Long weekend

I'm back in work today. I was off most of Thursday, as well as Friday and Monday. I've been very busy.

We spent Thursday and Friday packing up, and then went out in the evening with my brother. We had a chat in the pub for a while - he's doing well, but having a bit of a mare trying to find a job which sucks. After that we went to the cinema to see the new Charlie And The Chocolate Factory film. It was, in a word, brilliant. It stayed very close to the original book, which was clearly a good thing as the book itself is great. It was quite creepy and dark, and it didn't pull any punches when it came to the nasty kids being disposed of. The trio of Burton directing, Depp leading and Elfman doing the music was as strong as ever. It was a great film and highly recommended.

On Saturday we got up early to pick up a huge van and drive everything across town, which we just managed to do in time before having to return it. Alison spent forever tidying up the old house while I did more runs across town in the car. We eventually called it a day and collapsed in sleeping bags on the beds in the spare room of the new house.

Sunday kinda sucked, as I went over early to show the old landlord round the house which he took as an opportunity to criticise all the cleaning we'd done. Some of it was justified, such as the fact that I'd not got round to cleaning the oven yet. Some was rather unfair, like complaining about the recurring mark in the carpet which I suspect may be rising damp as it comes back each time you clean it. So, Alison and I had to spend hours more cleaning the oven, fridge, carpet, bath and yard. We made some effort with the shower curtain (limescale ahoy! I defy you to shift it, even with Cillit Bang!) and the windows (I see the streaks as vindication of my choosing a career in anything but window cleaning). Anyway. That sucked.

Monday was better. We got on with tidying the new house and in the afternoon we went and bought a kitten from an animal rescue centre. She is properly cute. She's some kind of cross, with a lot of Havana Brown in her. She's called Chloe. She's settling into the new house at the moment, and getting used to the place. She's a bit lonely as she's used to being with her two sisters, so she likes having someone around when she's exploring, otherwise she just hides in her box. When you're there with her, she's quite adventurous though, and very playful. Apparently they're a very friendly breed and like a lot of attention, so she should be fun to have around. I'll post some pictures of her when I find which box my camera is in!