Friday, March 9, 2018

All present and accounted for

Mrs. Paco and I have moved a dozen times since we got married 40 years ago, and I don't know why it is, but I can't remember a single time when it wasn't raining or cold or both. When the movers came to pick up our belongings in Fairfax, it was cold, and when they brought the things to Southport, it was cold.

It may take a few hours days weeks to unpack. I'm afraid we still didn't downsize enough. Our house currently looks like Citizen Kane's basement - you remember, one of the final scenes from the movie, where the reporters are poking around a vast cellar crammed with hundreds, if not thousands, of crated objets d'art (I'm pretty sure I woke up this morning muttering "rosebud..."). Of course, our boxes are just filled with objects d'stuff.

Anyhow, hope to be posting regularly again, soon.

8 comments:

RebeccaH said...

Glad the Paco Command Center has reached safe waters. And boy, do I know about packing and unpacking households.

bruce said...

"Rosebud", haha great image. Glad to hear it's all mostly under control. You know, I think the way you 'mericans move around your country is unique. A touch of the old Borderer nomadism? Itchy feet?

rinardman said...

On the bright side, the hardest part is done. And, since you no longer have the time constraints of a paying job, you can unpack at your leisure. Perhaps you could start a program to reduce the excess "stuff", by building two piles: one that says "keep", and one that says "yard sale".

Paco said...

R-man: I tried that, and I wound up buying my own stuff back (at plenty inflated prices, too).

We are having some trouble with the ground floor toilets backing up. Apparently, in these low country regions, houses are now equipped with something called a "grinder", a sort of garbage disposal for the whole house. We hadn't been living here three days, in this brand new house, and the two downstairs toilets began backing up (even the one we weren't using). The plumber suggested that it's a grinder problem, which is the responsibility of the county. No doubt the county people will tell us it's bad plumbing. No problem, though. I'm perfectly fine driving to the Circle K convenience store every time I need to go to the bathroom, for the rest of my life. Still beats working in DC.

rinardman said...

Does the construction crew next door have a porta-potty?

They were stealing your electricity...they owe you.

Paco said...

Yes, they do, as a matter of fact.

Fortunately, the County sent two men out and they fixed the problem (wiring issue). Wonderful guys, friendly and highly competent country boys -my kinda people. Mrs. Paco and I have noticed that everybody seems friendly - from Post Office personnel to service people to perfect strangers. Very glad I decided to return to the homeland.

But Bruce is right; I've had the urge to roam all my life - not too far, mind you; not too much abroad. But in the U.S., I've lived in several cities in North Carolina, plus Miami, Detroit, Peoria (Arizona) and Richmond and Fairfax, Virginia. But if I had my druthers, I'd still like to leave my bones in the clean, dry soil of the southern Arizona desert.

rinardman said...

A fast, friendly, competent government agency?

"Toto, I have a feeling we're not in D.C. anymore."

bruce said...

I'm google-crazy and I found the 'grinder' otherwise known as part of a 'pressure sewer system' well described and diagrammed here:
http://www.nesc.wvu.edu/pdf/WW/publications/pipline/PL_FA96.pdf

I've seen the graveyards are above ground in the low country areas too. Every area has some regional quirk you often only find about about when you live there I guess.