New House, New Job

Hmmm, now where to start…..

I was going to go back and post all the stuff that happened on the appropriate day of the epic that has been the move but they’re all sort of blending into one now so I shall do my best in this one post (with pictures to break up the boredom!).

I am presently sat in my office which looks a little like this at the moment of writing..

whilst most if the rest of the staff are in a meetings about teacher-y type things that I don’t need to know (especially as, at the minute, I don’t have a shiny little notebook/laptop type thing!) I though I’d catch up on this!

Generally speaking the whole thing went pretty smoothly. Well, the plan-that-kept-changing-throughout-the-day did anyway!

This was the original plan:

Pick up van and go to flat – pick up stuff
Go to Storage – pick up stuff
Go to random Bidford house – pick up stuff
Drive to Kings Heath – pick up stuff
Go to Estate Agents in Bristol – pick up keys
At flat empty stuff (with Nicola) and thence to IKEA
Back to flat for tea drive back to Bidford – drop off van, pick up car
Drive home to flat.

Yes, well, here is in fact what transpired…
Picked the van up at 8:30 – the Luton had had its tail lift broken so I got a long-based transit instead – that was real fun to reverse!

I got to the flat at Bidford and started to load my stuff – it soon became apparent to me that I wasn’t going to get all the stuff from the flat in (never mind the storage or the other house!) in time to meet Dad so I put all the stuff from the bedroom in and set off to Kings Heath. We went to the storage place which was my first visit to such an establishment and they have a very weird air about them! However it was fun rooting through my Dad’s 2(!!) spaces and I came away with about 10 things that I hadn’t expected to get and about 45 minutes to get to Bristol for the keys…..hmmm.

I rang to say I’d be late (and naturally grovelled somewhat) and even though I made full use of the vans modern engine and overtaking skills I was still 1 ½ hrs late. They were very gracious and lovely so I got the keys and signed the paperwork fine.

I then had to make a decision about driving back to Bidford and getting the rest of my stuff then or going to the flat. My need for the toilet for and the fact that I’d arranged to meet Nicola sort of made the decision for me ;)

Arrived at the flat and the cleaner (who’d been sent back to do a better job!) was there and it looked like this.

Unloaded most of van and then Nicola arrived to help with the rest. I had got the kettle but no food or anything so couldn’t even stretch to a cup of tea so we decided to head to IKEA where I could buy a sofa and she could get some dinner after a long day at work (bless – apparently Swedish meatballs are the thing to go for – I had a strawberry tart – most helpful to my poor beleaguered body I’m sure!?!) Back from IKEA ,unloaded that and then headed straight back to Bidford – It was getting dark now.
So got the rest of the stuff from the flat, drove across a large expanse of grass (that was fun!) to get to the door of the random house for some more boxes and then to the storage for my bike etc – It was now very dark!

Mum had cooked me lasagne so I downed that and then off I headed on the road again – I had to stop to take my lenses out and to wake up at one point – An apple worked extremely well (for waking me up – not taking my lenses out…..)

Stopped of at the wonderful 24hr Asda Superstore on the way back and then arrived at the flat at approx. 2:00am unloaded the van AGAIN

without managing to wake anyone up – no mean feat when carrying a bicycle up the stairs – and with my legs beginning to show me the pain I would be in tomorrow - plonked my mattress on the floor and fell asleep in my sleeping bag!

I was then up again at 6am to get the van back for 8:30am. I had breakfast at my Mum’s then took a detour to Redditch to pick up my contact lenses and say goodbye to a few folks then headed for the M5. Moffy has been losing water and in my infinite wisdom I decided that I didn’t need to stop at the first service station….huh hummmm….

Still it meant she got to the flat in one piece and I can do 25minute journeys no probs!! I arrived back to start the tidying up process…

My induction day at the school on Friday was great – lots of information to take in but I got to meet the new Drama guy who has some amazing ideas (which involve me building websites!?!) and the rest of the new staff which was lovely this morning when I came in and recognised some faces.

Anyhoo, I have just been given a large selection of keys and free reign of the Drama room so I am going to explore, tidy and organise…. “hold me bags, I’ll be back in a week!”