Moving day - Brooklyn

Well, I'm sitting on our couch looking out over Brooklyn at night and taking in a little post-Fourth fireworks display.  Not too shabby, considering we didn't actually get to see any fireworks the night that we got into NYC.  I'm ok with that though, we got to hang out in our new 'hood, laugh and catch up with Matt and Rashelle, and we were exhausted after days and days on the road.  Thinking back on the day that we moved in - I am so grateful that it went so well. 

 

Thankfully, the day before we got a FANTASTIC  parking spot directly across from our building, and it didn't have any restrictions so we could leave it there overnight and into the next morning.

Friday the fifth of July, Megan and I woke up around 8am, threw on some yoga pants and comfy shirts, and headed out for coffee and bagels.  We ended up at the Olde Brooklyn Bagel Shoppe and saw some delicious iced chai tea in the fridge so we grabbed that and a few bagels (everything, sesame, whole wheat) with plain cream cheese.  Our plan is to start with plain and then add the flavored schmears eventually.  We even got a couple extra bagels for roomie Matt and his gal, and stuck those in the fridge. 

Rufus had already settled in and decided that he likes this new place, he can sit way up high and watch what's happening and smell all sorts of stuff on the breeze.  If there was a breeze, that is.

Friday was very humid and hot, so it was very good that the truck was in the shade of our building, and that we had a freight elevator to take the furniture upstairs.  Our superintendent, Shpen, and one of our doormen, Adrian, were on hand to watch the front door/truck and man the freight elevator.  We had contracted with Dan's Moving Company and our two new "friends" Paco and Roy showed up at 5 minutes to 9am.  We pulled the truck right in front of the building and opened her up.  I got up in the truck and started pulling apart the small loose items that Dad had lodged in toward the end, and untied the rope that was holding stuff together.  Paco and Roy started piling things on a couple of dollies that they had and then wheeling the stacks to the elevator, Megan aided in that process and helped move fragile/special items like her bike.  As we had on the road trip, we settled into a routine.  I would move boxes or items to the back of the truck, picking apart the truck piece by piece.  Paco and Roy would help with large items and wheeled things in and out of the building, going up once the freight elevator was full, and Megan was usually with the movers.  I would head up the regular elevator from time to time with quilts or bags or some weird item that didn't fit on the dollies very well.  Shpen - an interesting character for sure - took a liking to us and offered up two more dollies, which really helped out.

Up and down, dozens of trips up to the twelfth floor, with Adrian working the hand lever and gate of the elevator.  Our worldly possessions trickled in little by little.  The theory of placement was basically put stuff wherever you can as fast as you can and it can be sorted out later. 

Here's a view from the kitchen hallway into my room, with some of the first loads already in there.

A view from my bedroom doorway to the "kitchen hall" and some random stuff in there too.  The door to the fourth bedroom, aka "the closet," and my bathroom is to the right.  The main part of the kitchen is straight ahead.

Here is Megan's room with a view to the north, and her mirrored closet door to the right.  Megan has a small closet, but somehow she has made it work!

Meg's room again, this time looking back the other direction - and of course Rufus is supervising.  We locked him in her room and then her bathroom so that he stayed out of the way of the movers and we could leave our apartment door open without worrying about him.

View into my room toward the left.  These French doors open up to the living room.

 

 

The truck in its moving zone, a perfect spot in the shade in front of our building.  The movers commented a number of times on how well it was packed, everything was loaded well and secured and didn't move around a lot.  Paco and Roy were very impressed, so props to Pops for his sweaty efforts back in Pasadena, they clearly were worth it.  Considering that as of today we have opened every single box, I can officially say that not one glass/vase/mirror/picture frame was broken.  In fact, anything that was broken or damaged happened the day of the move, not on the road.  I don't think even professional movers can claim that success rate.  Thanks again, Dad!

