Today I received a letter from Telecom.  It apologised for all the troubles we'd had, and credited us with a month's free line rental and a month's free broadband.  A gas company (the previous occupants of this house used), came and disconnected the gas yesterday without notifying us.  I got in contact with our company about it, the girl I spoke to was bloody rude and unhelpful.  I called head office, spoke to someone wonderful, about an hour later someone came and reconnected the gas AND I was credited $25 dollars for being inconvenienced.  I have to say in all fairness, these things probably wouldn't have happened in Blighty.  The fact that these companies actually did something nice, and the fact that I was ABLE to find nice people to speak to made the whole world of difference.  I don't feel stressed or upset about all the problems.  Even the pool guy phoned today to arrange a time to come and service the pool, so our property manager is FINALLY getting there with jobs that need to be done.  Yesterday Steve's boss mentioned he'd qualified for a bonus, which will basically triple turning from the GBP to the NZ$.  Its amazing how our luck goes!  Sometimes its like we're in a constant battle, and the whole world is against us, and the next, everything changes.  It reassures me that we're not the unluckiest people in the world!  We also got our bond refund the other day, couldn't have come at a better time.  With another bond to pay (which was MORE than our previous place - even though its a hundred bucks cheaper here a week),  removal costs, final bills, Moons school fees, etc, we were walking a pretty fine line.  Hopefully it can only get better from here.  I was pretty disappointed to find out I couldn't study on my visa (whenever I get it!), but I have made contacts at the uni I want to study at, so I hope it won't be too hard to slot in.  I have missed the start of the semester anyway, so I hope to take some papers until next year to reduce the workload.  Hopefully I'll have my visa by then!  It is a bit of concern not knowing what's going on with it.

So yeah, we're finally getting there!  Oh, must mention the new addition to our family, Cheeky.  She's fitting in really well. I've taken her to obedience classes and she was the best dog there, I've already started training her, so it shouldn't be too hard.  Also, her breed 'hunteraway' are desirable because they're so easy to train.  She lives outside now, and I take her running with me.  Moons and her are fast becoming the best of friends!  Its really good to have a dog in the family, it sort of completes our family.

So, fingers crossed for an unbunpy road from here!