Wow! Running waaay behind today - however, just got internet access moments ago.
In light of the past few days, relocating the Such Is Life household, here's an old column from 2007, about the joys of moving:
The Zen Of The Household Move…
Next to substantially remodeling a home, or widely differing opinions on childrearing, there can’t be any endeavor so stressful to a relationship as moving. I would not be at all surprised to find that there are criminal defense attorneys skilled exclusively in the slam-dunk practice of acquitting wives and girlfriends, after their partner’s poorly planned relocation plan has gone entirely awry. Let’s be honest, no jury in the world would convict the woman whose husband has actually given the wrong house number to the movers-the house he has come home to every night for the last 12 years-the house he orders a pizza to every Monday night, just before the football game…
There are a few different ways to move, depending on the load that eventually needs to toodle over from Point A to Point B.
Young couples, or single folks with minimal earthly possessions can either move everything over in the trunk of their Volkswagen Beetle, or ask a few friends to help fill up a rented cube van. Cost: some beer and pizza.
Chronic packrats like myself will find themselves begging with CN Rail to add a spur connection, to assist the boxcars in reaching the front door. Cost: the wide-screen TV and surround-sound system you hoped to convince your wife would look great in the new rec room.
I’m not saying we’ve got too much…stuff, but the last time we moved, observers thought Fleetwood Mac was back on tour…
If I had one piece of advice to offer after several moves (one inter-provincial), it would be to consider very carefully what really needs to arrive at your new home. When we moved to Kelowna from Winnipeg, we brought (I kid you not!) a substantial load of red bricks. Not sentimental, childhood keepsake bricks, but the painfully ordinary building bricks you might find in any building supply store.
Why, you might ask, would I move bricks across several provinces? It was part of a homemade bookshelf. And a mover’s hernia…
The Zen of the household move comes in hoping to find that perfect balance of preparation prior to the move, blended with the foresight for the first day at your new home. You hope to pack up exactly what you won’t need before the move, then at the very last minute, you will cram the things you’ll need immediately upon unloading at your new home into whatever packaging is still available at the old one. Many a mover has had to bite his tongue at the sight of groceries jammed into pantyhose and hastily-emptied cereal boxes…
The one thing you never want to do is mix up that sequence of events. Should you find that you have erroneously packed the vital household items that your partner uses every day without exception, and then further aggravated the situation by failing to remember to label the boxes, you are best advised to consider a new career, perhaps in the French Foreign Legion. I’ve always liked the hats those guys wear anyway…
No matter how well you plan a move, something will go missing. You can unpack everything on the moving van, and have police dogs come over and try to sniff it out, but the infallible law of a household move is that something either very important, or just plain embarrassing will disappear completely, like a piece of vacation luggage that visits a couple of Hawaiian islands you never made it to yourselves during your holiday.
Plan your move as best as you can. The end result is you better not pack the coffeemaker where you can’t find it again on move-in day…
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Soon as we catch our breath, we'll update our contact info, family and amigos!
Chow for now!!
