There was a lot of shifting of stuff today. I almost finished clearing out my office, emptied the under stairs cupboard and rid myself of a few hundred books. There was a plan to get rid of the linen press as well but, the woman who wanted it (and her mother) came over and measured it, deciding it wouldn’t fit in their car. Which was a bit annoying, given I’d included the measurements with the offer. Mind you, it occurred to me that the three of us would have had a real problem moving it from upstairs to the car in the first place.
Carrying things away was not a problem for the amazing Jayson. He was the man with the van that I booked yesterday to take away a truck full of rubbish and all my maritime books. And what a lovely chap he was. And quick. He and his mate were in and out of the house in about half an hour. When I told him just piling the books up had taken me 90 minutes, he just laughed it off, saying he was used to it.
Mind you, there was a bit of confusion when a white van pulled into the drive just before he arrived. At first I thought it was Jayson but, no, it was an unexpected real estate person, coming to note the works that have to be carried out before the tenants move in. He was surprised there was anyone at the house.
I told him that he’d have to be quick because of the imminent arrival of Jayson and his truck. To his credit, the guy was in and out, jotting down notes on his phone, in about five minutes. As he hopped back into his van, Jayson pulled up.
Then, about two hours later, there cam a knock at the front door. There’d been a lot of people picking up free stuff, and I was worried I’d forgotten someone but, no, it was a young woman from the real estate agents, there to check out the works that need to be done before the tenants move in.
This was odd, I said. Yes, she replied because she’d been told no-one would be in. She took a bit longer than the chap, earlier so she was standing in front of me when the real estate office called to apologize because they thought there’d be no-one at the house.
Anyway, I showed the young woman around the house, apologizing for the mess. She asked where we were going. I said Sweden which prompted the usual question of “Why Sweden?” After I’d given her the short version of why, she told me she’d been on a school excursion to Stockholm when she was in Year 6. We both agreed that she’d been very lucky.
When Mirinda called to check in later in the day, I told her the bad news about the linen press, and she told me the good news she’d just received about the linen press. Apparently, the soon-to-be tenants had asked if we could possibly leave the linen press for them to use. My mood changed immediately.
4 days to go
Sadly, Emma’s mood changed in the opposite direction when we went up to the park after lunch. She lost her ball in the undergrowth. To be fair, I lost it, but she couldn’t find it, so I’m saying it was her fault. Still, she has plenty of replacements at home and proved it later in the day.
All round, I guess I was a bit happier today, though I’m still concerned we won’t finish.
