2019-02-05 Tue Bookcases, Books, Foodland, I’ve, Jars, Moiving, Monday, Stationery

2019-02-05 Tue

Of course my view of Bonavista yesterday was wonderful, as was a glimpse of The Lancaster Inn as I trundled by. Knowing my way around town was delightful. Entering the Walkham’s Gate Café Pub and knowing the names of the staff, being hugged and so on. The sight of the Bank, the Library, the Post Office. Is it only four months since I began exploring and inquiring?

This morning’s plan is to vacate my by-now regular room (Room 5) at The Lancaster Inn, pick up basic groceries at Foodland, then reverse the truck towards the shed and begin the process of (a) emptying the cab (b) unfreezing the lock and (c) clearing space in the store and (d) emptying the last-on stuff from the truck.

Mysteries of Insurance and Lawyers, episode six

No, you didn’t miss the first five; I deleted them. They had pretty boring content anyway: “Venting my spleen”, “The bastards”, “Who dropped the ball?” and so on. I thought “I can do better than that” about the lawyers and agents, then I thought “I can do better than that” about my writing. So, here’s my current take.

(1) I am ultimately responsible. I’m the one who started this process in my life. Of all the things that needed to be done, I knew about, yet failed to make sure House Insurance was in place.

(2) Both insurance agents known to me in Bonavista, both named Kim (Aaaargh!), were weak through negligent to downright unprofessional in not responding to my voice-mails and emails; or at least, in not actively procuring a New Client.

(3) The lawyers. This team was singled out by the real estate agent who showed me the page, paragraphs, and simple text that even ***I*** could understand where the lawyers have agreed to get this done. People like me only get a lowly paralegal to work on the case, the lawyer rushes in for five minutes to sign. But yesterday I burned up two hours of the lawyer’s time to sit in and take part in the speakerphone debate.

I learned that there are two types of house insurance. High Risk and Low Risk. Low Risk insurance (at about 60/month) applies when all your wood stoves, oil furnaces and tanks, electrical and water and sewerage systems are fully inspected, certified etc. High Risk (me!) is when you say “I dunno” when they ask you questions about wood, oil, electrical, water or sewage. Then you get insurance at about 125/month. So, there I was at 9:30, sitting in the lawyers office saying “I dunno” over the phone, to which the response was “So, get the inspections done, and send the certificates in and we’ll carry on this discussion”.

The house deal was due to die in under fifteen hours time, so the lawyers switched to a High Risk system. I answer all the skill-testing questions such as name, date of birth, but mercifully not “Mother’s Maiden Name”, fax machines don’t spring into action because it’s all electronic nowadays, the paralegal reads the three pages of electronic fax, announces that she is satisfied and the insurance agent says “KaChing” will happen some time in March. Another reprieve on my fiscal affairs, because another pension cheque will be in by then. Handshakes all around and good bye.

At four o’clock that afternoon, Morley erupted (a wonderful sight to see in a genial laid-back guy), stabbing his finger at each word. He knows that I have been duped somewhat. I know it too, but I have to see this as just-another-hurdle in my sprint to the finish line.

Moving In

At 11pm last night I finished keying in and uploading the draft of Monday and turned off the light, settled down to plan “tomorrow’s unloading”. Since the house is better equipped than any self-catering bed-and-breakfast I’ve ever stayed in, anywhere, the unloading problems were easily resolved:-

(1) Helpers trampling salt, grit, and mud across the polished wood floors and carpeted floors: Unload everything into the store (“shed”)

(2) Time taken to unload the truck: Unload everything into the store (“shed”)

(3) Ability to consider carefully where to place MY junk inside the house proper: Unload everything into the store (“shed”)

(4) Need to take my time to consider which of the three bedrooms will be my bedroom and which will be my libraries. Unload everything into the store (“shed”)

(5) Want to find out where the sunshine falls, where best to position my effects: Unload everything into the store (“shed”)

(6) Problem of “down the truck ramp” and “hard right turn” and “up the steps”: Unload everything into the store (“shed”)

(7) Time taken as helpers pass each other between the doorway and the corridors: Unload everything into the store (“shed”)

(8) ... well, you get the idea.

I will drop in to Foodland, buy tea bags and milk and sugar, and then brew-up in the kitchen. Maybe a loaf of bread, margarine, marmalade for a quick breakfast.

All I need do when I arrive is to clear the space in the shed; pack everything up against the far wall. Then my blue-tag boxes (books) can go in a clump, the red-tag cartons (“fragile”) can go into a clump, and the remaining numbered cartons into groups of ten so that I can quickly locate a specific item from my catalogue.

Hah hah!

