February 27 was upon us. Moving day. Good thing we prepared for this day and we were ready and packed. I would giggle at that statement as well, for we all know us girls do things by the seat of our pants. Well, except for Christie.
Christie had been bringing home boxes from work and nicely packed up her stuff the night before. She even put her name on it. Which kills me, cause obviously its her stuff..... none of us were boxing
up our stuff.
Christies Pack Job
My Pack Job
The night before we were all dreading the day to come. Christie had a bit of the terrified look, Stef wanted to put it out of her mind, and I unplayed the amount of work to do. Either way, we were expecting the worse. Lets face it, we were not prepared.
The morning of we got up bright and early....at 10am. We had to go to the bank take out 2800 pounds and desposit it into the agency's account. First we hit Mcdonalds.....theres really no use moving on an empty stomach. While standing at HSBC (our favorite bank) with an incredible amount of money in our hands, the thought did cross our minds.....we trust this agency right? So with fingers crossed in went our life savings....for a second time.
Obviously, this wasnt as stressful as the first time we paid the desposit and rent. This time, the money left from the last place and the fact thats its split four ways means we didnt have to pay out of pocket. That made things alot less depressing.
Then it was off to find the agency and get the keys. The whole time praying this place acutall did exist and wasnt just some scam. Praise the Lord! The agency does exist.
The contract was read, signed and dated....keys in hand. We have the place! Stef hadnt yet seen the place so we showed her around. Thankfully, she loved it just as much as me and Chris. All is right in the world.
Now that we had the place it was time to begin the process of moving. It really couldnt be that bad...I mean we came with a backpack and we have only been here for 4 months. How much could we have accumlated?
I should really stop under playing situations.
Of course, me, stef and trish did the classic pack job. It only took me 10 min to shove everything I own into 3 garbage bags. I'll deal with the unpacking later.
Thank god for Christie...who organized and supervised the kitchen, bathroom, living room pack job. To be honest, I probably would have just put them in garbage bags...but Chris wouldnt let me.
Finally, there it was.....our entire life in the living room. As you stand in the door way, you think to yourself.... WE ACCUMLATED THIS MUCH!?!? OMG HOW ARE WE GOING TO MOVE ALL THIS SHIT!?!?!?
Instead, you calmly say to your roomates.....well.....where to start?
Our new place was just down the street, so we started with the basics. Put on the Back Packs (Did not miss luggin that thing around) and grab our mattress' and lets go. Of course, there would be a good of people sitting on the steps across the street hackling us. "You going to the beach?" "Just pick it up, sissy!" "Go on! Just put it down and sleep on the street"
Thanks.
Mattress' in the flat it was time to deal with all the crap. It would be ENDLESS trips for us to get it there. So we called a cab. This man was so nice...he helped us load it and unpack it. The meter was only at 5 pounds but we gave him 20. He saved us ALOT of trips.
Next stop.....the couch and chair. Stef and Christie win this round. The manuvered the couch out of the flat, down the street and into the new one. There was a panic at one point when the couch was ALMOST in the new living room but it didnt quite fit. Then just by a stroke of luck it fell in. It was a joyous moment of accomplishment.
Anyone on the street that day, got a good laugh out of us. We looked ridiculous. But no time to stop now....with the stuff moved in...it was time to clean.
I do not know what we would have done without Christie. Lets face facts, the rest of us girls are disgusting pigs that dont mind living in our own filth. We gave Christie full control of the situation. I got bedrooms, Trish got living room, Stef got bathroom and Chris did the kitchen. She would hand us the cleaning supplies, tell us what needed to be done, and did the inspection afterwards. We were like a well oiled machine. Within a couple of hours we were done.
Sitting in the living room, having a beer, it was sad to say good bye. This was our home for 4 months. But the excitment of getting chinesse food and chillin in the new place helped to supress those feelings.
That night we sat, ate, and enjoyed a well deserved glass of wine. We are amazing. We may do things in a chaos matter but there is nothing we can not accomplish. We are independent woman. No need for men in our lives. We Rock! It was a glorious sense of accomplishment, and not half as bad as we thought the day would go.
The next couple of days were spent making endless trips to our favorite shop.. Argos. Its a catologue place were you can get anything you could possibly want.
This new place needed alot, for example there is no mirrors in the flat except for the kitchen. Why is there a mirror in the Kitchen? I dont know. We needed coffee tables, and dish racks etc etc etc. However, the old tenants left the washer and didnt ask for money. Bonus!
Later that night this older man came knocking on the flat. The 70 odd Irish man said "Hi, heres the spare set of keys". Sorry, who are you? "The Landlord"
We were all expecting a walk through of the flat, and a run down of how things work. Nope, he just wanted to drop off the keys. We asked him about the heating....he didnt know. He just said I've owned this flat for 10 years, I live in the area, its nice to meet you, Have fun in the flat. And he was on his way.
We were all a little excited. He was SUPER nice, he obviously doesnt care much about the flat or the deposit (seeing that the old tenants didnt clean the flat at all), so were golden!
If it seems to good to be true....thats probably because it is. We probably should have insisted on a walk through. Should have....but we didnt.
First things first. How to work the heating. We see the boiler....we see that the radators are on....why is it so cold?
Whats this in the closet? A Meter with a card? Thats right, we have to go to the local convience store and top up a card for heat. Thats weird. So we go and discuss.....well Im sure 20 pounds will be fine. Then we put the card in and we have heat!
Next morning we check the balance.....5 pounds left. Wow, thank god its starting to warm up. Needless to say, we turned down the heat and are pilling on the layers.
Five days in, we are all enjoying our new digs. Things are coming together, we have mostly everything we need and this place has a much warmer energy to it. Love the new place.
Then the other day at work, I get a text from Trisha:
" Call me asap. This is an emergency"
Of course, this was on a busy hectic Saturday night at work. I get someone to cover my tables and run to the back.
"Whats up?"
"OMG OMG OMG, the celiing collasped!"
"Sorry one more time?"
"The celing in our bedroom collasped, there is water everywhere, the roof is on the floor and water is still coming down!! WHAT DO I DO?!"
Of course, all us girls were working and Trish was alone in the flat. Ive never dealt with anything like this, neither has she.
"Well, just calm down theres nothing we can do about it tonight, just clean what you can and we will figure it out"
Bless her, Trish cleaned it ALL up....and the cloths and shoes that were the victum of the celling. Thank god it didnt happen on our mattress or on top of someone. We can be thankful for that.
The Landlord has been really great about it, he came by the next day and he will have it fixed by Saturday. It was some kind of leak through the floor boards between us and the people upstairs. Either way, things are a tad stressful at home......I guess thats to be expected when your missing half your celing.
Besides that, we have a roof over our heads....well, half a roof. And rent is cheaper and this place will be amazing in the summer time....we have a patio with this place.
No matter what, we have each other and we have proven time and time again we are amazing at handling situations. So thats the update...till next time. Cheers!
