Home Again

Well, the move-in day started with a bang. All my belongings from Britain were due to arrive between 9-11am and IKEA's 45-item shipment between 1-5pm. Oh, and the cable man at 8.30am, which was interesting given we wouldn't get the apartment keys until 9am. The calm lasted five minutes.

The phone calls started early: the IKEA man had to come with my shipment now. One elevator, one apartment, two teams of moving companies. It actually all worked out in the end. Dan from New Jersey was brilliant and so helpful; and Alejandro with whom I feebly spoke Spanish, was a lovely bloke from Barcelona who got me listening to Joaquin Sabina.

It's amazing how well they packed everything back in Edinburgh: even baby plastic measuring cups were wrapped in paper. Anyways, I finished around 6pm, just in time to literally run out and find some tea candles and some wine as a good friend was popping in. I had told R earlier in the week about how we first foot in Scotland after midnight on New Year's Day. When we visit friends, we carry a lump of coal and food such as salt or a slice of black bun, which is intended to bring luck to the householder. I understood the coal to warm the hearth and the food to provide thankful sustenance. This story was part of a conversation R and I had about life changes, one example being moving home/countries. I had said to R that I was going to treat this move as my 'New Year'.

R remembered this and, when he popped in, kindly surprised me with a 'Yahrzeit Memorial Lamp' candle and some cake. And some woodland flowers.

We talked at length, assembled my dining table and I played some old favourite songs I hadn't heard in a long time. With no lamp light bulbs around the apartment due to mis-orders from IKEA, I lit a heap of candles throughout the apartment. It somewhat felt like home. Not quite Edinburgh, mind you, but not a bad second.

All my guitars are reunited and I can finally get out my white guitar. No music for a few days though, just some rest. Speaking of which...