04 May 2009

Next move

It's May. Our plans for the future change every day. They now may involve any or all of the following: teaching in Indiana for a semester, moving back to Brussels, staying in Barcelona. For the first time in a long time, I can't concentrate on what I'm reading and have trouble falling asleep because I'm worried about big abstract puzzles, like The Future, and What I Am Going to Do in It, and How We Are Going to Get There.

There are also short term complications. For instance, given that the Mister only needs to travel to Brussels a few more times over the next few months, it made sense to move out of the apartment there. We did manage to find someone to take over the lease so as to avoid paying a two-months'-rent penalty, but now that means, um, actually moving out of the apartment. By May 15.

The Mister looked into moving companies, and the cost of moving our furniture is more than the sum total of the worth of that furniture. So our new plan is to sell what furniture we can, and abandon or give away the rest of it. But there still remains a goodly pile of clothing, bedding, books, kitchen items, paintings, decorative objects etc. etc. that we want to bring to Barcelona.

So, if all goes well, next weekend you will find me driving a minivan or a small truck over the midsection of Europe with the Mister, in a marathon session of highway miles and heavy lifting of boxes up and down flights of stairs (remind me why don't we ever live in apartments with elevators?).

It's not how I envisioned my first large-scale European road trip, and it's not how I envisioned spending my birthday weekend. But a road trip it is, and in that sense it should be fun, I hope.

We're still stuck on what to do with the piano, though. Yes, the piano that cost more to hoist up to the second floor than it did to purchase. Any ideas?

4 comments:

altrome said...

Hello Robin,

I'm Alba from BGB. I'm not sure if I have write you before. We are a tour agency from Barcelona and I'm the administrator of the blog. If you want to visit is: http://www.mediaforis.com/barcelona-guide-bureau/.

We think it's great to be in contact with more bloggers in Barcelona. We like to exchange links so our visitors can have a related net of expats in the city. But I also want to do a proposal to you. We would like to invite you to do one of our tours. I'm sure you already know a lot of the city, but we do off areas from the touristic circuit. You can check all the tours we do on http://www.barcelonaguidebureau.com/index.php.

You can do the tour you prefer and bring someone with you! We just want to have the bloggers opinion and maybe after the tour, do a little interview so hang up on the blog.

Hope to be in contact!

Best regards,
Alba Monedero

Amanda said...

Hmm...I take it the people moving in don't want a piano? Do they have something like Salvation Army over there, where they'll pick up donated furniture?

Best wishes for your road trip, and your birthday! Looking forward to seeing you next month. :)

Unknown said...

I am interested in your piano if you are not planning to bring it with you of course!
Please let me know,
thank you!

Robin said...

Hi D,
Yes, we are selling the piano, so if you're interested, just email me at my gmail address (cantdocell).
Robin