The Packers

So, by the first week in June we’d reached our last day of gainful employment. The house was on the market, but not yet sold, and we had one clear week before we were due to vacate the place. The departure date was driven by the International Relocation shippers.

My, there is a scary concept. The plan was for them to pack the contents of the house, less the bits we needed for the trip and the first month or so. That had to fit in the car, and in such a way as to not be visible on our travels. A team of three packers arrived on Tuesday morning of our last week and began to wrap all our worldly effects in bubble wrap. This is, apparently, the way it is done – once wrapped it was all to be stacked in a 40 foot container for shipping by sea, so it has to be properly packed. The general rule seemed to be that if it was stood still it got packed.

At first we didn’t appreciate the speed at which these people moved. Once they’d packed all of Ian’s shoes, apart from the pair he was wearing, we wised up. We retreated with all we needed for the trip and camped out in one bedroom, leaving the packers to wrap everything else.

The container duly arrived Friday morning and took over the whole car park – what else do you do with an artic and 40 foot trailer which needs to be close to your front door? The next six hours were then spent loading the container in a way to ensure nothing could move during the three weeks at sea.

At two o’clock the container headed off to Felixstowe – and that was that – empty house, car and contents and us. What an interesting moment that was!!

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