Moving pains

This week has been a whirlwind!   With lots of activity going on a work, the move into my new house and to top it all off a snowstorm that lasted two days…   It was the kind of storm that dropped about 20 cm’s of wet, heavy snow – almost slush actually on already over ladened streets.   Out front of my old place the icy, hardened drifts are about a meter high which makes it even more difficult to navigate the streets and additionally icy footpaths.

Snow bank outside my old place - actually
its an "ice" bank

 I got my keys to the house late yesterday afternoon and ever since I’ve been ferrying car load after car load the 10 km to my new place over on the Danforth.   The Danforth is an older neighborhood just east of the main city center, which surprisingly has a rich Greek history and often referred to lovingly as “Greek-town” in Toronto parlance. 

Interestingly, when I was with my lawyer yesterday reviewing the final paperwork we looked over the original subdivision plans which date from 1920 and when the neighborhood was built.   My new house is a newly renovated version of its former self – I wonder how many facelifts it’s had in its 93 years since it was built?   Likely a few!

The kids are very excited about the move, and although this weekend they are in Ellicottville skiing with their mum they can’t wait to get back on Sunday night and come over to settle in.   They’re with me all week, which will be a great way of finding our collective rhythm.

I had a few moments this afternoon to do a little recce of the local stores and there is an abundance of old antique shops mixed in with a couple of banks, a Tim Horton’s (famous Canadian coffee brand), plus a great little breakfast place (Sunset Grill) that Sami will just love and that is literally steps from our new place. J   All we need now is some decent weather (preferably sunshine…anything but more snow!) so we can meander through the area.

With the snow (or should I say ice) drifts on the streets parking is both harder to find, but when you do it’s a bit of a challenge trying to get your car into a spot.  Earlier today I couldn’t find a spot close to ferry my car load of belongings so I quickly parked in my “shared” driveway (more about this in a moment), anyway my neighbor whom I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting yet was not happy with my temporary park to unload. 

When I initially looked at the house back in the Fall I tried to park in my garage out back, however to do this I first had to navigate the driveway.   I guess in 1920 the cars were significantly thinner, since then all sorts of stuff has been added onto the houses that now jut into the driveway and encroach – electric and gas meters, then there are the additional downspouts added since both houses were originally built....yeah, there's quite a bit of stuff in the way.   Notice on the photo to the left of the house - yes, thats the drive!  :-)

   

My new place in sunnier days!

At the end of the day my car is too wide to park out back in my garage, well at least at the moment anyway.   My plan is to get my garage door reversed (so it faces the back lane-way vs. the internal drive) so I can easily drive in from there unencumbered.

The upshot of it is that there is a bunch of little “gotcha’s” when you first move into a new house and indeed, a new neighborhood.   I’m sure it will work its way out over the coming weeks, but the big lesson for me is to take some deep breaths and show a little patience both my neighbor and just getting settled.

So until my next blog I’m off to take another load to the new house….have a great weekend!