Well, this day started on a bad note early... and just kept on going!
October 31st, 2007
I awoke to the phone ringing - not a good sign. Guess who it was? The shipping company... calling to tell me that they could not ship my 7 pallets of worldly goods, due to the fact that their insurance would only cover commercial shipments, not residential items. Oh, and could I come and pick it all up from Concord ON?
Needless to say, I was livid, shocked, and many other things, but I had no time to vent - I had to find someone to get my goods sent on to Victoria BC ASAP, or I'd likely have to STAY in ON to sort the mess out somehow... missing my plane and adding untold more expense to my moving debts.
Phone call after phone call went without result, as most companies I called refused to touch any shipment they had not packed and picked up themselves. I was starting to lose hope, with visions of paying for months of storage here in ON while I searched for a solution from 4000km away in BC. All this without a lot of sleep, breakfast, or large reserves of patience... of course.
Finally, the 12th company I called said they would be able to pick up the pallets and ship them to BC, from the word go. This was Multicites, who were very nice on the phone and made my day. Sadly, the cost was over double what I had budgeted with Simon's shipping help, but I had no other choice if I wanted to get my possessions sent out in a decent timeframe - the few other companies that had said they MIGHT be able to help would not be able to do so for several weeks. So I sucked it up, kissed financial solvency goodbye and gave Multicities the go-ahead.
Did I mention I was also supposed to be selling my car today? My old '94, Pontiac GrandAM SE that had soldiered on for so many years and had so many parts replaced... for so much money. *sigh* I hit the road as soon as I was done with Multicites, still with no breakfast... and with my dad in tow, as he was possibly working later in the morning as a tour guide in the Falls. We went to Enterprise Rentals on Ontario St., where I picked up a rental Ford and convoyed with my dad on the QEW to the Falls as expeditiously as safely possible.
We arrived in the Falls before 9:30am, picking up Bonnie and heading over to the MTO on Thorold Stone Rd where we did some complex legal gymnastics to transfer the ownership of my GrandAm to Bonnie. Hopefully, she will be able to tweak it's various small quirks and end up with a drivable car - the major repair would be discovering what was causing it to fail the eTest, but fortunately she has some pretty powerful mechanical folk on call. I left the car sitting forlornly behind her apartment, the plates off, its years of service to our family finally done. It was still in remarkably good shape for its age, compared to other cars I have owned.
The rest of the day went by in a blur. I had lunch at the Irish Harp in NOTL, where all the staff were dressed up for Halloween. Our server was a Supergirl variation, with cans on Guinness in a line on her belt - GuinnessGirl, if you like. She was quite the sight in her costume!
Finally, it was time for me to head to the Kilt for the last time. I donned my costume, save for the mask & hands. This year, I was reprising an older costume I'd had in storage for some time - a shaggy hairy monster mask with a nasty fanged mouth and huge blood-red eyes, along with a set of matching hairy hands I'd managed to find at a later date. Wearing a towel across my shoulders under a brown monk's robe, made up to look like a hunchback, I was a fearsome sight that dark evening!
Walking into the Kilt was fun - I managed a limping, rolling gait that had a few folk skirting wide of me on my way from the car, though the effect was slightly spoiled by the fact I was carrying a jacket in a bag. When I arrived, my friends were already there: Mike, with his girlfriend the ever-excellent Junko, Brian, Dan, Rene & Shiloh the Supertastic. All good friends!
It was a fantastic evening, more than I could had asked for as a send-off( of which I've had more than my fair share lately, so 'nuff on that ). Dan drew a sketch of me in costume with his usual genius( it will be posted to FB at a later date ), and many a fantastic picture was taken - again, see FB for details. What a wonderful night, especially given the way I rolled out of bed that morning.
I arrived home after midnight, just as the rain came down to gently wash the world as October ended. I slept on the floor, as my bed had been sold & moved that day while I was out attending to last minute details. The condo was filled with empty shelves, a few forlorn boxes, and bare walls. It spoke of possibilities, of endings and new beginnings, as I let sleep finally claim me.
