The Move, Part I

[onefixedstar]

The move out was fairly smoothly--the boxes were (mostly) packed, the elevator was booked, and the truck proved to be big enough. The super even decided to drop the threatened charge for carpet cleaning.

The move in was less smooth.

Getting the keys proved to be simpler than I had feared, and the wait for them gave us a lovely four hour break which we spent wandering the Annex in our best geek style--comic book and music stores. Then came the actual arrival at the apartment, and the realization that moving in would involve hauling everything up to the second floor via a slightly rickety fire escape. That difficulty paled, however, next to what I discovered when I walked into my new apartment. The place was a complete disaster. There was garbage everywhere: Mail and assorted papers. Broken boards. A broken vacuum cleaner. Various pieces of furniture. Rings. Coins. TTC tokens. Panty hose. Bags of plastic bags shoved in the fireplace. A plate of chicken on a shelf. A pan of water in the sink. A candle that had been burned directly on the toilet, leaving dark blue wax caked to the toilet and splattered on the walls. Assorted cleaning supplies that as far as we could tell were just there for show. Bits of flotsam everywhere. And then, of course, there were the things that were missing, like the bar from the towel rack in the bathroom and the plate covers from the phone jacks. The worst part, however, was the smell. The place absolutely reeked of cat urine. thoughtfreely and I ended up cleaning the bedroom that smelled the least, and then piling all my stuff in there. Happily, when we spoke to the super the next day, he was quite reasonable in agreeing that we shouldn't have to clean it up, and promised to have it done by Saturday. NewRoommate has her old place until the 9th, so I've been staying at her place (while she's off moving a friend to Boston) and checking in periodically to watch the progress. Big props to thoughtfreely, stillvisions, and the entire H. family for their help with the move. I couldn't have done it without you.

I'll post before and after pictures of the new place once I dig out the cord for my digital camera.

Comments

[rinjava.livejournal.com]

I have so much sympathy - that's awful. Our place was the same (including a fridge full of month-old food, bullets in an ash tray, and lube and condoms in the bottom of a bag of bedding).
What is wrong with torontonian renters?
A plate of chicken on a shelf kills me though...

[onefixedstar.livejournal.com]

I think the plate of chicken must have been placed there recently...or else the smell of cat urine overpowered the smell of rotting meat. None of us really wanted to go close enough to find out.

I don't know what's wrong with Toronto renters. I mean, I spoke with these people face-to-face before seeing the state of the apartment, and they seemed like fairly normal people. And yet they apparently felt no guilt at all about leaving that mess behind.

Your place sounds like it was awful, too. Did your landlord clean it up, or did you have to?

[rinjava.livejournal.com]

Our landlord is good people - he kept apologizing. He lives out in the boonies, but he paid us I think 1 or 200 for having to clean it up (which it turns out, is not worth it).

We had black smoke stains up the walls, and candle wax melted onto the floor - like a layer of wax covering a quarter of my living room. Also some furniture, it felt like we were moving her out (actually i think there was something dodgy like she needed to leave in a hurry for some reason - she did have bullets in the ash tray...)

I had a day off and CPwr tried to make me promise not to go try and clean it up without him. I ignored him, opened the door with gusto, emptied out the fridge, opened the kitchen cabinets and broke down crying. Moving is fun :)

[onefixedstar.livejournal.com]

Awww! That sounds terrible! And bullets in the ashtray, while not nearly as disgusting as a fridge full of month-old food, sound a little unnerving.

I totally hear you on feeling like you're moving the previous tenants out. I kept wondering if they hadn't quite realized that they were actually leaving and maybe thought they'd be coming back for another load or possibly moving back in after a couple of months.