Moving Day, Illustrated

We have all been through it. We all know the peculiar anxieties, stresses and exhaustions of moving a household. Luckily for you, you get to relive mine.

Unlike the Mayflower guys who moved us from SoCal to NorCal, who were exceptionally prompt and worked swiftly, our little crosstown movers arrived almost an hour late on the appointed day. The got everything moved, but in my view disassembled furniture more than was necessary. Where the Mayflower guys would wrap up a cabinet, for instance, these folks would take it apart first. That causes two problems: it takes longer to move out, and because there is more to reassemble, there is a greater likelihood that something will be put back together incorrectly. Or, as in our case, it will just take longer to put back together, a double time-whammy. Did I mention that they were paid by the time spent, not pounds moved? Smaller truck, too:



Nevertheless, they were careful and got everything moved without any drama. That was the one day all summer, of course, that threatened rain, and the sprinklers at the new house had turned the area by the front walk into a muddy bog, so I had to lay out a lot of plastic to protect the new, light-colored carpet.


The house was so orderly, once:




Not so much by that evening:




We left the other two thirds of our possessions in the garage, and have been working our way through boxes ever since.