I am now back online, having had my internet and telephone line reinstated at Dexter House. It has been an extremely busy and somewhat stressful couple of weeks, not only moving out of Golden
Drive but having to clear a couple of the rooms which were full of stuff which was difficult to dispose of. The smaller of the three bedrooms was the worst to deal with because of the amount of stuff in there. I had to pay £160 to get someone to come in and clear it and he had a licence to dispose of household waste. A couple of Mondays ago three church friends came and helped deal with the middle bedroom. I took a lot of stuff to the Barnado's charity shop in Oldbrook Boulevard. They have had several loads of stuff. Just hope it gets sold and makes some money for them.
The actual move was on Wednesday 9th October, done by a company I found on-line and called Cos Freight. I had gone on a website which allowed you to set up an account and then put in your details, where you lived and where you were moving to etc etc and then companies could send you quotes. One company sent a representative to visit and gave me a quote of over £700 and the lowest, the one I went with, was £450. I then had to give them dates which I wanted to move on, so I said I wanted either a Monday or Wednesday (in an attempt to avoid a Tuesday, when I go to Camphill. As it turned out, I didn't go on the Tuesday of the week I moved as there was so much that had to be done that I wouldn't have had time to do all that was necessary if I had gone to Camphill.) I had to pay a deposit of £50, paid via a telephone conversation, and using my Debit card.
On the Tuesday before the move, Shelley and Garry, neighbours at Golden Drive, helped me sort and dispose of a great deal of what was left in the house. The previous Monday I had three friends from SCF come in and sort and dispose of a lot of stuff in the middle bedroom. Still left with a great deal which was then removed by taking to Barndardo's centre in Oldbrook Boulevard. About two loads and I'm totally finished because of my heart condition.
On October 9th, the removals men arrived outside 30 Golden Drive in a mid-sized van at around 7.45. They were incredibly efficient and had the stuff in the IKEA unit in the lounge packed in boxes and shifted quickly and as the morning progressed they had that unit as well as the bed (another IKEA piece) dismantled and taken and packed in the van. Later taken to Dexter House and reassembled successfully. These two pieces of furniture were the main things causing me stress as I wasn't sure they would be able to reassemble them successfully. But I needn't have worried because they managed to reassemble these items without any problems, meaning I could unpack the contents of the shelf unit (I think you'd call it a pigeon-hole unit rather than an actual bookshelf, but it's being somewhat pedantic to describe it any other way.) Also, the men were able to disconnect the electric oven and remove it to the flat, but weren't able tor reconnect it, probably because of not actually being qualified to do so, but Garry did this for me, so at least I have been able to cook meals on it. Also, the sofa went and everything else, but there were boxes of DVDs, CDs and books which took up space (10 boxes in all.) which took up a vast amount of space. I had the problem of where to store all this stuff. I then had a lightbulb moment and decided that a charity should have it, that is, if they could come in a van a take it for me (as Willen Hospice store had done a few weeks ago by taking the two bicycle, dining table and chairs and several other items.) So, I rang Willen Hospice store and a van came last Monday and removed those 10 boxes, as well as a small bookshelf and folding-leaf table which I had bought to the flat, but were taking up very valuable space. I'll be honest and say that this was a great relief to have this stuff removed because those books won't be read again, nor will the DVDs and CDs be played again and haven't been played in a long time, so won't be missed. I have kept the larger, reference books, but I now have what I want and need and even the empty packing boxes have now gone, to someone in SCF who was also moving, so that is another problem solved. Breaking up boxes and taking to the tidy-tip takes up time and energy which, by the end of last week, was more or less used up.
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