The first six days, in brief

The view from my apartment

Day 1, Monday: Hopped on a plane from Vancouver to Edmonton. My worries about my cat making a run for it at the airport while I took her out of her carrier to go through security proved completely unfounded. Instead, Duncan flatly refused to be taken out of her carrier, so sure was she that I was going to fling her to sudden death. I held up the security line for minutes, trying to wrangle the poor creature out. By the time I had her shivering in my arms, with her back claws digging into me, I felt as though I was the most incompetent pet owner ever. The rest of the trip was quite uneventful. Picked up my rental car (a Dodge Calibre), and had my move-in inspection. Greyhound delivered the boxes I had sent two days earlier, and I went to my auntie’s house for supper. (She’s my mother’s best friend from high school.) Came home, and spent the rest of the evening debating inside my head whether my walls were indeed light pink. (They aren’t, but during certain times of the day, when the sun reflects off the red brick building across the way, my walls have a pinkish sheen.)

Day 2, Tuesday: Woke up with a sore back from sleeping in just my sleeping bag on the bare wood floor. Called Sears delivery services to attempt to confirm that the sofa and bed that I had ordered a week ago were indeed going to be delivered to my apartment that morning. No siree, things were not going to go that smoothly.... I was informed that my order had been cancelled for some strange reason. Another call to Sears customer service and fifteen minutes of not-so-gentle explanation and argument later, I figured my furniture was not coming, might never be coming. Oh, the customer service guy said on the other end, you should have called in your order instead of using the online order form. Well, then, why was online ordering even an option if they weren’t going to follow through with the order?! With that, I resolved never to order or buy anything from Sears ever again. (Yesterday, I read an article in The Globe and Mail commenting on Sears’s unexpected losses the second quarter of this year. Could it have something to do with poor communication with customers and even poorer service? Hmm, something to ponder....) Called up my friend R who had arrived in town the night before, on his way back to Inuvik to start the school year. Went to IKEA and bought all the furniture that I needed, hauling half of it in the Calibre and arranging to have the rest delivered the next day. R was his usual helpful, cheerful self, lugging everything for me, while I was my usual cranky, impatient, and humourless self. Went to West Edmonton Mall and bought some kitchen supplies. Slept better that night, with my new mattress on the floor.

The disarray at the end of Day 2

Day 3, Wednesday: Puttered around the apartment all morning. R came over with groceries for my fridge in the afternoon, and we walked around the neighbourhood, popping into the stores to pick up a few last supplies, including my favourite cheese, a requisite for my fridge. IKEA came through with my furniture delivery (yay!), and R helped me assemble my bed (yay again!). Third night’s sleep was even better, with a proper bed, mattress, and bedding.

Sweet Dreams

Day 4, Thursday: Went to West Edmonton Mall in the morning with R, then back to IKEA in the afternoon to buy a desk. Went home and, after many whines and complaints (from me, while R brandished the tools good-humouredly), managed to put together the rest of the furniture. R took me out for the most scrumptious meal, and then we saw District 9 in the downtown theatre.

Day 5, Friday: Drove R to the airport to catch his plane up to Inuvik. Returned the Calibre, and took the shuttle to a hotel about ten blocks from my apartment. Walked home, following a guy in a car who was stopping at every street corner to empty the change out of the Edmonton Sun newspaper box. After the meeting up with him on the third street corner in a row, we chit-chatted, after he joked that I was his stalker. Attempted to make an omelette à la Julia Child. Walked downtown, picked up knick-knacks from the dollar store, and came home. Cleaned the apartment and relaxed into the evening, thoroughly bored during my first night after the apartment was fully-furnished and cleaned. Tried to take a walk by the river, but hesitated taking the set of creaky wooden steps I found that might or might not have led down to the trails. Strolled along the street overlooking the valley instead.

Day 6, Saturday: Three loads of laundry. Went to the drugstore two blocks from my house to buy more cleaning supplies. Tried hard to get my cat to sit in her new cat-bed instead of my new white couch. No such luck. Trying even harder to steal someone’s unsecured internet signal. If this post gets published today, August 22nd, then it would prove my success, and the day would not be a complete waste.

She stayed like this for a brief minute, at least.

Ha, take that, Sears!