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The whole story, part one...
Feb. 9th, 2014 10:31 pmStepping back before the last brief catch-up...
The movers showed up at 8am as promised. However, we'd asked that they pack the stuff in the kitchen (so we could blame them if anything really delicate got broken), and the guy who showed up had no record of that, and no boxes to do this. So the first order of business - he called back to base to order some more boxes. Of course, this was going to cost more.
Then the removalists basically started shovelling things onto their truck. They were getting along pretty quickly, and I was starting to get worried that they would all be done by about 10 o'clock, and then we'd all have to sit around twiddling our thumbs and waiting for settlement so we could get the keys. However, the pace slowed a bit once they started moving the larger pieces of furniture and dismantling the beds. Andy and I were basically scurrying around after them, picking up all the loose things it turned out were underneath other things, packing last minute things and sweeping up all the dust goblins. At times like this I always think with great amusement on my great grandmother's name for that grey crud that tends to build up in places you can't get into very well - slut's wool (because it's what you get when you spend more time in the bed than cleaning underneath it)!
I actually had to take an anti-histamine after an hour or so because I was sneezing pretty uncontrollably. I don't know if it was because there was pollen in all that old undisturbed dust, or if I am allergic to dust (ie dust mites) too.
About 10:30am we got a phone call from the conveyancer. 'Hurray, she's gotten in early!' was my first thought, followed rapidly by 'uh-oh, this is actually too early for her to have done anything yet'. Settlement couldn't happen that day, she told us. Some documents had not arrived from the vendors' bank and so the whole thing couldn't be signed off. We looked at each other. We looked at the half-full moving truck currently parked on our lawn. We both had brain spasms.
Fortunately it turns out there is a thing called a Licence to Occupy. The vendors were having one drawn up. They, having moved to the ACT already, would have to get it drafted, sign it, fax/email it to our conveyancer and land agent, and then we would have to sign it, and then we would be able to pick up the keys. Phew! Crisis (mostly) averted. Still, this documentation had to show up before we could get into the house. We explained this to the removalists. They were pretty cool with it all, and went on stuffing things into the truck.
Time passed and we started getting rather anxious. The truck was starting to get kind of full and it was becoming clear that we were going to need more than one trip. Getting up towards noon we rang the conveyance again. She assured us the documents were a few minutes away and she would call us the second they were ready. The removalists decided to go on their lunch break. The truck was now full and there was nothing else they could do (except pack the kitchen) until they could get into the house. We also thought we might as well go somewhere air-conditioned and have some lunch. We locked up the house and headed off. We got about five minutes down the road when the real estate agent called. They had the documents - we could come and sign them. We postponed plans for lunch and rushed over there. A couple of signatures later we finally had the keys for our house.
I was going to write more, but it's getting kind of late, and seeing as it's Monday tomorrow I might make this a part one of two. Stay tuned for astonishing tales of unpacking boxes and buying more bookshelves...
The movers showed up at 8am as promised. However, we'd asked that they pack the stuff in the kitchen (so we could blame them if anything really delicate got broken), and the guy who showed up had no record of that, and no boxes to do this. So the first order of business - he called back to base to order some more boxes. Of course, this was going to cost more.
Then the removalists basically started shovelling things onto their truck. They were getting along pretty quickly, and I was starting to get worried that they would all be done by about 10 o'clock, and then we'd all have to sit around twiddling our thumbs and waiting for settlement so we could get the keys. However, the pace slowed a bit once they started moving the larger pieces of furniture and dismantling the beds. Andy and I were basically scurrying around after them, picking up all the loose things it turned out were underneath other things, packing last minute things and sweeping up all the dust goblins. At times like this I always think with great amusement on my great grandmother's name for that grey crud that tends to build up in places you can't get into very well - slut's wool (because it's what you get when you spend more time in the bed than cleaning underneath it)!
I actually had to take an anti-histamine after an hour or so because I was sneezing pretty uncontrollably. I don't know if it was because there was pollen in all that old undisturbed dust, or if I am allergic to dust (ie dust mites) too.
About 10:30am we got a phone call from the conveyancer. 'Hurray, she's gotten in early!' was my first thought, followed rapidly by 'uh-oh, this is actually too early for her to have done anything yet'. Settlement couldn't happen that day, she told us. Some documents had not arrived from the vendors' bank and so the whole thing couldn't be signed off. We looked at each other. We looked at the half-full moving truck currently parked on our lawn. We both had brain spasms.
Fortunately it turns out there is a thing called a Licence to Occupy. The vendors were having one drawn up. They, having moved to the ACT already, would have to get it drafted, sign it, fax/email it to our conveyancer and land agent, and then we would have to sign it, and then we would be able to pick up the keys. Phew! Crisis (mostly) averted. Still, this documentation had to show up before we could get into the house. We explained this to the removalists. They were pretty cool with it all, and went on stuffing things into the truck.
Time passed and we started getting rather anxious. The truck was starting to get kind of full and it was becoming clear that we were going to need more than one trip. Getting up towards noon we rang the conveyance again. She assured us the documents were a few minutes away and she would call us the second they were ready. The removalists decided to go on their lunch break. The truck was now full and there was nothing else they could do (except pack the kitchen) until they could get into the house. We also thought we might as well go somewhere air-conditioned and have some lunch. We locked up the house and headed off. We got about five minutes down the road when the real estate agent called. They had the documents - we could come and sign them. We postponed plans for lunch and rushed over there. A couple of signatures later we finally had the keys for our house.
I was going to write more, but it's getting kind of late, and seeing as it's Monday tomorrow I might make this a part one of two. Stay tuned for astonishing tales of unpacking boxes and buying more bookshelves...
