Change

After months of not answering my calls, nor calling me back, I got a surprise call from my boss last week. Which I, unlike him, answered. Tuesday evening, to be precise. He said he was coming to Port Elizabeth tomorrow, and if we could meet up to discuss the future. I said yes, anytime that suits him. He would let me know.

I woke up the next morning at 7:20 to see a message from him sent at 5:30 asking if I could pick him up at the airport, his plane was scheduled to land at 7:40! So, I only got dressed – no coffee, no nothing – and dashed off to pick him up.

He told me that the project business is finished. There will be no involvement from any South African companies or people in future projects, starting with the East London project. The entire project was awarded to China!

He could have let me go, given me notice, at that point – but that’s not his way. Instead, he looked for work which he needs done, that I could be doing. This is why, despite all the unusual down-sides of this job, I am grateful be employed by him.

He has started manufacturing and my skills and experience will be very useful, so he will re-locate me to Pretoria.

It was quite a shock, especially since I didn’t see this coming – not at all. Although it was always a possibility, it was the least likely. He asked what my rental agreement was and said I should give notice immediately and move at the end of December. I shared my biggest worry, of finding a place where my three cats would be allowed – and he said he feels sure we can find something.

He felt quite bad that I wouldn’t be able to stay in the Eastern Cape – he knows I love it here, and dislike living in Pretoria. It’s not his fault, he’s done his best to find a viable means to enable me to stay – but there simply is none. His contacts are mostly in Pretoria, not here.

Then I took him back to the airport – apparently his sole purpose for coming here was to meet with me. I cut him a bunch of carnations for his wife.

When I got back home, the reality of what this means started to set in – and my head started spinning! I haven’t had a decent night’s sleep since. I’m struggling to concentrate, focus on planning what needs to be done – and how to go about it!

I’ve started a list. For one thing, I have no clue how I will transport the cats! With Mynx, I used to drive with him in the car – but that car was air-conditioned, and he was only one cat. And he would stay under the passenger seat the whole drive, only occasionally coming out for some water, food or his litter box. He was not a danger to my driving – because even if he got a fright, he’d just cower under the seat. This lot are a very different story! Plus, it’s a longer drive (4 hours longer). And I would be driving long distance during the holiday madness! And I would have to shut them in a cage or something, because they will claw me in fear to get out.

I need to start packing, and two months just isn’t enough time to get all of that done – not with everything else I need to organize! In the past, I had always pre-packed half my home before the final go-ahead … usually starting months before! This time, I have nothing pre-packed. And, I’ve got a lot more stuff – cat stuff for starters!

I started packing, cleared out the least-used closet and started on one of the bookshelves … I don’t even know where I will store everything! The spare bedroom is quite small, I can’t pack all the boxes into that as I pack them … there just isn’t enough room!

And what about Ziva? What if, as I suspect, her last ‘owners’ left her behind when they moved? Won’t this packing remind her and traumatize her?

How will the cats be affected by the climate change? What about parasites, are there different ones up north? And once we all get there, I’m going to have to keep them shut in for at least 2 weeks – they will go absolutely bazonkers! I have enough trouble with Ziva some evenings and some mornings – she’s not an indoor cat at all! She even ran away leaving her 1-week old babies … they would have died if I hadn’t borrowed Shadow the next morning! And then, when they can start going out – do I need harnesses to lead them out the first few times? Give them time to mark their ‘new’ territory? And what territory will they have? A postage-stamp sized patch of green out the back?

And then the packing! How will I pack? Will I have a place where I can stay for a long time, or just an ‘initial, find your feet then look for the right place for you’ temporary home? Will it have a bath? Or a shower? Or both? Do I use up all bath-stuff and keep the shower stuff – pack what I won’t need soon? Or will I be using my foam baths, bath salts, etc? What about kitchen? Will I have an oven? If not, then I should use up all meals and stuff, like flour, and muffin mixes, which require an oven. But if I do have an oven, I’ll want to pack some of that. I shop economically – buy a batch, when it’s on special, not in drips and drabs every week.

I’ll have to clear out my freezer – gosh, and I have just filled it up! I only buy margarine and butter when they are on special, then freeze them – now I’ll have to use up what I have … and I’ll have to buy at standard prices when I get to Pretoria. I’ll have to spend the first day just getting groceries! Why a whole day? Because I don’t know where I can get what, yet.

That’s another thing. Everyone has their favourite brands, like which washing powder, which pasta, which coffee, and so on. Moving to a different town always means that it will take time to learn which shop carries what. Although they’re all chain-stores, the same throughout the country (Spar, Pick’nPay, Checkers) they don’t all carry the same brands or stock. And I’m moving to an unfamiliar area, so it will take time to explore and learn where I can get what.

So, my first grocery shopping – should I explore the new area, or drive further and get what I need in a familiar area (always hoping it hasn’t changed too much the past 3 years!)? Which will take less time – the longer drive, or the exploring of unfamiliar shops?

I will have to shut the cats in the bedroom when I need to go out – Lady Jane and Ziva are just too fast! They’ll dash out the door before it’s even properly open! I don’t want to loose either, so I can’t take the chance.

