The kitchen vacated of all our crap.
Woke up with a sense of dread and didn't want to come out from under the duvet at all but obviously that wasn't going to get the move done so reluctantly I emerged. We headed to Tommy's Tuc Inn with my sister Tulin for breakfast although I didn't have much appetite for my scrambled eggs and toast.
Then back to do the final sorting and packing for the removal men arriving in the afternoon: packing up the food (still in cupboard in case the mice made a reappearance), unplugging and packing all the gadgetry and electronica (taking careful note of how the wires go back together), gathered up all the plants, doing final labelling of boxes and furniture and gathering up all the sundries still around and what a lot of miscellaneous shit there was. I'm so glad my sister was with us, we'd never have got it all done in time.
At some point in the morning, the solicitor called to stay the flat purchase had completed and at lunchtime Tulin went off and got us cheese sandwiches from Tommy's but otherwise the morning and early lunchtime passed in a frenzied and panicked blur.
The removals men were running late and at 1.45 (15 mins from the end of the time range we were expecting them in) they were still half an hour away and they finally arrived at 2.30. By that time, the solicitor had called to say our house purchase had completed, so Tulin and I had run off to the estate agent's to pick up the keys and go on to the new house to meet the locksmith. When there, he got to work, and I did some more panicking because, as I had suspected might happen, there was no electricity and not knowing how these electricity key card meters work, I was initially flummoxed. A call to EDF and they told me to take the key to a shop and get it charged up. But first I had to run back to the flat to pick up the steps then run back to the house, so I could use it to reach the meter. Found a shop to charge the key quite easily, brought it back, and then panicked some more when, on inserting it, nothing happened. Tried once more, heard something click and then, bingo, there was light. We also discovered a present from one of the local cats presumably - a half chewed up rat on the patio. Nice.
After that, Tulin and I waited outside in the sunshine, having placed the wheelie bins in the road to keep a space for the removal van which arrived shortly. Met a few neighbours including a lady who hoped we had kids to play with hers, another lady with a little terrier who wanted to come in and she had to keep saying, 'no, auntie Mai doesn't live here any more,' and another chatty bloke with dog.
The next hour or two spent directing the men where to put stuff and helping take out some of the lighter stuff. They had to make two journeys as we have so much crap (even with loads in storage). At some point, another neighbour, a rather fierce-looking Muslim guy I'd seen earlier walked by and said to let him know at no. 7 if we needed any help which was very sweet. The only drama was that the sofa couldn't be manoeuvred into the front room we'd designated as our sitting room and had to go into the next reception room, so we now need to buy something to sit on that we weren't expecting to. The men finally left with a cheque and a tip and we were in, surrounded by boxes. Unfortuanately we couldn't relax as we had to drive back to the flat and give it a bit of a clean. Amazing how horridly unkempt. small and dark it now looked after our light, spacious new house. Funnily, it seemed to clear away all my negative feelings of not wanting to go as it was so obvious that the new house is a good move. We hoovered, dusted and cleaned for an hour or so, but not a great job but by this time it was nearing 8.30 and we had friends coming - so had to get going, leaving a welcome folder, a card and a bottle of Cava for the new woman, hoping that would somehow make up for the nasty bits we were leaving her (toilet pipe dripping again and the manky stained and peeling walls in the spare room that were covered up by bookshelves and boxes for so long).
Back at the flat, Tulin and I waited while Dave went to pick up Sarah from the station and pick up fish and chips. Hilary arrived while we were waiting then once Dave and Sarah had returned with the fish and chips, we opened a bottle of champagne and chatted for a while perched on random chairs in the sitting room, including two of the foldable camping ones. When trying to fill the sink up to soak the dishes, the boiler wouldn't come on initially, turned out the water pressure had got too low, so Dave managed to locate the tap to refill. Then to bed on the mattress upstairs and no curtains in the room.
Final flat chronicles
http://365project.org/boxplayer/365too/2013-08-16
16 August 2013
Walthamstow E17
