The West Commences: The west commences in earnest

Well, I made it through the first night alone in our little house in Vernon. It was different from holidaying with friends and family, really difficult for a while, but I soon got over it. At 10:00a.m. yesterday, Bert, Peggie, Gayle and Ken met me at the house. I had gone to the Storit Place at 9:00 to open the container for the guys who were going to do the heavy lifting. Bert and Ken ended up doing a lot of heavy lifting too and Peggie and Gayle helped my organize things. We celebrated with beer, wine and food at 2:00p.m., and then I was left with all my possessions scattered around me, mostly unpacked. I got down to work, but a combination of beer and sentiment stopped me for a while, so I just sat down, contemplated Jim's urn on the mantle, went outside and walked around the block, chatted with the neighbour, a woman with 'issues', mentioned that I wasn't fond of the ripped and flapping old tarp she had thrown over the incredibly huge and ugly trailer she has parked beside our yard, regretted having said anything and decided the only way out was to unpack some more and then make myself a Sapporo Ichiban soup to which I added grated carrot, celery and sesame oil, drink another beer, read because the t.v. works but I can't get any sound and fall asleep. I felt better in the morning.

I unpacked some more and then made a list of things I needed while I waited about 20 min. to get through to customer service for Shaw. I had to persuade them to send a technician for a second call because the first guy was great and made all the lines active, but I hadn't moved yet so he couldn't connect the t.v. and Bert got it going but we couldn't figure out the Bosc sound system. By the time I got a live techie I was angry enough to complain about Shaw service and threaten to change to Telus but in a rare moment of restraint I didn't. He turned out to be helpful and convincing, insisting that I was getting special service. I ended by thanking him profusely. Flushed with victory, I went to buy all the cleaning stuff that I had thrown out while packing for the move west plus some basic groceries. I unpacked some more and then had a couple of breakthroughs. I walked out to get some air and saw my neighbour cleaning up in front of her trailer, bodes well. I approached her and opened another conversation by making a pleasant comment about her dog having the same name as my father-in-law. Well, in fact, it's a female and the name is Jewels not Jules. I persevered on a positive note by mentioning that I had a female friend named Jewel without the 's'. We carried on from there, and I left hoping that I had mended the fences a little and not become another one of her 'issues'. I unpacked some more and heard a knock at the door. Oh, no! Now she's dropping over. What a relief to see Marie Foukal, our first renter with a bouquet of flowers, a jar of strawberry jam and a paper plate of cake. I invited her in, we had a good chat, she invited me for dinner on Wednesday and now I feel more at home. I actually managed to serve her tea which we drank out of beer steins that I had saved from my parents' cottage on Lake Superior and have never actually used, but they were the only cups I had unpacked.

Tomorrow I continue the work of changing health plans, driver's licence and plates, insurance, etc. And unpacking.