In my previous life I always moved house with professional movers. An army of packers would arrive and swaddle every object in layers of protective covering before gently laying same in stout boxes. If I was moving to another part of the world, the many boxes would be placed in a container which would arrive in my new country several weeks later; and a different army would undo all the swaddling.
For my move from Bangkok to Pattaya some ten years ago I used Asian Tigers, who were excellent; but bloody expensive (something of a shock because this was the first time I had had to pay for a move). So for our latest transfer I decided to go down market and hire a truck and some boys who lacked experience, but had muscles.
Anticipating that the “service” would involve picking up our possessions and slinging them in the back of a lorry, I decided to protect some of my better furniture by wrapping it in cardboard. And so I spent all of yesterday opening up packing boxes and then wrapping beds and cabinets with poorly folded cardboard, held together with kilometres of tape. I was completely buggered by the end of the day, and suspect my efforts were mainly wasted; throwing a thirty kilo hardwood bedhead into a truck is going to result in some damage, irrespective of whether or not there is a thin layer of cardboard involved in the collision.
This morning the crew arrived, only an hour late, and proclaimed that the requested manpower (four stout boys) would be insufficient, and three additional lads were requested in order that a smooth flow between my condo, the lift, and the accumulating pile of shattered wood in the truck could be realised. It seemed to work, because in less than an hour they had emptied the piles of stuff we had prepared for them.
Then off we went for the journey to our new home which took rather longer than it normally would because half of Thailand had put their mothers in the back of the car and taken them for the obligatory “sit two hours in a traffic jam to go somewhere that is rammed with geriatrics” experience. Eventually we arrived and the system devised by she who must be obeyed swung into action. Every room had been labeled with a number, and every box and piece of furniture was similarly numbered. The seven strong boys just had to match the numbers and all went smoothly, apart from a couple of items which had been wrongly numbered, with handwriting that looked like mine…
So our new house is now littered with numbered boxes and pieces of wood that used to be furniture wrapped in cardboard. This will all be attended to starting tomorrow, because we headed straight home after taking delivery; knowing that thousands of cars full of disappointed mothers would soon be causing new traffic jams all over Pattaya.
Never move house on a public holiday.
Comments 🔗
2014-08-13| Andrew saysIf you have a 30 kilo hardwood bedhead I’m sure your neighbors were happy to see you move and probably chipped in to buy the place….
2014-08-14| Spike saysNot sure of the exact weight, but it needs two strong men to lift it; and that’s just the headboard. Made of Burmese hardwood, very beautiful.
2014-08-15| Grant saysThirty kilos is only sixty six or so British sterling pounds weight, a mere bagatelle for four or even seven strong boys. Two strong men? We’re nudging a hundred kilos here, well over two hundred pounds. Man, that must be some head board! Those Burmese must have been carving it since the fall of Ayutthaya, trust you will favour us with photographs in due course…
2014-08-15| Spike says
2014-08-15| Grant saysMagnificent! Fabulous timber and lots of it. You could hand a bed like that down for many generations…
2014-08-16| Andrew saysflickr link comes up 404 here…
2014-08-16| Spike says