Thur. July 23, 2020
When I woke about 5:00 there were signs that Fran had spent only a little time in bed. Even so, she soon up to finish a few tasks before the 9:00 arrival of the movers. We figured that we could set them up with our houseful of well-labelled items and then head off to pick up the RV which was to carry us to BC. This would only take an hour or so and we could then be back to supervise the end of the movers’ activities.
When the movers arrived, it was with a huge van and about 7 or 8 young men. It was not an easy task to back the van into our driveway, but after a couple of tries, they managed the task without blocking the road too much. Once it was in place, the main event began.
With Fran in the kitchen (still packing items) I toured the house with the driver showing him what had to go to the van and what should be left behind. It was a rushed tour, but the driver seemed confident, and so Fran and I headed off to pick up our RV feeling confident that we could fill in some of the details when we returned.
Fran and I arrived at the Canadream office with our reservation paper in hand and high hopes since the lot outside was filled with the units we desired. After a friendly greeting, we were asked to sit down in their showroom and view a video about the unit and how to manage the driving, water, electricity, propane, generator, and all the other bells and whistles it carried. For Fran it was a nice opportunity for a nap!
They gave us the keys and invited us to check out the vehicle, so we headed outside. To our surprise, the keys didn’t work, so we returned to the office to ask for help. The salesman came out and redirected us to another unit that was bigger than the one we desired and told us that they did not have any of the smaller units for us.
This was a big disappointment, but he offered the larger unit at the same price as the smaller one, $200 gas money and free generator use as compensation. We had no choice if we wished to get possession that day, so I headed home in the larger unit and Fran sped off in the Echo to finish a few errands before her way back.
When I arrived at our home I found the movers siting around on our outside picnic table waiting for instructions since the bulk of the items had already been packed. I panicked and phoned Fran to get home right away since there were many items still needing to be loaded, and even considerable packing to be done.
With the addition of the items they missed, it became clear that their estimate of 4 “vaults” for was not sufficient for our household items, so we began a round of phone calls and explanations as Fran returned and headed off to more packing.
It was at this point that the young man who was buying our Echo arrive with a couple of his buddies–asking for attention to the money and papers involved in the exchange. We were not up to this on top of our packing and mover dilemma, but fortunately he was willing to return the next day to finalize the transaction. This seemed more manageable to us.
We had supper feeling that the crisis had passed and tomorrow would be much more manageable. The movers were scheduled to return about 13:00 which would give us time to finish the packing and the car buyer would arrive after that to finish the exchange of the Echo. There would even be time for Fran and Francine to have a last visit together at the local café.
I went to bed about midnight while Fran continued with the packing.