Adam's movers arrived at the flat at precisely 8 am. The crew of 12 came bearing gifts, more boxes, tape and wrapping paper. They also brought large heavy-duty plastic bins for all the kitchen gear. We three were dispatched to the new flat to start unboxing. At 9:30 the first lorry arrived at the new flat, and less than 30 minutes later all the boxes were in the flat in that appropriate room. I took care of the bedrooms and started unpacking. Empty boxes were broken down and ready to be taken away. The second load arrived at 11 am, and this was the kitchen stuff, that had been loaded into the mover-supplied bins. The third load would arrive at 2 with the bedframes and other awkwardly shaped items.
The second load arrived at 11:00, it was mostly the big plastic bins full of kitchen equipment, plates, glasses etc etc. Adam and his brother unpacked the kitchen there were more than 30 large bins. By 11:30 I had already filled 6 huge recycling bags of discarded wrapping paper, collapsed all the boxes, and taped them into packs. This rubbish and boxes were taken away by the movers.
At noon I took a cab to the old apartment. The bed frames had been broken down and the headboards wrapped, and the clothing hanging boxes were ready to move to the new flat. The living room was empty, except for the paintings (about 50) that were part of the last load of the day. They had even vacuumed the dining room, and the kitchen crew was cleaning the place up, moping the floor, and cleaning the inside of drawers. They had already started loading the third lorryload when I arrived at the old flat, with the bedframes. They would down tools at noon sharp.
I spoke to the foreman and he said that they would probably only have a half load in the fourth lorry. The foreman told me that he was bringing the box spring, and mattresses, they had brought special envelopes for the mattresses that are re-used from move to move. The foreman told me that they would take the large and bulky plastic containers on their departure from the new flat, at 4 pm. I returned to the new flat just as noon struck, Adam had ordered some sandwiches and drinks to tide us over.
At two the next load arrived, the kitchen was mostly done, the washer and drier were delivered first and Adam's brother installed these, and Adam and I built the bedframes for the bedroom, one of the offices has an already installed Murphy bed. they also brought the two filing cabinets, so I spent a while reinserting the files it was easy everything was in alphabetical order. At 3:30 Adam received a series of pictures from the old flat showing all the rooms empty and clean, ready for the new owner. At 4 sharp the last lorry load arrived, and it was quickly emptied of bulky mattresses and artworks. By five the bed was made, and Adam spent a lot of time in their bedroom putting things away in the huge walk-in closet, all of their clothing had been packed in hanging boxes so it was quick to unpack. The movers left by five, and they would return during the week for the last bits of cardboard, but there were little left. The last task was hanging the artwork.
It was truly shocking, that by 6 pm, the kitchen was done, maybe not perfect, but very close to optimal. The offices were ready and all files and books were stored, the baby room was ready for its future occupant, and the master bedroom was fully unpacked. Adam's brother was leaving us after dinner to spend Sunday with his girlfriend and Adam and I returned to the old apartment, to check everything one last time. The living room carpet needed a good cleaning, but aside from that the place was perfect, there was no trace of Adam having lived there for the past 4 years.
Sunday morning, we went for breakfast and then unpacked and hung the artwork. My wife had joined us at lunchtime so when Adam's wife and her parents showed up, at one, to "see the new flat" Adam's wife was surprised to see us all there and to see everything was put away. We had a glass of bubbly to celebrate the new flat and my wife and I left for home We let the happy couple enjoy their new home. The efficiency of the move was breathtaking, we were able to empty an entire flat and move in all in less than 24 hours.
Note: There were still about 20 boxes of trinkets left to sort and place around the new flat, but the place looked as if they had lived there for a while. Congratulation kids.
Note: A bit of context, Adam bought his first flat with the help of his parents (us) and had a 25-year mortgage. It was a nice 2nd-floor walk-up apartment with a small dining room, kitchen, office and large bedroom. The apartment was in move-in condition, and so he paid a high price. But that's ok, we did the same for our eldest daughter. Anyway, with a growing family and both their income plus some additional funds from their parents (both sides this time), they bought this grand flat. I explain this to make people understand that when you move from a 90 square metre apartment to a 250 square meter apartment you have little to move and lots of space in which to move in...100% of the dressers remained. The worst was the kitchen, our daughter-in-law is an avid cook.
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