"Self-sufficiency does not mean 'going back' to the acceptance of a lower standard of living. On the contrary, it is the striving for a higher standard of living, for food that is organically grown and good, for the good life in pleasant surroundings... and for the satisfaction that comes from doing difficult and intricate jobs well and successfully." John Seymour ~ Self Sufficiency 2003

Saturday 14 July 2012

The final days in town...

I'm taking a chance here.  My internet connection is currently anything from 3.7 - 400kbs (upload) and a whopping 1 - 10kbs (download)...  Not the easiest way to blog, but I'm missing it and I'm missing all of you :)  I am also trying something different.  Normally, with the ADSL line I would just write this online.  Now, I have opened the page, disconnected from my connection, and I am typing it off-line, and I will try and post it when I am finished.  Let's see if it works? :)


Very disgruntled, unable to send out quotes for the business, barely able to check e-mail, too scared of the slow speed to try and even blog, throwing a good portion of my toys out of the cot, and following a call to the service centre, we have had our (new) service provider (Vodacom) send a technician in order to see if we need a booster aerial (duh!).  He came all the way from Cape Town (a three hour drive) - did all the tests - has returned to Cape Town and will give all the data to the network technicians.  He says that they will do the necessary, drive all the way here, install a booster aerial so that I can get a 2Gb edge connection (the best edge connection) - and this service and the booster is going to be no charge????  I will be amazed if that is the case - and I know of at least 6 other houses here who will make use of their service if this is successful.  Clever - marketing with a difference.  Because they know that if it does work I will  take out a two year contract with them - and that is still a plus for me, as it will be cheaper than the only other option available to our area.  It looks like at least one company in this country is cottoning on to pleasing the client - as they do in 1st world countries.


But, all that aside, getting back to the move.  The last few days in town were were hectic - more hectic than even I thought they would be.  For all my "organisation" I felt helpless and out of control.  I guess moving the business to it's new premises didn't help much.  But it's finally all over :)


RMan was a star with his help - he even cleaned the electric oven shelves for me - well, his wrists are stronger than mine, and his thumb pressure - immense :)
As you all know the mover took the bulk of the stuff a week prior to the transfer going through.  
I was amazed at the size of the truck, not
believing that we would fill it - but we did!
They were amazing - it took them just over 4 hours to load everything in the truck - with most of the space having been taken up by our pot plants LOL
6 busy guys - 4 hours - all  sorted :)
As we approached the storage facility, RMan called the driver and asked him if he would be willing to make a small detour - if he would willing to possibly try and drive along our rutted sand road (if you can call it that - more like a dirt track) in order to offload the pot plants - and he agreed :)  But getting that enormous truck in our gate was another thing all together. Never mind - getting to that point was an immense help.  We offloaded all the pot plants and RMan whizzed them up to the house in his trailer.  Even that took 6 trips - just as well the movers accommodated our request - six trips from the storage facility in the closest town to the house would've taken hours! 
The moving truck - all the way down at our gate
We decided to clump the plant altogether - to give them some moral support LOL  Just until we have time to decide where exactly we are going to place them.  Sadly, a couple of my big pots didn't make it - but I will still be using them - I'll show you how in a later posting :)
We piled all the more tender plants
within the circle - to give them time
to acclimatize.
 
Then - it was back to the storage facility.  The size of it was perfect - 35mtrs2.  Everything was carefully stored inside, including the boxes - they even had the number on the box facing outwards, so that if I needed to get anything out of one, it would be no problem.
All of this fitted into a 210mtr2 house - and this is
only 35mtrs2 with space to spare?!
So sad to see our complete "past" together packed into such a small space.  I commented to RMan that my de-cluttering obviously worked.  But, even I was amazed at how little space our possessions took.  Never mind, it wont be in storage for long - the builder has said that all the works should be complete within 3 months - weather permitting...
MKid's wellies - where he left them in front of the TV
A week later, after transfer had been confirmed and finalized, we loaded, or tried to load, the very last of the stuff from the town house.  We had underestimated the amount, and the combined space of the company van, RMan's car and the trailer, were not sufficient.  We had to temporarily store some at the new business premises.  The picture above amply portrays the scene at the house for that last week.  MKid was with us for that week, together with his new wellies, and calling him for dinner (eaten on the floor) he leapt up from watching Top Gear, leaving his wellies behind.  So sad and empty - just a shell of the home that had been.  But, I am not heart sore - it was a move we had to make, and it is affording us both a new beginning - with a clean slate.  That is worth more than memories - which we still have time to make in our new home.

