Moving Day
i guess moving out of Coventry was the last nail in the university coffin. it feels as if moving away from that city meant a new phase of my life has begun and it feels strange. equally strange is the fact that my student ID is no longer valid, which in true blue Murphy's Law-fashion, i didnt need till yesterday when i went to the chinese supermarket and realised i could no longer qualify for the 10% student discount. :( or to buy student standby tickets for the theatre. or even student discounted ones. urgh...
anyway, moving day (last Saturday) was void of emotional/teary goodbyes. i guess it's because we all know that somehow we will meet up soon. i guess it's because the chances of me going to Malaysia at a whim are a lot higher than me to the UK. in fact, it was a simple, "have a good journey and i'll see you soon".
that is not to say that moving day was void of drama (and heightened emotions). on the contrary, tempers flew and patience was tested (even Michael was getting edgy - he's the most sui bian person i know!). this was because of the people that were moving in to the house in September. let's start at the beginning...
someone knocks at the door at 10.30am. it's the new tenants who have come to move their stuff into the house to store over summer. note: to store, which = they are not paying full rent for summer but the landlord is allowing them to store their things there at half rent. what we were told by the landlord was that we should have a room ready for them to do so by afternoon. so i said, we were told you were coming in the afternoon so we're not ready as we are sill trying to move our stuff out. she said, oh but we were told to come at 11am. then i said, well, it's onlt 10.30, if you give us half an hour we should be able to move some stuff out so that you can start moving yours in. she then proceeds to dump all her stuff on the pavement outside, which blocks our door AND our neighbour's. at 11am, we tell her that the attic is ready (because we had to move some final boxes down) so she proceeds to move her stuff into the hallway and up to the attic. the other guy shows up a while later. then it starts to rain. the landlord comes by and asks us if we can free up another room so that they can move their stuff in so that it wont be in the rain. lynn tells him we've already made the attic available so they should be able to move their stuff in. he asks, is it possible for you to clear michael's or your room sooner? i dont think it's nice that their stuff is sitting out in the rain. lynn says, ok we'll try. but after he leaves she turns to me and rants about how it isnt fair to us that we are already inconvenienced and that we've paid rent for today so technically they should be working around our schedule, and that she doesnt get why he's being so nice to them when he was a really bad landlord to us. then i said, well, i know why...
a break here for some background info - our landlord is a big cheat! because he said he was going to do a lot of things (like clear up the backyard and re-landscape it last aug, or to send in professional cleaners last aug when we were not in the house) but he didnt. and according to lynn who was there when the new tenants came in a few weeks ago to look at the house again, he told them that he was going to again over summer and that he has been doing it regularly for us. AND the new tenants decided they wanted to re-carpet the house and buy a new sofa at their expense. WHAT?!? so of course he's nice to them! if he isnt and they change their mind, he loses out on free refurbishment!
back to the story: lynn tells me that apparently the girl (we shall call her N) told the landlord that she and i are best friends (truth: i know her from Tap because she used to come to some of the classes. know as in i-know-your-name-and-can-match-it-to-your-face-but-nothing-more-than-that, and apparently when she said that to the landlord - right in front of lynn and michael, mind you - michael turned to lynn and asked, ade's got a best friend in Tap?) and that them moving in earlier is not a problem. and she only contacted me twice about house stuff - the first was to get the landlord's number because she had lost it, and the second was to ask if they could move stuff in earlier and i had told her we were staying till 30th June so it wasnt likely they could move stuff in any earlier than then.
anyway, N and the guy stop moving their stuff and just stand in the hallway, waiting for Michael to clear his room so that they dont need to move their stuff up 2 flights of stairs. so Lynn gets really angry and decides to vacuum the living room so that she can move her stuff down and they can move it to her room (because she was waiting for her uncle to come in the afternoon and Michael was needed to get out of his room, which was impeded by their stuff in the hallway, so that he could load his car and drive to the storage place). after Lynn does that, they start moving their stuff again and after they've moved most of it, sit in Lynn's room chatting. so Michael moves their big suitcase up to Lynn's room for them (because it's blocking his way) and we have to keep telling them to move their stuff out of the way because we are trying to move out.
they leave for lunch and come back later with more boxes, then leave again and N comes back with a bicycle. she stands at the door asking if she can put her bicycle in the living room. i ask, are you sure you can store your bicycle in the house? (because i know from previous house experiences that most landlords dont allow it as it brings dirt in). she says, well the other people in the other houses do that so we can too. then i say, i guess so but not at the moment because we are trying to move some stuff out (Lynn's uncle had just arrived) and if she can wait about 10mins, she can come do so. she then proceeds to leave her bicycle right at the door so i move it away and continue helping Lynn move her stuff to her uncle's car. N comes back and tries to come in while we are moving heavy boxes out the door. Lynn gets really angry so she yells, why are you so impatient? cant you wait?! N puts her bicycle in Michael's room and leaves. and of course, in the process, she brings in lots of mud and dirt (rain = lots of dirt)...
it really frustrated me that they seemed to think they had the right to move in earlier than afternoon simply because last year when i wanted to move my stuff in (and i was paying full rent for July), i could only do so after 6pm because the previous tenants were still moving stuff out and we waited till they were almost done. also, they dont understand that we need to clean the house thoroughly in order to get our deposit money back. so after they left, i had to clean the carpets again because of all the dirt they brought in.
but on the bright side, there's retribution. simply because they stored stuff in Michael's and Lynn's rooms - the two rooms in the house that needed work done (Michael had a hole in his wall while water was leaking into Lynn's room and had gone down a wall and soaked the carpet at the base which led to the floorboards beginning to leak). since they have stuff in the rooms, the landlord cant really move it to do the work necessary. and when the landlord returned in the late afternoon, he didnt look very happy that they had stuff everywhere (because the agreement was that they could store all their stuff in one room).
