Moving Stories

Random stories from my recent move up the building:

• The first time we inspected the new apartment, it had a slightly smokey smell. The carpet had just been shampoo-cleaned, but whoever had done it had left a cigarette butt in the toilet. The windows were open letting dust and stuff in. To top it off, they stole the light-bulbs from the bathroom. Go figure.
• I've never owned a vacuum cleaner in Canada - I had always borrowed one from some friends in the building. I managed to buy a good one from Sears in the last week, and have had great fun since then sucking up dirt and dust. There was surprisingly little dust in my old apartment, considering I've only vacuumed twice since I got to Canada. And there was no sign of Mum's earring that she lost here. Oh well. :|
• We cleaned my old oven using some truly nasty spray-on stuff. You're supposed to wear goggles and rubber gloves, but we're lazy and skipped that bit. I just held my breath for most of the experience.
• We briefly met two neighbours on my old floor that I'd never even seen before. We also received a complaint from a neighbour for playing a movie too loud on the day before I moved. Oops. They were a pretty noisy couple anyway. :)
• The elevator was trying to kill us the whole time. We had to load it up with large amounts of stuff each time (bag run!), but if we took a few too many seconds it would start shrieking and the door would slowly close in dramatic style. It was kind of like the garbage compactor in Star Wars. At one point, Emily and I were on opposite sides of the elevator door when we realised we each had the wrong set of keys. It was a very Hollywood moment, passing the keys to each other moments before the elevator door closed on us. :)
• I still have a chocolate rabbit from my early years at University. It was something my sister gave to me, and I made some kind of promise not to eat it until I finished University. Well, my thesis is still ticking away. It survived the move, however I left it on the kitchen table today when I went to work. Guess what - my apartment now gets sun! One of its ears melted and half-collapsed, and I fear I have deformed its head when picking it up this afternoon.
• I would like to give a big thank you to Emily who organised the kitchen very nicely for me. In a related note, there is nothing on the top shelves of my kitchen cabinets. ;)

Seriously, Emily has a huge help with this move. From keeping me motivated, to packing the contents of my desk, to helping me slide my bed across tiles by use a magic carpet. She was always there, and was fantastic. Thank you.

Anyway, here's looking forward to a lot of years in this apartment. I don't want to move again for a while. It's a nice place, and I hate moving. :)

PS. There are three (3) alternative meanings to the title of this post. Can you find them all? ;)