Moving Out

Posted on 2006/12/22 17:38:58 (December 2006).

[Sunday 17th December]
There really were no excuses by today - the estate agent was coming at 4 in the afternoon to take the keys, and so the flat had to be basically empty by that time, save for the bags we'd be carrying out with us.

I was reminded just how much bloody hard work it is to pack up a flat, even a relatively small one like we had. There was so much junk to throw out, I think I made at least ten trips to the recycling room in our block of apartments, which is something of a pain as it involves several flights of stairs.

Similar to the previous day there was a stream of delivery men, and people from the gas company, phone company etc etc. It felt like the door bell rang almost constantly.

One of the disappointments of the moving process was that we hadn't been able to find a good home for my half whisky barrel and the two olive trees which had been out on our balcony. We couldn't bear to just throw them out, so instead we "donated" them to the apartment block. There's a sort of communal area on the ground floor with a bit of a garden in, and we thought our additions fitted in very well indeed. Not sure if the rest of the residents will agree, but then it's only a very short trip from there to the recycling room, so they at least have the option this way.

Finally the guy from the estate agent came just before 4, and save for a last few odds and ends we were basically all done by that time. Considering the dreadful state the place had been in when we woke up this morning, I felt this was something of an achievement. The guy made a quick initial assesment of the state the place was in and it sounds like the chances are we'll get the bulk of our deposit back, minus some (relatively) small cleaning costs. So I think we did rather well in the end.

So by the end the two of us were left standing outside our aparment block, with a collection of luggage, waiting for a taxi to take us to Shinjuku. Chie had one last box to send off, which for some reason needed to be sent from the Post Office rather than the by the very handy door-to-door delivery people, so we got the taxi to drop us off at the main Post Office in Shinjuku, which apparently is open 24 hours a day. After that we then lugged our bags to the station, and I persuaded Chie (somewhat against her will) that we should put them all in coin lockers so we could have an hour or two of freedom before getting our train to the airport.

For dinner we settled for Pronto - the vaguely Italian café bar place in Shinjuku station, and as we sat there drinking from those strange brnoze cups and nibbling on caperberries for the first time this weekend I actually felt relaxed, which was quite a wonderful sensation. After that we popped to the Keio department store, and got some Christmas presents for my niece and nephews.

We got on the last Narita Express train of the day at about 7:45 (not sure how you get to the airport if you need to go any later than that), and again I was filled with a sense of being wonderfully relaxed. It had been a really busy week, but now the "to do" list was all ticked off. Very satisfying.

We stayed in a hotel near the airport, which involved a short bus ride after the train arrived. As one final treat to round off the week, a CD of our official wedding photographs was waiting for us at the hotel (we thought it might not get there in time if we'd arranged for it to be sent to the flat), and so just before going to bed Chie and I looked through the pictures. They're a lot more comprehensive (and of course a lot better) than the few I'd got with my own camera, and so it was really great to see them. I think the deal we did with the photographer means we completely own the rights to the images, so it should be OK to upload some of these to the site at some point.

Wellll? Where are they then (the photos that is...)

Posted by tom at 2007/01/01 15:40:07.

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