Hi everyone!

Just a quick note to let you all know that I'm back from my vacation. I have a bit of story to tell you about my second to last day on the island and some photos to show you as well, but all that is going to have yo wait for a bit since I am back at work and juggling my move as well, which is set for Friday of next week! So between packing boxes, making sure all my services (gas, electricity, cable) get shifted from my apartment to my house and trying to keep some time for my Sweetheart and I, blogging is going to have to wait for a bit.

Let me tell you though, I am very happy that I did not buy in a new condo or housing development. It has been my experience that new condos or houses always have some kinks to work out before they can truly be settled in to. My Grandparents, for example, bought a new house when they first moved to the Stated nearly 20 years ago. It was in a fancy new development in San Jose, California and it was a lovely home. However, when my grandparents moved in, it did not take them too long to realise that they had hot water coming into the toilet in the Master Bedroom!

As for my brother, he bought a brand new condo that he is moving into with girlfriend, or at least he was supposed to...His moved was supposed to take place at the end of April or early May (I don't remember which), but it was delayed a first time because the roof of the building was leaking right above his condo. My brother arranged to be compensated for the delay in the delivery of his home and he rescheduled his move for this Monday, but when he turned up in front of his new condo building with his girlfriend with their packed moving van, it turned out that their condo was not ready and the developer hadn't even bothered to let them know so they could reschedule their move! The developer ended up putting my brother and his girlfriend in another unit in the building that was not quite finished either, but that was still more functional than their own unit would have been. It didn't even have any kitchen counters yet!!! In the slight defense of the developer, there is a construction strike on which has delayed the delivery of new condos all over Montreal, but that does not in any way excuse the fact that he did not call my brother to let him know that his unit was not ready and that he should delay his move until it was!

Another case is my Sweetheart's sister whose new condo was delayed by over a year before she was able to move in and even once she did, there was still lots of work to be done on the landscaping and outside of the building which resulted in noise and inconvenience and on top of that, they started building the second phase of the condo project not even a year after she moved in, so even more dust and noise.

I'm not saying that moving into a new building is all bad, as my Sweetheart says there are advantages, but as for me I'm very happy to be moving into a building that has been around since 1927 and has long since worked out its kinks and that is in an area where no new construction is possible since in my mind one of the worst things that can happen is to be stuck with construction going on next to your home!