Now that we are established after a fashion in the new home, the next big event is the start of visitor season. Not just all the tourists coming to see the leaves of the forest changing colour, we have friends from Ealing arriving imminently. Pamela and Tony are arriving on the 13th on their tour round the Deep South. And the following week sees Paula and Peter arrive. Peter is on a tour promoting his latest book, and will be giving a guest lecture at the local university. So, the week of 5th October was a mad dash to finish the essentials of getting the house ready.
The mountain of boxes has diminished significantly, but we have pretty much run out of energy for sorting this now. I have unpacked and shuffled boxes about up to the point where we have enough of essential items like towels, sheets and glasses (and far too many ornaments and other twiddley bits to find a home for at present). So, we have telepathically agreed that no more unpacking (apart from desperate hunts for really critical items like unpaid bills) will take place for a while, at least until the immediate guest list has been worked through. The number of runs to the recycling centre with very full cars continues to rise – we leave the cardboard recycling skip very full of flattened packing cases with each visit.
Updating the snagging list as problems emerge is the parallel workload, and then chasing Bill the builder and other trademen over the latest issues. I would love to say that the snagging list is now almost gone. But, no, as soon as one thing is fixed, another issue appears. A lot of what has gone wrong seems to be electrically driven, and it almost all leads back to the high tech trip switches in the main board, which are far too sensitive for their own good. Jonathan the electrician has finally concluded that decided that these have to be replaced with standard reliable switches. Our programme of replacing very ecofriendly bulbs (which are too dim to be of much help) with more powerful (though still energy efficient) bulbs rolls on.
On Sunday morning an unusual problem arose. I was in my library doing some computer work, and I heard a plaintive cry for help. I raced across the house to our bathroom to investigate. Lisa was trying out the bath for the first time. It is a seated bath with Jacuzzi jets and lots of fancy features. To get in, there is a door, no need to climb up or down. BUT – the bath needs to be empty before you can open the door. Lisa found that the discharge valve was not working properly, and she was trapped in the bath. I had to bail it out with a bucket until the water was knee deep and the valve would open. The plumber was contacted very firmly, and he came round the next morning to adjust the drain mechanism. The painters also returned up for a final touch-up session. I think we have hit a point of diminishing returns having them back, and in future I will do anything that needs doing on that front. I have also been putting up a few towel rails and other fittings. Johnathan has been back to finish the electrical issues, and anything outstanding will wait until the guest rush is over.
By the weekend, we were about as ready for guests as we could reasonable expect to be. So on Sunday we went out with a group of friends for lunch at Wolf Mountain to relax and unwind before Pamela and Tony arrived.
Pamela and Tony arrived on Monday from Savannah and Macon. I think that they were impressed by all we have achieved in Georgia, and we made them very welcome. After nearly three weeks on the road touring around the Deep South, they needed a time to relax, regroup and do some laundry. We took them on a couple of trips, to see the mountains all the way up to Popcorn Lookout, to Amicalola Falls (the highest waterfall East of the Mississippi, about 15 miles from home), to dinner at the Crimson Moon (a local music and food venue, with an emphasis on country and blue grass music) and out on a tour with several friends to see a number of local wineries on Saturday 18th. On Sunday it was Gold Rush Day in Dahlonega, a huge crafts and music festival, so that provided some excitement. The small city of Dahlonega (population less than 10,000) hosts a quarter of a million visitors over this two-day event.
Pamela and Tony departed for Nashville on Monday 20th, and we started clearing and tidying for our next visitors – Peter and Paula are coming on Wednesday for four days.