Well, the fat lady is warming up… This end of the big move is almost over! Packers finished up today, although it was looking questionable for a while.

One major sticking point, literally, was our queen-size box spring. I couldn’t remember how the moving-in crew got it up the stairs and through the narrow hallway to the master bedroom, so had no good advice for its removal. Obviously, it’s not bendy, and four professionals spent half an hour trying to flex it around a bannister to get it downstairs. In the end, all it needed was to be unwrapped from the protective, but bulky, paper bag they’d encased it in, and voila! Down it went!

There was another small crisis when the guys realized that the five crates they brought today weren’t sufficient to hold everything (guess they didn’t judge very well how much fit into the four they brought yesterday compared to what was still left to be loaded). Luckily, the truck had a bit of spare room behind the last crate where they could stash the sofa and some other bulky items for which they will build a special half-size crate once they arrive back at the depot.

I had to ask if shipping crates are a standard size around the world, or if these were smaller than what we might have used in the past. The question was prompted by the fact that are leaving here with nine-and-a-half crates, yet we arrived with just five. We did not accumulate that much extra stuff at the auctions, and we jettisoned a dining room table and six chairs, so I chalk it up to the fact that Japanese packers are more efficient users of space than British. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. 🙂

There’ll be no rest for the weary tomorrow–there’s nothing like a move to reveal one’s lack of attention to thorough housekeeping. The breeze from the open windows is blowing dust bunnies around like tumbleweeds. Carcasses of small insects suspended in cobwebs have been revealed in every corner that was previously blocked by a piece of furniture. Tomorrow will be dedicated to removing all evidence of my lackadaisical cleaning habits.