Packing and Conferencing

On Wednesday night we attacked the kitchen. We sorted through the items we would take to the Republic of Georgia (ROG ) and what we needed to store in the basement. Ron has had very little time for packing as he is still working on a project for Ethiopia and doing some work for Treasury. So it was a whirlwind of activity in our kitchen. I wanted to take care of it before the shipping agent came on Friday. Ron and I are an incredible team. We’ve worked together on many projects and there is a magic when we are teamed up on with a common goal. So it took very little time to accomplish our task. The best part for me was he carried all those big heavy boxes to the basement. The ole gray mare ain’t what she used to be! OY!


On Friday the shipping rep showed up early but we were ready with multiple piles. We are allowed 450 lbs air shipment, 1200 lbs consumables (food, toiletries and the like) and 7200 lbs of household goods, that’s 7850 lbs. total! We weighed in at 1200-1500 lbs total (est.) YEAH! We have our fingers crossed that it all will go by air because apparently there is some break-off point (we don’t know what it is) where it is cheaper to just send it all by air. I have a certain amount of guilt about shipping consumables that are non-essential but all the literature says to take advantage of it so I did include some items that I know we can’t purchase there. We did not have this privilege when we went to SL plus we had two weeks to get ready so buying consumables was out of the question. We barely had time to eat when we were getting ready.

We left very early (6:00 a.m.) for the airport on Saturday. We flew to Montreal by way of Washington DC for Ron’s annual ICMA (Int’l City/County Management Assoc.) conference. We arrived and our luggage didn’t. There was too little time for the transfer. Drat! Due to cost cutting measures, the airline no longer gives you an allowance; they give you a toiletries bag: one for the boy and one for the girl. If they only knew that I prefer Old Spice deodorant! We were told our luggage would be delivered sometime the following day. We are staying at a charming, old ‘brownstone’ B&B that has no resident manager. That means I need to wait here until the luggage arrives, not knowing when that might be. I called this morning to see if I could get more information and had no luck. Then I found out after breakfast that the airline called at 3:00 a.m. and told the owner whose telephone number we had given them that the bags would be delivered by noon. Talk about stupidity! 3:00 a.m.! No one is up at that hour. I bet we are very popular with the owner but doubt that we will ever see her.

I woke up at 4:50 this morning and couldn’t go back to sleep. After breakfast I fell asleep waiting for the bags and they arrived around 10:30. I washed my hair, changed clothes and headed out to the convention center to take advantage of their free Internet that ICMA provides each year. After checking email I walked over to old town and ate lunch in a delightful French café. I don’t know what they were on but every one who worked there was mighty happy. The food was fabulous. I most probably will return tomorrow.

Afterwards I wandered the streets and popped into various artsy shops that intrigued me. There are some wonderful galleries with Inuit arts and crafts. I drooled on the counters containing turquoise jewelry but resisted the urge to actually spend money. Getting ready for our trip requires a great deal of outgo so I am watching my unnecessary expenditures.

With tired feet I returned to the B&B and rested for a while since tonight we have two receptions that will be stand up affairs.