I’m still not sure if I get to check this box but I have to have something on my list that looks like it is done. We have done the bulk of the weeding out of all our possessions. Some of them are still in our house awaiting a new home (or the final trash pickup) but we’ve pretty much decided what category which item belongs in. My inner librarian was very happy to devise a controlled vocabulary for classifying things: Goodwill, Rubbish, Packing, Shipping.
This formality was necessary because our shorthanded language during the purge activity led to all kinds of confusion. Frank would pick something up and look at me inquisitively and I would just respond with “That has to go.” Unfortunately, we had different default setting for what “go” meant. I generally meant that something had to go out – as in Goodwill or Trash – and he generally interpreted it as it need to go with us – either Packed or Shipped. So we had many entertaining “arguments” over which pile something needed to be in. (It’s always a data quality problem – in this case it was a metadata quality problem. My nerdiness knows no bounds.)
Of course all of this had to be accomplished in order to fill out the paperwork. And there is SO MUCH PAPERWORK! I now have sympathy for people who move to a new country under a tourist visa and just stay. I do wonder if this is one case where the adage about asking forgiveness rather than permission might apply. But we are both first-born children and so we are the rule followers. And there are so many rules to follow.
First the lengthy process of getting the visa sorted. That involved multiple online forms, multiple online payments, and a trip to Boston. Next the process of getting the dog sorted. That involved more forms, more payments, and so many trips to the vet that I think we need to invite Dr. Thornton to our house for Christmas. Of course there are plenty of payments there too but holy animal wellness Batman – what a process. This is one of the ones that is still up in the air. We have done all the paperwork we can do and submitted all the forms to the requisite places in order to get Buddy’s health certificate. We did this WEEKS ago. And yet we still are waiting for word from the USDA office in Albany. I think this box gets half a check because we’ve done all we can even though it isn’t fully resolved. We do have Buddy’s travel arrangements (more forms and more payments) and he’s scheduled to leave on the same day as us but he flies through Frankfurt where he has a 22 hour layover in a premium pet facility (more forms and payments) before boarding a flight to Manchester where he’ll be vetted through customs before a van delivers him to us in Aberdeen two days later (yup, more forms and payments).
Unfortunately, all this might be for nought if we don’t get the health certificate. Even our government customs paperwork is waiting for that. I completed as much as I could – including the list of everything we are bringing with us – so that we don’t have to pay UK duty on it. But without the health certificate, I may need to pay duty on the dog. Don’t tell him but as a rescue we estimated his value at £100. Of course he’s priceless to us – I feel the need to add that as if he would actually read this! – but if we don’t get the Transfer of Residence approval for him, which is dependent on the health certificate, then we’ll have to pay between £30 – £50 duty on the dog. Not that it matters because if we don’t have the health certificate, he can’t go so here we are. Paperwork done but not done. {sigh}
So we continue to whittle down the booze collection that can’t go with us – with the help of friends of course or our livers would be toast – and wait for the last of our belongings to make their way from their assigned pile to their final destination. It looks like our bed will go today so it’s air mattress camping for the last week. The movers take their pile on Thursday – an estimated 1145 items according the insurance form – so that’s when it gets really interesting. Keep an eye out for those tales to come!