23rd June 09

Well here I am in wait for it, sunny Glasgow. Its not sunny all that often, so best make the most of it! Yesterday was the day from hell, having kittens waiting for the van - about twenty to nine I suddenly realised that the police were outside stopping everyone travelling in the bus lane. I was a touch anxious about how they would feel if a vast pantechnicon suddenly turned up and parked on double yellows, but thankfully a) we have loading permissions, and b) the van wasn't a pantechnicon, but one of the smaller varieties. Panic over!

As for the loading it went really well, three very nice lads, rushing up and down the stairs with all of those boxes - amazing. And the junk that was left after they'd gone! Anyhow my back got shot about three days ago now, so I was glad of a bit of rest - eventually I took myself off to the station, and here I am.

We got in to Glasgow Central Station about 11.15, which was actually a bit early. I t was a magnificent journey up, in fact I'd reccommend the 17.30 train to anyone - not many people on it, plenty of seats, the only problem was with the 'shop' where the hot water equipment was out of order, and there was no tea or coffee all journey. Having arrived I grabbed a taxi, a) because I wasn't exactly sure where the hotel was, and b) because my back's shot, and I had a case not dissimilar to that of Dr Who's tardis. You just don't want to see inside it, trust me. Whe we got there and I found out that I had to lug it that last 50 feet or so from the road to the hotel I was very distressed! On the other hand maybe it did me a bit of good, having been sitting for the last 7 hours or so.

So I'm now clued up as to the differences between a cheap hotel, and a hotel that costs £75 per night. Firstly, the lift. The lift here is a thing out of Grace Brothers, without any form of attendant - you couldn't get one in. It creaks and rumbles it's way to the third floor (where I am) and when you stop, it sort of shakes from side to side as if it can't wait to get anyone inside outside. And the noise! It makes a noise like - well I don't know, but I don't like it that's for sure! My room is nice - not as nice as the Millennium, but you can't have everything. I've moved here now, and frankly that makes any sort of hotel feel like cheating. In a bit, I'm rushing off to the letting agents, and then on up to the house. I shall be so pleased to get there, I'm going to just die for a proper cup of coffee which this hotel seems to think is beyond it. The coffee served with the breakfast was best described as a cup of hot water, appropriately coloured so you might possibly think this is coffee but ha! We fooled you!

19th June 09

Now do I want to bore everyone to death with more accounts of my battles with boxes? Not really. But I'm sitting here in my dear little flat where I've been living for more years than I care to remember, looking at all of the spaces on the walls where the pictures where, and it's so sad!! So many memories associated with this place. Sniff. One thing I don't think that I'm going to forget in a hurry is how sore my back is from moving out!!
Anyway one of the worst things about this, is that I've packed the clock. I keep looking at where it was, the way that you do, you know it's not that you need to know the time, simply that you're used to knowing what the time is. And it's not there!
Apart from this, well, most of the packing is done. Martin and I had a devil of a time with the sacks of stuff going to the charity shop - I rang them to see if they could do a collection, and they tried, but apparently their van broke down, leaving me with 7 heavy sacks of stuff - we got a taxi and it was bad enough having to lug it downstairs! I've booked a collection from the council for the rubbish, but are they making any kind of special effort to pick it up? Are they heck. Nope they're coming on the regular day, but they are prepared to pick up to an extra 15 black bags, which is pretty good going I reckon. So I've got a bit more stuff in the bedroom, and of course the kitchen, but apart from that, I'm done. I must remember to call the hotel - yep, another night in a hotel, but I need to call them and remind them that I'm going to be arriving very late on Monday night. The plan is to have the van collect everything in the morning, do the cleaning, and then grab the bags, grab a taxi (bags girls, bags!) and catch the train to Glasgow. I should (fingers crossed) arrive by about 23.30. Then the next day I rush off, sign the lease, and be there to greet the van which should arrive sometime in the afternoon. I can't believe this is going to be my last couple of nights here. It's been a gas people!

