Been very busy so not had time to update blog, so here goes.
Sunday:
We bought loads of bottled water so that we could go to the house and do some cleaning.
Hubby set about doing some DIY bits that he wanted to complete before the furniture came and before we start painting etc. So he did that whilst I started cleaning the kitchen. How do people get so much crap in their fridge and freezer, particularly hair? I cannot believe how much hair I got out the bottom of the freezer – the mind boggles (the stomach churns). So lots of cleaning later we now have a clean fridge and oven and loads of clean kitchen drawers.
We also have telephone points in the places we need them and satellite cables in the rooms we need them, ready for installation. Hubby also got rid of a loads of bits from the garden that had been left behind.
Monday:
We got a call first thing from the pump man who said he would meet us at the house in half an hour. Sure enough he arrived promptly and took a look at the mechanical bits in the basement. He suspected the problem was in the well, so went outside. We watched him take up loads of pipe from the well and then fish out various contraptions.
For about half an hour he fiddled with bits and pieces and then came back to say he had fixed everything. Apparently the connections to the pump had rotted and this had led to the pump falling off and sitting in the bottom of the well doing nothing.
We suspect that this happened before we moved in and possibly before the other family moved out. Although they did not get their house till Friday, they actually moved out on Wednesday, which makes us believe that they lost water then and moved out.
The fix only cost $122 which we though was great, so if we get it back off them then great, if not, we won’t sweat too much.
Once this had been fixed we set off in the van to Toronto to collect our goods to follow.
We had a good drive out and only hit traffic once in the Toronto area, but nothing too bad. Got to the company who had our stuff and went in to see what we had to do. The woman there gave us some paperwork and a map. We had to take the paperwork to Customs and get the shipment released, then come back to collect it.
So, back in the truck and following the map we found the customs place quite easily. When we went in we were second in the queue and only had to wait about five minutes before being seen. A woman checked the paperwork, took copies of my passport and driving licence and it was all stamped and completed. Took a max of five minutes – brilliant.
Next back to the shipping company and handed in the stamped paperwork. We were then told to go round the corner and back up to the loading door and our stuff would be bought to us. We had to pay $240 in costs.
I went into the loading bay to give our paperwork to the guy to collect the stuff and he looked me up and down and then asked what car I had. I said a pick-up, he grunted and zipped off on his forklift and then came back with some of our boxes, dumped them at the doors, got the others and left us to it.
Poor hubby then had to load the truck up and arrange everything in a way that we would not loose anything on the way back. When everything was strapped in ok we set off back home.
Got to the house and unloaded everything. By then we had had enough, so went back to the hotel to shower and change then went out for some dinner, got back and collapsed!
Today we woke with the anticipation of getting our house keys. We had been told that it could be anytime between 12 and 5pm, so we decided to do something whilst we waited – shopping! Shopping seems to be all we do at the moment, but it has to be done. We ended up buying a few practical bits for the house such as a kettle and coffee maker.
Whilst we were in the mall, we decided to order our new phone line from Bell. Well, we had heard all sorts of things about Bell on the forum, but after all our experiences so far in Canada, this was the worst.
Everything we have ordered or brought so far has been sold to us with the utmost courtesy and been overall a pleasant experience, even down to ordering our SIN cards. Bell was another matter.
First you have to take a numbered ticket when you enter the shop, just like being at the Tesco cheese counter. You wait or them to shout your number and then the fun begins.
We explained that we needed a phone number for our new house and she asked for three types of ID. I gave her my passport, temp Ontario driving licence and credit card. She then said she would have to type everything in the computer to see how much deposit we needed to pay. After several minutes and a couple of questions later, she said we needed to pay $200 deposit. We asked why so much, she said because the computer said so! We asked what happened to this deposit and she said we keep it till we know you pay. You can claim it back after a year if you have paid on time.
Not happy, but what the hell, I told her to take the money from my credit card. She said they didn’t accept credit cards. So I said we would pay in cash and wait for it, they don’t take cash. Who, in God’s name doesn’t take cash? She said we had to get a money order and bring it in.
Not knowing what a money order was, we asked and she said “you get it from the post office and bring it back to us and we fill it in” So, now all was crystal clear!!!!
We then asked how much the phone would cost. She said it depended on what service we wanted. Well, we knew that so asked what services they offer, she said she would go through them when we came back with the money order as there was quite a few.
So, off we went to the post office and very easily obtained a money order, which we now know is similar to Postal Orders we get in the UK. The man at the post office told me how to fill it in and was most helpful.
Back to Bell. Saw a different assistant who slightly more pleasant, but still had the Little Britain “computer says no” attitude. Had to show all ID again and wait for ages for the paperwork to be completed. Eventually she got to the service we wanted. We were given a choice of voicemail and/or caller ID. Wow, what extensive choices.
Eventually we were given a contract to sign and a form with our new phone number on. Trouble was the phone number may be changed, they cannot promise that the one they gave us today will be the one we end up with. So, logically I am thinking why bother to give us a number at all, why not just wait till it is competed?
We asked when the number would be available and she said they could not fit us in till next Friday. Hubby asked if someone would therefore visit. She said no, they activate it remotely. One has to ask the question as to why you have to wait a week for someone to flick a switch.
After this delightful experience, we were notified that we could collect our house keys, by now it was 3pm. We went to the lawyers and had a chat with the British secretary there and had a laugh about Bell.
Then it was off to our new house. Had a wonder round and reacquainted ourselves with the place. I was surprised that generally the house had been left quite grubby. The fridge had not been cleaned out, nor had the oven or washer & dryer. The floors had not been washed either. Also, although they had kept the front garden reasonably tidy, the back was very unkept. Perhaps we are expecting too much, but when we left our house in he UK, we cleaned it from top to bottom, weeded the garden, cut the grass and generally left it in very good order. Also, because the sale is likely to take a few more weeks, we have arranged for a neighbour to come and keep the gardens tidy until the sale goes through. I suppose we are the stupid ones.
All was going great with then house until we turned the tap on in the kitchen. It poured for a few seconds, then stopped. Hubby guessed that the water had been turned off, but when he checked, he could not find anything to indicate this. Everything else in the house was working, including the air con, which we were very grateful for. Try as we might, we could not get the water to work.
So we headed back to the hotel to get contact our realtor and ask her to contact the vendor to ask where the water stop tap was. She could not get hold of them straight away, but after a couple of hours she came back to say they had not turned off the water. However, they suspected that there may have been an interruption in electricity supply which may have turned the pump off. We were given instruction on how to turn this back on.
We had planned to do this tomorrow, but hubby had itchy feet, so off we went back to the house. We followed the instructions, but still no water. The lever we had been told to move, didn’t seem to do very much. However on one occasion, we did get water for about a minute, then it turned itself off gain. Every time the lever got switched to on, it almost immediately turned itself back off again. Eventually we gave up and came back to the hotel. We will have another look tomorrow, but may have to call out the pump man to take a look.
Oh, the fun of owning a new home!
