Found a house

Our road trip went well. It took 3 days to get here, 3 very tiring days, getting up early and driving till late. Eating cold pizza I had packed for lunches, drinking hot coffee atT*ms... take a pee break each time we could.

Staying with friends right now, and very little access to internet. We went to see 2 appartments, very discouraging, a house, and then this one. It is not our dream home, but the price is right (everything is much more expensive here, although I was expecting that), it's very conveniently located, the landlord seems nice and apparently the people upstairs are quiet. It is smaller than what we have now of course, but I think we will organize it quite well.

So here we are in Ottawa.

Oh yes, the street is named after my son...

Getting ready for the road trip.

I told him I would pack, but I am not too sure what we should bring. I've got the snacks planned, and drinks, and toilettries, and, well that'a bout it. Are we bringing the breakables with us? Are we packing up the computer, DVD player and other various electronics? I am not too sure. I think we might not be going to bed early tonight.

I went to see Sof & the boys for supper. I have very mixed feelings about this trip and have tried to focus only on the fun part of the adventure. Saying goodbye was very hard and we are both not talking about what happens after this trip. Pretend it's just a holiday. It's just easier right now to pretend. Yup, we're coming back in 10 days. Don't talk about what happens 5 days after that... As Basil Fawlty would say: Don't mention the War...

We had people come in to do estimates for moving our stuff to Ottawa. SOOOO expensive. I knew that , but still, a bit of a surprise. Ous is thinking we should just try to sell or donate everything and go empty handed. Maybe that would work for the furniture, but what about the books, CDs, winter clothes, and little every day items???? What about my shoe chair??? We are still undecided. But I am sure that spending quality time for the next 26 hours together in the car, we will be able to decipher all that.

I HATE moving.

Bittersweet goodbye

It was my last day at work today. I really liked working there and got along really well with everyone, and enjoyed my work. Sure, sometimes I had to deal with people who seemd to have limited common sense or (intelligence) but most of the clients were nice, pleasant and reasonable people to deal with.

I actually got some work done in the morning, even though they had planned a potluck for today, and we all know what that means: Huge amounts of delicious food all day, to nibble on and distract one from working. And of course, every once in a while, someone would drop by my desk to say goodbye. Hugs and tears. I gave some of my buddies littles mementos that I had decorated my desk with: a glass sculpture for Mary, a snow globe with tiny little robins inside for Irene, a bamboo wood chime for Martha. Asked Diana to nurse my dying bamboo plant (more like a stick) back to health and gave her a fabulous snow globe with a photo of moi inside... to watch over her. I also gave her my original sandstone bird sculpture that I had gotten as a souvenir during the Pan Am Games in 1999. She felt bad she didn't have anything for me. Hey, don't worry about it. Just tell any future employer I was a great employee! (No this wasn't a bribe.) They all said they will miss me, miss my sense of humour, my silly jokes and pranks, but also my dedication and hard work.

I started cleaning my desk (client files and updates) in the afternoon, being interrupted again by well-wishers. Then around 4:30, had to go back on the phones, and had calls till 6PM. After the last caller finished, the other girl left, and there I was, all by myself. Feeling a bit sad, and lonely. Gathering my personnal effects in a couple of bags and after one last look around, going down the stairs, alone, down the long hallway to the back door, alone, even the cleaning lady was nowhere to be seen, and finally leaving the building, making sure the door was locked behind me and getting to my one lonely car in the parking lot and leaving, alone... Bittersweet.

Preparing now for our new adventure.

This says it all

This neighbour is full of surprises.

We met him two days before moving in. He gave us a hard time about where exactly the line was between the two properties, and make sure you don't sneak a millimeter on mine. Gave us a hard time in the winter when we tried to park our 2nd car in our driveway in the back of our house. Was just generally unpleasant, or at most, neutral. Not very friendly.

But, we stayed polite, kept saying hello how are you, smiling and being neighbourly. I saw him on Saturday, taking out the garbage. "So... you guys are moving?" Gave him a brief update on our plans, including the fact that we are leaving next Saturday. Saw him again tonight, taking out the garbage ( we seem to have a lot of that in the past few days). He actually carried on a conversation for about 10 minutes! I'm guessing he has not suddenly turned into a friendly version of his former self, but maybe now that we are leaving, he realizes we were actually pretty ok people to have around, and does not know what to expect from the next owners... Haha, not our problem anymore, old man.

I also found out today that one of my collegues at work is also leaving, next week. There is going to be a completely different staff in that department in the next few weeks. They have already hired 3 new people, and will need 2 more in the next couple of weeks. Change is good.

Leave the house NOW.

Today was the open house chez the Nomad Family. So of course there are the last minute touch-ups, washing floors, dusting, rats I spilled my coffee on the counter clean-up, and then at 2:59 PM, leave the house NOW. There was already a carful of people (family of 4 pouring out of all its doors) wanting to come in. Inspect every nook and cranny, and don't forget the attic.

Looking for a place to hang out for the next 90 minutes,and disappointed I was missing the soccer match (Go Spain!) I headed out for Sof's. Had a few items I need to drop off for the kids like a miniature watermelon, and a big red plastic handle. And GenBen's gift. Halfway there, Sof texts me: they're at the beach. Hey what about me? I would have enjoyed the beach. But, good for them. And too bad, I'll drive out there anyway and drop everything on their doorstep.

