Country Retreat - 44. Settling In

“Yeah, I had a few lectures about it, by my parents over the Christmas break,” Giles replied and I just chuckled at this. “Should I set up a swear jar for you?” I asked, “Hell no, I would be stoney broke by the end of the first semester,” Giles replied and I burst out laughing.

“There are your first five cents into the jar,” I said, “Buggar,” Giles responded, “And your second,” I added, “Shhhh… sugar. Hey cut that out, you’re meant to be my friend,” Giles responded and I couldn’t help but keep laughing. We headed to the nearby park for a walk and look around. “You know, now that I have thought about it, I agree that it would be nice to improve the front garden. How about we spend the next few days planning how we are going to do it,” I said to Giles as we walked around the oval, which had Giles smiling.

“Hello Boys, what do you think of this house? A bit too much I am guessing is what you are thinking right now. A dear friend of ours has a grandson – Antonio, who is attending TAFE College at Regency Campus, where he is starting his third course there, having already completed a Certificate 3 in Cookery, a Certificate 3 in Patisserie Cooking, and now doing a Certificate 4 in Kitchen Management.

He is looking for a place to live while he studies, and he is prepared to work to help pay for his living costs, so we recommended that he contact you. He will be calling in a few days for an interview, but I am sure that it will be just a formality. Enjoy your new home, take good care of the place and no wild parties, and be aware that the real estate agent will be checking in to make sure that all is good with the place. We will deposit money into your account every fortnight Oscar to cover all of your living expenses, just send us the power and water bills when they arrive. Lots of love, Gran and Gramps.”

I had read it out loud for Giles to hear, and when I finished, we just looked around us. “Well it looks like we will have a Cook/Cleaner of sorts in a day or two, I was dreading how we are going to keep this place clean all the time,” I commented. “Me too mate, I just hope that it works out ok with him. Let’s get settled and have a look around outside, and maybe a swim after,” Giles suggested.

The existing front garden was nice but fairly plain, with just two main plants and a bit of lawn. Giles suggested that we remove all of the lawn and plant some native grasses under the GrassTrees and some hard-wearing herbs between the concrete slabs that form the footpath to the front door, as well as some miniature tea tree shrubs in front of the birds of paradise shrubs, to fill in the space where the grass is, plus a couple of granite boulders as a feature, also we would plant a bougainvillea vine for each boulder, to create a plant rock-climbing feature.

Giles had taken photos of the front yard before work started and again at the end of each workday, to show how we had progressed with the garden, and in just three days, we had reconditioned the soil and planted the new shrubs, native grasses and ground covers, and an hour after lunch, we were packing away our gardening tools when a vehicle pulled up into the right side driveway and stopped.

“Hello, I am Antonio Ramella, I believe you are expecting me for an interview for the position of live-in housekeeper,” the young man said as he stepped out of his vehicle. Giles and I looked at each other, and Giles raised an eyebrow as he was a lot younger than we expected. “Yes, please come in, we have just finished with our gardening project,” I responded, as I led the way through the garage, where I dropped my gardening gloves on the floor and took my boots off, before walking through the door into the main hallway.

“This is quite an impressive house that your grandparents bought for you to use while studying here in Adelaide,” Antonio commented. “Yes it is, we have only been here a few days ourselves, so we are still settling in. This is my good friend Giles Harris, we went to high school together, and he is in his third year of studying at Flinders Uni in Bedford Park.

I have just transferred to the University of SA, and I am also in my third year of studies,” I responded, as I led the way down the long hallway towards the kitchen. “Well, this is not what I expected, it is quite a spectacular home,” Antonio said as we finally reached the kitchen and stepped out onto the decking on the opposite side from the pool. “I must admit, that we did not know anything about my grandparents buying such a large house.

We were a bit shocked at its size and wondered how we were going to maintain it, with our busy study commitments, until we found the note, explaining about you wanting a place to live and work while you study at TAFE,” I said to Antonio. I explained that Giles and I would be leaving early each morning, and depending on our study schedule we would be home by late afternoon or early evening.

