New place update
So this was sort of the weekend of moving.
Sort of weekend. Definitely moving.
Saturday I had a concert with Illumination in a village in Oxfordshire named Deddington. It was so quaint it should be illegal. Very pretty. Because we had to get the train out and then rehearse before we performed, and then have some time for dinner, we basically spent most of the day there. So that was Saturday done with.
Then Sunday I had to go to church to read and sing at our patronal festival, meaning the day on which the church celebrates the name day of the saint it was named after, ie, St James' day at St James, in this case. The service was longer than usual because it was a festival and then there was a lunch after which I decided not to pass up because FREE FOOD!
So that left me with Sunday late afternoon and evening. I went to a mini-mall on Green Lanes and hit an Argos, a Carphone Warehouse and somewhere else I don't remember and came away with plenty of boxes for moving, then went home and packed two suitcases and two carry bags with lots of things including essentials and set off for West Hampstead. I hoped it would be the first trip of two (it was around five by the time I set off, and the journey from Clapton to West Hampstead usually takes around an hour).
However, what I failed to appreciate was ARGH ENGINEERING WORKS OF DOOM on the overland service. I got the bus to Hackney Central, humped my four heavy bags up and down the steps to get to the eastbound platform, got on the train and basically zoned out... until a minute after the doors closed after leaving Camden Road (about halfway along the route) when there was an announcement that the train was headed for Queens Park, not stopping anywhere else first, and finishing there. Queens Park is somewhere completely random and off-route, or at least, off the route I was on, although still on another part of the overground, (see map here -- route marked by an orange double-line) and in any case definitely NOT West Hampstead.
So at Queens Park I basically had to wait on the same train until it went BACK to Camden Road again and then get a rail replacement bus service to West Hampstead where my new flatmate, Susannah, very kindly picked me up from the station in her car (she offered to pick me up from Camden Road, but by the time she did so I was already on the rail replacement bus). Also the bus driver on the rail replacement service was INSANE. He shut the bus doors on the arms of a kid with a McDonalds drink who was mouthing him off.
So that increased my journey by around an hour and a half, and I decided to make no more trips that night, but slept at the new place. Susannah very kindly made a dinner of brown rice, salad, and hummus (I helped a bit with chopping veggies, but it was basically her doing) and we watched Muriel's Wedding on TV.
Sunday -- Janet helps! day. I packed up boxes and boxes and boxes and was much more organised than last time so from Janet's point of view it went more smoothly than she was expecting (I think last time had her tearing her hair out over me a bit as I didn't have enough boxes and was frantically cramming things into bags when she arrived, and one of my boxes fell apart in her hands). From my point of view however it involved humping lots and lots of heavy things up two double flights of steps to get them into the apartment in thirty degree heat, for at least half, maybe three quarters of an hour (I didn't keep track of time).
Janet looked at me in disbelief and some amusement when I collapsed, panting and shaking, on the sofa, when it was all over and said I ought to be able to handle it better than her as I'm younger but a) she was walking stuff from the car to the door, not up the stairs and b) she's stronger than me because I am a weakling, so that's why! However, I could not have managed without her so I suppose I should let her make fun of me! As Susannah arrived home just as we finished we all ate a lunch of the leftovers from Susannah's and my dinner the night before and then on Janet's request I wrote her a cheque for £17 to cover her "sick wing mirror fund" because, as she pointed out, a man with van would cost £37 an hour.
Then I spent the afternoon sorting out the kitchen. I was pleased to discover that I had several things Susannah has been thinking recently she should buy -- mustard, Marmite and tabasco among the rest! and she seemed on the whole happy with the sudden increase of food in her kitchen, rather than in any way annoyed that there is now less space! So good.
That evening we picked up Daisy. Susannah really wanted a cat -- I think that may have been the clinching point in my advert that made her respond to it -- so she was delighted with Daisy as soon as she met her. Sadly Daisy did not make the most promising entry into the new place as she did a poo in her box in the car. However, I cleaned it up, cleaned her up, and set her litter up within half an hour of our all arriving, so it was OK, and since then she's been using her litter fine. She was a bit disoriented the first evening and got into a mania of going up on all the windowsills, presumably to see if she could get out. As she was presented with a view of the street two stories below her each time she did this, however, I think she has now resigned herself to the limits of her new accommodation and is once again spending the vast majority of her time snoozing in the living room. Back to normal.
Yesterday, my first trip involved my two suitcases literally FULL of my law books. I don't even know how much they weighed, but the larger one took two hands to lift either up or down a single step, painfully and slowly. These also had to be humped up and down a double flight of steps at Hackney Central station and up a double flight of steps to get out at West Hampstead as well. Luckily people helped me.
The second trip involved my bike plus two very heavy panniers -- also, all up and down all the steps! I did the panniers separately from the bike, and again, people helped me for bits of it. In retrospect it might have been easier simply to cycle the whole way rather than taking the overland, but I hadn't written down the cycle route, so I had to stick to my original plan.
And finally, HURRAH, I got my holding deposit back last night! Minus 41p, but I decided not to fight this!
My room is still absolute chaos. I will need to find the most space-efficient desk and chest of drawers I can, but once I've done that I should be sorted. A task for this weekend, perhaps.
