Life's a beach!

The question is...when you already pack 36 hours of living into 24, how to squeeze and extra half an hour to regularly update your blog?

So dear blog, pardon me for relegating you to a lower priority these past few weeks while I was just holding onto my hair!

The BIG MOVE happened...all at break-neck speed...back broke too with the physical nature of lugging and hauling weighty stuff up and down either to the skip for turfing, or onto the pavement for the garage sale, or finally up 3 and a half flights of stairs to my new nest in the air.

Throughout all of it, I thought of many things to write about in my blog. One is about friendship. I was quite amazed by who came out of nowhere and offered help. Moving is one of the hardest things -physically and emotionally- one can do, rating after death and divorce as the highest stress factor in life. My heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped us in some form or another. I could NOT have got through this alone.

Although physically very hard, this was a happy move. From the darkness to the light. From lots of baggage to not enough! (Still have nothing to sit on!) From the cold to the warm. And warmer it sure is! About 3 degrees in winter and probably the reverse in summer due to the influence of the ocean.

Other than getting rid of furniture, linen, toys and excess of everything, I also threw out my wedding dress. As I tossed that cloud of white onto the back of a truck taking stuff off to the welfare bin, I had no pangs. No regrets. No feeling other than lightness and a sense of freedom and relief about letting go of all the past, and optimism about the future.

I haven't rushed into any major decisions to furnish the new place in spite of a few hours browsing the furniture stores. I have come to the conclusion that I am quite skilled at putting an outfit together but putting a room together is another story! Buying good lounge furniture is a long-term commitment and you have to love it every day for many many years- not unlike choosing someone for a relationship. Its worth taking your time!

Its early Saturday morning as I am writing this. I am still pinching myself at the good fortune of finding this apartment and acting on my intuition and pursuing it to conclusion. I have never lived anywhere quite so wonderful. The local area, shops and restaurants offer the rich tapestry of inner city living- a bit resembling a European lifestyle-with strolling distance to EVERYTHING, yet with a one street separation, is sufficiently removed to offer tranquility peace and calm where I am.

Last night, Cub 2 and I walked to the local pub where we had the best value for money meal in my history of living in Sydney- two 300 grams of perfectly cooked rare Porterhouse steaks (too much for us so the cat had steak for dinner too and agreed!), a glass of bubbles (juice for cub!) all for $24! The convivial atmosphere of the Waratahs game, the flirtatious winks of a few boys and the cheerful chatter of people at the next table were all an unexpected bonus!

Then we strolled to the best video shop - a new franchise specialising in award-winning foreign films and all-time greats and classics, where the owner and I plotted together an idea to create a social club for movie-lovers in the area. We hired 4 DVDs to keep 3 nights for $10! And everyone warned me that living here would be dearer...not so! So far, I have noticed better choices, better quality, and prices on par or in cases better than I enjoyed before. We also have a modern cinema showing the latest offerings within spitting distance on the aptly-named Spit Road, so the World's Fastest Indian(fabulous movie!) and Da Vinci Code (average) have already been consumed!

With the multi-media stuff now connected thanks to the generous help of a friend, my broadband on wireless and study "rigged", today is the day earmarked for unpacking the last of the boxes: my books! An exercise in love! Straight after I finish this and take a morning walk followed by a coffee and read of the Saturday papers down by the beach. Come and join me some morning!