Moving House

Birds flyin' high you know how I feel
Sun in the sky you know how I feel
Breeze driftin' on by you know how I feel
Its a new dawn, its a new day,
its a new life for me yeah,
its a new dawn its a new day
its a new life for me ooooooooh
AND I'M FEELING KNACKERED


Phew what two weeks can do to a battered old git like me. I've been on the road working and just to make things a little easier have moved house during the weekend in between! So now I live in the great metropolis that is sunny Plymouth instead of the middle of rural Devon. I'll miss the sheep!

Now moving isn't so bad if its all arranged and prepared for. So on the given day the removal firm turn up, pack everything safely into boxes, drive to the new place, whilst we are taking a relaxing lunch somewhere and then they place all the boxes into their correct room ready for unpacking, some companies, I believe, even unpack for you, so you can just walk in and continue living.

Of course we didn't do that. After all we have two strapping teenagers so why should we pay grown men, experts in their field to do our removals? So I ordered the van, the LARGE ford Transit woke them up at the crack of Saturday and away we went, plans? Ha! I laugh in the face of plans.

Now can someone please explain this to me. When I first moved into my flat as a foot loose and fancy free divorcee, I used my Peugeot 205 to move myself in. A couple of trips and that was it. This weekend it took three, yes 3! trips to Plymouth in our large Transit Van. Where did all this stuff come from? Ok I know I got married, but as my family is from Ukraine all they could bring was what they could carry on the plane - 22 kilos each. My wife is amazed at the stuff I have and that's not including what she threw away when she thought I wasn't looking.

The strapping teenagers worked well but had to be whipped to keep moving, their stamina for moving seemed to last for about an hour. They were constantly hiding, thinking that in the frenzy of moving I would forget them and move all the heavy things on my own. They had to stop and have rests, coke and pizza at regular intervals, I, of course, had to keep going as the Van had to be back Sunday evening.

I say I laugh at plans but I know well enough to label the boxes, unfortunately no one took any notice, and the boxes my wife labeled were in Ukrainian so that was useful! So all the boxes were placed willy-nilly into the new house and yes one week later boxes are still strewn around the place awaiting unpacking.

We had to buy a new fridge freezer. So on the Sunday I took my wife around the large barns they call shops on the outskirts of Plymouth. Fortunately both Comet and Curry's are right next to each other so it was easy to do the price comparisons! We found the fridge freezer that would fit into the hole in the wall in the kitchen and resolved to come back on Monday after we had moved some more boxes.

The next day we returned to said barn and searched for the sales person. Its a bit like hunting dinosaurs - they're extinct. Eventually we found someone who thought they might like to serve us. So I pointed out the said fridge freezer to the salesperson and he boredly (this was 9:30 in the morning) tapped a few numbers into the computer. 'Sorry sir, we don't have that model! Now this really gets me mad. I walk into a store, with cash in my pocket, cash which I really do want to spend, look at all they have on display, spend time choosing said article and then they say they don't have any! 'Why is it on display then'? Is the question I posed to the salesman. Of course he didn't know. He didn't know when they would have more, he knew nothing! He even told me they didn't have any in their smaller store in town. LIAR LIAR PANTS ON FIRE! Because even as I speak the freezer is icing up nicely. But even that purchase wasn't without its drama.

So we go to the store in town and yes they had the same model and even a better one which was frost free and BONUS it had 40 pounds off making it the same price as the one which presumably gets frosty. So yes please we tell the aged salesperson we'll have that one with 40 pounds off. 'Ahh have you got an old fridge we can pick up then he asks'. 'No, I say, because as responsible citizens we took both the old fridge and freezer to the responsible allocated fridge and freezer tipping place rather than dumping it in the local ditch where eventually all the gases would leak out and kill us all, we are more responsible than that'. 'Ahh he says then you cannot have the 40 quid off as you need to give us your old fridge or freezer' NOBODY TOLD ME! Damn. Ok we'll still have the frost free option for 40 quid more, plus 18 quid delivery he says WHAT! Then he has the temerity to try to sell me a fridge thermometer I tried to get one for free as I was paying cash but not in this day and age! I warned him against trying to sell me an extended warranty!

Anyway we have our fridge freezer, have been to Ikea, bought nothing which seemed to have cost us 300 quid, that's a great business to be in isn't it. And today, which is Monday, I am trying to have a quiet day, not going into work by cashing in my lieu hours and trying not to look into the boxes!

More soon.