Sort of weekend. Definitely moving.
Saturday I had a concert with Illumination in a village in Oxfordshire named Deddington. It was so quaint it should be illegal. Very pretty. Because we had to get the train out and then rehearse before we performed, and then have some time for dinner, we basically spent most of the day there. So that was Saturday done with.
Then Sunday I had to go to church to read and sing at our patronal festival, meaning the day on which the church celebrates the name day of the saint it was named after, ie, St James' day at St James, in this case. The service was longer than usual because it was a festival and then there was a lunch after which I decided not to pass up because FREE FOOD!
So that left me with Sunday late afternoon and evening. I went to a mini-mall on Green Lanes and hit an Argos, a Carphone Warehouse and somewhere else I don't remember and came away with plenty of boxes for moving, then went home and packed two suitcases and two carry bags with lots of things including essentials and set off for West Hampstead. I hoped it would be the first trip of two (it was around five by the time I set off, and the journey from Clapton to West Hampstead usually takes around an hour).
However, what I failed to appreciate was ARGH ENGINEERING WORKS OF DOOM on the overland service. I got the bus to Hackney Central, humped my four heavy bags up and down the steps to get to the eastbound platform, got on the train and basically zoned out... until a minute after the doors closed after leaving Camden Road (about halfway along the route) when there was an announcement that the train was headed for Queens Park, not stopping anywhere else first, and finishing there. Queens Park is somewhere completely random and off-route, or at least, off the route I was on, although still on another part of the overground, (see map here -- route marked by an orange double-line) and in any case definitely NOT West Hampstead.
So at Queens Park I basically had to wait on the same train until it went BACK to Camden Road again and then get a rail replacement bus service to West Hampstead where my new flatmate, Susannah, very kindly picked me up from the station in her car (she offered to pick me up from Camden Road, but by the time she did so I was already on the rail replacement bus). Also the bus driver on the rail replacement service was INSANE. He shut the bus doors on the arms of a kid with a McDonalds drink who was mouthing him off.
So that increased my journey by around an hour and a half, and I decided to make no more trips that night, but slept at the new place. Susannah very kindly made a dinner of brown rice, salad, and hummus (I helped a bit with chopping veggies, but it was basically her doing) and we watched Muriel's Wedding on TV.
Sunday -- Janet helps! day. I packed up boxes and boxes and boxes and was much more organised than last time so from Janet's point of view it went more smoothly than she was expecting (I think last time had her tearing her hair out over me a bit as I didn't have enough boxes and was frantically cramming things into bags when she arrived, and one of my boxes fell apart in her hands). From my point of view however it involved humping lots and lots of heavy things up two double flights of steps to get them into the apartment in thirty degree heat, for at least half, maybe three quarters of an hour (I didn't keep track of time).
Janet looked at me in disbelief and some amusement when I collapsed, panting and shaking, on the sofa, when it was all over and said I ought to be able to handle it better than her as I'm younger but a) she was walking stuff from the car to the door, not up the stairs and b) she's stronger than me because I am a weakling, so that's why! However, I could not have managed without her so I suppose I should let her make fun of me! As Susannah arrived home just as we finished we all ate a lunch of the leftovers from Susannah's and my dinner the night before and then on Janet's request I wrote her a cheque for £17 to cover her "sick wing mirror fund" because, as she pointed out, a man with van would cost £37 an hour.
Then I spent the afternoon sorting out the kitchen. I was pleased to discover that I had several things Susannah has been thinking recently she should buy -- mustard, Marmite and tabasco among the rest! and she seemed on the whole happy with the sudden increase of food in her kitchen, rather than in any way annoyed that there is now less space! So good.
That evening we picked up Daisy. Susannah really wanted a cat -- I think that may have been the clinching point in my advert that made her respond to it -- so she was delighted with Daisy as soon as she met her. Sadly Daisy did not make the most promising entry into the new place as she did a poo in her box in the car. However, I cleaned it up, cleaned her up, and set her litter up within half an hour of our all arriving, so it was OK, and since then she's been using her litter fine. She was a bit disoriented the first evening and got into a mania of going up on all the windowsills, presumably to see if she could get out. As she was presented with a view of the street two stories below her each time she did this, however, I think she has now resigned herself to the limits of her new accommodation and is once again spending the vast majority of her time snoozing in the living room. Back to normal.
Yesterday, my first trip involved my two suitcases literally FULL of my law books. I don't even know how much they weighed, but the larger one took two hands to lift either up or down a single step, painfully and slowly. These also had to be humped up and down a double flight of steps at Hackney Central station and up a double flight of steps to get out at West Hampstead as well. Luckily people helped me.
The second trip involved my bike plus two very heavy panniers -- also, all up and down all the steps! I did the panniers separately from the bike, and again, people helped me for bits of it. In retrospect it might have been easier simply to cycle the whole way rather than taking the overland, but I hadn't written down the cycle route, so I had to stick to my original plan.
And finally, HURRAH, I got my holding deposit back last night! Minus 41p, but I decided not to fight this!
My room is still absolute chaos. I will need to find the most space-efficient desk and chest of drawers I can, but once I've done that I should be sorted. A task for this weekend, perhaps.