Some things

Things that have made me happy today:

The Thames, sparkling in clear spring morning sunshine.

My hair, growing. It probably does that a lot, but I haven’t been able to tell.

Lovely emails from faraway friends.

Knowing that I’m one step closer to getting a cat (the rehoming agency has been contacted and need to do a homecheck, whatever that means).

Things I have learnt from this move*:

Money helps. Paying double for two men and a large van, rather than hiring a small self-drive van, meant the difference between three hours of efficiency and a whole day of agony. When the men are big crocodile-wrestling, kangaroo-eating Aussies**, who seize a large box in each arm and bound down stairs with gazelle-like grace, even better.

There is no such thing as too many boxes.

There is definitely such a thing as too much stuff. Especially in a furnished flat. Landlords, take heed: if your flat has three sets of crockery, three sets of pots, three duvet/pillow sets, two vacuum cleaners, and two shower curtains – before tenants have even moved in – that’s too much stuff.

Cable providers cannot be trusted. Just because you have three conversations about location of your new home, booking installation, (un)availability of technicians, and so on, does not mean they actually provide cable in your area. Cross-examination may be useful in future***.

First thing you do with your new front door key: put in pocket. Not on the inside of the door. Especially not just before you go out and pull the door shut behind you. With useful phone numbers and working mobile phone on the inside. Got that, Beloved?

Things I have discovered from living in the suburbs (so far):

Birds. They don’t just come in pigeon or seagull shapes. Who knew?

Foxes. Much bigger when they’re standing still. Also, not exclusively nocturnal.

Neighbours: useful when you lock yourself out on your first day, but danger of privacy invasion exists. Strategies to discourage excessive chattiness must be developed. Any hints welcome.
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* Number two in a series. Number one was a special email-only edition last August. Lucky you if you were on the list. It was much longer and full of highly edifying information.
** Not really. While Aussies were implied, in fact one was a big Kiwi and one was a small Pom. Still worked, though. Although they weren’t all that graceful, either. But very effective.
*** So we expect to be offline EVEN LONGER. You can see how angry this makes me. Shouty, shouty. Meh.