Will I have carpets, wooden floors or tiles in the new home? Which cleaning materials do I need to pack and which should I use up? Will the main bedroom be large enough so I can maybe put my desk in there – at least at first, so that I can spend most of my time in the bedroom with the kitties? I’ll need to put their litter box in there – and I’ll need to stock up on the sand they prefer!

And that’s another thing: What’s my packing approach? Minimalist? Do I use this opportunity of reducing my hoard? Since I’ll be going through everything, anyway … although, I won’t be in a calm frame of mind, and may end up giving things away, which I will regret soon enough! I need to do that when I’m at peace, not under pressure. Then why didn’t I do that all these months … because! Put that in your bed and love it! I didn’t want to!

See, the thing is, that my hoard isn’t just sentimental junk. There’s a lot of useful stuff in there – but useful only for specific things! And with my nomadic life-style, something always comes in useful somewhere! I have some useful items that simply aren’t available anymore. But they have fairly specific uses! I don’t know how many times I moved into a place and then had a use for certain items! You can never know for sure that you’ll never need it. And yes, sure, some of it is simply sentimental junk – so what?

I had a long chat with my boss and I told him what my hopes for the future were, and the key one: No more moving! So, in a way, his bad news work in favour of that goal. I had hoped to do East London, then back to Port Elizabeth and have built something by that time that will enable me to settle here … but, alas, that ‘dream’ just went poof! On the other hand, the alternative is actually less pressure on me – moving to Pretoria, he will be looking for means of using my skills, so there’s no need to build anything myself! That means that outside my working hours, I’m free to live life as I wish! No pressure, no working on marketing plans, and such … I can work on projects like that, just without pressure.

My head is still spinning, and I can’t sleep at night. I concentrate on nice thoughts when I go to lie down, picture a pretty garden. I get up again. I lie down again. I cuddle a kittie, hoping the purr will calm me down but my mind is rushing along tangent after tangent, off in one direction then in another. I finally calm down, fall asleep – and Whoops! I’m wide awake again! What time is it? Two in the morning – how will I get up tomorrow? Cuddle a kittie again, then then next until they run away, poor dears! Eventually sleep overcomes me … and … what’s that noise? The alarm? Gosh, is it morning already? It’s been like that five nights in a row now – one of these days, I won’t be able to get up and sleep all day to catch up on the sleep I’m missing now. But I can’t, there isn’t time …

But I need to sleep so I can think, and plan. Work out the details, tackle the issues one by one. But it’s just too much, and not enough time! Two months? And most of it over Year-End shutdown?

This is going to be the worst move of my entire life! I’ve not prepared, pre-packed anything plus I have never moved with three lively, happily confident cats before! So much to research, find out how and then make it happen.

So, today I called my boss. No answer, so I left a message. Tried again an hour later. No answer. Half an hour later he called me back. I told him that I see no way how I can mange the move end of December. He asked why, so I listed some of the above, but most of all I stressed that with most business’ shut down between Christmas & New Year, I would not be able to ‘make a plan’ if anything goes awry – like, if I unexpectedly need labour to load the truck, or I would need to place the cats in a kennel even a day earlier; any other time of the year those would be minor issues, but between Xmas & New Year? Not a chance. He gave in. I’m moving end of January.

What a relief! It will still be tough, it will still be very little time – but it’s realistic. I can do it.

And with that relief, I went off to do my monthly makro shopping! I had written a shopping list last night – since I can’t rely on my mind to function these days. I decided to save time by stocking up on makro items; but I can’t afford to buy 2 months worth! So I’ve split it into two (as I only had 2 months at the time I wrote the list). When I got to Makro, I found that some of the items on my list were on special – so I bought more than on the list. Everything else, I followed my initial plan.

Our gardener is here, working for me today. I told him the bad news this morning – and he’s very upset, and also very worried about me. He had planned to clear the path today, which is overgrown with weeds again; but we agreed that on his last day, he should clear as much of that hedge as he could to give the succulents Rose and I had planted on the rockery enough space to flourish! He started by the cactus and then came to tell me he can’t work there because a swarm of bees was settling there! Well, those bees are the reason all the seeds turned into flowers – and therefore the reason I have Nasturtiums and Cosmos in bloom this year! So I said to leave that area and work where it’s safe. The bees are quite safe there, since I doubt new tenants will ever go anywhere near them – it’s away from the buildings.

Poor Rose! What will she get as neighbours next? So far, I’ve been the only decent tenant and the one who stayed the longest. Past tenants would throw their cigarette butts out the window into her garden and had a tendency to being rather noisy! The first tenants apparently objected to Rose using the washing line – which had been built to accommodate both flats, but on my side! Well, no big issue – she built her own. She told me those tenants used to do loads and loads of washing – and hang it absolutely everywhere, not just the washing line, but in the tree, over the fence … everywhere!

