Part 1 of the move went OK – totally huge thanks to HC, Gary, Emzo, Richie, Craig & Kate, and no particular thanks to Alex, who's been about as useful as a chocolate teapot in this entire procedure. At present half my stuff's here at Richie's, half's at Craig and Kate's, and I move into the new digs as of Monday Feb 20th.
I probably haven't said much on the whole move thing – reasons mainly being that I've been flat out at work the last couple of weeks, and plus it's all happened so quickly. The new place is actually not all that far from the old place – still in Camden Town. I'll be moving into a wild 6 bedroom place with Lord Science, Captain Paul, Emzo, Malinda and the as yet unmet-by-me Jolene. It's kinda like a student house for professionals, I guess ? It's all pretty exciting, and they're a bunch of really cool people.
Moving out was kinda interesting. I managed to get a good deal of stuff packed ahead of moving date this time, and what a horrible shock it was to learn just how much crap I've accumulated in the last 12 months ! Last time I shifted I had about a car boot load full (plus a 7 foot lamp)… this time I reckon it was closer to a van load. 18 months ago ALL of my wordly possessions fitted into a suitcase and a small backpack !
Alex, who having been told 6 weeks in advance that we were moving out that weekend, went off flat-hunting on Saturday afternoon, and managed to move all his stuff out on Monday whilst the cleaners were doing the rest of the flat in preparation for the inspection. Good, huh ?
The other ornamentation the weekend presented was helping Gary shift a pile of stuff down to Brighton. See, in my flat I've actually been “babysitting” most of the furniture owing to some reasonably complex arrangement Charlie set up. Hey, I mean good deal – I got furniture to use (including the most comfortable bed in the universe) and Gary & Allison had somewhere to store their gear. So come moving day it seemed decent to help Gary trundle this stuff down to Brighton.
After getting it all out of the van we caught up with JC for a few quiet bevvies at a few quiet pubs, and after winding up at a place that was having a Bugsy Malone-style gangster/flapper bash and drinking Belgian wheatbeer until the small hours, we called it a night.
The next day I managed a couple of firsts. First time I'd driven a 3.5 tonne van before. First time I'd driven in London before. First time I'd driven with a raging hangover. Meh. Made it OK and somehow managed to swing back in to the hire car place after 40 minutes of wondering if I was on the right road and a random u-turn on Vauxhall Bridge.
So that's where that's all at. More later I guess.
Incidentally, I'll probably be off air for the next week or so, cos we're off to Soelden, Austria for a week of snowboarding. Do ya reckon I'm excited !!?