Not long ago, I made the big move out of my old place. It wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. Because of the overlap month, me and Lee-Anne managed to move most of the things that can be transported by hand, so by moving day, we mostly only had to worry about furniture and other bulky items. The most difficult things to move were my four-drawer locking filing cabinet and my deep freezer. We got the bed and our Internet set up here, so even though I still own my previous place until the end of the month, I'm set up enough that this is where I sleep and do my work.
In my previous post, I showed images of my new place. Here are some pictures from my old place, which I took back when I was looking for a roommate. Just for comparison:
On the other hand, my old place was frequently experiencing crimes and gun violence. I was witness to the local convenience store being robbed, there was an incidence of open fire at the closest grocery store, in which two innocent bystanders were shot at 5:00 PM, and there was a murderer on the run from Quebec hiding in my complex. I got to see the secret service take him down. They also have the highest rate of community based transmition of COVID-19 in the region.
I'm going to miss the community somewhat. My old place was in a spot where everything was everyone's business. Around here, I've only seen our upstairs neighbours twice, and there's no real reason to connect with anyone beyond that. Not needing to deal with neighbours is probably both a pro and a con.
The new place is really near a well-known walking trail, and on the other side of that, a well-known shopping area. Both spots are really close to public transit.
I'm really glad to be leaving my old place of my own volition. Most people leave my old neighbourhood because they're being evicted. My evil landlord liked to evict people frequently so he could regularly hike up the rent. When I first moved in, I was paying $940 a month. When I left, I was paying about $1000, but people moving in were paying $1500-$1600.
Of the 48 units, as I move out, there are only two units that have been occupied longer than mine. Some things that my landlord did to make the living situation unpalletable incude:
-Trying to charge me an extra half month of rent, because even though I moved in on the 1st, he "Approved" me on the 15th
-Saying my cheques bounced for the first four months of my living there, even though they hadn't
-Consistently only having two washers and dryers working for the 48 units relying on them
-Refusing to give me a copy of the tenancy agreement
-Refusing to give my roommate rent receipts and telling his superintendants not to give them either
-Having a new superintendent every two months because he would refuse to pay them
-Refusing to fix my neighbours toilet and telling the company not to replace it (If you Google "1200 Courtland Avenue East", you should see some media coverage on this issue)
I've heard stories of him trying to run people over with his car. He's definitely cussed out roommates and neighbours.
As with any move, sacrifices had to be made. Let's go over some of the stuff I needed to let go of:
This picture was taken at the Donkey Sanctuary just outside of Guelph. We went here at the end of Ways2Work, a pre-employment program I took after highschool. What I got rid of in the move is the green jacket I'm wearing here. I remember, I accidentally left it at the donkey sanctuary but the owners found it and brought it back to the agency that my group was run through. In Katimavik, I brought it to a nightclub in Summerside called The Heritage, AKA the Scare-itage, AKA the only nightclub on PEI. Lost it there too, and somehow managed to get it back. After that, it developed a reputation for always finding its way back to me. I doubt it will make it back to me now, since I put it in a garbage bag and threw it into my townhouse complex's dumpster. It didn't fit me anymore, and it was held together by safety pins, as it came apart when I was working factories after Katimavik ended.
I also threw out a winter coat that my brother bought me for Christmas six years back. We were playing a video game, and I complimented one of the characters clothing. Since I don't talk much about that kind of thing, he took notice and got it for me as a gift. I received a number of compliments for the coat, but it wore out over time and I had to get rid of it this year.
I bought these portait images from a nearby thrift store and I placed them on the landing that divided the staircase in my old townhouse. They reminded me of the old-school video game Dungeon Master where you start in a hall filled with portrait paintings of people who have died in the dungeon. In the game, you get to choose a team based on who you want to revive. When I got into painting, I contemplated making portrait images of everyone who had lived there with me, and just put them so they stared at you as you walked up the staircase. It was always a little too creepy to follow through with. In the end, I re-donated these images to the same place I bought them from.
I got these Japanese prints at the same place I got the portrait paintings, and they got re-donated in much the same fashion. I got these after my first set of roommates moved out and I needed to advertise for a new one.
So that about does it for news about the move. I'd like to point out that this is my 40th post of the year, which means I fulfilled last year's New Year's resolution. Let's see how much I can raise the bar before the end of the year. The next update should be sooner rather than later, since COVID measures have been on the increase in Canada.
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