Packing gets serious

Two weeks ago I reported that the packing had started. Surely, things must have moved on since! But they hadn't. Instead I had my last Tuesday trip, fell ill, recovered, applied for a job, went to York, found a place to stay, came back, wasted an evening on a cave rescue call-out, recovered by pottering around in Jon's garden, had my last Cornish mining trip, stayed at work late, looked for more jobs (my contract runs out in September 2014 - time for action), arranged all these things one needs to arrange on the eve of moving house, wrote a conference abstract, worked on a manuscript, and said goodbye to my colleagues. But I hardly packed a thing. But it was time to change that, so the day after my goodbye do I got cracking. The day before, friend and colleague Hoayda had offered to help. So I suggested she'd come on Saturday afternoon, for some packing and then dinner. She agreed!

I started in the morning. I tried to empty my big bedroom cupboard. And I took all my outdoor kit (and some other stuff) from by landing cupboard. And I brought some more stuff to the charity shop. By the time Hoayda came, a lot was done. I figured I'd offer her the choice between packing my book cupboard, and taking various racks apart. When I had asked her the day before if she was good with screwdrivers, and she answered "no!" with a confused look on her face, so I was not surprised when the chose the books. So I took down the racks I had built into my cupboard, and why I was at it, I did the same to the shoe rack turned side table next to the sofa. And then as well the rack in which I keep towels in the bathroom. And I packed my CD racks. And then I started cooking. When dinner was almost ready she had packed the last book. She'd been a whirlwind!

 The book cupboard after Hoayda was done with it

While we were having dinner she asked me why I had asked her if she was good with scuba diving. I was confused. I ran through my memories of that conversation, and then I remembered - was she good with screwdrivers! Now I understood the puzzled look.Oh well, it didn't matter - she is clearly good with books and boxes!

It was really nice to get help; we really got a lot done! The biggest jobs now are the ones that need to wait until the end: my clothes, my tools and my kitchenware. And it was nice too to have a bit of social time after a day of packing! My house isn't very homely anymore now, with boxes everywhere. And Hoayda's presence helped me keep my arse in gear with such a lack of sleep looming over me. I now have faith that the rest of the work will go smooth. Moving house is stressful, but this time I think it will be the least stressy packing up of a house I've ever done! Thanks, Hoayda!

 

My bedroom-annex-box-storage