By Lucy

I’m glad I had last week’s post already lined up, because the realization that it was now January and go-time is fast approaching sent me into a tail-spin. Far from relaxing with my three days off, I packed while panicking. I sold my vanity, fortunately quickly and painlessly.

With that, I have four pieces of furniture left to get rid of.

• My desk, the largest and most essential piece of furniture. It’s a large U-shape, 7 by 5 feet. I’m constantly debating how long to put off selling it and what I’ll do with my desktop PC when I do.
• A small dresser I used for sewing projects. The bottom drawer has no bottom, so I’m thinking I probably can’t sell it. I was debating gifting it to this furniture upcycler I follow. She may not want it.
• A short bookcase that I used for the books that were too chonky for my main bookcase, like my textbooks (yes, I own enough textbooks to justify a separate bookcase for them). Currently they are just there for my cookbooks, which are increasingly unnecessary as I’m unwilling to buy anything I may have to throw out at the end of the month.
• An unfinished pine standing shelf. It’s in the back of my walk-in closet, holding things that I didn’t want to or couldn’t pack up. It only costs me 30$ to buy it new, so I’ll donate it.

I threw the large boxes I had packed already into my trunk, which confirmed that I probably have too much stuff to bring with me in one trip. Or not… It’s hard to say how much I can shove in around the tires and on the passenger seat.

A large chunk of the problem is the fact my car will have to sit somewhere for a month, untended. Leaving too much stuff piled on a seat is an invitation for someone to smash and grab, despite the fact almost nothing I have is worth fencing.

I can see three solutions. I could store my stuff somewhere and just load it back up before I head out. That would require stuffing everything in my car just to confirm it will all fit and then unpacking it again.

The homeowner’s friends son lives in Thunder Bay and he travels there semi-regularly to visit. It’s possible I could ask him to hang on to my stuff and drive it up with him. I can see a few problems with that, however – he forgets to bring it, or he wants money for it. I also thought maybe I could ask Adrianne, the girl who drove up with me last time, but she prefers to fly and I’m not sure I could rely on her.

My last thought is just shipping it. We’ve gotten a few moving boxes through the mail. The price seems quite hefty, though, probably 50 bucks for the size of box I’ll need.

Basically everything is packed up in my bedroom, aside from essentials. My tiny carry-on suitcase and my folding laundry hamper, the rug. Most of the stuff on the top shelf is the homeowner’s, except my ice skates (I actually brought those to Thunder Bay with me last time, then changed my mind and brought them back. Fool of a Took!).

Oh jeez that’s blurry, I’m sorry, guys. I took it mostly to demonstrate how I stay organized. I hold on to old shoeboxes and the cookie tins you get around Christmas and sort my stuff into that. It also quite convenient for moving.

Luna is coming over Saturday to help me clean up the basement. I have to sell the freezer, the air fryer, and the microwave. I’m keeping the stand mixer, the Instant pot and the Keurig. I was debating selling the Keurig and getting a cheap kettle cuz I only really drink tea, but I decided to keep it in case I decide to make a coffee someday.

When I was sorting out some small knicknacks, I decided to put pins back on my hat. I used to have them on my lapel, but I haven’t had a winter coat in… three years? I use my work jacket, which I possibly shouldn’t do but I’m too broke to buy a good jacket. Actually this year it’s been above 0 and raining, so I’ve been getting by with layering sweaters and abusing my car’s remote starter. And once I’m safely on the isle of rain and misery I shan’t need a jacket there either, cuz the south of England rarely gets cold enough for actual snow. So I put them on my hat, and it makes me glad. I’ve had some of these pins since high school. The only casualty of high school was my pin that said “girls rule, boys drool” which presumably got stolen by some misogynist. It’s proven hard to replace because instead of writing out “rule” it just had an image of a ruler, which I really miss now that I’m a carpenter.

Work called me in for five days this week, despite this coming Friday being the end of our contract. It’s funny, the zealous temp super told us there would be “evaluations and grading” for whoever would be chosen to stay on as a casual, which incited a mass panic. The steward told us he had people asking him how to ace the evaluation, which confused me because almost everyone has said they don’t want to stay on after the end of the contract. Someone is lying, or some people just don’t want to fail any evaluation no matter how meaningless and insignificant. I’m indifferent – they hire me on, I immediately file for a transfer to Thunder Bay. They don’t, I’ll just submit my own application to Thunder Bay.

Had an unpleasant shock – the Terrace Bay mill was closed. That was my plan for work in March – work a few weeks there, ask for a layoff and do basic training. But outside of me, the mill keeps everyone employed in Terrace Bay, Pays Plat and Schrieber. They’re keeping it in warm idle, so I’m willing to bet they’re asking the government for a bailout and it’ll be up again in six months. I asked the Vagabond and he said they were supposed to be switching production over to rayon, which proved the thousands of dollars I spent on fashion school was wasted, because I thought rayon was entirely synthetic. Nope, it’s wood pulp. I have a newfound fascination for it – depending on how it’s treated, it can be more biodegradable than cotton! My fashion designer mind is spinning – 100% Canadian Rayon. Buy a dress, wear it 5 times, throw it in the composter. That’s cool, no? And it would keep everyone in Terrace Bay employed. He made me laugh so hard I snorted out my tea when he called it ‘poor man’s silk’ and then wrote “Wood pulp + ?? = Rayon”. I need it on a pin!

I bought another biker book. Hunter S Thompson is a good writer and his book was interesting, but it was very much hedonistic 70’s Cali – I could practically hear Red Hot Chili Pepper’s ‘Californication’ playing as I read it. This one is “Hard Road” by Peter Edwards, crime writer for the Toronto Star (which was my paper of choice until they paywalled everything – grr). Broadly, it’s about the life of Bernie Guindon, the founder of Satan’s Choice MC, but it’s also a potted history for Southern Ontario from the 1960’s to the late nineties. Which is excellent, because my primary investment was in learning more about the MC scene in Canada and Ontario, but I got so much more out of it. Like, Montreal used to be bigger than Toronto. Within the last 50 years! Apparently Wasaga used to be some kind of biker’s haven, which explains so much. Such as the Vagabond’s absolute bafflement at the gentrified beachfront old folks home it currently is. I also learned that there used to be a POW camp at Red Rock, which has been razed since then, but there’s a lovely hiking trail that I will definitely do and post pictures of.

The book got me excited by having two chapters named “Thunder Bay”, but they were each less than five pages long and mostly summarized, with few names and locations. The book was mostly about the biker scene in Toronto and Oshawa. As far as I can tell, basically every named location in Thunder Bay doesn’t exist anymore. I wonder if the few named bikers still live in Thunder Bay and if the Vagabond knows them. He’s gonna be so baffled when I show up in March with 2 – possibly 3 – biker books, cuz when I left in October all he knew was that I liked going out for rides. I’ve been doing this soul-searching on my own – my love of bikes will persist with or without him.

This band is from lil old Alliston, Ontario. Every diabetic should know the name Frederick Banting – he discovered insulin! And he’s from Alliston! It got a little overplayed on the radio a few years back, but it was thematic for today (despite me now being in Dry January).