At last, an update...
Hello blogger fans, sorry it's taken me so long to get something on here, but it's been kinda busy as you might imagine! OK, not so busy that I couldn't have written anything at all in 9 weeks, but hey...
So, I have arrived. Woo! The flat is still lovely, and relatively easy to go from tidy to tip (and back again) in not very long at all. But probably worth documenting here is the moving process. So here it goes...
Day -3: Thursday 19th August
My last day at work. I spent the day generally tidying my desk, throwing away lots of bits of paper I didn't need to keep at all, giving big piles of paper to other people saying "You might need this next year", and keeping some stuff which I think might be useful.
By about 4pm I was genuinely nervous. Was I doing the right thing? Is this what I want to do? But then I realised that I really really did, and want to be with Ems for good. So that was ok again :-)
I decided to go at 4.30pm, 'cos I didn't want to be leaving at 5 with everyone else. Low key, I thought. Turns out that I didn't leave until about 4.55pm, with a hug and a kiss on the cheek from my (female) manager - and I'm not ashamed to say that I shed a tear as I walked up the road for the last time.
So it was off to the airport. Somehow, Birmingham's transport system worked perfectly and I was in departures in under 15 minutes. Which was nice, but some 3 hours before my flight was even due to leave!
Day -2: Friday 20th August
So I woke up in Ems' parents house, ready and raring to go. The people at AVIS were very helpful, even when the AA didn't come through quite in time with my breakdown cover. But I was the proud driver of a large white Mercedes Sprinter van - and doesn't driving a van feel good! Particularly a rented one - you can cut people up, take a few corners slightly too fast, generally tear up tarmac - and not really worry about it too much! By the time we'd picked up the van it was time to head off to Rosslare, which we'd budgeted about 3 hours to get there. Turns out it takes a little bit less than that, so we were in plenty of time for our Stena Line Fast Ferry sailing from Rosslare to Fishguard. The ferry only takes 2 hours if conditions are good - and it was a nice day. The ferry took about an hour to dock for some reason, so we were a bit late in leaving and arriving.
There was one panic moment, when we were asked to drive to the weighbridge to check the weight of the van. The fast ferry has a weight limit of 3 tonnes, so I was slightly scared when the bloke at the 'bridge handed me back a ticket telling me that the weight of the (completely empty) van was 2300kg!!
The entire journey was then spent calculating the weight of my stuff, wondering if it was more than 700kg...
So time we got to Fishguard it was about 11pm, meaning a tasty 3 and a half hour drive on the UK side. After a quick bite of fish and chips from a dodgy shop on the top of the hill up from the port, we were on the road back to Brum.
I was genuinely surprised that Welsh roads were dual language, despite Irish roads being the same - although at least the Irish doen't paint the Gaelic word for "Bus" on the ground at bus stops like the Welsh do!
Day -1: Saturday 21st August
Well basically, Saturday was spent packing and cleaning. At about 11am we had the idea of going to the weighbridge at the dump to see how heavy the van was. Assuming that it was open all day, we drove down just to make sure - only to be told that the girl was going home at 1230. So Dad and I raced back and started throwing things in the van - literally! By 1140 we were sweating and on our way back to the weighbridge.... with the final answer being about 2640kg. So that was all OK....
...until about 1pm, when I got a phone call from the Stenaline office in Fishguard saying that tomorrow's 4pm fast ferry was cancelled due to the bad weather! So we got moved onto the 3pm slow ferry..... which is massive and has practically no weight limit! All in all, a bit of a waste of time loading and unloading the van, but it did give us the chance to re-think our strategy for the final load. Much against my better wishes, the TV was now to go in the van and not in the car - but I managed to convince everyone that it should at least get wrapped in a duvet :)
We all had an early night, but not until Emily and I had introduced my Mum and Dad to the wonders of Domino's Pizza!
Day 0: Sunday 22nd August
The big day had arrived. The loading team arrived at my house at stupid-o'clock in the morning and we started loading the van properly. By about 8.30am we were done and on the road, after a few tears from all involved.
The drive back to Fishguard was not particularly eventful (apart from a certain incident with a 50mph limit on the M4, a girlfriend driving a Polo at 61mph, and two flashes from a large florescent yellow box at the side of the road!) and we arrived at the port with plenty of time to spare.
The crossing was actually less rough than Friday's one, probably due to the size of the craft. I was the second vehicle off the ferry and so we drove through the pouring rain to reach Cork by about 1030pm - at which time we were greeted by Ems' Mum and Dad, brother and sister-in-law, and aunt, who helped the unloading process. Rather than try and find appropriate bed covers and stuff, I slept at Ems' that night, absolutely shattered!
Day 1: Monday 23rd August
That's the story of the move then, the van was returned by 11am, and the unpacking, furniture-building, and general setting up of services began. I got a phone line enabled that same day, but didn't get my account number or contract for nearly 3 weeks (thanks Eircom!) so found it difficult to get Broadband installed. I have it now though, after some perserverance. Chorus were also very good to install my cable TV on Day 3.