 

By 11:30am, we were completely unloaded, soaked in sweat, and pretty dang tired.  Also, all of our stuff was in a jumble strewn throughout the apartment.  Here's a view of (most - not all) of the stuff looking out the French doors from my bedroom toward the living area.  Those windows overlook Grand Army Plaza, and a bunch of other amazing Brooklyn sites. 

Our agreement with the movers was a two hour minimum for $240, and then $60 each half hour after that, so our bill came out to $300.  That plus a tip for the guys, and I can say without a doubt that I would pay that again.  Paco and Roy did a great job handling our belongings, they were friendly and professional and moved quickly.  Of course, I had to go to Yelp and write a positive review for them.  It's important to me to acknowledge great service when I receive it.  We also gave Shpen and Adrian a tip as well, and they seemed both surprised and happy about it.  I mean, duh, if we can get our super and a doorman on our side early on, then we have got to do it.  It's also important to me to acknowledge people in my life who work in service of others - janitors, trash men, hotel maids, security guards, etc.  Not only does it make me happy to connect with my fellow humans, but often times those folks are the gatekeepers or the secret-keepers and I want them on my side!

We finished up and cleaned out the truck, and then wandered upstairs.  Megan and I were overwhelmed by the sheer amount of STUFF - boxes, bags, furniture, random items - and we were also overwhelmed by how bright it was in our rooms.  After we quickly measured our windows, we left a note for Matt (they were hiding out in his bedroom), and went on our merry way to drop off the truck and go to Target.

Navigating the tiny streets of Brooklyn was very interesting in a 16' Budget truck.  Pulling into a little corner gas station to top off the tank was a particularly challenging moment.  We had no idea, but it was a full service station and so the nice fellow gassed up dear ole Bridge while we sat in the truck.  Megan got out to help me negotiate the tricky exit, I was an old pro by then but still not confident enough to back up blind.  The last thing we needed was to cause a fireball or explosion by knocking over a gas pump on our last day with the truck.  Thankfully, we got back on the road with little effort and pulled up to another street corner with a Budget sign hanging in the window of a rundown looking office.  We parked it in front of a fire hydrant because in all honesty, I didn't really care anymore.  I'm glad we got there when we did, because the crotchety old guy said he was about to close up, "because he was bored."  Uh, ok, but you're supposed to be open until like 6pm and it's only 1:30pm... but whatever.  The guy grilled us about the missing paper that was the damage review worksheet, but we couldn't tell who he was looking at because he had a particularly fun set of eyeballs.  Finally, all was taken care of and we gave the keys over to crankypants and went on our merry way, this time by foot.

We walked over to Target, happy for some physical activity and the chance to stretch our legs and see the streets of Brooklyn.  At Target we loaded up on vinyl accordion blinds, curtain rods, and some other essentials like toilet paper (single ply because we're in a pre-war building and things can get funky otherwise).  Megan and I had also decided to get a "granny cart" so we can transport more stuff with greater ease.  Having no car in the city means you have to carry everything you buy with you.  Something to be cognizant of and plan for.  We wheeled our trove back up Flatbush Avenue in the heat and humidity, and got to work. 

Unpacking started with setting up Megan's bed and then moving boxes and bags and her things from my bedroom into her bedroom.  We had a weird moment trying to set up her bedframe because the pieces didn't fit and we thought something was missing but finally we figured out what went where and got her behemoth mattress all set up.  After a bit more shuffling of stuff, we got my bed set up as well.  The essential items were done - beds, bathrooms, and bagels.  We were both crazy with hunger, so it was with joy in our hearts that we looked in the fridge and saw that Matt and Rashelle had not eaten the bagels we got.  Hooray!  That nosh helped us push through as we worked until about 11pm that night.  We both took a nice shower and crashed in bed, utterly spent but happy for a full day of good work and the slow progress toward setting up our new home.

 

Of course, Rufus was just exhausted by the whole moving process, so he had to take a nap.  A nap that lasted pretty much the entire day...