Monday January 27th marked the day I packed up my things and headed to London. It was a stressful day to say the least, but Sunday January 26th is when the stress began.
My mum and I had arranged for a handyman to come around to unplumb our washing machine, disconnect our oven and remove our vintage taps. He said he'd be with us before 3pm on Sunday 26th – he was trustworthy or so we thought, so we just presumed that he wouldn't let us down. 4:30pm rolled around, no sign, he was ignoring our calls and reading our messages. Me and my mum were stressed enough as it was without this going wrong. Luckily my mum's friend from when she went to school lived up the road from our Eastbourne flat. We called him up on the Sunday afternoon and he sped around to us in 10 minutes – how lucky? We felt truly blessed. If those three jobs hadn't got done, I don't know what would have happened.
By the time those jobs were done, we still have four boxes to pack, a bath to have and an early night to catch. It was a hectic night. We packed the remaining boxes, jumped in the bath and ordered a pizza. Before we knew it it was 9pm and we'd just finished our Papa John's pizza. We had to be up at 5am to get ready before the removers arrived at 7:30am/8am. We could not rest, nor sleep. I was worrying about various things (mainly Carnaby and how he would take the move). We still had a few things to pack but no more boxes. And then we knew we needed to sleep. I had so much on my mind that going to sleep was a chore – I couldn't breathe properly and it's safe to say that the anxiety had taken over me.
I finally got to sleep.. at maybe.. 1:30am? Yep. I had around 3 and a half hours sleep. But nonetheless, I sprung up in the morning, jumped in the bath again, put my face on and had a slice of cold pizza. The removals arrived at 8am on the dot. A family friend of ours works for a company called Nemo's Removals, and that's the company that moved us. This was my 12th or 13th move (I've honestly lost count) and we've used Britannia along with some other well-known removal companies, but none of them compare to Nemo's Removals – I promise I'm not saying that because we know one of them!! My mum and I had never seen any other removal company work like these men did. We was fearful about all of our possessions fitting into one Luton van, but Nemo's Removals packed the van perfectly, worked efficiently and impeccably.. even when things go a little tits up (but I'll get to that later on).
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| The luton van full of our stuff before it left for London! |
By 10:45am the van and all of our possessions were en route to Putney, London. I took Carnaby into my room with some food and his litter as he'd been in his bag for most of the morning. He refused to eat and refused to wee. This stressed me out a lot because I could sense he was uneasy and I just wanted him to be comfortable for the hour and a half car journey. Before I knew it my uncle arrived to take us to Putney. We squashed all of our 'hand luggage' into the boot of the car and hopped in. Carnaby was all secure in his carry-bag and on my lap for the journey and I played some relaxing cat music too. Carnaby seemed really calm and then I realised that he had wet himself – this really made me sad (I cannot bear it when Carnaby is unhappy). Luckily we arrived at our new flat shortly after the discovery.
Our flat is in a tower block – something I was a bit dubious about at first. But it's all brick and just 15-storeys high. We're on the sixth floor with a huge balcony and a great view of the London skyline. When we arrived I reluctantly got into the lift (I'm just not overly keen ever since I got stuck in the lift of my doctor's surgery the autumn before last). Safely on the sixth floor, we arrived at our new abode. I took Carnaby straight into the bathroom, gave him some food, changed his blankets, cleaned him up and put out his fresh litter. He was really weary and wide-eyed – I even cried because I was so upset that he was uneasy. I had to pop him back into his bag while the removers unloaded. I popped him in the front room and gave him some Dreamies.
That's not the end of the dramas though.. oh no, it wasn't that smooth-sailing.
Next up, the lift broke – perfect situation when you have 80 boxes and a tonne of furniture. Luckily the other lift worked, but this meant that the removers had to use the other lift (odd numbered floors) to go up to floor seven and then walk everything down two flights of stairs. Nemo's Removals weren't disheartened though – they just kept swimming (pardon the pun) and got the job done brilliantly.
It began to get dark around 4:30pm – the exact time that everything was finally in our new place and we were able to settle down for the night. Carnaby was free to roam, we lit a scented candle and it was time to relax.. or was it. The cooker wasn't wired up, the washing machine wasn't plumbed in, we didn't know how to work the heating, neither of the beds were up and we were well and truly knackered. We made a cup of tea, plugged the TV in (so we could watch Love Island of course), made a sandwich and made a camp on the sofa.
The following days after that were spent cleaning the entire apartment from top to bottom while unpacking boxes, bags and cases. I was craving some toast and we just could not find the toaster. We hunted high and low. It was in one of those check laundry bags with the last few kitchen bits we packed up. But in the commotion of the lift breaking we believe it was taken by a passerby – although annoyed, we are so grateful that that's all that was taken – a half used jar of Marmite, a near-on-empty jar of sugar free chocolate spread, an air freshener, some cranberry juice and a toaster. Thank god it wasn't a box of clothes or family heirlooms!
Anyway, one week on from moving in and we're finally getting straight. The bed has been up for four days, the cooker and washing machine were wired up/plumbed in yesterday, the flat is finally shiny, fresh and clean, my room is now a functioning bedroom and we've even been able to go out and explore Wandsworth.
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| Exploring Wandsworth on Feb 3rd – the first time we left the flat in a week! |
For the first day Carnaby was weary and dubious about the new flat, but now he is SO at home – even more-so than our last place. He does his paws (makes biscuits) every night, he sleeps on my bed, he looks out of the window, he's more playful than ever and he's just happier than ever before – as a mother, I can tell! I am so happy that Carnaby has settled in okay – it was one of my biggest worries.
But yeah – everything is going well, we love the London skyline we can see from our flat, our flat is MUCH bigger than our last flat, the location is perfection and we are truly chuffed with everything.
Oh – I almost forgot to mention! After one day of living in London, I received an email from a well-known magazine house (one of my dream publications to work for). In October I emailed them to enquire about work experience and last Tuesday they got back to me.. inviting me to go there.. for FOUR WEEKS!?!? I was so happy and still am. I'm going to keep it under my hat for a bit, but fear not, I'll update you soon!
Anyway – I best get on with some university work, prepare for my placement and unpack a few more boxes. Speak soon...
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