Day 14 - Thursday

Twas an uneventful day, only marked by the electrician keeping his word and coming back to finish replacing the seals in the oven and a letter from the ANZ with a survey about our recent home loan experience which prompted me to call them as they are still holding some of our funds. Seems the wounds are still raw - needless to say my answers to their survey are probably not the sort of critique they were hoping for.....did thank them for asking though. (That's nice, isn't it?)

Didn't mention a visit to Phoenix Creations recently. David is an artisan who makes the most beautiful furniture from, primarily, Tasmanian recycled timber. He's just up around the block from us and has a gallery open 2 days a week. After a brief conversation, he remembered I rang him a few months ago about a butcher's block and the house we have bought. Great memory - especially as we have never met. Apparently, the guy who owned our house before the last owner (he moved to France) sold David some of the cedar lining from our house. Coincidentally, I was looking at the beam in the middle of the lounge the night before and wondered then if it was once 2 rooms. He had also heard we are planning to have a chooks and was keener to offload a few of them rather than a piece of furniture. As it happens, he has very little in his gallery and is very busy with commissions - and we're not yet ready for chooks. He also pointed out that it is snake season, some of them even deadly - great news, as he encouraged Lord Floyd and I take a shortcut home (the path we needed, the day I had to carry the heifer hound up the hill). The path is partly across private property but with some sort of public access rights. Initially. we wandered into someone's backyard (that'll get back) as the directions were vague. It was quite slippery, so really had to let the terrier off his lead or his tugging would have me flat on my face in no time! He couldn't stay on the path, constantly darting into the undergrowth! Needless to say we did survive unscathed but now I have snakes to add to the list of paranoia. A few days ago, I had a stranger stop me in the hardware shop to ask if the dog finally came back to me. We really are in a small town now - forget big brother, all 800 odd locals seem to be watching us...