We have moved... again.

Quite some time ago I heard of a transport company based in the United States that used the humble bicycle as their main form of transportation. This was no cycle courier company transporting piddley little packages around the CBD, but a full on house removal company. With beefy looking trailers and arguably the most sustainable house removal company of the planet (assuming you don’t count calories consumed by the ravenous rider and the energy used to make those calories) they carted (and probably still cart) large sofas, beds, you name it, to the new residence. I have no idea the area range that this form of moving company was able to reach, but it still gave me a pang of excitement reading about them and it got me thinking.

Clearly cycling to the other side of the world on a bicycle is impossible… well so I have been told, so it was out of the question to consider such a way to transport our stuff from New Zealand to Sweden. However, after our rather sedate but enjoyable Christmas break in Germany, we flew back to the gloom in Stockholm – still no bloody snow, and got set to move house intra-city. This move also coincided with a lack of a car and I am way too tight to consider paying someone else to do it for me. It was a five minute walk at a dawdle between old apartment and new house (yes a house!) and apart from beds we didn’t actually have a lot of furniture. We did have six bikes though, and most importantly a Chariot. For those that do not know what a Chariot is, it is in effect a bicycle trailer that can covert into a pram. We had purchased a double because… well, you know, we thought we might need it to move house one day!

 

Moving - Chariot Style

I didn’t want to destroy the chariot, it has suspension designed for a maximum load of approximately 40 kg so it was carefully packed and walked, sometimes cycled, to the new abode. We were also in no real rush. A couple of trips one night, a concerted effort the following morning, a couple more trips that evening and a few more to pick up the bits and pieces of the next few days, and we were done. We got a few strange looks on the way, but I actually quite enjoyed myself. Please ring me if you need to move house, and preferably live in Stockholm.

So we are now all settled into out new house. It is the fifth apartment/house we have lived in, in the past 12 months, and if we have to move again I think I will scream. Well we are nearly settled in. Our clothes lie in an enormous pile on the bedroom floor, our kitset Ikea chest of drawers still lying in a thousand (I kid you not) pieces beside them. Which brings me to another thing, Ikea Part II. Yes, we had to visit the mighty Ikea once more. The bike was considered but instead we hired the smallest car on the planet, much to the excitement of Ana who to our disappointment has developed an unhealthy obsession with cars, more than likely due to the fact that we no longer own one and she hardly ever gets to ride in one. For a paltry 235 SEK (about NZ$50) we drove our advertising covered little beast to the mighty Ikea and filled it to the brim with an assortment of everyday essentials.

 

Ana has unpacked

Post Ikea visits are always spent deciphering lengthy instructions, unwrapping tightly packed cardboard boxes and assembling a mass of screws and boards to construct purchases so that they hopefully resemble something that looks like what you actually viewed in the shop (as well as nursing a sore stomach from their very tasty but at times questionable food). It’s kind of like meccano for adults… but way more frustrating. Luckily Ana, currently the most practised of all of us at putting things together due to the recent acquisitions of duplo blocks and a wooden train set, was adept at helping.

Ikea Instructions - Get tools, unpack, phone a friend, phone Ikea, ask the audience, assemble, and what ever you do don't move it!

The screw goes here Pappa

So we are now settled. We have a small garden and a shed in which we can fit five bikes at a squeeze. Perfect for playing in the winter snow. Except there is no snow… well there wasn’t. Colleagues at work commented the other day that this is the worst winter they can remember. Not because it has been cold, it hasn’t. Temperatures have lay around 5 Celcius for an eternity; and with it, it has been grey, damp and miserable. But wait, it has finally snowed. Not a lot by Stockholm’s standards by any imagination… but enough to get all the kids out on their toboggans and desperate skiers out destroying their skis on the grit. Once more it is likely to stay and I am chomping at the bit for the -10 C bike ride to work on Monday morning! Welcome winter.

Snow - About bloody time!