Diary of an up and coming sociopath

The last few days we’ve been shunting all of our stuff around to the new place. It seems like ages since we got the keys, when in fact it’s little under 2 weeks. By Monday, we should be totally finshed and ready to go back to work, which frankly at this point is sounding like something of a blessing. The hardest part was always going to be moving the furniture, especially the stuff like bookcases, without dismantling any of it. To this end, we decided to rent a van, and save money on the delivery of our new stuff too (an unfurnished flat means that Ikea visits are plentiful, and Ikea’s delivery service is gougingly expensive.

I got to do all the driving, and after a brief (long) false start where I forgot my glasses, we rented a van and I had to figure out how I was going to drive something twice the size of the largest thing I’d previously been at the helm of. I managed to figure it out in a few minutes and then Nikki, Josh and I faced a nerve-bending ride to Ikea, which isn’t the easiest of journeys at the best of times (though I imagine I’ll appreciate doing it in a car from now on…) We filled up with petrol (the van, that is, rather than ourselves) though even this was fraught with confusino when we realised that we didn’t know where the fuel cap was, and we couldn’t locate it ourselves. Eventually, we discovered an unmarked panel on the passenger side that was accessible only when the passenger door was open. Whatever. We went the rest of the way to Ikea and I then had to try and park the damn thing, which was quite probably the hardest part of an already difficult journey.

Luckily, we got all the stuff we were after (2 bedside tables, 2 sofas, small coffee table and large coffee table) and loaded them into the van. Taking them to our new place went incredibly smoothly for us, though Ian, Sam and Lorna were left waiting at the bus stop for almost 2 hours, which I’m sure made them wish they had taken up the offer to ride in the back with the boxes. We put together our beds, the sofas, the tables and one bedside table, and then transported food and bookcases, had dinner while watching one of those horrible talking heads shows on my new giant TV, and then came back here ready for tomorrow’s repeat performance of furnature-lugging, since there’s still plenty here to move. Next time we’re going to need an actual removal van, I suspect.

I also got my wireless network card in the post, and three dvds from Rob. Lucky they all arrived in time, really, since this should really be our last night here is all goes to plan, and then we’ve got about 3 days until the lease runs out. No internet installed at the new place yet (and, god help us, phone line issues…) but it shouldn’t be too much longer until it’s done. A house doesn’t feel like home until the Internet’s there, let me tell you. Technically the Internet at this house should be gone by now, but it’s still going so it’s hard to complain. Every second is borrowed time, though. If I seem hard to contact over the next few days, it’s because I am (though, work has the ‘net obviously, so I’m not going to be totally gone…)