Westfalia travel, wrenching and general thoughts.

Apartment living. Oh, how I'd forgotten you! Well, I had not actually lived in an apartment prior to this but did live in a basement suite and townhome suite in like 1985. Nothing has changed? Sold the home, moved, now am on a small learning curve about apartment life. Simple things that one took for granted living in a house, are no longer. Or at the very least, they've changed.

Moving day(s). Except for the "junk", moved everything by myself, in my Westy. I had the time, and vehicle, so figured I'd save a few bucks but more importantly, gauge just how much is involved in doing this and determine what stuff I'd keep or unload. eg as much as I like my grandparents dining room table and eight #@*% chairs, they may have to go; I want to be as mobile as possible.

Yes. A sousaphone and case will fit.  (it too needs to go)

Felt only a little bad dumping the nice door skin wood, lawnmower etc. but this company prides itself on donating what it can to charity. Besides. I'd donated a LOT of stuff to my favourite local charity and given away nearly as much via craigs list.

The bottom line with apartment living it seems, and something that's always bugged me, is noise. So far, I'm experiencing what is likely a normal amount of noise; low hum of voices in suite above me, clunks, clanks, foot steps. But thankfully, people seem respectful of quiet time. But the traffic. Shit. I had no idea. I knew there was a bus stop out front, that the street was fairly busy, anticipated potential noise as much as possible, but stupid people with loud exhausts or motorcycles with same, (or just smelly 2 cycles), make things un-fun. I now sleep with one ear plugged. Am hoping I get used to the noise but waking up 6 times a night is not cool. The new Ikea arm chair bed may not be helping but it may be temporary.

On the plus side of life, things seem to be according to plan. I rented a garage (shop space. More stuff has been added, including the slate blue Westy)

then found this apartment not too far from it. It's about 1.5 miles or less so within walking distance. One of my first projects is to rehab my bicycle. The apartment is good value overall. Decent sq. ft. for dollar, has elevator, I'm much closer to the US border, there's suitable shops and businesses not far away and street parking is fairly easy with no posted limits. This bodes well for the man owning 2 Westies and Honda DD.  ;)

I'm happy I sold and have little to no "sellers remorse". At this point in my life, I can pretty much choose any path I want. But as ridiculous as this may sound, (and to misquote a good family friend), the current goal is to learn how to "spend" the rest of my life.