MOVING/REMOVAL.

We Yanks say the first, the Brits (if I understand correctly) use the second; in any case, that’s what we’re doing tomorrow. The movers are coming first thing in the morning, we close on the house we’re selling in the afternoon, we close on the house we’re buying the next afternoon, and Wednesday morning the movers deliver our stuff to the house in Pittsfield. After that a new life begins, and I’m going to have to devote a lot more time to trying to find clients and earn a living on my own. It’s exhilarating but nervous-making; the salient point here is that any time spent on surfing and posting will be time not spent paying the mortgage, so posting frequency may fall off until I get my feet on the ground, and in any case it’s unlikely I’ll be back online before Wednesday. Bear with me, and try to ignore whatever spam accumulates in the crevices of old threads…

Update. Thank you all for your good wishes. I know you’ll be relieved to hear that the move went smoothly; in fact, let me put in a plug for City Moves while I’m thinking of it. They did just what they said they would, were friendly and professional, and didn’t break a thing. We’re getting acquainted with Pittsfield (the supermarket has a good wine department!), and I just bought a do-it-yourself book that will be vital for the series of home improvements we’re planning to perpetrate — in fact, my wife is in the basement replacing a gizmo on the washer as we speak. (We have a basement! And a fireplace!) Unfortunately, something seems to have gone awry with the wireless connection to my laptop, so I’m having to borrow my wife’s computer, but I’m sure that will be remedied soon, and I can get back to semi-regular posting. Meanwhile, I miss NYC but I think I’m going to like it here.

Comments

  1. Best wishes with the moves, Venerable Hat.
    And whatever you can find time to give us will be gratefully received.

  2. Yep, good luck!

  3. Good luck!

  4. In Australia we say “removalists”, not “movers”. I think in Britain they say “removers”, but someone might correct me. We might say “[our] moving [OR: the move, etc.] to the new place was really expensive”, rather than use “removal”.
    All the best with your move, LH.

  5. Успехов from me and Sue!

  6. Best wishes and keep us updated

  7. A moving (and a life change) poem
    ~ Come to the Edge ~
    Come to the edge.
    We might fall.
    Come to the edge.
    It’s too high!
    Come to the edge.
    And they came,
    and we pushed,
    And they flew.
    Christopher Logue
    Good Luck!

  8. Bonam fortunam, languagehat!
    Good luck. 🙂

  9. Absolutely all best wishes to you, times 100.

  10. aldiboronti says

    We British do speak of moving house but refer to the removal men.
    However it’s put, the best of British luck with your move, lh. (And I do hope that nothing goes astray in the process.)

  11. Yes, it’s the removal man in his removal van (even if it’s a huge juggernaut half as long as your street, it’s still a van, never a lorry).
    Good luck with moving house!

  12. Miért mosolyogsz a bajuszod alatt?

  13. We look forward to many more months hearing about books that are inaccessible in boxes. (Mine still largely are, except for the boxes.)

  14. I tried to find how to say good luck in Hungarian, but all I could find was “Why are you smiling under your moustache?” but then I thought it’s the thought that counts, let it be posted. Szállj le rólam!

  15. I’m sure you’ll do well in your professional pursuits. You seem to be a smart, talented guy.

  16. Michael Farris says

    Muito powodzenia future. Doufam, dass serás boldog.
    (each word above is in a different language, the first to correctly identify the sources and to translate it, wins absolutely nothing)

  17. Sok szerenczét! is Hungarian for good luck.
    Michael Farris’s macaronics read:
    Much future luck. I hope(?), that you will be happy. (Portuguese/Polish/French?/Czech?/German/Spanish/Hungarian).
    I claim my absolutely nothing.

  18. I meant Sok szerencsét!

  19. Michael Farris says

    J. Cassian: “I claim my absolutely nothing.”
    Not so fast, you got one wrong. Two hints:
    1. The single word replaced a three word phrase from my original version (where I was just code switching a lot and not doing one word per language)
    2. hat doesn’t much like the language in question (I think)

  20. I’m guessing “future” means “in the future” then. Esperanto? (Go on, I really need my absolutely nothing!)

  21. Michael Farris says

    “I really need my absolutely nothing!”
    It’s yours!

  22. dungbeattle says

    Enjoy the skiing/slushing/and then in the summer, concerts, then beware of drums down on the river trail.

  23. Lykke til!

  24. Here in Scotland we’d say “flitting” (it can be a noun or a verb). The recent post on Scandanavian Influence suggests it’s from Old Norse. Good luck!

  25. Hodně štěstí! (=Good luck in Czech)
    Držím palce! (=My fingers are crossed)

  26. We move house with our goods in a removal van, but it’s more often called a furniture van nowadays I reckon.
    Bon demenagement!

  27. How exciting. Best of luck!

  28. С новосельем!

  29. Flitting does look alot like Icelandic verb ‘að flytja’, to move.
    Gangi þér vel í flutningunum! 🙂
    (Go(past subj.) you(dat.) well in moving(pl. dat. def.art.) / good luck with the moving!)

  30. Hope all goes smoothly with the move.

  31. ‘Flitting’? As in ‘doing a midnight flit’?

  32. Colloquial Collision says

    Godspeed. You’ll do well in your endeavors; enjoy your new home.

  33. Good luck! An worort!

  34. Welcome back!

  35. Welcome, welcome!

  36. I give you several synonymous wishes.
    זאָל זײַן מיט מזל!
    זאָל זײַן מיטן רעכטן פֿוס!
    אין אַ גוטער שעה!
    זײַ מצליח!
    הצלחה רבה!

  37. Be sure to dine at the Villa Rustica in downtown Pittsfield sometime. It’s a cozy little Italian place with an adventurous chef. Last time I was there he had made elk with garum (sciis, the fish sauce so beloved of the ancient Romans). Quite good, although he had not really recreated garum but had used a Thai fish sauce as a substitute. There was also a large party of young Russians at one table.

  38. Thanks — we were just looking for dining recommendations!

  39. That’s the Trattoria Rustica, right?

  40. Yes. Trattoria Rustica.

  41. Kipling’s story about when and how the Pharisees (or fairies) left Britain for good (with the exception of Puck, who’s resistant to the baneful effects of cold iron) in the 1530s is called “Dymchurch Flit”.

    I very much regret that I never met you when you were living in PIttsfield, less than an hour from my country house in Austerlitz, N.Y. (so named because another town had just been named Waterloo).

  42. Hat’s first move.

    the removal men

    To this Yank ear, that sounds like the gentlemen who, for a price, permanently remove persons who have become obnoxious to yourself.

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