We moved into our rented house yesterday. Wow, it was something. I was given the day off to make sure it all went as planned. Something I’m very thankful for.
Until now weโve been staying in the company provided, temporary accommodation despite already having keys for the long term rental house (In Meerhoven). I’ve obtained a residents permit and cleared customs now though, meaning there were no more barriers. The first available delivery was Wednesday and we snatched it up happily.
Ariana and I cycled 25 minutes across town to get to the house ahead of the movers delivery team arriving at 0800. Due to a few unforeseen circumstances (rashly packing up the temp accommodation at 7am) we arrived to a group of moderately irritated Dutch delivery men who had been waiting on us in the cold for 20 minutes. I apologised, they grumbled, I shrugged and said ‘Kids’, which seemed to resonate.
I sensed Ariana had been fiddling with something en route while she should have been holding on. It wasn’t until I was putting the bike away after arriving that she alerted me to our secondary passenger
It seems fitting that this was the first thing to come off of the first of the two containers
There was a team of four movers and they worked fast. The boxes were marked up by the packers with a word or two to denote the room from which it originated and its general contents. Many of the boxes were evidently on second or even third lives much to my startled realisation, as in a number of instances there were various, completely contradictory and inconsistent notes written on the boxes. The delivery guys made it clear that, errors notwithstanding, it was incumbent upon me to choose a destination room for the boxes. The boxes were large and heavy, the stairs tall and many, so getting this wrong was ultimately to be at my own later expense. I did my best, but a falling knife has no handle. Blink, shake it off and tackle the next challenge. Typically how I deal with most things.
El, Reuben and Felix were scheduled to arrive by taxi with our grand collection of 8-week-bags* by early afternoon, but by 1145 I had neither eaten or drank more than a single mouthful of coffee or tea, and Ariana was becoming hungry, so we dashed out for a visit to the nearby shops. My work buddy Geert had told me I must try a shop called De Smaakbeleving [en:The Taste Experience]. I was delighted when Ariana and I looked inside. I’m not using the word delighted hyperbolically … I felt literal delight as I dashed from shelf to shelf, counter to counter. It’s exactly the type of shop I would want to live a 3 minute cycle from!
*I forget whether I explained what this is but the temporary accommodation was allotted to us for 8 weeks, after which time we would have to leave regardless of whether we had found somewhere to buy / rent. Although we already had the Meerhoven rental house arranged prior to leaving, we had no idea how long customs would take to clear. So when we packed up the house in Scotland we had to pack suitcases based on the worst case scenario, containing everything we needed for 8 weeks of busy winter life. We called these the 8-week-bags
Ariana and I picked up supplies and headed back in what had become really quite beautiful weather
The delivery team mentioned a number of times how easy it was to move things into the house because every room has either a single or double, floor-to-ceiling height, open-out window. When we first saw the place a week or so ago I remember thinking to myself, ‘I wonder if you can go out onto that roof platform over the decking shade at the back’, but quickly discounting the thought by an argument something to the tune of it’s probably not strong enough and frankly i’m not going to risk trying it.
So here is a photo of the delivery guys making use of the windows. You’ll note that their concern for the particular section of roof in question was a shade less than mine.
Here was the living room at 10:45 and again at 15:45
I’ve not ridden my proper bike to work yet but I’m looking forward to doing so. I am excited to see how fast I can get with my 21st gear on one of the really long, flat straights I have on my route. Also note in the background the table. This was a feature of the garage of my Grans’ (Mum’s Mum) house before she transitioned to assisted living. It was a very useful feature in my garage in Scotland for the last 3 or so years and, since I last saw it the day of the movers arriving in Scotland, the desk honestly hadn’t occupied a single thought of mine up until the point where I saw it sitting in the back garden of our Meerhoven house. I took a second to loosely calculate how unlikely it was that it would end up here, or perhaps even that I would. I hadn’t considered whether or not the movers would take it. In the terrifying sea of things to think about and do over the past weeks it hadn’t any footing in my volatile attention, but they did take it, and here it is. Huh. Life, right. It’s weird.
Reuben, Felix and El arrived at about 12:45 with suitcases more or less crowding every window of the large taxi. Just as I was walking El through the progress so far and checking a few arrangements with her, the mover guy asked me where in the Kids room i’d like the bunkbed setup. I deferred the question to El who reminded me that the room into which I’d directed all of the kids stuff was in fact the room designated (for various good and sensible reasons) to be the spare room / office. For the second time that day, the team were not very impressed by me as I explained to me that the contents of the rooms would need to be switched. The rooms were next to each other on the same floor so I feel as if their exasperation was excessive in relation to the required perspiration.
El took the kids out to the nearby park for 30 – 40 minutes to let me carry on doing a mediocre job of organising things. At 1500 she had a meeting scheduled at the school for Ariana and herself to meet the teacher and see her class. It was very positive. Ariana demonstrated wonderfully her ability to make up stories, dialogue, games and imaginary play with toys while the adults chatted.
We were very fortunate to have fitted wardrobes in each of the bedrooms of our Scotland house. Very convenient, and looked very tidy in the house. What this means however is that we do not own a single wardrobe which we could take with us, and hence, had no wardrobes to hang clothes in, or for that matter, more than a chests of drawers or two to put things in. To address this storage gap, we had placed a massive Ikea order. Massive. The day of the move seemed like as good a day as any to schedule delivery. Not long after the movers had left, Ikea arrived. I feel like they really put the cherry on the cake with regard to household disorder.
Mercifully, the kids were in bed and asleep by 1830 and that night we slept in our own beds again for the first time in NL…. It was rather a chilly sleep due to the movers leaving our bedroom window 2 inches ajar and us not realising until earlier the following day, but it was a good sleep never the less.
Thank you Joe for the detailed description of your move. You must have been exhausted. But great that you are now in your new home. We hope you will all
Be very happy living there. Look forward to actually seeing it in person. Xxxxx
Excellent coverage of your move-in. Ariana seems to have hogged the limelight. Lots of cheeky smiles. Lovely to see. Hope the the rest of the family get some coverage in future postings when everything settles down.
Love to you all.
You’re in!
What a tour de force. Great pics.
It was (and continues to be) a huge effort ๐ฐ
Phew sounds tiring but productive! ๐ด๐ Youโre all doing so well! Glad youโre in your house and getting settled ๐๐ thanks for the update and photos ๐