Winter Rains

my new coffee table

Another rainy night in Melbourne. It rains nearly every day, but not always for too long, but on occasion, it rains for hours, often quite heavily. I live on the top floor of my building and have windows on three sides so I hear the rain and feel the wind. I'm above most of the trees around the  building, but I do have a covered balcony. That's only dry though if there isn't any wind. Tonight there was a gale of wind, and the rain pounded while the wind whistled around the windows. The temperatures haven't been above 20C, which is just fine with me. I do look forward to a little warmer times, so I can sit outside, but at temps down to 5 or 6 at night on the third floor in the wind, it's brisk out there! Dundee has been out exploring on the balcony. He's still a bit nervous as the wind freaks him out. We didn't have much wind or rain in Alice Springs, so this is new for him. When it's dry though, he enjoys watching what's happening below, and monitoring the many birds.

I've finally unpacked the last box. I still have a bit of organizing to do, and the walls to decorate with artwork and other things. I had to pick up some of those 3M wall sticky things. They work very well at holding things on the wall without ripping the paint off. That is tomorrow's chore. I replaced my coffee table with a much smaller one from Ikea, which really makes a difference in the room as the living room not nearly as big as the one we had in Alice Springs. I managed to sell my washing machine, small fridge, and I have ditched several things to make it feel less crowded here. My sofa is huge in this room, but I love it so much. It's a seven footer, which is awesome to lie down on, so roomy, but with a small living room, it feels like a beast. So with the smaller coffee table, there is more leg room to walk about. I'm also getting rid of the bean bag. I don't have the room, and it isn't all that comfortable for me. I picked up a free chair downstairs, but just need to get some filler to put in new screws. I also bought paint to finally paint the tv cabinet. It's been this kind of dirty green color since I bought it in Victoria, BC at a second hand store. I bought a nice aqua blue enamel - we shall see how that changes the look of the cabinet.

I've only been at the office for a couple of days at my new job. Then I spent all of last week at training in the city. It was a good refresher and introduction to my new agency, and the computer system. It's back in the office this week, and then another week of training, and so on until it's all done. It was pretty cool to ride the train into the city every morning for the week. I took the train to Footscray train stop and then into the city to Parliament, which was quite close to the training building.

I have had a few different tradies in the new place, to replace the antenna, to paint the tub, recaulk the kitchen counter, fix the hinges on the balcony door, fix the lock on the screen door, etc. I'm quite happy with the new place, and don't mind the stairs at all. There are stores very close to where I am that are open late, so I could just run out and pick something up down the street, like tonight when Dundee informed me we were out of cat food. He is a persistent informant...

I have rows of these

I've been driving all over the city, shopping for the new place and finding my way around. A few scenic tours, both intentional and unintentional. I've been to Ikea several times...love that place. Oh the damage I could do with unlimited funds...the inner ocd in me loves their storage options, and design for living. I also bought a bunch of shelves for the kitchen. There are no top cupboards which is typical of Australia but weird for this Canadian. Such wasted space with nothing there. So Ikea showed me these metal shelves you can join together and stack up. They're strong enough to hold heavy dishes and glasses and look nice enough, better than plastic which usually looks cheap.

     I'm heading to the beach in the morning to spend the day with a friend I met in Alice Springs who now lives in Queensland, but is visiting Melbourne this weekend. I hope it doesn't rain all day tomorrow...