Well, I�m all moved.

The old place isn�t cleaned up yet, but me and all my stuff are at the new one. And I have to say it feels pretty good.

For one thing, it can only be a good thing to set up the dining room table and the TV/stereo corner and the wine rack and find that you do indeed have room for the new couch and sideboard you were hoping you had room for. Now I just have to choose them.

Of course I�m completely exhausted (not helped by the fact that I had always planned to take Tuesday off to recover after moving on Monday, but in the end taking the day �off� turned out to mean working from noon til 7pm). But I�ve decided that moving is made so tiring so that you don�t have any trouble sleeping in a new environment. I have been sleeping like a stone in the new place 9 hours a night since I moved in. Of course I�m not any less tired as a result, but at least I feel rested if not refreshed.

Moving day itself was an eventful one in the old neighbourhood, what with kidnapped babies being found up the street from our house while the movers were packing the truck. But that piece of surreal life is best left to a separate entry.

Suffice to say that the whole move was completed before it started to rain, everything fitted up the stairs and through the doorways in the new place, and nothing appears to have been broken. Touch wood.

Some of the small joys of moving to a new location:

I no longer have to make sure I�m carrying change for tram and train tickets. Because of living slightly further out from the city than before, I have to catch the tram through the park in the mornings before getting off right near my old house and walking from there. That means catching public transport twice a day which makes it far more economical to buy a monthly ticket. And while that�s an annoying expense, it means that I no longer have to scrounge for change to buy a tram ticket on the way home. And that is a surprisingly pleasing benefit of my new location.

I do, for the first time in about 8 years, have decent free-to-air TV reception. Three of the five networks are completely clear and the other two, while not perfect, are totally watchable, particularly given the lack of reception I�ve been putting up with in my last two houses. And just in time for the Olympics. Which is cool, because there is nothing else on, and I�ll be sick of free-to-air reception within about 24 hours of the Olympics finishing.

That being said, I live on my own now, so last night, after getting back from the movies, there was nothing on TV (I am not resorting to watching CSI Miami, but I could turn off the box and put on some music while I drank wine and unpacked books. And I didn�t have to consult anyone at all about it.

Of course, I haven�t really spent too much time actually feeling alone since I moved. Monday night I was unpacking the living room and things like that. Tuesday night, between getting home at 7.30 and crashing into bed at 9.30, I received four lengthy phone calls and three text messages to respond to, all of which left me with about ten actual minutes of peace and quiet to eat dinner and watch free-to-air TV.

Last night I went to a screening of Before Sunset, which I have to say I loved. The most satisfying sequel I have seen in some time. And such a great ending. The screening was full and there was this delighted groan from the whole audience when the credits came up. Everyone left the theatre smiling. And I took my smile home to music, wine and unpacking books.

And sneezing, because packing, moving and unpacking come inevitably with sneezing, dammit.