Which is what I almost did, forgot the GenBen gift in the car and just realized that now. But maybe I'll go tomoorrow. If someone is checkng out our house after work and I need a place to disappear to, I'll go see the kids.

We are starting to look forward to next Saturday when we pack up and head out. One car caravan, loaded as much as can be with items that will stay at a friend's place in Ottawa, alogn with the car. We are flying back here and will be driving the other car in August to our new home out East. I suspect I might not be getting a lot of work done this week, although when I am there, I do try to focus on the job at hand and not think of the move. This is becoming more and more of a challenge.

And then will begin the job hunting.

Watching the World Cup is not the best idea.

But Ous and I have been working double shifts for the past months so an hour or two of relaxing in front of the tv felt quite nice.

The painters are hard at work, and after 2 coats of blue and multiple coats of yellow the house should look quite eye-catching for the open house tomorrow. The inside is all neat and tidy (if only I could get that energy flowing to keep it that way all the time), the basement is practically empty, so are the closets. So tomorrow, let's just hope we have a lot of people coming for a look. And a lot of them wanting to buy. We have our answer Tuesday night at 8:00 o'clock.

My last day at work will be Thursday. I was going to stay until Friday, but apparently I had some vacation time due and since the pay-period ends on Thur., my supervisor suggested I take Friday as a vacation day. What the heck. I am already not very much in a work mode anyway.

Most people still do not know we are moving. Ous preferred keeping it fairly secret. I think he is maybe just a bit superstitious and thought that if we talk about it too soon it will not happen. Well, it's happening now. And a lot faster than I would like.

Looking forward to being closer to my siblings. Will certainly miss my kids here.

Un océan de boîtes

Peut-être que les vrais nomades savent voyager avec tous leurs bien sur leur dos, ou celui de leur chameau, ou, le cas échéant, dans le coffre de leur voiture, mais ça n'est pas mon cas. J'ai fini de trier toutes les boîtes qui nous avaient accompagnés lors de notre précédent déménagement, cela m'aura pris presque trois mois. Je travaille de façon aléatoire, dépendant du niveau d'énergie (ou de fatigue) et bien sûr Ous me trouve un peu lente. J'ai quand même réussi ce tour de force: éliminer au moins à moitié des cartons que nous avions, et il reste maintenant à passer à l'assaut les armoires de cuisine, les articles ménagers et quotidiens et nos effets personnels.

Nous partons samedi prochain. La première étape de cette grande aventure. Environ 26 heures de route nous appellent. J'ai déjà prévu la plupart des bagages qui nous tiendront compagnie dans la voiture, ainsi que les CD à écouter (une bonne vingtaine, car il nous faut de la variété) et pour les ravitaillements, nous nous contenterons de sandwichs et d'eau froide. Et sûrement des cafés en cours de route. Ce n'est pas la première fois que je fais ce trajet, et quant à Ous se sera la deuxième. Nous laisserons tous nos bagages là-bas et revenons, nomades des temps modernes, en avion.

Au retour nous nous attaquerons aux derniers préparatifs, et d'ici le début du mois prochain espérons nous retrouver au prochain oasif sans trop de traumatismes psychologiques.

Pour le moment nous flottons sur un océan de boîtes.

Demain matin, Montréal m'attend...

Tomorrow we do Step 1 of Plan B. Boxes (viva Rubbermaid) are packed, all ligned up in what was the dining room, ready to go. Ous and a friend have rented a truck, will be loading it up and off they go to the storage place, bright and early, to finish bright and early. I get to stay home and cook. Suits me fine.

Ça ne devrait pas prendre trop de temps, il y a environ une douzaine de gros bacs rubbermaid et quelques autres articles plus petits. J'ai hâte de voir la maison vidée de ces choses qui pour le moment sont trop encombrantes. Je suis fatiguée juste à les regarder, mais je continue tous les jours de "faire des boîtes" même si ce n'est qu'une par jour. Courage!

Then all we need is to find a place to stay when we are in Ottawa. And a job for moi. Oh and don't be mislead by the title, it's only a song, and we are going to Ottawa, not Montréal.

Maybe I was born a gipsy.

My parents lived in a tiny village in Northern Ontario. My mother went back to her hometowm to give birth to me. I've been on the road ever since. When I was about 2, we moved to a town in northern Québec, and again the next year,another town close to the first. Then when I was six, we moved back to Ontario. Three years after that, packin' up and movin' agin... Three more years and my parents bought a house in the country and kinda settled down for 20 odds years.

I left home when I was nineteen, travelled across Canada for 6 months and lived in Mexico for 5 months. Not by myself, I was part of a cultural exchange programm called Canada World Youth, in its second year. Wow! Who wants to stay put after that?!

I moved to Manitoba, and for a while my only wanderings were limited to going "back Home" for Christmas. Lived in Manitoba all of my adult life. In the past ten years or so, travelled to many places, some more exotic than other: Mexico again, Costa Rica, Ireland, France, Sénégal, Gambia, my own country of course and a bit of the USA.

Even living here, I have moved many times, from one street to another, one part of town to another. And now, going back to my roots I guess, back to Ontario. For how long? We'll see.

I want to retire to Senegal. That may be only a few years away, but nothing like planning ahead.

I always have a suitcase, packed and ready to go, hidden away in the closet. You just never know.