Sorry about missing my column last week – with both of us down with the flu, or a cold or whatever it was, and moving, I just didn’t have the energy to write a Report. As it is, I haven’t taken a picture for weeks.

We did get moved, on the 24^th. Because we were both so sick, the movers had to do all the packing that Doreen and I planned to do ourselves so it cost about double the estimate. We can’t fault the movers, though – there were three young men and they really moved. They even brought over a carton of old newspapers that we didn’t get around to taking to the Recycle place. I’m surprised they didn’t pack up the garbage bin.

We spent Friday night, the 24th, in our new place.  Margaret came on the 25^th to help us unpack, and Jenny, Laurie and Bryan, and Lucille came on the Sunday. We managed to get the house livable with their help but oh, what a mess of unpacking still to do! We are finally starting to feel human, but after a month’s siege, Doreen was still very tired. When she should have been just resting, she had to be answering everyone’s questions about “Where does this go?” or “Where does that go?” She managed to avoid making unpolitic suggestions. She has the tiny kitchen organized to her satisfaction, though. It is so small it has no drawers, so we had to get a kitchen trolley with four drawers in it. Of course, that had to be assembled, and I managed to get it partly done. Then we phoned Lloyd and cried and wept, and he came over and finished assembling it for us. Nice piece of furniture.

At the other place, we had a big garage and a small basement; here we have a big basement but a small garage. After a week of unpacking, sorting and stowing I still didn’t know if we were going to be able to get the car in the garage. I hoped so, because I hate scraping windows.

Now I’m feeling very proud of myself – after a busy weekend, we can get the car into the garage. Not only that, but we can get the doors wide open! I accomplished that by hauling stuff into the house and leaving it in the entryway for Doreen to deal with. She found a place for everything, and our house looks great – it really feels like home.

We went to a Berini Court condo meeting Thursday evening and met a bunch of our neighbors. Some of them have been here since the place was built, in 1986. I was able to get some advice on the heating and ventilating systems which are quite hi-tech. The units are almost airtight, as was the practice at the time, so it has a heat-exchanging air intake and venting system to avoid having stale air in the house. There was no literature on it so I’m learning how to run it by asking others. I was surprised to learn that many of the tenants don’t use the system at all; they just open windows. It’s there; I’ll use it.

Hallowe’en was a non-event here. Not a single kid showed up, but then this is a senior’s enclave. Farther south there are a lot of kids, and we hear of people giving out treats to up to 150 kids. No sign of any damage though we did see an empty egg carton on the street. I think Hallowe’en as we used to know it is a thing of the past. Now it exists only as a marketing ploy for retailers, like the rest of the holidays.

I said no kids showed up, but on Thursday, some teenagers came around in costume collecting stuff for the food bank. Very pleasant kids. Unfortunately, Doreen didn’t take a picture of them.

I’m sorry to say that Ken Melsted died as a result of a car accident. He had been in hospital for a long time. We were very close friends with the Melsteds all the time we lived in Wynyard. The funeral, in Wynyard, was a week ago yesterday but we weren’t able to go. Our condolences and best wishes to Pat, and to the grandchildren and other relatives.