Monday 15th June

Ah well, the boxes arrive tomorrow, and the serious packing starts - I have a week to do this in, and the big move is next Monday! Despite this though, I'm already surrounded by boxes, I've had to stack black bags for the local Hospice Shop on the upstairs landing - I'm hoping that they might even come and pick it up if I speak nicely to them, otherwise it's into a taxi with it at some point. I've put little notes through every one's door to let them know what's happening, and tonight I've spent a good while cleaning the kitchen. Why you ask? Because the wretched agency who rent this place out phoned me today to say someone wants to come and look at it tomorrow. Since the kitchen is the only room wherein there is furniture - ha, furniture, let's say cupboards, cooker and fridge, that's staying. The rest of it's all mine and is coming with me. I feel a bit, well to be honest, really quite violated by this, as if this person is coming to inspect my belongings. But I don't have the right to say no, because basically it's a rented flat and the right to view the property is in the rental agreement. But this person is going to have to pick their way around the stuff and peer about in a very quick fashion, because I'm not stopping.
So what else has been going on? Not much to be honest. Right now my brain is fixated on did I order enough boxes? Am I going to get it all in? Still John has very kindly agreed that he'll pop round on Tuesday night to help me assemble stuff - basically I need to get the bed up as soon as I get there I reckon, and it'd be nice to get the bookshelves fixed so that I can unpack books. I spoke to Sky Tv today, and I'm arranging for them to get their stuff switched on for me. The letting agency do the gas and electric for me so that's ok. I don't need to take final readings down here because it's all communal. I'll have to take the emergency stuff with me on the train, but because this is all happening overnight, I don't have to take as much which is really good. I figure I can put clothes for the night & next day into a backpack, and drag my big bag with me with the emergency kit - kettle, tea, coffee, a bit of food to tide me over until I can go shopping, the hoover - yep, you read rightly, the hoover, must leave the place in a reasonable state. Anyhow on top of all this is my diy kit - hammer, nails, drills etc, cleaning gear. I think I will be able to get this into my large bag without too much difficulty. Then once the boxes and stuff have all been collected, I head off to the station, and that's it - I'm on my way to Glasgow!

Friday 29th May

Well I'm home - much better journey coming back, a lot smoother! But alas I've picked up a bad cold, which I presume I got on the flight up there, & I've been coughing and sneezing and wheezing since yesterday afternoon. This used to happen to me when I lived there before - you've no immunity to the Scottish bugs, and by the time you've acclimatised to them and you go back down south, you've lost whatever immunity to those that you used to have!

Anyhow I will tell you about the flat that I found, but when I've got it all securely tightened up and the deal done so to speak. I don't like catching chickens before they're well and truly hatched! But it's a nice little place in a lovely spot, and I'm very hopeful that it all will go according to plan. Fingers crossed!
I had a great time on Weds, when I met up with old tutors at uni, and was frankly slightly overwhelmed by how nice everyone was to me! Then over to J & P's for dinner, which was great, and they've got a totally fabulous flat. Really gorgeous.
Anyhow yes I know this is all very dull, because it's got no details, etc etc, but you'll just have to wait until it's all done and dusted. I have got photo's, but I'm too sniffy & sneezy to get them downloaded and primped up to publish yet - and frankly I've got my doubts about how it'll all turn out - remember it rained three days out of four! I'm off now, back to veg out in front of the tv or get myself an early night. I'm exhausted I've got to say!

Tuesday 26th May

Well here I am in Glasgow, doing battle with my little notebook computer. When I bought it in the shop they promised me it was a normal sized keyboard, and for the most part it is, but the wretched side keys are in just the "\" keeps getting in the way!
Well getting up here was certainly fast. As my normal means of getting here is the train, it had a certain blink and you miss it quality to it, once I'd got past the unbelievable tension of getting off the ground. It was a very small plane, and the take off felt like it was near vertical, but in reality - ie, out of the window, was somewhat less so. That didn't stop me from jerking like a baby at every single jerk and toss of the turbulence, and yep, I did feel the wheels going up and down. I thought I'd only been up there for fifteen minutes, and the captain's saying if you look out of the window now you'll see the Lake District, (one of my fave parts of the world!) and then suddenly we were landing. Extraordinary. Needless to say it was raining, and today I've been soaked three times. I kid you not. It felt like every time I put my head out of doors the heavens opened, but it can't have been that deliberately organised. Clearly it was simply accidental, but it felt like - am I absolutely sure about this???!
Anyhow, I went to see the little flat that I've been "watching" on the web for the past three weeks. Amazing place, really huge, vast place with enormous storage cupboards etc. But, and isn't there always some buts, anyhow the first but was that the kitchen had barely a cupboard in it, and nothing but bare boards on the floor, and secondly, and premier but of the lot, the carpet in the living room was either sticky with vileness, or (and my personal front runner) sopping wet with damp. You could never take the amount of books I've got into a place like that, and get out with them intact within what, a week? Shame because it's a great little flat, and the rent was unbelievable (coming from Bristol that is) but I'm going to have to give that one a miss. But I did like the area, and I'm going back there tomorrow to have a better look around, and a good look at the local letting agents shop. Very quiet streets, lots of greenery and trees, even a local recycling centre, including a clothing drop off point, combined with a bright and lively high street, and a very good bus service. Can't ask for more really can you? It is a bit far from the university, and I guess that's something I need to think about, but with the transport the way it is, I'm not so sure that's a real disadvantage. They do very good combined bus and rail tickets up here, and it's a reasonably quick whizz into town.
Ah well, I need an early night, I'm exhausted after trekking around most of the day. Catch you later!

