Along for the ride:

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Gladiators



From the perspective of our old premises, our move is complete; the building is empty; the vacuum cleaner that I used to spruce up the offices is in for some life-saving servicing at the vacuum repair shop and the pigeons are undisturbed in the rafters. We even dismantled our mail box and put banners on the building proclaiming our new location.
From the perspective of our new home, much remains to be accomplished. Let's leave it at that, for now.
During our transition we had help from various people whom I came to think of as My Gladiators. They waded into the arena of battle day after day right beside us.
There were items to be broken down, recycle what may, and taken to the dump; there were fragile but oversized construction-art antiquities to be handled with care; there were load, after load, after load of stone slabs and miscellaneous materials and we capped it all with a voyage for our bridge-saw; hanging 4 ft (1m20) over each side of the truck bed and too tall to pass under the freeway.
Our plan had been to move it when traffic and authorities were least likely to be disturbed but it all came together at commute time on a Friday evening. I tore up the office curtains to make instant red-flags (burgundy/brown but it's the thought that counts) and off they went, the long way around, with an interminable conga-line of understanding (?) motorists in-tow.
Our greatest achievement of the move was that no-one was injured or killed. There were times when I had to leave as some of the unorthodox maneuvers involved multiple fork-lifts, chains and scary crashing and banging noises. When things are beyond my control it is better that I have faith and walk away. No good would be served by my staying and I would find out soon enough in the case of a catastrophe.

12 comments:

  1. Congratulations. Home at last...but what an amazing group of workers to get all that stuff moved. That "Horsey" looking fountain...if that's what it is, is incredible. And again, I am overwhelmed with the sheer size of the pieces.

    Hard to believe the motorist were actually "understanding," but perhaps they too were mesmerized by both the size of things and the incredible artistry of some of the pieces. I know it would keep me entertained.

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  2. You call that a forklift? I spit on your forklift ;) Seriously, congratulations. I sense you truly understand my disclaimer about not injuring anyone or anything in my last post.

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  3. Jean, we didn't really give the motorists a choice (or ask for their opinions). I'm assuming it was good wishes they were waving at us:)
    p.s. That's only one of three sections of that bronze fountain.

    Silliyak, we have two forklifts of our own and had a couple of rentals so we could lift up big stuff and back the truck underneath it. (Repeat in reverse to unload at the other end). Your one forklift was a "biggie". You don't have a Frenchman driving yours though!

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  4. Everyone needs a good gladiator now and then. I think kicking the shoes off and toasting your move would be in order (You that is, not me:)

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  5. Legend, you better believe we cracked a bottle of bubbly at the end of all that! Everyone has their own story but now My Gladiators' are intertwined with mine.

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  6. One of the labours of Hercules finally completed... or possibly all of them together. Glad it's all done!

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  7. Impressive! I like your philosophy of walk away from what you can't control - if you can do it mentally as well as physically, it has to be a real stress-saver. Congrats on getting into your new place.

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  8. glad to hear you're on the way to sorting everything.. everyones been having such a busy time since I've been away! good luck :-)

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  9. I am so glad to hear that you didn't kill anyone.
    Congratulations on a job well done.

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  10. Steve,about the right measuring stick there. We are all legends in our own minds.

    Argent, it's either compartmentalization or denial, depending on your point of view. I try not to engage in "angst" until proven necessary, (but I do need to remove myself from hearing and seeing what these cowboys get up to.

    Watercats, Thanks, but no credit to us, we were forced into this.

    Trudi, one major blessing duly counted!

    Friko, That would have made a great blog post though, wouldn't it?

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  11. Hello ER. I have just been catching up on your blog. I am truly sorry to hear about Diva. She clearly had a great life and was loved by you and I know you must miss her.

    BTW. That's some ornamental fountian. Did hubby sculpt it?

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