The Move is Done

The cleaners made good on their offer to move my family's stuff to the new location. Seeing the pile of non-recoverable items at the old unit made it feel like they weren't going to get much back, but seeing the huge display of boxes at the new place made me wonder what they left behind.

The packing was done in a much neater, more consistent and thorough way than how we did it after the first fire. Much of the bulk of  the moved items turned out to be boxes and packing paper. Once we cleared that out, it looked much less daunting.

Most of the boxes were labeled. One of them had a drawing of a book instead of the word "books". I guess one of the movers had an artistic streak, or it might have been a way to break up the tedium of the day. 

We did indeed retrieve mine and my aunts' paintings unharmed. The only exception was a still life that I'd done of four bell peppers, but that one had less sentimental value than most. I even have a second one in the same theme.

We also lost a print of some birch trees from all the way back at the place I lived five years ago. No one was attached to it though. I got it from a thrift store along with some other random images I thought were vaguely nice. Lee-Anne didn't feel the same and got me to leave behind most of my thrift store art when we moved to where we're at now. The birch trees were just nice enough to get a pass.

But when we got some nicer and more personalized decorations, the print got tucked away. When my family moved to the old apartment, we gave it to them as a house warming gift. After some time, my mother complained that it looked too much like hotel art, and so it got put in their walk-in closet.

When I visited the apartment for the first time after the fire, I thought that the taken items were considered non-recoverable, or at least under consideration, while the stuff still in the unit was intended to be cleaned. I found the birch tree print, but none of the other paintings, which made me think it was the sole survivor. It became a bit of a joke that this piece was immortal, despite no one really wanting it. However, I misunderstood how they were handling things, and it turns out that it's the only wall hanging (other than my bell peppers) that isn't going to make it. That's fine.

They got back most of their cookwear, books, clothing, and hard-surface furniture like bookshelves, tables, and dining room chairs.  For some reason, the cleaners packed an empty pickle jar. I guess they don't know what might have sentimental value.

I found a bunch of old college textbooks and a notebook from Katimavik that I'd never seen at their previous place. They had some stuff that never got unpacked after the first fire, and I guess they were included in that. 

Their place is looking mostly complete. All they're missing is some soft furniture. We requested the couch and arm chair from Lee-Anne's grandmother's. It would just be a shame to lose them since they're older than my mom and they would have survived such a short amount of time after leaving the farmhouse. At one point it was said that they would do their best to clean them and then send them our way, but they've been quiet on the follow up and since they've already done one move, they might not want to make another.

Since they had renters' insurance, they received a cheque to cover the inconvenience of relocating. They'll get another to refund the items that can't be recovered.