A VERY MOVING EXPERIENCE

A MOVING SCENE

Having decided that we should move to Sydney for the remainder of our lives, to be with the majority of our family and oldest friends, we had the task of making the decision become a physical reality. It was our intention to move from our normal family- sized home to a two bedroom apartment/home unit and, as a consequence,we had to shed many familiar and even cherished ( for the memories they called up) possessions.Several items, or groups of items posed particular problems - because though valuable in terms of cost, they had no, or almost no, market value but could not be fitted into a two bedroom unit. We tried E Bay with no result at all . Accordingly the Saturday Garage Sale was unavoidable. Now, we live in such a way as to greatly value our real privacy.(Blogs notwithstanding.) The very thought of strangers pawing our ( even surplus) possessions did not appeal at all. But needs must, and with ads in the Classified section of the Newspaper and its websites we had our first visitors on the Friday evening. One was a lovely old Scots gentleman "George"by name who bought the Lawnmower(which happily started at first attempt), then turned out to be a model railway enthusiast and bought a railway print for his son. He also had a strong interest in old clocks and bought an inoperative old American Mantle Clock. He was a delightful gent - a painter and an enthusiast for the willdlife that abounds in the area.The Saturday brought hordes of folk who bought all manner of things. My two favourites were "Aaron"a solidly built young Chinese fellow who, with his Mum, bought stacks of items to help fit out a house he is renovating. He also agreed to buy extensive Steelbuilt shelving from the Garage which had held our  book stocks from the failed business. He came back to dis-assemble and take this away that evening about 6.00p.m. Aaron was a delight. He had a great personality and friendly smile, boundless energy and a very sharp analytical mind.And he was as strong as an ox with a great sense of humor. Down came the shelving , with some clumsy help from me, but in the most economical way thanks to him Up it went onto the truck with no fuss , and packed in such a way that its footprint on the truck was tiny AND he had managed to pack 25 plastic  storage boxes he had bought from us inside that racking. Then, despite my very factual warnings about the limitations of the large XEROX Photocopier we no longer required, after some deliberation, he decided to take it - to my relief- and then he demonstrated further practical skills designing a rope sling to lift the XEROX without damaging it - using the truck's rear end loading crane . Brilliant!

READY FOR ACTION

My other favourite was a young English Jamaican migrant and her husband who were introduced by a neighbour and were happy to take a number of good quality items we were happy to see go at no cost. She was happy, appreciative and delightfully mannered.

The big day arrived. On Tuesday 26th July, 2011 the big day arrived - promptly at 7.30 a.m. the Removalists arrived. No Pantechnicon these days , but rather a muscle bound truck carrying a moderate sized Rail Freight Container, Our two young tattooed happy warriors set about the task with a will, and a humour so good that at times we thought they might be on something! But no - they were just nice, happy blokes and really hard workers

ONR OF OUR TATTOOED HAPPY WARRIORS AND A HEAVY CAPITAL

By about 1,00 p.m.they had catalogued and labelled everything and shifted it into the Container and with hearty waves ( encouraged by good tips) they had the heavy-laden brute of a truck on its way.Right on 1,00pm the Rubbish Removalist arrived to carry away all that had not been sold at Saturday's Garage Sale or that had been cast off in our rendering down, He was another good humour man and a barrel of energy. A large dead refrigerator was no trouble and seemed to rise onto his trailer with miraculous ease.Tons of unwanted magazines went the same way along with old lamps etc., etc., and so many other things that make you wonder why or how we all acquire so much in the way of unnecessary goods. It seems he specialises in trying to return many of these items to active service with the co-operation of the St Vincent de Paul Society.After being paid handsomely, only to be followed by the Carpet Cleaner. Using the "dry" method, he did a remarkably good job and the place came up like new, save for four small marks where the rubber feet of a computer sound system had somehow infused a stain..

Our faithful family car was very heavily laden with a variety of precious items including sewing equipment and computer equipment and other bits and pieces that came to notice as the house was emptied.By about 4.00 p.m. we were on the road to Sydney. As darkness fell we began the tortuous climb up toward Cunningham's Gap where the traffic is reduced to a single lane as repair work goes on to rectify the havoc caused by the torrential rains of our Summer of Disasters. At length we reached our intended overnight stay at provincial Warwick. We were thoroughly exhausted, but astounded at how well everything had gone and pleased at the number of fine people we had met in the complex process of arranging our departure.

We managed to get a worthwhile discount on a nice room in a good Motel, enjoyed a light dinner in our room and fell happily to sleep.

We rose early on the Wednesday morning and drove into Warwick for an early Breakfast At Macca's , refuelled at Woolies discount price settled the Motel account and headed out for Sydney some 750Kms South on the New England Highway. It was a crisp cold morning , but quite fine Queensland weather. The trip South was mercifully uneventful and we arrived at our daughter Justine's Pymble home tired and exhausted mentally, and physically. Stage One was ended. We fell happily into a loving , warm and generous welcome.

Stage Two would be the finding of  a new home. Stage Three would be tidying up loose ends in Brisbane ( my job) and bringing our new home to life.

With God's Grace we have so far achieved a great deal in a complex operation. We pray for His continuing support as we re-order our lives and begin trying to repay some little of the abundant and generous hospitality extended to us by friends and relations on our visits to Sydney over the last 20 years.