It has been a long journey, from the cold North East of England, through the sultry straits of the Panama Canal, up the West Coast to LA, then on by road to Walnut Creek. But after three years of being stored in Mat's garage, all our stuff has finally arrived!
And "stuff" is the right description for this motley assortment of things that must have been useful to us once. Now, of course, we live the Berkeley Zen lifestyle of few possessions (laptop, cell phone, camera) and thrift store furniture.
The 30-foot truck that the moving company told us to expect turned out to be a juggernaut, but they managed to park on the other side of the road. Steve and his team of three carried all 111 boxes and bits of furniture up the stairs and through the door, and I unwrapped as they went. He was obviously impressed with my skills, and offered be a job over the summer. Hmmm...a little too much like hard work.
They finished off the unwrapping and were gone, and it was me and the boxes. As the day went by there were fewer boxes but many more things on every available surface. At one point I had to stop and assemble our dining table so I had some space to put more stuff. "It'll be like birthday and Christmas rolled into one when it all arrives!" several people had commented. Only if you had particularly cruel parents who bought secondhand things you didn't ask for.
I began sifting through the items that used to make up our life, and will post some pictures of the most amazing things we still own and actually paid to bring 6,000 miles from home (purple fish-shaped bath pillow, wheeled wire vegetable rack, etc.) Our local Goodwill store isn't going to know what's hit it!
We pay extra if the delivery guys have to walk more than 75 feet. That's one end of the van to the other!
Our stuff, in situ.
Living room before.
Living room after.
And bedroom.
And spare room.
And kitchen.
The first three boxes unpacked. Do possessions make one happy? (Clue: not unless they're put away neat and tidy).
