voyage

our trip to Canada turned out to be a successful one, and upon returning to Charleston, we moved house.

we had a good time at my parents’ cottage in Ontario – we managed to pay three visits to my grandfather, who as mentioned in a previous post was terminally ill; the last time time we visited him Callum was smiling and waving at him and my grandfather looked very happy and proud. He passed away two days later. I miss him very much, but I am pleased that we managed to make it to Canada in time for him to meet his great-grandchild, and that I was able to tell him one last time how much he meant to me.

on Tuesday we went to Ottawa to stay with two friends who live right downtown, overlooking the Rideau Canal. We had a really great time there, and managed to eat extremely well – we went to a variety of awesome restaurants, including an excellent Chinese place and an excellent Japanese place (at which we ate seated on the floor in a private room). I am sure that I gained a few pounds! We also went on several really nice walks, visited a couple of museums, and made some excellent blender drinks. When we arrived in Ottawa it was snowing, but by the time we left the weather had turned really nice and most of the snow on the ground had already melted away.

upon returning to Charleston we went to U-Haul and picked up a moving truck – unfortunately they didn’t have the 17 foot truck we had reserved earlier – so we ended up with a massive 26 footer! Also, they didn’t have any of the blankets we had reserved, and when we got home we noticed that they had left a padlock on the back of the truck, which after some time we managed to break off with a hammer. So needless to say I do not recommend the downtown Charleston U-Haul (on King Street).

some friends and I packed the truck with furniture and boxes on Sunday, and on Monday I drove it two hours to Columbia (while Yvonne traveled in the car with Callum). The truck gobbled up pavement admirably. I could turn to look out the window and nod my head at neighboring truckers. I almost felt like one of them, though the huge U-Haul stickers plastered all over my truck marked me as a serious poser! Regardless, once I got used to driving such a huge vehicle around, it actually became kind of fun.

arriving in Columbia we found our apartment and were pleased to see that it was a lot larger than we had anticipated. Furthermore, the tile floor and the countertops in the apartment are brand new, so it is in very good condition. As we don’t know anyone in Columbia to help us move, we hired Two Men and a Truck to assist us in moving our belongings into the apartment. The service was quick and inexpensive, plus the two men doing the moving seemed to be very nice fellows – chatty and friendly yet very professional. Afterwards we returned the truck to a U-Haul center in Columbia and drove back to our house in Charleston and slept on an air mattress on the floor (as there was nowhere else to sleep!)

currently I am back at work and Yvonne is at home, preparing our house for rental. And that’s it for now.