October 31st, 2007
I awoke to the phone ringing - not a good sign. Guess who it was? The shipping company... calling to tell me that they could not ship my 7 pallets of worldly goods, due to the fact that their insurance would only cover commercial shipments, not residential items. Oh, and could I come and pick it all up from Concord ON?
Needless to say, I was livid, shocked, and many other things, but I had no time to vent - I had to find someone to get my goods sent on to Victoria BC ASAP, or I'd likely have to STAY in ON to sort the mess out somehow... missing my plane and adding untold more expense to my moving debts.
Phone call after phone call went without result, as most companies I called refused to touch any shipment they had not packed and picked up themselves. I was starting to lose hope, with visions of paying for months of storage here in ON while I searched for a solution from 4000km away in BC. All this without a lot of sleep, breakfast, or large reserves of patience... of course.
Finally, the 12th company I called said they would be able to pick up the pallets and ship them to BC, from the word go. This was Multicites, who were very nice on the phone and made my day. Sadly, the cost was over double what I had budgeted with Simon's shipping help, but I had no other choice if I wanted to get my possessions sent out in a decent timeframe - the few other companies that had said they MIGHT be able to help would not be able to do so for several weeks. So I sucked it up, kissed financial solvency goodbye and gave Multicities the go-ahead.
Did I mention I was also supposed to be selling my car today? My old '94, Pontiac GrandAM SE that had soldiered on for so many years and had so many parts replaced... for so much money. *sigh* I hit the road as soon as I was done with Multicites, still with no breakfast... and with my dad in tow, as he was possibly working later in the morning as a tour guide in the Falls. We went to Enterprise Rentals on Ontario St., where I picked up a rental Ford and convoyed with my dad on the QEW to the Falls as expeditiously as safely possible.
We arrived in the Falls before 9:30am, picking up Bonnie and heading over to the MTO on Thorold Stone Rd where we did some complex legal gymnastics to transfer the ownership of my GrandAm to Bonnie. Hopefully, she will be able to tweak it's various small quirks and end up with a drivable car - the major repair would be discovering what was causing it to fail the eTest, but fortunately she has some pretty powerful mechanical folk on call. I left the car sitting forlornly behind her apartment, the plates off, its years of service to our family finally done. It was still in remarkably good shape for its age, compared to other cars I have owned.
The rest of the day went by in a blur. I had lunch at the Irish Harp in NOTL, where all the staff were dressed up for Halloween. Our server was a Supergirl variation, with cans on Guinness in a line on her belt - GuinnessGirl, if you like. She was quite the sight in her costume!
Finally, it was time for me to head to the Kilt for the last time. I donned my costume, save for the mask & hands. This year, I was reprising an older costume I'd had in storage for some time - a shaggy hairy monster mask with a nasty fanged mouth and huge blood-red eyes, along with a set of matching hairy hands I'd managed to find at a later date. Wearing a towel across my shoulders under a brown monk's robe, made up to look like a hunchback, I was a fearsome sight that dark evening!
Walking into the Kilt was fun - I managed a limping, rolling gait that had a few folk skirting wide of me on my way from the car, though the effect was slightly spoiled by the fact I was carrying a jacket in a bag. When I arrived, my friends were already there: Mike, with his girlfriend the ever-excellent Junko, Brian, Dan, Rene & Shiloh the Supertastic. All good friends!
It was a fantastic evening, more than I could had asked for as a send-off( of which I've had more than my fair share lately, so 'nuff on that ). Dan drew a sketch of me in costume with his usual genius( it will be posted to FB at a later date ), and many a fantastic picture was taken - again, see FB for details. What a wonderful night, especially given the way I rolled out of bed that morning.
I arrived home after midnight, just as the rain came down to gently wash the world as October ended. I slept on the floor, as my bed had been sold & moved that day while I was out attending to last minute details. The condo was filled with empty shelves, a few forlorn boxes, and bare walls. It spoke of possibilities, of endings and new beginnings, as I let sleep finally claim me.
