Some time ago we sold
our house and bought a new one. It wasn’t far away – less than half a mile, across
country, but we decided we’d like somebody else to do all the packing and
moving, just for once.
Julian from He-Van came to visit and estimated how long it would
take, how many boxes we would need and generally made me feel the whole thing
would be painless and swift.
So we were set to move … by early July. Then mid-July. Then
early August, for sure. Then … mid-August. Early September? No, not a chance.
Mid-September came and went and then, just before it became late September, we
finally, finally, finally moved.
It was so long ago we’d forgotten what had been promised,
but just as Julian said, Karl with a K and Chris with a C turned up at exactly
the time he said they would, packed everything from boxes to lawn rollers to
artworks to freezers with speed and care and drove off to our new address, just
half a mile away.
So, it had been a long process, and surely things must go
right now we were at the end of it? No, things went wrong. We still don’t fully understand what happened
(but we will) except that the money that should have been paid to our solicitor
didn’t arrive from our mortgage lender. We’d sold our old house and had to
leave it but we hadn’t bought our new house because the money hadn’t turned up.
It wasn’t a fun time and it wasn’t fun to try and untangle the problem over the
phone, sat on the wall outside a house we couldn’t enter because we didn’t yet
own it.
So we sat in the street, and Karl with a K and Chris with a
C sat in their van … for four hours.
Eventually our wonderful solicitor (who might feature in
another post) straightened things out and the He-Van guys unloaded everything.
Even though it was hours later than they’d hoped, and they were way overdue for
another job, they were careful and attentive and put everything it its new
place just as if they had all day to spend on the task. They didn’t finish
until nearly six in the evening, having started at eight in the morning and
they never failed to smile and joke throughout the whole process.
So, the process was neither painless nor swift, but our
wonderful removals firm didn’t add to the pain or the slowness – they were the
bright spot in a fairly ghastly day. Thumbs up 
to Karl and Chris (and Julian
who orchestrated everything behind the scenes).
to Karl and Chris (and Julian
who orchestrated everything behind the scenes).
Kay Sexton can be found at
and on twitter @KaySexton
Books about allotments and the people who love them ...
Kay's earlier post about He-Van can be found
in the August 2013 archives
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