6. A Break in Our Trip to Sell a House
We were on the road again; having left the southern coastline of Spain we drove north towards the mountains with Dave providing us with regular updates on the increasing altitude and decreasing temperature along the way. Then after what seemed like forever, we finally saw it, out in the distance was snow. Having arrived at the base of the ski field we found a cosy hotel, convenient to the car park and the ski slopes. Having checked in we dragged our luggage to our allotted room where we looked out on the most amazing view. It was as if the hotel had been carved into the side of the mountain. And while I appreciated the view, I still had to swallow back the bile as my stomach dropped, having plummeted down the cliff and landed somewhere at the bottom of the steep valley before us. Dave and I went in search of some ski equipment to hire, we wanted to get out on the slopes early to catch the best snow. Mark left us to it having decided to give skiing a miss and instead opted to try out the local café.
During the next two days of skiing, I made several discoveries;
1. I'm still terrified of heights; I would rather climb up the mountain in sand shoes than sit on an icy chair lift.
2. I love my husband far too much, as no sane person would ever go on a chair lift if they were scared of heights and I did it three times.
3. In relative terms I much prefer cable cars to chair lifts, and yet I still hate them, but at least in a cable car I can sit down and read, losing myself in the story and pretend for a while that I am anywhere but hanging in the sky in a metal coffin with only a piece of wire holding it up.
4. And both Dave and I really need to work on our fitness, as evidenced by our wobbly legs which were near to trembling at the end of a day skiing.
We left the ski slopes to return to our friend’s villa, via a much shorter route this time. That night we received notification that the contract for sale on our house in Perth was now unconditional. The sale would go ahead but for the small matter of getting all the documents that we needed to have signed, witnessed and notarised. The closest Australian embassy happened to be located in Madrid, so off to Madrid we went. After a very minor detour due to a tiny and very understandable mistake by me we arrived at the Embassy. Getting through the stringent security at the Australian Embassy was slow going but finally we entered an empty waiting room. You might have thought, as we did, that an empty waiting room would mean you wouldn’t have to wait long, not so apparently. Eventually we had all we needed, cross fingers, and were soon checking into a hotel.
Early on we had decided it would be best for me to make the trip to Perth that night, once there I could not only hand over the documents needed for the transaction, but I could ready the house for settlement, there was the small matter of packing and storing all our furniture etc. Meanwhile Dave would remain in Spain and supervise the remainder of the yacht’s modifications. We had just enough time for a quick dinner. Dave was determined to take Mark to a brilliant restaurant he had discovered on an earlier trip, a restaurant he referred to as ‘the hole in the wall’. After driving around and around we give up on that idea and settled for another small restaurant, the food was amazing. Unfortunately, being a little nervous of missing my flight, I like to have several hours up my sleeve you just never know what could go wrong on your way to the airport, dinner was a hurried affair.
My flight to Australia allowed for a short stop-over in Dubai, providing time for me to catch up with my sister-in-law and her family. Paul picked me up from the airport, I hadn’t even managed to step into their home when I found myself embraced in a warm hug. There are some people, who no matter what, always make you feel welcomed and that was the Krogan family. The best part was I got to indulge in some girl talk, something I had been sorely missing, having spent the better part of a month with only men.
Having caught up on all the goings on, we indulged in an amazing meal and a brilliant bout of pampering. In Dubai they really know how to pamper you, I don’t think my nails had ever looked so good. All to soon the visit was over and I was making my way to the airport again. While waiting to board my plane, I decided to give Dave a call, and gee I wished I hadn't. Apparently, my laptop had been stolen, but worse still poor Mark had his back pack stolen including his passport which he had left in it. Dave figured it likely occurred when we had stopped for petrol on our way to Madrid. Lesson learnt, don’t leave your car unlocked especially when it contains laptops etc. Selfish though it might be, I had never been so pleased that I’m paranoid and hence never left my passport out of sight, otherwise, well, I certainly wouldn’t have been about to board a plane to Perth. It kind of ruined the rest of the flight though as I kept thinking of all the passwords I would have to change once I got home.
One step into the house and I smiled, it was immaculate, in fact it was probably better than when Dave and I had left. All thanks to my two step sons and their partners who had maintained the house’s tidy condition for the entire time the it had been on the market. After dithering about trying to get all my passwords changed and hunting for, and thank goodness, finding random hard drives with my work template backups - I know I've retired but you never know - I finally started to relax and enjoy the warm weather in Perth.
It was weird waking up in our old bedroom in the house in Iluka. It no longer felt like home even though all our belongings were still there. I guess that is because we had moved on, having said that it was a difficult dismantling the home we had made. It was also difficult to know where to start. We had gone through all of the rooms prior to leaving for our adventure but we had been in a hurry, consequently, there was still a heck of a lot more to clear out. So, I started with the most challenging and scary space, the garage. After hours of going through Dave's assorted collection of handy man tools, materials and lots of dust I needed a change of pace and some fresh air. So, I attacked the hedge which currently looked more like a bushy tree with the hedge trimmer. All was going well until half way through I ran out of room in the rubbish bin. With the bin full and me out of breath I decided to call it a day with the hedge. Plus, I had a lunch date to get to, yes it was time to catch up with at least some of the people we had left behind and I was really looking forward to it. I showered all the grime and dust of the day and put on a summery skirt and top and ventured of to meet them. I may have only been a matter of months since I had last seen them but given all the changes since that time it now felt like a life time ago.
For the next three to four days, I continued the routine of clearing and cleaning the house as well as catching up with all my old friends. In between there was a visit to the settlement agent, a fight with Foxtel, lots of donations to charities, with the help of Helen, who also facilitated several visits to the dump.
Friday the removalists arrived and started on packing everything we had chosen to keep. They advised me they would require two 20' containers to fit everything in, rather than the one I had been planning on. Worse still the removalist advised they would need to delay the final pick-up until the next Wednesday, apparently several of the more delicate items required specific packaging which would need to be specially ordered. I was due to fly out that Saturday so you could imagine how well I took that news. Lucky for me Helen, yet again, came to my rescue, having offered to oversee the final packing and removal I now wouldn’t need to delay my flight. My last day in Perth was a busy one; I completing a final check through the house, arranged for a cleaner for the final clean up, and tided up the outside, which included replacing several lawn reticulation outlets, a very wet but rewarding occupation.
That evening I was flying to Spain but due to a packed plane I didn’t managed to get much rest. Tired and exhausted, the thought of catching the train from Madrid to Alicante the next morning while dragging my set of golf clubs and an extremely large coffee machine was the last thing I wanted to do. Thank goodness, Dave saved me for the ordeal and instead picked me up at the airport. I’m sure the fact that I had threatened to do away with the coffee machine if it all got to hard had nothing to do with his decision.