Winter’s last go at us.

Or at least that’s the hope.

This was the view yesterday,  but it didn’t do anything more than freak out the dough heads who still haven’t figured out that it’s a good idea to have winter tires if you actually need to commute anywhere. 

The neighbourhood here is pretty quiet,  and if it weren’t for traffic reports on TV or the radio, we’d really have no clue as to any sort of chaos out on the by-ways.   Even Travelling Companion’s “commute” is only about ten minutes,  and it’s against the traffic. 

This was this morning’s view.  *Watch out for all those cars!*

Fortunately there was little to no wind, which was a good thing, as it was just a wee bit cold.  Something like -8°C, but who’s counting?  Rumour has it that last year at this time it was well into the plus side of the scale.  Something like plus 17?  That’s almost room temperature, or at least in the “sixties”.  I’ll only use Fahrenheit if I’m actually in the United States.  Only because I pride myself on always trying to “speak the lingo”. 

Anyhoodle,  the month of March anywhere north of the Mason Dixon line is a bit of a crap shoot.  As long as I’m not shovelling it, I’m fine.  Besides,  I’d sooner be here and bundling up against a little cold, rather than be in some place like Texas.  If I went all that way and it was still cold, I’d be pissed.  Just sayin’.

If you want to remain in the States and be really warm in the winter,  I think Puerto Rico would be my first choice.  Gets cold in Florida.  Who needs that?

 

So just a couple notes on the unpacking.  Yes, I did some.  There.

I don’t think that really counts though. I stacked it all up again ‘cause we ain’t got no place to put it all.  Yet.  Daughter Number Two and T.C. need to come up with some sort of schedule.  Or something.

There were a few things that I managed to temporarily put away this morning,  but at a certain point I just stand there and gaze at the pile, with no sense of what to do next. 

In terms of the quality of the movers,  we’ve gone from “pitiful”,  to “slightly adequate” to “pretty damned awesome”. 

Lemme ‘splain.

 

Here’s an example of the silliness of the man and wife team and idiot brother that we had to pack us up in July of 2008.

Yup,  those are doorknobs.  (Oh, is there some sort of “knob theme” there?)  Purchased right here at the Canadian Tire store in Burlington, waiting for me to install them upstairs.   They got packed.  So they ended up in Europe, and now they’re finally home.  It occurred to me on more than one occasion to bring them home in my luggage any time we made a trip home,  but most times I either didn’t have the room (packed light) or moreover, I didn’t want to have to explain to Canada Customs just what the hell I was doing with three doorknobs in my luggage.  They might have checked,  who knows?   Luggage does get scanned,  but you knew that.

Then I noticed on one of the huge cartons sitting in the garage that the movers had written “beshädigt” on the outside,  and I thought “damaged”?   What?  But then I realised that it was one of the couches,  and sure enough,  when unpacking in the Netherlands,  the very clever fellow who was unloading the truck had indeed cut into the fabric with his box cutter.  *grrr*

Now,  maybe it’s because I mentioned this sort of thing to the first mover Dude who came to the apartment to size things up (in Vienna)  but this last bunch really packed things.

They took things back to their warehouse,  and just went to town.

I mean,  can you tell that’s a bicycle?

 

 

Or maybe I should say, now that’s how you pack a bike!

 

They even packed my tool boxes. 

The first jokers just shoved a little tape on the outside and called it a day.  Which is why a couple of T.C.’s sewing boxes got beat to pieces.  They were never designed to be slammed about in a shipping container.

 

Mind you, putting that red tool box on its end wasn’t without some consequence, but not a big deal.

Gravity will do that.  However, there’s no way for the contents to escape.  That’s the main thing.

 

I’ll leave you with this image.

This is from inside the shed.  Actually,  it’s better now, since I shoved a few things around.  There’s no way to take things off the truck in exactly the correct order.

 

 

And of course,  we mustn’t forget the “help”.

 

Since lying there like road kill is so helpful. 

 

Oh, and I must say,  judging from the number of comments yesterday (OK, two days ago?) my impression is that moving might have “hit a nerve”?   Almost up there with politics or religion.   ‘Cause moving is such fun,  isn’t it?

It just so happened that I bumped into someone I’ve known since our University days yesterday,  and one of her questions was,  “So where to next?”  and I just said, “Um no, we’re done.”  

We *might* go out east and see one of my brothers,  but rumour has it that he and his wife just might come to Burlington for a visit,  so I *might* just stay home.  Hey, I could conceivably get sick of being home,  but not just yet.

 

 

Keep it between the ditches.

 

Thanks for stopping in.