Settling In

A week in and, although we feel our ages and more, we have now moved into our new home in Nova Scotia.  The drive from our former home in Warkworth was taken at an easy pace over four days. We arrived in Digby on the day of closing and met with our lawyer there for the first time. He was a delight.

The house in Granville Ferry, which was extremely dirty at the date of closing, has been thoroughly cleaned by us over two elbow breaking days before the moving van arrived.

The basement is piled with broken down boxes and bags of packing paper ready for the gradual disposal through this province’s extremely complicated waste management system. There are clear bags, blue bags, dark bags and green bins. One needs a PhD in such things to understand what goes where; it can be very frustrating. But all of that is but nothing in light of the beauty of our setting and the welcoming we have already received here.

All but the kitchen is set up. The house is bigger than we remember and our furniture suits it perfectly. The view from our back deck and large rear rooms is stunning. Already we have been treated almost daily to seals frolicking off our shore. The water is mesmerizing and ever changing with the variance of light and the ebbing and flowing of the daily tides.

Perhaps what is most gratifying for us is the ease of our transition. This has been made possible by the numerous service providers we have had to deal with. First the movers themselves were professional, friendly and enjoyable to be around at both ends of the move. The day the Van arrived with our worldly goods, including my Mini Cooper, our new life began to fall comfortably into place. As we live on the “Blind Crest” of a hill on a narrow road, John had to spend the move-in day directing traffic for eight and one half hours. It sounds gruesome, but he thoroughly enjoyed it and in the process he got to meet much of our neighbourhood coming and going. I directed the movers inside the house, occasionally spelling off John from his duties.

As John was waving on traffic the post woman, whom we had met the day before at the Post Office, drove by and handed him out a package. It was our modem for our internet service. Coincidentally, the phone company had sent out a service person to our house. Although our phone had been hooked up a couple of days before, unbeknownst to us, it was not working that day. A very pleasant young woman in a hard hat was up the pole checking wires when she overheard John’s exchange with the post woman. She climbed down and offered to set up our modem for us. Wonderful, as we are not savvy in such things. A few days later, the communications company we had been dealing with sent out someone to install our spider web of cables to get our satellite television and audio system up and running in sync. While the TV fellow was here working away, the plumber called to ask if he could come and install the three toilets we had ordered the day before at a Home Building Centre. The existing ones were low, in efficient, wobbly and badly stained. Somewhat like ourselves. We now have three lovely new high and efficient toilets that sit firmly on the floors of our three bathrooms. We have already had people in to measure up new windows for us and someone else to discuss plans for our new kitchen. And it is only a week since the moving van arrived at 7:45 a.m.

We are loving our new adventure!