Starting to feel at home

Ah yes, how could I not feel good when I had this view present itself as Mitzi and I went for our walk this morning? I love this little village. The thatched cottages

Lovely cottages period

Pretty coves

And a Church of Ireland with a cemetery and headstones :) The Catholic Church is 1.5 miles away; I plan to walk to it one day next week. As long as it isn't raining.

There are other reasons for feeling at home, and so grateful for being away from the not-great housing situation in Ballitore. We are so much more comfortable in this cottage! It's warm and cozy, the shops are a five-minute walk away and are open from 7:30-10:00 every day, the walks are wonderful. Still haven't sorted out the WiFi situation; the installation company says they still haven't received a signal from the phone line. Sigh. The customer service person assures me it isn't unusual to take a few days but honestly, I don't trust them. We are doing okay with the hot spot and today I broke down and went to the computer store and bought a printer cable to attach the printer to the MacBook. So at least I CAN print from my computer now. Also bought a new iPod.

Ah yes, a new iPod. Part of the saga of the clock radio. On Tuesday morning I received a text from my former landlady. She had forgotten to tell her husband about our clock radio arriving and so, when the courier tried to deliver it to them, he sent him away saying "They moved to Waterford." At least she notified me although I also immediately received an e-mail from Amazon saying that there was a problem with the delivery. And there the saga took a turn to the dramatic. I called Amazon in the U.S. They told me I would have to call the delivery service here. I called the delivery service but there was no answer. Tried an hour later and this time there was a recording "use the online tracking service or else hold on the line." I tried holding on the line but after 3 minutes they cut me off. Meanwhile Amazon sent me a message that if I couldn't get to the delivery service, they would cancel the order. 

Mounting anxiety as I envisioned my quite-expensive clock radio winging its way back across the Atlantic or, if it met the fate of my luggage, disappearing into the never-never land of lost items. I tried the online service for i-package; the link didn't work. At this point I was between livid and hysterical. It seems silly in a way about a clock radio when things can be/have been so much more serious but I think all of this has just been building up inside of me. Reassuring Richard that everything was fine, that we would get through all the minor inconveniences while at the same time silently hoping that I was right. Being in such pain from my back and trying to minimize that as well. All of this suddenly boiled over when I phoned i-parcel again and this time got a "customer service" person. She was quite snippy when I tried to give her the tracking code Amazon had given me. "No, that isn't the right number." Me: "It is the only number Amazon has given me." Her: "Well it isn't the right number and without that number I can't do anything." I tried to explain to her how long we had waited, how I had tried to get the address changed several times and i-parcel never responded. "That's nothing to do with me, ma'am. If you don't have the tracking number, I can't help you." At that point, I started to cry. I cried harder than I have cried for a long time. All those pent-up emotions just pouring out. She finally said, "Where did the courier try to deliver it to?" I gave her the address and she put me on hold. She came back with the courier's number and said that he would probably have been the one who tried to deliver it. THANK YOU! I called him and he couldn't have been nicer--yes, he had tried to deliver it but didn't have a phone number to call me. No, I wouldn't have to go up to any depot in Kildare, he would just readdress it and I would have it on Wednesday. Now, can you believe that if I hadn't thrown a hysterical fit, that wouldn't have happened? And some dumb policy could so easily be circumvented??

The radio came yesterday. Yay!! However, my iPod is about ten years old and doesn't use the lightning dock. The clock radio ONLY has a lightning dock. And the radio didn't pick up any local stations. I thought "okay, enough. I am going to go buy a new iPod because I have the d***%% radio now and we are going to use it!!" Hence the purchase of a new iPod. Downloaded our music and everything works perfectly. Richard can fall asleep to the sound of ocean waves and I can listen to music upstairs while he watches his WW2 movies downstairs. Bliss.

We also went to Waterford and registered for the numbers that will enable me to get my Irish passport and Richard to get his Senior Travel Pass. It was a piece of cake. In fact, it WAS a piece of cake as we celebrated after the appointment by having lunch at the Hook & Ladder and ordering some carrot cake.

Our fridge/freezer is supposed to come tomorrow. And that, folks, will be the last major purchase for awhile. Our cottage will be complete ;)

Richard's painting of cottages: