Moving Day

Ok, so the day of the move came around, and despite only moving down the stairs, this has been a very hard move and a very long day. I guess the main reason is that I had done no prep work. I mean, before today I had done absolutely no prep work at all. No packing or anything. With hindsight, that might have made things a little easier! Anyway, due to having a lot to do, I didn't get to take as many photos as I would have liked. I guess I was just too busy carrying junk. But I got a few of the highlights...

The day started with having to go back to the builder's yard to get one more piece of skirting. Builder's yards are weird places. Just giant sheds full of stuff, with nobody about. Would be pretty easy to just roll in and steal stuff if you ask me. Anyway, this is how the skirting is stored:

And here's me with the lucky piece selected to come live with me:

Once that boring chore was out of the way, the next job was simply to move my stuff. The next two photos show the starting point. Doesn't actually look like I have much stuff in these shots:

before anything could be moved though, I had to prop open four self-closing doors. I chose 5kg plates, which worked nicely:

Anyway, back to moving... the only thing I really care about is the records, and I decided that moving these had to be job number one due to the location I planned on putting them in the new place. So I moved the sofa out of the way and this is the mountain that stared back at me:

Now, I have moved records before and it has been a real hassle. And I think that most people who own a lot of records would describe moving as a bit of a nightmare. But then again, most people don't store their LPs in icubes, which it all very easy, as Bez demonstrates:

And here's me doing exactly the same but without gloves:

Once downstairs, I decided to position them nicely across the room under the window, so they are out of the sunlight. It's kinda like building a wall. First one row:

And then another:

Unfortunately the room wasn't quite wide enough, so I had to build a second wall somewhere else:

Don't worry about the heater though - that's not staying. In fact, neither is the second wall of records. I plan to move them somewhere else later.

But back to the story. The next item was the sofa, which was a pain in the ass to manoeuvre down the stairs. So we stopped halfway down for a good old fashioned cup of tea:

After this time started to run out and we started to accelerate things, and I forgot to take photos. The worst job though was taking the wardrobe to bits. Here's some of the debris as we got started:

Then there was a much bigger gap with no photos. But one thing I had nearly forgotten was the stupidest and most pointless bunch of crap of all. The cupboard of cardboard. I guess every record collector has a stash of record mailers. But not many have a whole cupboard full.

At least it wasn't heavy. And until I figure out how much to keep and where to put it, I dumped it in the hallway of the new place. How attractive!

After Bez left I spent three and a half hours carrying all manner of small items down the stairs. I must have climbed & descended the stairs about 100 times today. And at the end, when everything had moved, this is the mess I had created. No longer a neat record room, but a room containing about 70% of my possessions:

Whereas my new living room currently contains pretty much nothing:

The kitchen looks like a bomb site:

And the bedroom needs some sorting out too:

Although I am happy to have the move pretty much complete, I also feel a little sad. I have lived in number 11 for just over three years, and I have enjoyed it. It feels a little sad to be leaving it behind, and also to see it looking so bare.

The funny thing is though, even though I have moved out, I have left one final item to move... my computer. This is because my phone line has moved to the new place, yet my internet line has not. So I am typing this sat at a desk in an empty room.

Once I move the computer I am likely to not have internet at home for two weeks. Maybe longer. And since I am one of the last people on earth to not have an iphone, I think I'm going to find it hard to cope. And my blogging may suffer. I guess I'll see how it goes. But for now, it's time to go to bed... in number 2. Good night.

Wooden Floor Day 4

First job of the day was for Paul to fix the trim to the door frames. After cutting them and sticking them, long sticks were needed to press them into place while the glue set.

While he did this, I went to Jewson (which is just over the train bridge, about three minutes walk away) to buy skirting boards.

On the way back there was some chick giving away Watermelon flavour Rubicon, which made me laugh. I asked if I could take her picture & she replied "Yes, of course!".

I then got on with painting the stupid cupboard, which took ages:

Whilst Paul got on with cutting & fitting the skirting boards.

To fix them in place he used glue and this compressed air nail gun type thing, which looks mean as hell:

he managed to finish the two bedrooms and the hallway, which leaves the living room for tomorrow. And once fitted, things finally looked neat & tidy:

I then went back upstairs & spent about two hours cleaning my oven, which was possibly more boring than painting, and definitely the worst job ever.

Tomorrow is a big day. The floor will finally be 100% complete (which unfortunately means that I have to pay for it!) and I have to start moving my junk into the new place. Man, I need some sleep...

Wooden Floor Day 3

A good day today. The final bits of the floor were laid, which finished the hallway and the bigger, second bedroom. I gotta say, I'm pleased with how it's looking now:

In order to finish the floor, the front door of the apartment had to be taken off:

It then had to be cut down slightly so that it didn't rub on the nice, shiny new floor:

It then got re-attached to the frame:

A couple of other internal doors also then had to be cut down:

The bulk of the work is now done. The next two days are going to be spent tidying up, fitting the trim around the doorways and fitting new skirting boards. I might even be able to start the job of moving my stuff in tomorrow!!!

Wooden Floor Day 2

I had to go to work today, so left the keys with Paul so he could get on with the floor. When I got home from work I had no idea how far he was going to have got. So it was a nice to be able to come home and have no idea what I was going to find. It made for a nice a surprise. Sort of like when you get a box of records and there's always a chance that what's in there might be even cooler than you were expecting.

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised. The front room was pretty much done, as was the smaller bedroom and most of the hallway. I was very happy with the result and it made me confident that I am going to be happy with it's all finished & I can move my stuff in. Here's a few pics:

Hallway:

Small bedroom:

Hallway again. Notice the continuity into the rooms, i.e. no joins around the doorway:

Living room:

The final bits of floor should be laid tomorrow. The rest of the week will then involve tidying up the skirting boards and me then having to move my stuff in!