Well, after much anguish and many ups and downs, it looks like I am into the final week of being the proud custodian of my current home. I am still worried that there will be some last minute hitch but contracts have been exchanged and all being well, I am heading a few miles north, so that I am once again within short walking distance of the sea and useful things like bus stops. I am not really liking this preparing to be old lark but I know it makes sense.
Let’s just hope that I’ve been dealt my share of dramas associated with this move already. You couldn’t make it up. There was I surrounded by boxes, hoping to move within a week or two, when a cyber attack caused havoc for solicitors (not mine but others in my very short chain) and resulted in a whole lot of paperwork disappearing in a puff of ether, cue a two week delay. I have also discovered that books are very heavy. To keep boxes under the prescribed weight of 20kg you need to mix hard backed books with something random and light, so the box isn’t half empty and won’t squish when stacked. I started off well with the decluttering and packing logically but the ‘don’t fill boxes with books, top them up with something light’ is an issue as I have long since run out of light things and the boxes are full of seriously random mixtures. I am pretty much left with just my underwear in the ‘something light’ category. I am sure that was never a problem before, when removal men lifted heavier things. I am working on the principle that if I can lift it a fit, young removal man should be able to. I should point out that I am using the word ‘fit’ to mean healthy, rather than attractive. I’ve not seen them yet so the latter’s an unknown quantity,
My greatest sadness is that all this delay means my precious Christmas decorations are firmly in their boxes. Any other month of the year and a week or two either way wouldn’t have so much impact. The current plan is move in one day, decorations up the next and then I shall be following the tradition of leaving them up until Candlemas (February 2nd).
Insuring the new house, which you have to do from exchange, was tricky as you are asked all kinds of questions about types of locks and I officially have no idea. Weirdly, it seems the patio doors count against me, understandable if they were external but these just lead to the conservatory, which has a conventional door to the outside. I have arranged for wifi to be transferred with trepidation, as I really need this to be reliable. For some reason my existing company can’t supply me with a landline (although they do currently and I am going to a less remote area) and the twelve year old I spoke to couldn’t really explain why. Possibly something to do with the switch to digital phone lines. I don’t actually use the phone much, except to put the phone down on cold callers, so am going to try to manage with just a mobile. I am a relatively new convert to mobile phones. This means I am a) going to have to try to remember what my number is, b) learn how to put it on speaker phone as I’ve never made more than a 1 minute call on a mobile and don’t fancy longer calls with it stuck to my ear and c) I am going to have to remember to turn the darned thing on. At the moment I only turn it on when I want to use it.
Acquiring boxes has become an art form. It seems supermarkets don’t have piles of them to give away as they did pre COVID. Banana boxes work best as they are sturdy but only seem to come as half boxes, which then need pairing up if possible. I currently have a stack of half boxes, hoping a future haul will produce other halves that fit. I just hope all my neighbours are binge eating bananas. My secret shopper has built up a network of friendly supermarket assistants and does a daily sweep of the local shops but often to no avail.
In a version of ‘How Many Sweets in a Jar’, I thought it might be fun to have a sweepstake on how many boxes I have. It may take a few months for the result as I shan’t count them until they are either emptied or stashed away. No entry fees and no prizes, just a bit of fun. To help you decide, I have 3 bedrooms (2 are very small) but 13 full height book cases, what was a large and full loft (now emptied and stashed wherever I can find room), quite a few boxes of copies of books I have written and what seems to be a ridiculous amount of stuff for someone who has already downsized.
The History Interpreter - Janet Few 
Hello Janet, just wanted to wish you very well for your move – glad it’s all ‘come together’. I moved once, on 12 December, taking some precious garden plants in pots which because of delay in the former owners leaving the property until late evening (yes, I did say late evening), said plants had to overnight in a removal lorry with lots more of our property) and there was a very heavy frost….
I guestimate you will have 113 boxes!
Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year, Vanessa
Janet, we are so similar. I am now trying to reduce the number of books I have. I now have 8 boxes of books at my door. I am hoping the Ottawa Public Library will take them as they sell used books at one location. As long as they don’t end up in land fill. Boxes are hard to get hold of here too.
I finally bought a cell phone, or as the Brits call it, a mobile. I have used it once, and it’s now under piles of research on my kitchen table. I am assured that i need this thing, but I am not yet convinced. Cheers, and I wish you the best on your move. Brenda
Hi Janet,
Commiserations on moving! I have a tip from when we moved my dad into a nursing home late 2019. My mother had been an avid reader and impressed upon us not to throw out the early edition books. My (self appointed) role was to make sure all books were saved as my sister was mostly away, one brother was working and the other wanted to throw everything out. I estimated I moved 1/2 a metric tonne of books to my place. I soon gave up on the box idea after using 5 or so. I started buying the solid plastic type of supermarket bags in lots of 10. I guess I ended up with 65 and reused many. I know the 1/2 tonne estimate by averaging the weight of 3 or 4 bags (between 7 or 9 kilos each. then counting the bags.) Bags have the advantage of coming with handles, easier for anyone to carry. If I nearly depleted one supermarket of bags, I went to another supermarket.
I donated so many bags of books to my local family history society that they held a book sale on volunteers’ Xmas morning tea, to my surprise! I distributed books to family members who wanted them at Xmas.
PS My house is still full of book bags but at least I can now walk through my spare rooms. I worry about not reading all the books, but as my sister says good new books come out all the time and you can’t limit yourself. Our mother died aged 68 but I guess the internet was less of a distraction in 2020. Clearly as a fast reader she read all those books, but I myself have several bookcases, some with doubled up rows, of books I have read. I also sed to donate some to her to give to library sales and have bags of romance novels that I can’t believe I’ve read all of. They were given to me by a gay male friend. I also now have a complete collection of Georgette Heyer.
Good Luck with moving!