Moving In (Part II)

By the end of the afternoon the truck was only about half unloaded but the big and heavy stuff was out of it. What was left were boxes, boxes and more boxes: lots and lots of boxes of books, boxes of DVDs and other, smaller, miscellaneous boxes. Colman took off and drove back to his apartment on the wrinkles of the map, surprising us by insisting that it only took him an hour an a half. Jacky had had enough and stopped for the evening shortly thereafter, saying he would finish the next day.

I hobbled around the piles of boxes looking for the bag with the clean sheets that we had packed that morning in the trunk of Jacky's car...only to discover that they were still in the trunk of Jacky's car in Dieppe! Luckily the bed did have sheets on it (if not the cleanest) and we had the old ratty conforter as a cover. After all, we were none too clean ourselves after all that moving.

The kitchen stuff not having been unpacked yet, we had to go eat at the only restaurant within reasonable walking with crutches and small dogs on leash distance: a bar, café, brasserie, pizzeria, créperie, ice cream parlor, something for everyone restaurant on the esplanade by the improbable name of Octopussy. Vaguely I looked for the James Bond theme but could not find it. When we got there around 9:45 pm it was hopping; most of the tables were occupied and people were still arriving. I had a "galette" (it's the savory version of the "crépe") with ham, egg and cheese. Jacky got a pizza. It was after 11:00 pm when we got home and we had no problem falling asleep.

The next morning, we were up early and Jacky got back to work unloading the truck and I got back to work unpacking the boxes. A box marked "Winter clothes" was one of the boxes that appeared to have been nibbled at by some rodent and the impression was confirmed when I opened it: many of the clothes had been chewed at and had holes in them. Then when I opened the box holding my leather handbags and shoes and I had another surprise...most of them were seriously mildewed...I felt like crying! But one of the worst surprises were the boxes with the family photos: the photos were seriously affected by the humidity and the boxes were crushed, with dirt and leaves inside them...what a mess!

To console myself, turned to unpacking the dishes and kitchen equipment and at least everything was there and in perfect condition, ouf!

By the end of Sunday there were still a few boxes to unload but Jacky had had enough. This time, when we showed up at Octopussy at 9:45 pm, the kitchen was starting to close and all we could get were pizzas. I was getting a little tired of eating like that...

Monday morning, Jacky got up very early, finished emptying the truck, took it back to Dieppe and came back with his car. Finally I was able to change the sheets. That, along with the kitchen stuff unpacked, made me feel we were really setting up housekeeping.