20th May 09 - The big move part I!

Well I've left work and I've been spending the past few days de-junking. Right now I'm in the midst of absolute chaos, and somewhat worried about the big bookshelf unit which now has stuff on the top two shelves, yet the one's below are now denuded of the video's they used to hold. And dear God, the dust. I used to think this place was actually quite clean..! It's all been hiding behind the video's and books...
Jo is going to take me to a bootsale before the move proper. This now means I'm sort of sorting as I go, one pile for stuff that I'm keeping, various boxes for stuff going to the boot, and large black sacks of stuff that's going to the dump. Abbs is coming at the weekend to run me there, and then we're rewarding ourselves with a trip to the cinema. We thought we might take in Star Trek. Well ok, I've persuaded Abbs she'd like to see Star Trek. But I hear it's a very good film, so this may not be the disaster it could be - she's not a big ST fan. As for myself this unexpected leisure (ok, de-junking!) has allowed me to sit down with a cup of tea and watch the re-runs of the original series on Sci Fi, at about 5 every day. I don't care how uncool it is, you've just got to love old Kirky babes and the gang doing their thing. At least I do.
Today is the first sunny day since before the weekend - we've had a few spots of rain, but otherwise it looks like a very nice day out there. Pity I'm stuck in here with all this junk. Tomorrow I'm going to tackle the living room table, and the little cupboards under the bay window. These things are a wonderful set of 'cubes' Mum & Dad bought back in the sixties, and I 'inherited' them a good while back now. Love 'em to death I'm afraid, despite all the slight oddities about them - they're veneered in some sort of white plastic, and they're pretty heavy when you lift them, but they're a lot of fun. Because they're just small cubes about 2 feet square you can arrange them in any fashion you like, so they're very versatile. But as I say, the veneer is lifting off a bit at the corner, so you have to be careful with them. I've got a basic one, one with a shelf, and two with doors. It's the ones with the doors that I fear. God knows what I've stuffed in there over the years.. I know one is full of paperwork. Uh-oh..!

Thursday 14th May

Ah well, I thought this day would never come - but it's nearly over! Today I left my job, voluntarily, in the middle of this huge recession - but it's all planned. Shortly I will fly - yep, fly to Glasgow, to look for somewhere to live, then come back, organise it all, move, and start the hunt for work. I feel a touch anxious about it all, but I'm pleased that I've reached the point where I get started on all of this. But my God, such an awesome day! I can't describe how I felt when I was going round the office saying goodbye to people - I'd left it a bit late and there were a few that had gone already, which was a shame and I'm sorry I missed you! But all day I've been feeling really almost overwhelmed by the whole leaving thing. I don't think I could put it into words verbally to communicate to people, I mean this is the place I've been going to and from at all hours of the day and night for more than the last five years. These people have been part of my family, so to speak, my sisters. And like all families we spat from time to time, but what's new? Who is ever entirely happy in the circumstances of their work? I count myself luckier than most that I've worked with people I've loved, and the work that I did was both interesting and made a difference to people's lives. You can't say better than that.
Anyhow, on to new things. Well sort of, I've got a leaving do to get through first...! Best take a packet of tissues with me I think!!!!