And then there’s poor Romeo! He has come such a long way since he first appeared, and since he lost Snoopy! The evening after my boss’ visit he made his first move towards a ‘home’! He has worked out that I usually give my Mippies a treat when it’s time to come in, as it’s getting dark – and he comes in with them hoping for a treat! I can’t refuse him, so I put some in his bowl as well. That’s been going on – on and off – for a short while now, but always, as soon as he cleaned his bowl, he wants out. That evening, instead of wanting out … he looked for somewhere to settle! He finally chose the scratcher – but misinterpreted attempts at play from my Mips. But instead of wanting out, he looked for another spot to settle on! When I sat down in front of him, he came and sniffed my nose! He’s never done that before! It was some 10-15 minutes before I could coax him out – and he gave me such a forlorn, lost, pitiful look as he left … it nearly broke my heart. It felt like a knife. He has been through so much, and throughout it all stayed such a darling – and now I have to leave him behind, abandon him … put him through even more! It fills my eyes with tears just to think about it! If I had more time, another year perhaps, I could have domesticated him and kept him. But he is so feral in so many ways, three months just aren’t enough. Especially with a traumatic move at the end of that – that would set him back again plus leave him in unfamiliar territory! So, I’ve spoken to Rose. She is going to start giving him some of the attention he so badly craves! And she’ll feed him, too. I, on the other hand, am starting to distance myself from Romeo. Instead of saying hello and welcoming him when he arrives, I ignore him. I let him come in, I let him lie down on the window sill, I even give him catnip at times – but he’s getting less attention from me.

Before I went to Makro, I stopped at the vet’s. I asked her about moving my Mippies. She said the climate change shouldn’t be an issues and the parasites are pretty much the same, though I should have less trouble with fleas in the dry heat. She then gave me a number of ‘Move a Pet’. They do everything for you … sounds fabulous! And fabulously expensive, too, I’m sure! On the whole, I believe this would be the least traumatic option for the kitties – so I’ve given them a call, given them all the details I have and they’ll send me a quote listing various options. With options, I mean that she’ll list each item separately – and anything I can do myself, will reduce the total cost. Like taking them to the airport here or collecting them from ORT in Johannesburg. Although I am afraid, I would also have to make use of the ‘kennel’ option – have them safely away from the drama of loading my household. Well, let’s first wait for the quote … I’ll be eating potatoes and rice for a long time to come, anyway, before I’ll have financially recovered from this move!

Even if I fly them myself, as in without the experience and help offered by Move-a-Pet, I’ll still need to take them for their booster shots and that’s going to cost an arm and a leg!

With all the stock I bought today, I was really, really grateful that our gardener offered to carry everything from the car not just to the house, but up the stairs! He told me not to go up and down, just unpack. He is such a wonderful help! I feel so bad about depriving him of his income – especially so soon before Christmas! I’ve decided to ask him two more times: Once next month, the 3^rd week of the month – he can replace the ‘purchased’ stakes keeping the Carnations upright with sticks from the trees here; and he can help me place as many of Rose’s succulents into the pots I have, as possible, so I can take them with me.

I also want to visit Earl and Lizzie before I leave Port Elizabeth. And since this time, I’ll be leaving the Eastern Cape for good, I also want to take some videos of the ocean. I did that when I left East London, too, but some background noises disturb the tranquility. Like me breathing, lol.

This time, I leave the Eastern Cape, never to return. This will be my last view of the Indian Ocean. Oh, I know, I can always come here on holiday – but to be perfectly frank: I don’t like going away on holiday. I get my fill of ‘seeing new places’ and ‘experiencing new things’ every time I move. To me, there is nothing more relaxing than staying at home, surrounded by the familiar rather than ‘strange’, ‘new’ or even ‘different’.

This is a very, very long post. And I’m not done, yet. As I’ve been writing this, I’m finding my mind beginning to calm down. Stress less. Instead of the crushing fear, I’m now feeling somewhat more confident.

My boss also told me that he’s already started looking into finding me accommodation, and he says it’s looking quite good. He knows about my bookshelves (i.e. how much of a hoard I’ve got), he knows I smoke, and he knows about my cats. When he was here, I also told him about my wish to find a home where I can settle. That I hoped to find an owner who actually cares for the property – I showed him the bedroom ceiling, where the water leaks left brown marks when the geyser burst over 2 years ago. That I can’t afford the standard contract of 10% annual increase in rent (he knows I don’t get a salary increase, ha ha – who better?) and that I would prefer, instead, to be adding value to the property. Like with the gardening. And take on some maintenance projects – or even improvement projects – myself. Come to a mutually beneficial agreement that will allow me to live the rest of my life in one place. After over half a century of this nomadic life-style – I’ve had enough! I am hoping to find such a place once I’m in Pretoria, and that this move is the 2^nd last. If I am very lucky, he may find that place for me and this may actually be my last move, ever! If so, I hope it stands the test of time!

Either way, he promised he would find me a place – I won’t have to do that; which is a really big load off my shoulders!

I’m thinking of writing a countdown – day x of xxx; what I accomplished each day. What’s done, what still needs to be done. I think what’s got me so flustered is that I had only given thought to moving to East London, and had some outline of how I would go about it; whereas moving to Pretoria is a very different matter and requires a very different action plan. The 24^th October would make it exactly 100 days until 31^st January.