So work is going ok (started on 1 Sept) and since then I have gotten myself a wireless router to go with the wireless laptop I was given at work.
More regular updates from now on (hopefully)...
So, I have arrived. Woo! The flat is still lovely, and relatively easy to go from tidy to tip (and back again) in not very long at all. But probably worth documenting here is the moving process. So here it goes...
Day -3: Thursday 19th August
My last day at work. I spent the day generally tidying my desk, throwing away lots of bits of paper I didn't need to keep at all, giving big piles of paper to other people saying "You might need this next year", and keeping some stuff which I think might be useful.
By about 4pm I was genuinely nervous. Was I doing the right thing? Is this what I want to do? But then I realised that I really really did, and want to be with Ems for good. So that was ok again :-)
I decided to go at 4.30pm, 'cos I didn't want to be leaving at 5 with everyone else. Low key, I thought. Turns out that I didn't leave until about 4.55pm, with a hug and a kiss on the cheek from my (female) manager - and I'm not ashamed to say that I shed a tear as I walked up the road for the last time.
So it was off to the airport. Somehow, Birmingham's transport system worked perfectly and I was in departures in under 15 minutes. Which was nice, but some 3 hours before my flight was even due to leave!
Day -2: Friday 20th August
So I woke up in Ems' parents house, ready and raring to go. The people at AVIS were very helpful, even when the AA didn't come through quite in time with my breakdown cover. But I was the proud driver of a large white Mercedes Sprinter van - and doesn't driving a van feel good! Particularly a rented one - you can cut people up, take a few corners slightly too fast, generally tear up tarmac - and not really worry about it too much! By the time we'd picked up the van it was time to head off to Rosslare, which we'd budgeted about 3 hours to get there. Turns out it takes a little bit less than that, so we were in plenty of time for our Stena Line Fast Ferry sailing from Rosslare to Fishguard. The ferry only takes 2 hours if conditions are good - and it was a nice day. The ferry took about an hour to dock for some reason, so we were a bit late in leaving and arriving.
There was one panic moment, when we were asked to drive to the weighbridge to check the weight of the van. The fast ferry has a weight limit of 3 tonnes, so I was slightly scared when the bloke at the 'bridge handed me back a ticket telling me that the weight of the (completely empty) van was 2300kg!!
The entire journey was then spent calculating the weight of my stuff, wondering if it was more than 700kg...
So time we got to Fishguard it was about 11pm, meaning a tasty 3 and a half hour drive on the UK side. After a quick bite of fish and chips from a dodgy shop on the top of the hill up from the port, we were on the road back to Brum.
I was genuinely surprised that Welsh roads were dual language, despite Irish roads being the same - although at least the Irish doen't paint the Gaelic word for "Bus" on the ground at bus stops like the Welsh do!
Day -1: Saturday 21st August
Well basically, Saturday was spent packing and cleaning. At about 11am we had the idea of going to the weighbridge at the dump to see how heavy the van was. Assuming that it was open all day, we drove down just to make sure - only to be told that the girl was going home at 1230. So Dad and I raced back and started throwing things in the van - literally! By 1140 we were sweating and on our way back to the weighbridge.... with the final answer being about 2640kg. So that was all OK....
...until about 1pm, when I got a phone call from the Stenaline office in Fishguard saying that tomorrow's 4pm fast ferry was cancelled due to the bad weather! So we got moved onto the 3pm slow ferry..... which is massive and has practically no weight limit! All in all, a bit of a waste of time loading and unloading the van, but it did give us the chance to re-think our strategy for the final load. Much against my better wishes, the TV was now to go in the van and not in the car - but I managed to convince everyone that it should at least get wrapped in a duvet :)
We all had an early night, but not until Emily and I had introduced my Mum and Dad to the wonders of Domino's Pizza!
Day 0: Sunday 22nd August
The big day had arrived. The loading team arrived at my house at stupid-o'clock in the morning and we started loading the van properly. By about 8.30am we were done and on the road, after a few tears from all involved.
The drive back to Fishguard was not particularly eventful (apart from a certain incident with a 50mph limit on the M4, a girlfriend driving a Polo at 61mph, and two flashes from a large florescent yellow box at the side of the road!) and we arrived at the port with plenty of time to spare.
The crossing was actually less rough than Friday's one, probably due to the size of the craft. I was the second vehicle off the ferry and so we drove through the pouring rain to reach Cork by about 1030pm - at which time we were greeted by Ems' Mum and Dad, brother and sister-in-law, and aunt, who helped the unloading process. Rather than try and find appropriate bed covers and stuff, I slept at Ems' that night, absolutely shattered!
Day 1: Monday 23rd August
That's the story of the move then, the van was returned by 11am, and the unpacking, furniture-building, and general setting up of services began. I got a phone line enabled that same day, but didn't get my account number or contract for nearly 3 weeks (thanks Eircom!) so found it difficult to get Broadband installed. I have it now though, after some perserverance. Chorus were also very good to install my cable TV on Day 3.
So work is going ok (started on 1 Sept) and since then I have gotten myself a wireless router to go with the wireless laptop I was given at work.
More regular updates from now on (hopefully)...
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