Whatever happend to October? I've been busy my friends, looking for a new flat, searching for home, yes. On my traipsing around the streets of London I saw this Morris Traveler in Whitechapel. It took me back. We used to have this same model car in the 70s and early 80s. It had leather seats, the windows slid open across and I'm sure on cold mornings my Dad used to have to start it by turning a starting handle somewhere in the front of the car. I like Whitechapel, it's got a feel of a London from a different age about it, maybe the 20s. Let's go back to last month though.
Friday 23rd October.
I've found a new flat, I've got the keys and I'm off for a celebration meal, although I'm not quite ready to celebrate. My stuff is still in the old flat, I've a million things to organise and I want to be out of there. I want my landlady out my life forever. Her refusal to answer the phone but her insistence on leaving weird notes are disturbing me. And let's face it, anyone who writes a list of all the things in her kitchen cupboard and what to do with them e.g. drinking chocolate - for night time and when it's cold - yes seriously - needs medical attention.
Everybody else seems ready to celebrate though. The guy from the greengrocer's is outside the shop and talking on his mobile enthusiastically about the evening ahead. On the packed tube, a guy in dogtooth trousers still finds the room to demonstrate a dance to his girlfriend, guiding his movements with the pole.
We manage one car load of stuff on Friday night, but it's late by the time we get to the new place. We decide we are the midnight movers.
Sunday 25th
The midnight movers thing is proving right, despite getting to the old flat early on Saturday, it's late when we leave. We drive, my stuff in the back of the car, through the packed streets of Camden, the kids are out enjoying their saturday night. All that's left in the flat is the big furniture.
On Sunday we're in Tesco, picking up things I need to set up my new home; a silver kettle, cleaning products, quilted toilet paper - you know the score. In a way it was Tesco's where it all started. I'd handed my notice in on the flat saying there was no way I was re-signing the contract and we'd gone to the cinema to see 'Away we go' (30ish couple expecting their first baby, travel across America to search for a place to bring the baby up). Afterwards we went to Tesco's to stock up on food. I was feeling homelss but it was exciting.
Thursday 29th
I get the last of the stuff out on Monday with the help of a man in a van. It takes no time at all. I like hiring both, because then you don't have to waste time collecting and returning the van. Steve helps us at the other end, complete with a new pair of orange gloves. I finally arrange to return the keys and get my deposit back on Thursday, and it's a massive relief to have the cheque in my hand and be walking away from that flat for good. Time for a new start.
Now
I'm finally here, a foxhole of my own, a new nest, a home for my tray. I'm loving my new flat. I like the view from the kitchen that looks across to the church spire peeping up over the houses. I don't know which church it is, or which area it's in. I shall go exploring soon, wander through the autumn streets and find out which church it is. It's so good to have a place of my own again. It needs some work but it's well on the way.
It's strange when you pack all your stuff up, because you look at all your possessions in boxes and think, where did all this rubbish come from? Any evenings in have been spent sorting through stuff. The shredder's overwhelmed with work. I need to take stuff to the charity shop, get some stuff on ebay. I need to spend some time nesting.
Monday night after the fantastic Daniel Johnston gig at the Union Chapel, we wandered back through the streets and spied a nice office chair left in the street. It's midnight but there's a guy in the garden and he tells us we're welcome to take the chair, as he's having a clear out. This midnight thing is catching. We part wheel it, part carry it through the empty streets.
This chair is going to like its new home. I can recommend it.
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