Thursday, December 29, 2011

First part of the move

A view of the bedroom

Part of the sitting room
Yesterday was a day which started out fine.  The weather was cold but not unbearable.Hosea and Hadi picked me up at 7:45 and the traffic going to Toronto was very light.  I think many people have taken the week off from work between Christmas and New Years.

We made it into Toronto for the 9 a.m. pickup of the U-haul.  It was a fair size truck and should have been large enough for a bachelor flat, but we could not get everything into it..  We all started off with energy but by the time 8:30 p.m. arrived, we were exhausted. Most everything from the bachelor flat fit into the truck but there is still things back in the old flat which Wesley will have to do himself.  Mind you, he can do it sitting in his wheelchair.

The new place was a bit of a distance, down Sheppard and we were not sure if it was the right place as there was no visible sign of the number of the building.From the outside, it looked very nice and it turned out to be the correct building.  The lobby area was clean and neat as well.

Apparently the Manager had not told the Superintendent that Wes was coming yesterday so they were not prepared with the lift on hold or a place for us to bring in his things in.  We had to go through the front door holding it open each time.  It was a real drag.  None of the people sitting around in the front lobby offered to give a hand even by holding the door.

Wes could not come in the truck and the car so he had to drive his scooter along with his frozen foods all the way to the new place.  There was not an inch left in the truck for anything more.

We had put his frozen food into a shopping cart and tied it to his scooter but he still had to hang onto the handle so it would not tip.  His hands were frozen by the time he got there which is not a good thing as the doctor warned him about getting cold on his hands due to the real danger of more amputations.

We had the cat in the car and the turtles in the truck so they had to be removed first for their health's sake.

We were all so exhausted that we could not carry on.  We tried to make an arrangement to keep the truck overnight but it was already rented out for 8:30 the next morning.  I got on the phone with the lady and explained that we had come all the way from Hamilton to help a disabled man move and we were just exhausted and could not carry on.  She called me back (thankfully I have a cell phone) and at first said no, the new people needed that truck.  Then she said she would talk to somebody else and this kind person agreed to take a larger truck for their move in the morning just to help out.  That was extraordinarily kind of them. The young lady also went above and beyond her duty.  May God bless both of them.

We then spoke to the Key Man and asked where we could park it overnight.  We had to take a risk.  The gentleman thought that it would be safe enough on one section of the road  and Hosea parked it there.  He said if we parked it somewhere else on the property, it would get a $495 ticket which is something we cannot afford. The money I raised is almost gone now.


While the fellows were getting some of the necessities for Wes that he needed just to function overnight, I hung up some of his clothing and made his bed (just the mattress, the frame was impossible to get to) so all he had to do was to fix the turtle tank and make sure the cat was okay and he could sleep.

I took some shots of the new place.  Obviously, it hasn't got much in it right now as we could only bring up a few necessities.

Left is the stove.  Wheelchair height.  Right is the oven - again wheelchair accessible.

Kitchen sink - wheelchair height
A cupboard for his kitchen things.  Also overhead cupboards but don't know how people in wheelchairs could reach them.



The Amazing shower stall - a wheelchair can roll right in or a bath chair can be left in there.

A nice low tub with lots of safety bars
I have to say, I was very taken with the bathroom.  He could wheel into it with his wheelchair without problem.  It will be so much safer now for him.

The sitting room - one part of it.  There is space for a nice dining room table with four chairs 

I think this will be where the dining room table will go.
It is a much better building from what I could see.  The key man told me that they have BBQ, Christmas Parties and other special things during the year.  It is also a much quieter area with lovely houses around the building.  With his scooter, he can go miles.

We have to go back to Toronto today to finish off the job.  It will be at least another five hour's worth of heavy lifting.

Hosea and Hadi were a great team.  Hosea is from Zimbabwe and Hadi is from Singaphore.  In spite of all their heavy work, they laughed and joked and were in a good mood all the day. Even in the car going back home to Hamilton, they were laughing and joking.  I could not have chosen better people to lend a hand in this situation.

It will be good when we all can rest but that won't be until tonight when we come back to Hamilton.

Thanks for dropping by the blog and have a good day!





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