If The Truck Fits

We have our stuff!  Today’s truck fit down every neighborhood street… but one.  And that street was the result of a wrong turn on the part of the driver (which added an extra hour to the trip). Sevilla is not easy to navigate.

BEFORE ALL THE BOXES WERE EMPTIED.

We paid for packing and unpacking — in advance.  But no one told the final delivery company that we had paid for unpacking.  And, since the unpacking money hadn’t been shared with the final delivery company, they wouldn’t unpack for us.  We’ll battle that out with our original company. We certainly wouldn’t recommend them, but it was still worth the ENORMOUS difference in cost to go with the cheaper (although obviously poorer quality) shipper.

I unpacked today while the two very nice and competent delivery guys brought the stuff up.  They agreed to haul away any boxes and packing materials that I had ready to go when they finished their work.  I had all but six boxes remaining by the time they left, and I emptied those and hauled that stuff down on my own a couple of hours later.

THE 1870-SOMETHING ENGLISH PUB TABLE.  PURCHASED SOMEWHERE IN
THE NORTHEASTERN USA IN THE 1980s. SHIPPED TO SPAIN VIA ENGLAND IN 2011.

Even amid all the mess, we love the way things are looking.  Seeing our stuff made us both feel immediately “home.”  Even our IKEA furniture now feels like ours and not like we are living in some sterile, furnished apartment.

Given how much “stuff” we got rid of before leaving the United States, it’s amazing how much “stuff” we still have! 

JUST BEFORE THAT LAST BOX (CENTER) WAS UNPACKED THIS AFTERNOON.
RIGHT FOREGROUND: ONE OF TWO TUBS OF CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS.

We have lots of wall space and I was happy to see that we shipped a lot more things for the walls than I had realized.  I love to hang pictures, mirrors, sconces, etc.  If I don’t like the position (say I think it would be better one inch to the left or a half-inch lower), I just pull out the hook and move it. Lots of patching gets done before I move.  These walls are concrete.  I’m going to have to adjust my mode of operation.  (Jerry will be greatly relieved.)

VODAFONE — INTERNET AND LANDLINE

While I worked with the movers, Jerry worked with Vodafone. It was exactly as we had suspected.  Telefonica simply got things ready for Vodafone to complete the work.  Too bad no one told us that’s how it works!  But, Jerry got great help today from Vodafone and was told we’d receive three text messages with different information.  The final message would provide our landline phone number.  Jerry was told to simply follow the instructions in the first two messages to get the internet working the way it should.  We received the first two messages.  Jerry did as instructed.  It did not work.  He will call Vodafone again in the morning.

DIGITAL+

I sent a very polite complaint email to Digital+ after my unhappy experience with the installer and my appalling phone conversation with customer service.  I received two very gracious and very apologetic calls from Digital+ today.  A new installer will be here in the next few days (they will call to schedule) to install our satellite dish (antenna) and get our TV channels working.

It’s been a very productive week… and it’s only Wednesday!  But, someone needs to tell me to slow down.  I want all the pictures hung tomorrow.