The Rural Voice, 2003-09, Page 59engaged, the aquarium was still full of
fish and a number of acquaintances
who were to assist with the move had
failed to show! And the U -Haul they
had reserved had been substituted with
a cargo van. (So at least our huge U -
Haul now had a good purpose.)
Now here is the catch. Unlike our
neck of the woods with little traffic,
relaxed schedules and friendly people
and neighbours etc., this is Toronto.
The freight elevator at the new place is
reserved from 2 - 5 p.m. Yipes! Ward
and I flew into action. "Alright
everyone. Move it!" As Ward and.
Steve hit the landing of the rickety fire
escape with the first heavy piece of
furniture the sky opened up and buckets
and buckets of rain proceeded to pour.
(The rain kept up all afternoon).
While five of us packed, toted,
hauled, and filled our U -Haul to
overflowing (these two had accumulated
a small empire worth of furnishings and
paraphernalia), I got busy cleaning the
place for the new tenants.
Hailey said "Mom just a good once
over will be fine." Well, let me tell you,
this four -room pad had so much
furniture that the stuff had not been
moved totally away from the walls in
eons. The dust bunnies were the size of
Saint Bernards, and they were barking!
I swept, scrubbed and scraped while the
moving slowly progressed.
All was not going well at the new
digs. Elevators not available that were
to have been. There were crusty,
elderly new neighbours, etc.
Finally five and a half hours later, I
have just nicely completed my
cleansing of the old apartment when the
girls show up to take me to my first
viewing of the new condo. We're no
sooner headed out when "Oh My God
George!" ... the girls inform me that
when we arrive at the new place — and
don't get upset Mom — Dad has ditched
the 26 -foot U -Haul in the flower bed
and has had to call a tow truck, the rear
shock has become caught on the
cement curb of the bed and will not
disengage and the older neighbours are
really hot and bothered now. It's still
pouring rain, and a good deal of the
furniture is still piled in the lobby
because the elevator is still not working
properly.
All was in an uproar when we
arrived. At which point I went into
neutral, realizing that there was only so
much one soul can do and everyone on
449:( rIN1..
our team was trying to operate with the
best intent and surely all would right
itself. So onward and upward to the
seventh floor where at this point 90 per
cent of everything was in the middle of
the living room.
Oh well, my next job was to get
dinner on the go for this hungry crew. I
got busy looking for our cooler
brimming with lasagna, salads,
bruschetta bread, etc. I poked and
probed for quite a while and finally I
ask "anyone seen the food cooler?"
Ward walks through the door from his
mishap and the ensuing purchase of
garden tools to clean up the flowerbed,
etc. and I ask "Wardie you packed the
food cooler, honey. Where is it"?
"Oh My God...George! "here it is
now about 7 p.m. and wouldn't you
know it ... the food is still sitting in
Wingham in my dining room. Well this
presented many options: get mad, tell
everyone my thoughts at that time,
throw stuff, cry — but, I chose to go
have a bath in the new tub. (Some-
where a little voice in my head said
"These are all adults ... they'll figure it
out.")
The most important occurrence of
the whole moving experience is the fact
no one said any hurtful or nasty things.
Nobody brought to an already stressful
occasion negative energy which could
contaminate Hailey and Steve's new
home and their desire for a happy and
peaceful, prosperous future together.
The new condo is beautiful. It boasts
a marble foyer, huge great room with a
kitchen, dining and living room and
powder room on the main floor. A large
spacious stairway leads upstairs to
three big bedrooms with walk-in closets,
a massive laundry and storeroom and a
full bath. The front facade is all glass
wall and the view is a panorama or the
QEW, or Lake Ontario or the
neighbourhood below — the balcony is a
spacious 7' x 30'. So basically speaking
... they are on top of the world. Their
mortgage payments are enough to scare
the daylights out of most of us and
getting things moved into the proper
spaces was going to be a quite a chore.
We all learned a lot and needless to
say, there will not be another "Move
From Hell" amongst this family. With
hard work, luck, love of each other and
family, they'll be blessed and make it.
With a positive attitude all life's
challenges can be successfully
conquered.0
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SEPTEMBER 2003 55