I never realised how extremely horrible, tiring, and time consuming moving apartment could be. In IH all we had to do was pack up all our stuff in boxes, and that was that. No need to worry about furniture, about plates, pans and cockery, or cleaning up. And looks can be deceiving. Whilst it looks simple enough to pack, the actual reality dictates that one has to slog and slave to pack up the most mundane of things. It's the small items that are especially irritating. And whilst packing up, there is a tendency for one to constantly seem to misplace things - packing tape, scissors, wiping cloth, all have been lost numerous times.
4 years worth of notes thrown away
Once the packing was done, it was time to call the movers. And this is where it might sometimes have been better to call in the professionals, not cheap Chinaman movers. The apartment had to be vacated by Friday, so we thought it was best to move on Wednesday. Few hours before they were supposed to arrive, they call up saying that their lorry had "broken down". After much deciphering what they were trying to convey, as they only spoke a smattering of English, they promised that they would come the next day at noon. Once bitten, twice shy, the adage goes. But we still trusted that they would deliver as promised. 10am the next day they call up again to say that their lorry was still broken. Being in an immense quandary as we had to be out by the next day we were very fortunate to be able to get another mover as a replacement immediately, which came at a slight premium.
Anyway, moving all the boxes, furniture, white goods, and odds and ends all the way down the corridor, into the lift, out along little Lonsdale, and up into the lorry also proved to be a lot more time consuming than expected. 4.5 hours of lifting, heaving, moving, and dragging, and all our belongings were safely in their new home of Temple Court, which is on Collins and Queens St. Took that long even with a manpower of 7 (Thanx Erwin, 24, and Anand who helped out).
Super tired, but that was not the end of it. There was still the trivial matter of restoring the apartment to its original pristine state. Which meant a lot of cleaning, scrubbing, scouring, vacuuming, moping, and wiping down surfaces. Fighting with dirt, grime, grease, and stains. Bathtub has never looked so white, or glass panes so transparent. Thanx Michelle for volunteering to help out at 3am in the morning.
So more than 20-30 hours invested over the past few days to pack, move out, and clean. Result is an immaculate apartment sparkling clean.
Adieu to my home for the past year, it's been a great place to stay. The envy of many a friend. The convenience of staying less than a minute's walk from Safeway. The convenienve of being loacated right in the heart of the city. And a pretty decent view to boot.
Time to start restoring order to my new home for now.
[Updating from Damien's place whilst watching the double header matches of Man U vs Liverpool and Chelsea vs Arsenal. Having no internet connection totally sucks =(]
