28.01.06
moving
So after having written my previous entry about being in an empty apartment with nothing in the fridge and no tv, what else should happen? My sole surviving companion the laptop died leaving me with no internet and no dvd player. Having to go cold turky for a week living on books alone I realised how much of a media saturated existence I leave. And I thought I was above all that...
And then the move happened. Ah, the move. A day I will not be forgetting any time soon, and which, combined with my previous moving experiences I will not be keen to repeat again. In the first place I should never have asked my Dad to help us move, while he played the role of truck driver perfectly he forgot to leave his captain's hat at home and proceeded to use his seafaring knowledge a little to well and tied down everything in the truck at least three times. So althought we had started early (8am) we were only leaving my house at about 9:30, and A had dreams that the move would all be over at about 10am.
So it was 10am we were at A's place (who was already frustrated by the delays) and who should happen to show up at his house, with the truck in the drive and us loading his stuff into the truck? His father, of course. And while he walked past us all and smiled at us as we packed his son up, he accosted A inside the house and demanded his key and told him to never return to the house. After we left he threw out the rest of his stuff, broke his plates and told his mother and sister to never mention his name in the house again. A's Mum and sister have been to see our house (I was at work, so it wasn't too confronting for his Mum) and though they're sad and they miss him, they're really happy for him.
So, we split up and head to the new house, Dy and Simon in their car, A on his motorbike and my Dad, Brother and I in the truck. While Dad has been playing a pretty good role as truck driver up until this point the truck has not been up to scratch. The clutch is fucked and the truck has been stalling. So, on the way to the new house in the middle of a busy intersection, the clutch fails, the truck stalls and we break down, completley unable to restart. We were stuck in the truck, because of the traffic unable to get out, waiting for the rental company to send someone out to fix the truck. After we'd been waiting about 10 minutes some police came and offered us assitance. With their help (and that of a few nice passers-by) we managed to push a 3 Tonne truck, filled with furniture out of traffic to the side of the road. Then, while I was running to the side of the road to wait, I managed to stand in a pie. Standing there, in over 30 degree heat waiting for the rental company to come and fix their truck it was only the pie which stopped me from getting angry. Somehow, it summed up the absurdity of the entire situation.
So eventually the truck company comes out and jumpstarts the truck and we go on our merry way to the new place. All is well, we're unloading the truck (which we've left on to ensure that we have no problems restarting it) and that goes swimmingly. It is only when Dad goes to reverse out of there to take the truck back to the rental company that things start to go wrong again. Because the clutch is fucked and Dad is having to rev at such slow speeds to try and fit between the cars the truck stalls. We have to wait an hour and twenty minutes for them to come and get the truck started. When he gets it started again, and it stalls straight away Dad decided he wasn't going to drive that truck anywhere because it just wasn't safe.
The problem with having to wait such a long time to get the truck fixed was that while the we were waiting Dad gave Mum a call just to let her known that things were taking a little longer than expected, only Mum was in tears because our 16 year old dog had lost movement in her front and back legs and Mum was really worried that she was going to have to take Nikki to the vets and get her put down and she really wanted Dad to be there. Anyway, eventually Dad did get home and they took her to the vets and she was put down the next day.
This is really just the condensed list of what went wrong that day, but I think it covers the worst. The funny thing was that up until hearing about Nikki everyones mood was still suprisingly okay. Everyone banned together and worked hard and had a laugh when it was necessary. I really appreciated that because without the right people it would have been a complete disaster.
Anyway, I'm in the new house with A and I love it. I love it, love it, love it. There are a few things still to sort out, a few thing still to unpack but it's a great house and a great location and I'm close to my friends again!
8:12 a.m.