Nothing like sheer panic to get you moving I always say. Last night, having signed off here, I sorted through the bedroom drawers and the hanging space, moved the sewing materials out of the bedroom, along with their associated chest of drawers, removed the clutter from the other three sets of drawers' tops and dusted them, replacing only what was appropriate and setting the rest aside for further sorting (guarantees, instruction manuals, you name it) and so by bedtime it was beginning to look quite spacious.

Today I opened up the shipping container and transferred all the long bits of (new) wood onto the brackets that are welded onto the sides of the container, took huge quantities of magazines to the tip, moved the smaller desk from the container to the front room, hung a blind at the window of said room and then moved the bookcase in there as well. The filing cabinet is still in the loungeroom but it too will be moving into that room tomorrow.

While rummaging in the container I also identified the suitcase containing my professional wardrobe which I will go through tonight and extract a few key items to take to Caroline to take in for me so I have something that fits.

In the middle of all this, Eleanor called in to visit and bestow jam jars on me, and to chat about her trip and the local doings. She has suggested a nice chap to look after the garden for me whose rates are manageable. It will be good to have someone in to mow, and haul out the weeds from the veges from time to time. I also checked out the cost of a new set of tyres for the ute (not as terrible as I expected) and established a linked savings account for my banking so when there is a salary coming in, I can isolate funds on payday that can not be accessed by card.

What I didn't do was call the accountant, something I was reminded of when I called in at the newsagency to check out vehicle log books and discovered there is more than one sort (who knew??!).

So there I was climbing into the car outside the bank when the phone rang and it was HT to discuss the process. Fortunately they are not as organised (or disorganised) as I feared so there will be the desired hiatus before I have to start work. In fact, they have yet to lodge the vacancy with the agency ... So I have now called the agency, registered my interest, forwarded my CV and will await events.

Phew. Not that this gives me time to sit and enjoy the sunshine (not that there actually is any sunshine), but it does mean I have a realistic timescale to get things done and not be exhausted before I even start to work.