Stuff!
This week I am at home tying up loose ends. Margo's still working, and Sarah's still going to carers.
Margo's been skilfully meting out our food supplies. Last night was our final home dinner. (We have lots of social dinners coming up.) Salmon with broccoli. And with, um, capers on top. And a side of, er, chips. Washed down with the dregs of white zinfandel and chardonnay bottles. We'll be defrosting freezers next.
Most of what is occupying me is liquidating our stuff. I always hate that part of a move. It's especially tricky for a transcontinental move.
We haven't been accumulating too much. (Well, Sarah has - you wouldn't believe how many toys have passed through our door.) Our house has always been fairly Spartan. We still have shipping boxes from Portland that have served well as nightstands and arm tables. A shopping bag from a London store still serves as our laundry bag. We've jettisoned the extras and are down to just essentials.
The problem is, we're still using it. Dishes, appliances, TV and stereo. So the challenge is to go from 60 to 0, in about one day, with nothing left.
My two weapons have been Gumtree (free classifieds, similar to Craigslist) and Freecycle. Both have sites specific to Ipswich.
We haven't had many items of value. My bike sold over the weekend. I had intended to sell my iMac computer when I bought it two years ago, but I did some research and realised that the latest iMacs have almost the same specs (guess Moore's Law is lapsing), so I'm shipping it over and saving a bunch of money on a new one. All that's left to sell is our small telly, Playstation and iPod hifi. I've listed them for low prices and there's still little interest, so they'll likely be donated.
Freecycle is amazing. I've been able to give away things I never thought I would. Like our dead Dyson - I described its ailments and it sounded fixable enough that I got several responses. Many other items, especially large items, have gone this way. Someone's even coming to collect our blankets - unlaundered - the day after we've slept in them!
But there's a downside. For each item I post, I can expect up to a dozen replies, and I have to decide which one to offer it to, answer any questions, schedule a pickup time, and reply to all the others. So there could be dozens of emails for each item posted.
Fortunately, a charity in town collects furniture and appliances, so they will come on our last day to take some furniture plus all our kitchenware, which was really troubling my engineer's brain as to how to efficiently liquidate.
I've also been working at general cleaning - scrubbing marks off walls, cleaning windows, trimming hedges, mowing and tidying the yard.
I also spent some time this week looking at job postings in Vancouver. I sent my CV for three yesterday and have had two interview requests already - faster than I'd expected, so I'm not so worried about finding work.
I've contacted the principal at Sarah's elementary school, and we'll be visiting the school next week to get her registered.
But it's not all work. Later this week Sarah and I will go to London and be tourists one last time. We'll stay overnight with some friends and a nice Italian meal. And Margo will be having a blowout party with her work mates. As I've mentioned before ... nobody parties like social workers.
Margo's been skilfully meting out our food supplies. Last night was our final home dinner. (We have lots of social dinners coming up.) Salmon with broccoli. And with, um, capers on top. And a side of, er, chips. Washed down with the dregs of white zinfandel and chardonnay bottles. We'll be defrosting freezers next.
Most of what is occupying me is liquidating our stuff. I always hate that part of a move. It's especially tricky for a transcontinental move.
We haven't been accumulating too much. (Well, Sarah has - you wouldn't believe how many toys have passed through our door.) Our house has always been fairly Spartan. We still have shipping boxes from Portland that have served well as nightstands and arm tables. A shopping bag from a London store still serves as our laundry bag. We've jettisoned the extras and are down to just essentials.
The problem is, we're still using it. Dishes, appliances, TV and stereo. So the challenge is to go from 60 to 0, in about one day, with nothing left.
My two weapons have been Gumtree (free classifieds, similar to Craigslist) and Freecycle. Both have sites specific to Ipswich.
We haven't had many items of value. My bike sold over the weekend. I had intended to sell my iMac computer when I bought it two years ago, but I did some research and realised that the latest iMacs have almost the same specs (guess Moore's Law is lapsing), so I'm shipping it over and saving a bunch of money on a new one. All that's left to sell is our small telly, Playstation and iPod hifi. I've listed them for low prices and there's still little interest, so they'll likely be donated.
Freecycle is amazing. I've been able to give away things I never thought I would. Like our dead Dyson - I described its ailments and it sounded fixable enough that I got several responses. Many other items, especially large items, have gone this way. Someone's even coming to collect our blankets - unlaundered - the day after we've slept in them!
But there's a downside. For each item I post, I can expect up to a dozen replies, and I have to decide which one to offer it to, answer any questions, schedule a pickup time, and reply to all the others. So there could be dozens of emails for each item posted.
Fortunately, a charity in town collects furniture and appliances, so they will come on our last day to take some furniture plus all our kitchenware, which was really troubling my engineer's brain as to how to efficiently liquidate.
I've also been working at general cleaning - scrubbing marks off walls, cleaning windows, trimming hedges, mowing and tidying the yard.
I also spent some time this week looking at job postings in Vancouver. I sent my CV for three yesterday and have had two interview requests already - faster than I'd expected, so I'm not so worried about finding work.
I've contacted the principal at Sarah's elementary school, and we'll be visiting the school next week to get her registered.
But it's not all work. Later this week Sarah and I will go to London and be tourists one last time. We'll stay overnight with some friends and a nice Italian meal. And Margo will be having a blowout party with her work mates. As I've mentioned before ... nobody parties like social workers.
posted by Michael Nelson at 1:37 am
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