Saturday, April 28, 2007

Settling In

Oh the Joys of moving house and settling into a new neighbourhood!


Our new home has been waiting for about two years for someone to move in and to pay it some attention, so now that we're here it has started stamping its feet and having a few little tantrums. This morning my patience grew thin and I knew it was time to make a list of things that were driving me crazy.


1. One leaky toilet

2. One leaky sink drain

3. A tub with no silicone around it's rim

4. A non-working lawnmower and grass a foot high

5. A modem that needs to be rebooted every hour


And the two BIGGIES:

6. No hot water when we needed to shower this morning


AND worst of all:

7. New neighbours who started blasting whingy Albanian music 5 days ago from 8 in the morning til midnight


So I wrote my list and left it on Peter's desk, went back to bed and pulled a blanket over my head hoping to block out the music that has been making me nauseous all week.


It's now 6 pm, most of the problems have been dealt with (my hubby is my hero), I'm still in my nightie as I wait for the water to get hot, and the music has been adjusted to a much more tolerable level. Apparently a week of LOUD Balkan music is part of the northern wedding tradition and we have been told it will end tomorrow evening. For that I am extremely grateful. I honestly thought of throwing rocks through the neighbours brand new windows last night at 11:30. Then I remembered just how horrible my rock throwing skills are and went to bed.


Another interesting Albanian wedding tradition involves "kidnapping" the bride and driving her all over town, followed by another car in which someone with a huge video camera captures the whole event, while the drivers lean nonstop on their horns. This usually happens on Sunday- which is why I am expecting the music to stop sometime tomorrow. (Fingers crossed!)

8 comments:

oreneta said...

If your hot water goes again, heat a pot on the stove to just the right temp. then with a big sponge or a face cloth you can have a lovely warm splashy shower-bath in the tub.

I actually quite like these, but they aren't so nice if the room is cold.

oreneta said...

Sorry me again, I got distracted by what sounded like a moped driving into a giant garbage bin....no one seems to be injured.

So nice to hear from you again, and a full week of any music all day every day would drive me around the BEND. My deepest sympathy.

Anonymous said...

I shall definitely come and experience that. Mandolins?

When is wedding season?

CanadianSwiss said...

I hope that you finally get a bit of peace around the neighbourhood and that your boiler (?) get's fixed soon - or is it something like the electricity problems in Albania??

Miss Kim said...

oreneta... ha ha-- thanks for the tip! I bet you are could win on "Survivor"! (glad no one was hurt in the accident!)

Judith... you're welcome to come over! There is now a ferry from Bari which only takes 3.5 hours... or you could fly which I'm sure is even shorter.

CanSwiss... oooo I sure hope it is NOT like the electricity problem! Shall I tell you about Thursday morning when the hydro went off-- the generator DID NOT kick in automatically-- I complained-- someone came and tried to "fix" it-- something blew up in the electrical panel-- on Monday someone will come again to try again. Argggg. My house will be full with incompetent workman once again. oh well.. maybe they'll be cute. Haha!

Anonymous said...

oh no...! you have the neighbor with the music all day like we do. what does he play? Ours plays paula abdul, madonna and a bit of michael jackson, so at least I can groove :)even at 6 am.

Kim/Thomas said...

you are soo funny....how wonderful that you can just write a list and he takes care of it...thomas would be that way:) It's me who would not think of doing that though....BUT now I will remember this post forever and ever...:) have you posted pictures of your new digs??
Kim...
ps..i soo wish i could have gone to germany with you...i promise i will try next year..and if you come back to ny..please lets meet up!

Anonymous said...

"7. New neighbours who started blasting whingy Albanian music 5 days ago from 8 in the morning til midnight"

hahha. I'm Albanian and I know what you are talking about. Poor you!

about the boiler and electricity. Don't fix these yourself and find a good professionals, it can be dangerous.