Antonio said that his family live in Tumby Bay, on the other side of the Gulf, so he has had to find accommodation and work while studying in Adelaide, and for the past two years, as well as studying at TAFE, he has been working as a kitchen hand and waiter at several restaurants, and that being a housekeeper was going to be a nice change and not so high pressure.

Standing up, I led the way back inside, and starting from the study I began to show Antonio around the house, while Giles wandered off somewhere. I showed Antonio the bedroom and bathroom that he would be using, which is just next to the kitchen, and he was pleased with having his own space. After showing him the rest of the house, including my suite, Giles’s room and the spare room, I asked Antonio if he was happy with the house, and if he would like to accept the position as housekeeper, to which he immediately said yes to the question.

Antonio said that he had all of his luggage with him in his vehicle if he could move in right away, which I agreed to, and I suggested that he park his car in the right-side garage, which he went to do, before starting to settle into his quarters. I soon found Giles relaxing in the spa, so I went and changed and joined him. “I think Antonio is going to be a real asset here, he sounds like the perfect person to help around the house,” Giles said to me.

“I do hope so, I wasn’t too keen on doing so much housework here, I get enough of that at home when I am out on the property,” I responded. “You clean most of the complex? Giles asked me, “At the start I did, but now that Marcus is there full time, he does most of it now,” I replied. “I noticed that the fridge and pantry have already been stocked up with supplies, do you think your Gran had the real estate agent organise that?” Giels asked, Yes, probably, unless we have some leprechauns around the place,” I replied smiling, and Giles laughed loudly at this.

When we had been soaking in the spa for about half an hour, we climbed out and I soon smelt cooking smells, “Ooo, whatever he is cooking, it smells good,” I commented, as we drieed off, and headed for the kitchen. “Busy already?” I asked as we entered. “Yes, I can’t have my landlord starving now can I,” Antonio replied smiling, and we chuckled at this comment, “True, what time do you want us to sit for dinner? You will be joining us of course,” I asked.

“Is 7 pm ok with you both? Yes, I would like that thank you,” Antonio replied. As we were finishing our delicious dinner that evening, Giles looked towards me and smiled, that reminds me of someone else’s wonderful cooking,” he said to me and I chuckled at this comment, “True, if they got together, there would be a fierce cooking comp going on between them,” I replied.

“We have a friend who joined our circle of friends just before Christmas, and we discovered that he too is an excellent cook,” Giles said to Antonio. After helping to clear away the table, stacking the dishwasher and thanking Antonio for a wonderful dinner, we said good night to him, and we headed to the cinema room to watch a movie as we only had a few days left, before the first semester starts for the year.

At the start of the new semester and for me, a new university to continue my degree, everything was going smoothly, which I was a little surprised by. Antonio was attending TAFE three days a week from 9 am to 2 pm and two days a week from 1 pm to 4 pm, so he soon had everything down to a routine and the house looking spotlessly clean, laundry done and snacks and evening meals prepared for when he got home.

Since Giles was saving money on accommodation and meals, he arrived home on the Thursday of our third week of the semester riding a brand-new scooter, “Why?” I simply asked, “Because I can't be driving around in your luxurious 4x4 vehicle all the time, it will spoil my reputation” Giles replied, which made me laugh. “What reputation, you don’t have one… do you?” I asked, “No, but I am sure there are days that you wish you could drive to your campus, so I bought a scooter,” Giles replied.

By the end of the semester, I had completed two additional certificate qualifications, one in Work Health & Safety and the other in Auslan Sign Language, which was handy as I had spotted a couple of students at the campus who regularly chatted in Auslan, and in a way, I knew that I was ‘Listening In’ to their conversation by watching their sign language was wrong, but I learnt from this that one of the students that I was watching mentioned that his little brother – Jordan is deaf, and that is why he knows Auslan Sign, with Jordan currently very sick and in hospital.

With the mid-year holidays fast approaching, and not wanting to hang around Adelaide doing nothing, and not wanting to go home to Perth, I decided to make a sudden trip to Canberra to see my friends there. When I told the guys this, Giles informed me that he had decided to continue his studies to do Honours in Information Technology, so he would be staying for another year in Adelaide, so after a brief chat with my Grandparents on the phone, I let him know that he could continue to live in the house for another year, which he was very pleased to hear.