
So better get into party-mode

It's going to be a chilly one

20-22 degrees just reported for tomorrow. The heading is the exact words from the weather-woman ;-)
I am not too un-happy. Two sleepless nights. I wake up automatically when it gets to 24 degrees. Turn on the A/C but have problems going back to sleep.
Thinking of you with snow ;-)

Books, books books

I started cataloguing my books on Google's bookshelf site: http://books.google.com.au/books?uid=14457350082791118126 to see what I actually have. I only did just under two shelves and got to 108, so I have no idea where I will end up. My idea was to export the list to Excel when finished, so that I can re-organise them into something useful when we move.
But as it seems like I have closer to 3,000 instead of the 1,000 or so I thought I had it will be a tedious task. Also, it does not look like I can export them to Excel after all.

Martin just called to inform me there was a fully decorated Christmas tree on his bus to work, which I think is a bit over the top. I used to have a small USB powered tree attached to my laptop, but it seems to have been lost moving here.

Proper Sunday Lunch

Martin expressed an interest in cooking a proper Sunday lunch today. Roast Lamb with a mix of roast potatoes, onions, carrots, leek, garlic and parsnip. I agreed but suggested we buy the food at the food hall at David Jones. I really like shopping there.
It was as nice as I intended. We found some lamb already marinated in red wine, garlic and rosemary, a variety of vegetables including a very long parsnip (around 35 cm) and some mangoes for desert (mixed with strawberries I bought yesterday and ice cream). I also bought stuff for the rest of the week, "wagyu" beef burgers, organic pork fillet and thin sliced bacon (at least as long as the parsnip). Martin then went off to buy some interesting (and much more expensive than I would have got) wines, in their wine shop. That included a couple of his beloved Marmadukes and a couple of nice bottles of Verdelho, while I got some cheese for tonight.
Everything (that should be) is now in the oven and smelling very nice.
I should check the receipts though and see if it really is much more expensive to shop there.

All clean and tidy

One of the things I miss most here is (apart from Swedish bacon and cheeze doodles) someone to do the cleaning and ironing. I have advertised but obviously not in the right places, which means the cleaning has been left to me and Martin and we only iron what is absolutely necessary, therefore the apartment is not necessarily as pleasant as it could be and sometimes my shirts look a bit rough around the edges.
However, as we are planning to move to Manly, we need to get out of our 1-year lease on the current apartment and the letting agent was showing it to people on Saturday. We spent Friday evening and Saturday morning cleaning and tidying everywhere and it now almost looks like our house in Stony when Lynn has just left. It does not look like a place where I have lived for any amount of time.
I really hope he managed to find someone who liked it as I have no idea how to keep it like this until next Saturday....

Trial Commute

Today Martin dropped me off in Manly on his way to work, outside the building where we will look at a flat tomorrow. He wanted me to check how long time it would take to get to work, and if I thought I could put up with it, as he thinks he really likes it.

I was dropped off at 7.50. At 8.10 I had walked to the ferry terminal. This could be shortened if I use my silver scooter (but it is quite hot) or if he actually drives past the ferry terminal on the way to work and drops me there. The ferry left at 8.15 and arrived on time at Circular quay at 8.45. If I had known the 443 but would leave at 8.48 I would have tried to catch it, but as I did not know I had to take the 8.58 one instead, which dropped me outside the office at 9.20 - so all in all 1,5 hours. Not ideal.

On the other hand my boss is happy for me to work from home and only show up in the office when I need to. I think we'll consider it if we like it, especially as Martin thinks it is a good idea and he can learn to surf.

link is here:

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&id=403630970&f=0&p=10&t=ren&ty=&fmt=&header=&cc=&c=74567086&s=nsw&snf=rbs&tm=1228106791