oh well... as long as i get my deposit back i'll be happy.
anyway, moving day (last Saturday) was void of emotional/teary goodbyes. i guess it's because we all know that somehow we will meet up soon. i guess it's because the chances of me going to Malaysia at a whim are a lot higher than me to the UK. in fact, it was a simple, "have a good journey and i'll see you soon".
that is not to say that moving day was void of drama (and heightened emotions). on the contrary, tempers flew and patience was tested (even Michael was getting edgy - he's the most sui bian person i know!). this was because of the people that were moving in to the house in September. let's start at the beginning...
someone knocks at the door at 10.30am. it's the new tenants who have come to move their stuff into the house to store over summer. note: to store, which = they are not paying full rent for summer but the landlord is allowing them to store their things there at half rent. what we were told by the landlord was that we should have a room ready for them to do so by afternoon. so i said, we were told you were coming in the afternoon so we're not ready as we are sill trying to move our stuff out. she said, oh but we were told to come at 11am. then i said, well, it's onlt 10.30, if you give us half an hour we should be able to move some stuff out so that you can start moving yours in. she then proceeds to dump all her stuff on the pavement outside, which blocks our door AND our neighbour's. at 11am, we tell her that the attic is ready (because we had to move some final boxes down) so she proceeds to move her stuff into the hallway and up to the attic. the other guy shows up a while later. then it starts to rain. the landlord comes by and asks us if we can free up another room so that they can move their stuff in so that it wont be in the rain. lynn tells him we've already made the attic available so they should be able to move their stuff in. he asks, is it possible for you to clear michael's or your room sooner? i dont think it's nice that their stuff is sitting out in the rain. lynn says, ok we'll try. but after he leaves she turns to me and rants about how it isnt fair to us that we are already inconvenienced and that we've paid rent for today so technically they should be working around our schedule, and that she doesnt get why he's being so nice to them when he was a really bad landlord to us. then i said, well, i know why...
a break here for some background info - our landlord is a big cheat! because he said he was going to do a lot of things (like clear up the backyard and re-landscape it last aug, or to send in professional cleaners last aug when we were not in the house) but he didnt. and according to lynn who was there when the new tenants came in a few weeks ago to look at the house again, he told them that he was going to again over summer and that he has been doing it regularly for us. AND the new tenants decided they wanted to re-carpet the house and buy a new sofa at their expense. WHAT?!? so of course he's nice to them! if he isnt and they change their mind, he loses out on free refurbishment!
back to the story: lynn tells me that apparently the girl (we shall call her N) told the landlord that she and i are best friends (truth: i know her from Tap because she used to come to some of the classes. know as in i-know-your-name-and-can-match-it-to-your-face-but-nothing-more-than-that, and apparently when she said that to the landlord - right in front of lynn and michael, mind you - michael turned to lynn and asked, ade's got a best friend in Tap?) and that them moving in earlier is not a problem. and she only contacted me twice about house stuff - the first was to get the landlord's number because she had lost it, and the second was to ask if they could move stuff in earlier and i had told her we were staying till 30th June so it wasnt likely they could move stuff in any earlier than then.
anyway, N and the guy stop moving their stuff and just stand in the hallway, waiting for Michael to clear his room so that they dont need to move their stuff up 2 flights of stairs. so Lynn gets really angry and decides to vacuum the living room so that she can move her stuff down and they can move it to her room (because she was waiting for her uncle to come in the afternoon and Michael was needed to get out of his room, which was impeded by their stuff in the hallway, so that he could load his car and drive to the storage place). after Lynn does that, they start moving their stuff again and after they've moved most of it, sit in Lynn's room chatting. so Michael moves their big suitcase up to Lynn's room for them (because it's blocking his way) and we have to keep telling them to move their stuff out of the way because we are trying to move out.
they leave for lunch and come back later with more boxes, then leave again and N comes back with a bicycle. she stands at the door asking if she can put her bicycle in the living room. i ask, are you sure you can store your bicycle in the house? (because i know from previous house experiences that most landlords dont allow it as it brings dirt in). she says, well the other people in the other houses do that so we can too. then i say, i guess so but not at the moment because we are trying to move some stuff out (Lynn's uncle had just arrived) and if she can wait about 10mins, she can come do so. she then proceeds to leave her bicycle right at the door so i move it away and continue helping Lynn move her stuff to her uncle's car. N comes back and tries to come in while we are moving heavy boxes out the door. Lynn gets really angry so she yells, why are you so impatient? cant you wait?! N puts her bicycle in Michael's room and leaves. and of course, in the process, she brings in lots of mud and dirt (rain = lots of dirt)...
it really frustrated me that they seemed to think they had the right to move in earlier than afternoon simply because last year when i wanted to move my stuff in (and i was paying full rent for July), i could only do so after 6pm because the previous tenants were still moving stuff out and we waited till they were almost done. also, they dont understand that we need to clean the house thoroughly in order to get our deposit money back. so after they left, i had to clean the carpets again because of all the dirt they brought in.
but on the bright side, there's retribution. simply because they stored stuff in Michael's and Lynn's rooms - the two rooms in the house that needed work done (Michael had a hole in his wall while water was leaking into Lynn's room and had gone down a wall and soaked the carpet at the base which led to the floorboards beginning to leak). since they have stuff in the rooms, the landlord cant really move it to do the work necessary. and when the landlord returned in the late afternoon, he didnt look very happy that they had stuff everywhere (because the agreement was that they could store all their stuff in one room).
oh well... as long as i get my deposit back i'll be happy.
posted by ade at
8:30 am
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