Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Hot in the City!!

Today I thought I would be revelling in glorious hot air circulating throughout the house. Last week, we received a quote to install a proper heat pump to heat three quarters of the house with a small heater to be wall mounted just outside my bedroom to heat my section of the house. We were all excited with the anticipation of lounging around the house in little more than jeans and a shirt. No more huddling around the heater to warm ice cold fingers, no more late night bathroom breaks rugged up like we are about to go skiing.

The reality is a little further from the dream than first thought. We were quoted a certain size heater to go on a certain wall. Sure, no problems, it'll only take a few hours at most. Well, at 1.30pm this afternoon (after a 9.30am start) the decision was taken to call it quits and return to the drawing board. The decision was made by the installer and sales rep, not us. It turned out that there was no way the heater would fit on said wall (I still don't understand how he managed to mis-measure a wall no more than a metre wide and miss by tens of centimetres, not millimetres). Many hours were spent discussing alternatives, then measuring, checking the ceiling and discounting each option one by one. I don't claim to know much about an electricians job nor a heat pump sales rep, but surely it does not take half a day to come to the conclusion that we don't actually have any products that will do the job you want. Urgh, I am so over heating tonight that every time I pass our current overworked and expensive to run heater I give it the filthiest look.

In closing, heat pumps bad - fireplaces good.

Now I just have to find and unpack the sledge hammer and I'm going to make a space for a fireplace.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Trading Places, Moving Spaces

Well, we finally made it! Months of planning. Months of stress, packing and tears. Finally, as of tomorrow we are officially all landed in Tasmania. Everything has arrived safely (including two very unimpressed kitties flying with the out of this world Virgin Blue!!!) with the exception of my car. I received a phone call during the news to tell me that my car had "landed" (if it is possible to land a car from a ship??) and would be delivered to my door tomorrow. Yay time - I have missed my little toot mobile. I don't mind driving father's car, however it is big, lumbersome and, if possible, heavy. Now I can go zipping along the highway, while effortlessly swerving the ice spots and look very hip along the way!

My resolution for the week is to use this blog more. Since I am now a two and a half hour flight and two states from everyone I guess this will be a way to keep everyone up to date with the news from "the isle".

News for the day - snow snow snow snow snow (I am all about the snow now - can you tell?)