Yes, we survived the move. There was a moment there when I really thought I wouldn’t, because moving day was made all the more hectic by the movers calling the day before and saying they had to change our move time from noon to 7:30am. This was a problem because my husband was on shift and wouldn’t be home until 10am, and the TV, DVD player and computers all had to be wrapped up, which was a job I couldn’t do. So my poor father-in-law had to get up way earlier than he ever wants to on a Saturday to help me out.
General chaos ensued, mostly caused by the cats realizing “oh crap, not this again”. Two of them scurried under the bed and I had to flush them out with the vacuum cleaner, which my father-in-law found greatly amusing. Then we had the harrowing trip to the house with the kitty chorus chiming up in the back seat. Thankfully, my FIL found it charming and not irritating.
We all got settled in pretty quickly. Princeton still hides under the couch when he hears unknown footsteps coming up the stairs (how he can tell is beyond me) but I think the cats are enjoying their views of birds, cows, goats, pigs, and bugs. We are enjoying our wonderful view of the Thermaikos Gulf and the night lights of the city around the gulf. Having so much space is a bit overwhelming – we pretty much live in the upstairs except when fixing food.
Since this is Greece, we didn’t have a phone until late last week. The phone company actually came out to hook up our phone three times in the last few weeks but came up with various bullshit reasons why it couldn’t be done yet and the hoops we had to jump through to make it happen. We thought we would have ADSL within a few days of the phone being hooked up because we had taken steps early on to make it happen, but of course that fell through too, so we finally bit the bullet and decided to use dial up, which was no small feat. The laptop is the only computer with a modem, so we have to share it two ways on an ad hoc wireless network (because for whatever reason, you can’t share dial up on a normal wireless network) and it is really, really slow and really, really irritating. I don’t imagine we’ll be logging in often until we can get a real internet connection. I mean, I survived almost a month without the internet, I can probably go longer. Maybe.
I appreciate all the well wishes of those who stopped by during my absence. I can spend some time writing offline so I’ll be able to share some of our mountain village experiences since moving into our new home.
To the folks in California – I hope the fires die down soon and those of you who have lost so much can start rebuilding your lives. My thoughts are with you all.
12 comments:
KALORIZIKO! Congrats on your new home!
The dial-up connection brought the old TV series "Green Acres" to mind. Hope OTE works fast.
I don't about y'all but when I used to move I always forgot what kitchen cabinet my plates were. Hope you settle in fast and easy. Enjoy the clean air, the great view! Again, Kaloriziko!
More than one month to get ADSL? Wow! And that's in the second city. I Wonder how is it in a little town in the province... But Greece has good olive oil, so... ;)
Congrats, Mel! Good to see you again.
Hey there, been checking on both you and Cheryl every few days to see when you come out of the tunnel. Glad to have you back!
I remember you telling me about uncertain availability etc of DSL. Judging the experiences of myself and others, however, I figured about a month...and here you are!
Moving is a bitch, isn't it? Thank goodness though this is your house, so you'll be settling in for good.
Still waiting for Cheryl.
Write us whenever you can, we'll still be here waiting for you :)
Good to see some things in Greece never change...long live OTE :D :D
I think that us folks in North America (Canada, in my case) are way too spoiled when it comes to prompt telephone connections, 800 channels on television, satellite discs, TIVO, High speed internet connections and the like...although it is convenient to get things done at the snap of your fingers...I'll be the first to admit that when things happen slowly and you patiently wait and long for their arrival - you tend to appreciate and value them more.
You'll survive...
p.s. congrats on the new dwelling!
Congrats! Moving is always fun isn't it. . .
Congrats on the new home! It's always fun decorating new places.
Sorry to hear about the internet though.
I'm glad you're back online -- I've been reading you regularly for years, and I missed your very interesting musings.
I had to laugh about the delay in getting your phone connected. We experienced similar delays, and finally got our phone installed one month after we requested it, but only because our friend, who is also the friend of the local head of OTE, made some telephone calls on our behalf. I think if we had been strangers in town, it would have been at least another month!
And when the OTE guys finally showed up, it was a true comedy of errors. We live on a very narrow street; not wide enough for two cars to pass. Of course, OTE being OTE, they parked their truck smack dab in the middle of the road and began their install. The fish man did not take the road-blocking lightly. After beeping his horn produced no results, he turned on his loudspeaker and instead of hawking his wares began broadcasting over and over: "OTE move your truck. OTE you are blocking the road." And, eventually, while grumbling the entire time, the OTE guys interrupted their install job and moved the damn truck. We can still make each other laugh by intoning "OTE move your truck."
I'm waiting for Devious Diva to see this post. I'm sure she'll have something to say about the delightful experience you get from OTE.
With my place, I had the phone hooked up months before I moved in to avoid this very issue. It was moving from OTE to ON Telecoms that caused all my troubles.
Thanks everyone, it is good to be semi-back online, although the dial-up is so slow I just lost my comment with individual responses to each of you.
Here's hoping ADSL goes through sooner rather than later.
so glad you're back
Good luck with the new house! Glad I found your blog...!
Thank you for the note on the California Fires. I did a post on the Greek Fires awhile back and then found us to be in a very similar situation. I'm OK, but LA was not a fun place to be with fires burning on all sides of where I live.
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