Step one: put your stuff in a box...

It is rather humbling to remark that all of your worldly material possessions fit neatly into a collection of 148 cardboard cubes of various dimensions and several pieces of furniture.  A small army (that consists of a burly, young lumberjack, a thick-necked tank, a non-descript guy and his wing man Harry Potter) has descended upon the house for to shuttle our stuff to an as-of-yet-undisclosed storage and shipping facility.  The land line, cable and internet have been cut off and things are starting to seem “real”.  Well, I guess we are officially homeless since we haven’t a clue about our address overseas.

It seems that it has all fit into one cube van for our Sea shipment and one honking truck (with air brakes) for our Long Term Storage “stuff”.  It is quite amazing to see it all go so quickly.  Hopefully our sea shipment will arrive in a timely manner and we can take possession of it all when we move from our temporary flat to our permanent one in September.

My one fatal error today was proving someone-who-shall-remain-nameless with a venti Pike Place from Starbucks.  What was I thinking?!!  He is more of a hovering helicopter than I am.  Wow.  He is pretty much pacing back and forth across a 2 metre patch of hardwood flooring and I’m worried that he will wear out a section of the varnish.  He is speaking very quickly and not making much sense.  I’m going to check to see if he has any Ritalin in his coffee.  Sheesh

Quotes of the day:

“I want to go home.” (umm, I hate to burst your bubble but we have no home)
“Fuss.”
“C’mon boys, I want this to be over.”**
“You’re still in trouble, you know.” (that was my comment to him)

**please note the time of this comment was 11:04 and the first truck had just departed and the second one had just arrived

The keys and paperwork will be handed over and finalized at the lawyer’s on Thursday PM and the official handover is on Friday.  We are really thankful that the house sold as quickly as it did as the market seems to have slowed.  Being saddled with a house to sell while overseas is not my idea of a good time.  We have enough crap to worry about without having to deal with that sort of hassle.

The next few days are going to be busy as all get out managing last minute paperwork, trying to fit in last minute visits, dinners and time with family in preparation for our departure from Canada on the 26th. We are now safely ensconced in the Minto Suite Hotel for the next week or so.  I’m glad we decided to move there last night instead of staying in the house because a last minute laundry load and bed stripping this morning would have resulted in my face peeling off. 

Dare I say that things seem to be progressing well at this juncture?  Our papers are (thankfully) in order and we have 2 suitcases and a carry-on apiece to drag to NYC and then on to Moscow. 

Stay tuned for more news from the Big Apple where I plan on catching a show, visiting Coney Island (for the first time ever, can you believe it?  10 trips to NYC and never once to Coney Island), MOMA, the Guggenheim, The Museum of Natural History and possibly Tiffany’s (whether for breakfast or for bling it remains to be seen).  This may in all likelihood result in a three day sleepfest in the hotel, but I have plans, you know!!