Moving mishaps and merriment

Moving day began with the uncommon occurrence of me rising before 8 a.m. I wanted to get some work done before my parents arrived. I knew it was the only time I'd have for some peace and quiet before the stress of moving subsided. I was feeling pretty good and expected it not to be as bad as I feared. I had done a lot of work the previous two days to take the strain off of my family helpers and to give me a sense of progress. This early morning state of calm permeated my attitude for awhile, which is a good thing considering what happened next.

I arrived at U-Haul at 9:15 for a 9:30 pick-up. Walk in, sign the paperwork, and swipe the card to arrange payment. If only it were so easy. The line snaked to the front door. There were approximately thirty people ahead of me in line, although some were together and waiting out what would be an absurd situation. At the best times only two of the four counters were being manned, and it took an extraordinarily long time for customers to get through the process.

What in the world could be holding things up? Why do they keep answering the phones and not dealing with customers who are here? What are all these employees strolling through the store doing? It's been a half hour, and no one has moved. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

Don't let the all-caps fool you, though. I was keeping pretty cool about it. Like it or not, I was stuck. U-Haul assesses a $50 cancellation fee. Sure, I could fight it down the line, but from what I was hearing, rental trucks were in short supply in the city for the weekend. Those of us at the line's end began to get worried when we could see an exchange with one employee getting heated. The couple stomped out and claimed that their reservation was not being honored.

Perhaps they didn't supply the complete story as no one else left without a truck. We all left with a serious dent in our time, though. It took me two and a quarter hours from when I arrived to leave with my reserved truck. It gets better. The U-Haul manager refused to credit anyone for time spent in line, so I still had to have it back when I made the reservation. I only lost a third of the rental time waiting for them to fulfill their end of the bargain. Somebody's getting a strongly worded letter about this.

Needless to say, we had to bust our tails to get everything packed and loaded. It wasn't possible to get all of the stuff in the truck and move it before it had to be returned, so we got as much in as we could in the time available. Surprisingly this loading and unloading went relatively quickly, although it may have had to do with feeling pinched by the clock.

Complicating matters was that I was supposed to be waiting for the cable man to come between 4 and 7 p.m. It turned out not to be an issue, though. He called while I was waiting in line at U-Haul and said he was in the complex working on another order. If I could get there by 1:00, he would take care of mine too. I couldn't and didn't get there by that time, but he was still there when I pulled up. Luckily the cable modem and DVR were loaded and easily locatable, so he got everything set up a couple hours early. As it stands, the internet isn't working at home now. I unplugged some things to move them, although that shouldn't have caused any service problems. I'm going to have to wait until Wednesday for that to be fixed. Still, I have cable TV and the ability to fidget with the modem to see if I can get it functioning.

Generally speaking, the move went smoothly, especially considering the screw job with the rental truck. We used my dad's van and trailer to load almost the rest of my things. (I picked up the last of it this afternoon.) My mom was hacking like she had tuberculosis, and my left eye was somewhat swelled from allergies and dust. I got aggravated with my dad, who kept trying to get me to take a matching dresser set that he brought. I told him before they came that I only wanted and needed one. I didn't think I had the space nor the need for both. He insisted--it was brought into my place--but finally relented. I know he meant well, even if he was irking me.

The new place is a mess, and I don't know where a lot of stuff is. I'll be unpacking for weeks, or so it seems. Stacks of boxes fill the kitchen, so I may be eating out for a few days. (I also have practically nothing in the fridge.)

My brother got the futon set up, so I was able to lay on it and watch some television. At the end of the day, that's all I really wanted. My arms and legs are bruised and scratched, but it felt good to get up this morning after a solid night's sleep. I didn't hear every step I take or the neighbors in the adjoining apartments take. I didn't hear any conversations or stereos. Overnight my car got carpet bombed by birds relieving themselves, but it doesn't bother me. The hard work is over. I'm relieved to be somewhere that I don't have to be on edge most of the time. There's a lot to be done yet, but this was a move in the right direction. My old apartment was C; my new one is D. In musical scales going from C to D is a whole step up. Sounds about right.