Steven the Mover came over this morning and moved …
Steven the Mover came over this morning and moved most of my stuff to the new place. I still have a few things over at the old place that I need to retrieve tonight or tomorrow. Since I don’t have a bed or dresser yet, I’ll have to sleep on the sofa for now. Last night I went to Wenchang St., aka Furniture Street, just south of Xinyi Road, in search of furniture, but all the shops were small and only had a couple of choices. Really light and really dark wood are all the rage now, but I’d like something in between. One shopowner suggested Wugu, but that’s too far, and besides I have unpleasant memories of Wugu after working there for a bit many years ago. He also suggested Jiuzhong Road in Neihu, aka the area near Costco.
I was in the neighborhood so I stopped in to try out The Frying Scotsman. At the counter I ran into fellow Forumosan Miltown Kid and his wife. We exchanged the usual passwords and secret handshakes and sat down to fish and chips, which were ok. In an attempt to give a highlight to the meal, I got a fried Mars Bar, but I still don’t get the point of a fried candy bar. Maybe you have to be Scottish, but all it was was a warm candy bar wrapped in batter, and not especially good. The fries were a bit cold, but the cook made up for it by being quite hot.
After dinner I grabbed a cab over to Neihu. Actually, I grabbed two cabs, because the first one didn’t know where I wanted to go. Once I got there I was faced with a plethora of large furniture stores, but the fashion rule of only light and dark wood was still in force. The third store had what I wanted, though it will take a week to get the furniture to my house. I took a long expensive cab ride back and spent the rest of the night packing.
Steven showed up early this morning, and it took two truckloads to get all my packed stuff over there, filling up the new place pretty full in the process. As the movers brought stuff in, an elderly woman walked in and looked the place over. “And you are…?” I asked, but got no answer. A few minutes later another woman walked in. “Are you renting?” she asked.
“No, I own it,” I replied. It felt good to say that. Then she asked me how much I paid and sniffed that it was way too much. Then another woman came in. She lives on another floor. Who knows how she found out someone was moving in; maybe she prowls the hallways looking for open doors to peek into. In any case, nobody asked to come in, nobody knocked; they just came in like they owned the place. I think I’ll keep the front door closed from now on.
Although all my stuff is in there, it’s hardly livable; everything’s in boxes, the rugs need cleaning, the floor mopping and the walls painting. Unfortunately I’m going to be busy all this weekend with filming and looping, but over the next couple of weeks I should be able to whip it into shape.