After a final clean-up (wiping out the last of the cupboards, the last wipe-down of all the wall tiles, vacuuming all the carpets and scrubbing all the floor tiles), and waiting for the new owner in order to hand over the keys, we finally walked out of the town house door at 3.30p.m.  We arrived at the storage facility at 7.00p.m. - unpacked what we could, and then it was time to finally head for the farm to offload the rest...

12 comments:

  1. wow! so much work done and so much more to do! soon you'll be all settled and loving every minute of it!

    your friend,
    kymber

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  2. Yay! We've missed you too!! Like Kymber said before not too much longer, it will all be done (well it's never truly "DONE" is it? ha) and you'll be enjoying your new life. How exciting for you. We'll all be here waiting for you.

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  3. GLad all seems to be moving along smoothly. Best of luck!

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  4. Moving has to be one of the most mind bending and exhausting feats after 30+ years of marriage. We did something similar a few years ago and I swore I'd never move again. Congrats to having it behind you .. and a new life in front of you. Just breathe :)

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  5. Wow I am sure you will be glad when you are all settled in. We are contemplating a move in the near future, but just reading about your move makes me remember just how much I do not care for it :)

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  6. I'm sure you're glad its all behind you now! I had to laugh when you said that the plants took up most of the space. Sounds familiar!! The truck took our load about 14 hours north, unloaded the next day and amazingly, we didn't lose a plant. Even more amazingly, they are now all thriving in their new home here and we still didn't lose one. It gives me considerable pleasure to walk around the property and see the plants and trees from our Sydney garden.
    Enjoy the fresh start and we';; watch with interest!
    Sandy

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  7. Congrats on the move and hope everything works out great.

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  8. I'm thinking that moment in all the craziness, when Rman cleaded the oven shelves, was the best! You're an amazing family. Hang in there... and hang on!

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  9. The last major move we did was from P.E. to Cape town. Hubby left a month prior to the move, leaving me to sort and pack. The rule was - if it wasn't useful or sentimental then turf it. Needless to say many of his precious garage items didn't make it. We also used storage for almost 3 years. It's amazing what you can do without when you have to and it's fun rediscovering long forgotten possessions. Hopefully you won't have to store quite so long.

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  10. Again - apologies for the communal answer, but my connection won't take individual replies to your comments - yet... :)

    kymber - You've got that right - I am already relishing it - every bit of it :)

    1st Man - Thank you. No, nothing is ever "done", and I can't wait to get started on it - all!

    Sue - Thank you. Yes, it's actually going better than I thought it would :)

    Mrs Mac - Yeah - moving is the pits, but it's the end goal that keeps you going. and with all the completely fresh air here I'm loving breathing LOL

    Jane - For all the hassles, I'd do it all again in a heat beat. The end goal is the motivator :) Are you thinking of moving far - a different state? Or just further away from the fracking wells?

    Sandy - Thankfully, I, too, lost no plants. Only a couple of my larger pots. But they won't be completely wasted...

    David - Thanks :)

    Jody - Yeah, RMan was a star. thank you for your lovely comment :)

    GG - A bit of that happened in our house too - if RMan hadn't used it in the past year, then it got turfed. And I caught him doing that to some of my precious things too LOL Storage should only be for roughly three months - IF everything goes to plan and the weather plays ball...

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  11. Moving is never fun! so glad it is all finished.

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Thank you for taking the time to comment - it makes my day and removes the "loneliness' of sitting at my screen blogging supposedly to myself ;) I try and reply as quickly as possible so please forgive me if sometimes my response is delayed.