Cartons

	Contents
1	Summer shirts, shorts
2	Maps
3	15 pop bottles
4	Medium size screw-top jars
5	Hazel, legal, letters
6	Photos, letters, diaries
7	Languages, diaries
8	Large books, newspapers, 2 loudspeakers, Photos
9	Kipling and Grisham
10	Grisham and Shute’s
11	VHS tapes 001-060 (no empty cases)
12	VHS tapes 061-157 (no empty cases)
13	VHS tapes 158-241 (no empty cases, books)
14	VHS tapes 242-end (scratch tapes A-D)
15	Pears FRAGILE
16	Beets FRAGILE
17	Beans FRAGILE
18	Books 000-200 plus
19	Books 800
20	Books 800
21	Books 700
22	Books 5/6/700
23	Mirrors and frames FRAGILE
24	Books 000-400
25	Books 900
26	Fans (2)m power cables, drill bits
27	Computer CDS, sys backup
28	Books? Stationery
29	Stationery drawers, some spices
30	Glass jars, baking
31	Screws etc, string, wires
32	Hardware odds&
33	Computers
34	Loudspeaker
35	Loudspeaker
36	Laptop (old) plastic jars
37	Pantry
38	Dress pants, shirts
39	Small clothes
40	Spare warm
41	Bathroom paper
42	Bathroom bulbs
43	Pears FRAGILE
44	Jackets and rain coat
45	Spices FRAGILE
46	Staples in flasks FRAGILE
47	Staples FRAGILE
48	Containers (kitchen)
49	Files & Filing2B
50	Plates, utensils FRAGILE
51	Bowls, utensils FRAGILE
52	Kitchen
53	Kitchen
54	Kitchen FRAGILE
55	Carrots FRAGILE
56	Mason jars FRAGILE
57	Mason jars FRAGILE
58	Albumns, flats.
59	Garden stuff, large mirror clips
60	Shoe, Pyrex teapot
61	Big pot, mason lids
62	Teapot, drill,
63	Kettle, orange sieve
64	Lamp bulbs
65	Lamp bulbs
66	Old CDs
67	Movie DVDs
68	Jars. LED lamp?
69	VHS scratch tapes
70	Odds ‘n Sods
71	Odds ‘n Sods
71	Baking trays, metal containers
72	VCR
73	Unwrapped day crockery

Bins

	Contents
1	Large glass vase
2	Tea mug, Scugog, brown, Toby, shot glass, Xmas plaque, kitty bank
3	Table legs
4	Gravel
5	Gravel
6	Staples (packets)
7	Staples (tins)
8	Dry soil additive
	Blue suitcase – cold weather clothes
9	Bathroom
10	Bathroom
11	Bathroom
12	Bathroom
13	Bathroom
14	Aquarium pump

Bookcases

1	210” VHS & DVD
2	Nothing
3	Nothing
4	102” books
5	Nothing
6	150” books
7	120” books

So here I sit waiting for Debbie to arrive so that I can pay and leave on my errands: Buy bread, marg, marmalade, tea-bags, milk for my breakfast in my new home, withdraw $200 from the bank for the helpers and other sundry expenses, then back into the driveway (it is light enough at 7:30 nowadays), empty the cab, boil water for tea and to defrost the padlock and truck roll-up door, clear the area in the store, start unloading!

I empty the cab into the house and walk around for ten minutes, taking a movie VID_20190205_085403470.mp4, photos. I make a cup of tea, phone NL Power Inc to open an electrical account, and Morley arrives with Eric Abbot and John Ford. The two of them operating as unpaid helpers. We empty the wood from the shed and clear a space, then we start unloading the truck.

The aquarium is shattered. I loaded it second last thing a week ago and then, like an idiot, crammed the heavy metal dolly right next to it, tired and fatigued Tuesday night, anxious to leave during the snowstorm. So the fish survived the trip in the 15litre flask, but their home did not survive. The unloading runs only from 10 to 12, we are joined by Eric Abbot who I remember from last year. We take mug shots standing in front of the house, then they depart and I am left happily to restart work at my own pace.

Eric suggested I call the local UHaul dealer to see if I can save myself a drive to Clarenville and a bus back, not to mention a day. “Sure!” says Geena, but phone the head office first. Virginia tells me to call their Traffic Manager which I do, but their line is busy and so the young lady takes my number, clickety-click, and tells me that I am supposed to drop the truck off in Bonavista anyway, not Clarenville. If I drop it off in Clarenville they’ll probably ding me $350 for NOT dropping it off in Bonavista. Charles has screwed up yet again. I know I asked to drop it off in Bonavista, but he swore their was no drop-off location, and that I would be charged $350 if I dropped it off in Bonavista. No matter what I do, UHaul staff do their best to rob me. <\UHaul Alert>

I take a break; another marmalade sandwich, then set off on my errands:-

(1) Scotiabank to open a bank account.

(2) Town Hall to ask about water rates, property taxes and anything else. Garbage day, in case I ever accumulate a bag of garbage.

(3) Post Office to ask to be put on a list for a box number

(4) Kim B-D to collect my printouts

(5) Kim O to follow up on her phone calls

(6) Derek to give him his Christmas present (one and a quarter bottles of glycol and a windscreen brush)

(7) RCMP to introduce myself, again, and ask about getting a NL driver’s license.

(8) UHaul (Geena) to drop off the truck

Then I can walk home (sob!) from the far side of town and get stuck in to work, and except for KimO not being on duty tonight, I got all of that done. I didn’t forget the library, but will walk down there this afternoon or this evening.

Tomorrow, I will rise and greet the sunshine through my many windows, break my fast, then tidy up the house, running the wet-mop over the floors. Then comes the lengthy process of working through all the material in the store, item by item, bin by bin, carton by carton.

I am a happy man.