Expanding Household

It seems that we're to have yet another addition to the household. My flatmate announced yesterday that she's getting a dog. Our flat muz be in a growing phase...first a parent, now a dog... I wonder what's next? I like dogs though so I'm not complaining about new household members...yet. Let's hope the dog will be house trained and well, we do have a rather large garden.

The presence of a dog might also help break up the weekly cat convention in our garden. Cats courtesy of our neighbour Barbeque Bill (no it's not a nickname really...BBQ Bill owns the house next door and a food business named Barbeque Bill's...no surprises there), who breeds rats and hedgehogs (off the unsightly garbage dump in his driveway), hence the numerous stray cats who love hanging around his place. Since we're his neighbours, the cats have assumed our garden as theirs and gather as a group weekly...rather annoying when they keep walking around you while you're trying to hang up the washing.

BBQ Bill is not a very pleasant neighbour. He blasts Phantom of the Opera early in the morning all through the afternoon on Saturdays and has numerous vehicles (some labelled with Barbeque Bill's and some not) all strategically parked to hide the entrance to our driveway and make reversing out a challenge. I've taken to parking on the street amongst BBQ Bill's vehicles except that BBQ Bill's daughter enjoys stealing my parking spot outside our flat! Evidently, taking up both sides of the street at his place isn't enough. Now if he made a move to clear that huge pile of junk in his driveway maybe some vehicle could park there instead of encoaching on our bit of street!!

Out of sheer viciousness I do hope BBQ Bill does not like dogs. 8p

Housekeeping

My flatmate's mum moved in with us this week...for the rest of the semester. It's weird having a parent around. For starters, our flat is very very neat...owing to the fact that since her mum has nothing to do all day she cleans and tidies. Her mum even arranges the many many pairs of shoes that used to clutter our doorway in these neat rows everyday. The kitchen is sparkling clean and any occasional dishes left in the sink miraculously disappear. I reckon we probably won't have to do housecleaning aside from our rooms ever...8p

On the downside, partying is definitely outta the question so I've lost my clubbing buddy and will have to hunt for a new one. Plus her mum sleeps really early so we've sorta got quiet hours now...seems like I'm back in a residence hall again. Quiet hours aren't too bad though...the worse is that her mum wakes up early in the morning...early being around half past 7. Then she putters around doing stuff (I have not idea wat) in the living room and u can hear her, or she turns on the tv. Either way, the end result is the same: I wake up. Not cool...coz I'm not quite a morning person. 8(

I guess it'll take some getting used to having a parent around...not tt we do much that provokes disapproval haha. I could get used to a really clean flat...we prob have the cleanest student flat in Dunedin. Now if only her mum could make the bills disappear...

Up the Hills

Having recently bought a car after shopping for weeks for one, I have achieved total mobility lol. Living up in the hills certainly hampers my desire to go where the distance is far too great to walk and a 40 min walk to town isn't the most fun thing to do if the weather is awful (as it usually is).

Up the hills, we get frost and ice a lot more often. We had ice for 2 weeks straight a while ago...during the coldest June in 34 years. Walking down to campus on icy ground is certainly an adrenaline rushing experience where you're slipping and sliding down a very steep hill with high chances of falling over. It's really like skiing without skis and no way of stopping (except by falling over or if you're lucky, by grabbing an available lamp post). Even on flat ground, if it's icy, your feet won't stay in one spot. Snow isn't bad...ice is horrible.

I suppose driving would be pretty dangerous, but it seems that the roads where the cars run dun ice over as much...and if there was ice, it would have been gone relatively quickly, unlike the sidewalk where ice can happily stay the entire week.

But, it's pretty up the hills...and quiet...like you'd only notice the neighbours are having a party if there are more cars parked around than usual. Wish it would be a little warmer though!