Packing up and learning curves

Good grief I am done in.

Last week we packed our house up and saw our belongings load into a 40ft container bound for the high seas down to India. Not being one of those experienced expats who just sling a few items into a case and lay their hat in wherever their new home happens to be in the world, I on the other hand, the novice expat experienced a huge learning curve in how much C-R-A-P can one ship?

Having spent the best part of the last two months culling the family Mad Dog emporium of dare I say, rubbish? I thought I was ready for my packers, 3 chaps who answered my 'morning!' with some kind of monosyllabic grunt (I initially thought they were Romanian, turned out they were from North London, born and bred.) as they arrived. Oh dear, this will be interesting I thought.

However they got stuck in and it was like a plague of locusts moving through my house, hoovering up the contents and making them disappear into boxes. Needless to say counting on all my fingers and possibly my toes I found myself spotting something going into a box bound for Chennai and musing whether actually that item should be winding it's way to the civic amenity site instead. Oh dear, never mind.

In fact, on the last day watching these guys plus the extra drafted in for the day load our container I peered into it and thought to myself that I may not have anything to sit on but at least we can all play a decent game of Scrabble when we get there. Yes, plenty of toys and books, loo rolls and copious bottles of Mr Mad Dog's beloved HP Sauce, but not much furniture. That all went to the dump after Gus chewed through it and my idea of sneaking in some nice new oak dining room chairs never materialised as I never made it to the shop to get them. But hey, I managed to get the new trampoline delivered in time! So we can all get fit and lose weight eating standing up at the dining room table, which only I need to by the way, the rest of the Mad Dogs are built like whippets.

My parents who were helping me through the move kept on lerching from "do you really need to take that?" to "Your not leaving that here, are you, you may need that XYZ, winter quilt, (naff) garden chair etc., etc.," sending me into a spin ,wringing hands and looking into space. Meanwhile the Romanian sounding North London locusts had packed it. Blast.

I'll give the stuff to Charity when I get there I thought, but really, who in God's name needs a 13.5 double winter quilt in Southern India? Still it will make an interesting entry into the local bring and buy sale, dare I say?

Still it was an interesting week and I learnt a lot, like cull the kids toys, and learn to shop more. (But not for toys) We had some fun too, especially when I took the locusts around to the garden shed and said "hoover that up", I got some hard stares. But the youngest baby Mad Dog diffused the moment, found the water guns, the sun came out and we all proceeded to have a huge water pistol fight in our back garden with her clinging to their legs while they packed. Those girls do like a challenge and they succeeded in getting these 3 to laugh and smile. Plus the baby Mad Dogs got lots of rides in the vans and container to boot.

I did have some super pics of our hard working packers and all our boxes etc., But you will have to wait because guess what? Yes, the cable to download them from my phone is steaming it's way down the Atlantic. On dear....

Shopping

Let me explain, I am not good at shopping. Never have been. I walk into a store and if I do not source the item I went in for in less than 5 minutes, or there is a queue, or God forbid, it's crowded then I exit. So not a lot of shopping gets done. In fact it's the standing joke in our family.


Browsing, comparing prices from store to store? No, that's not my bag either. So when I asked around a few ladies on the ground in Chennai what should one bring out with them the list was huge. It appears that you can get a lot of items, however I am reliably informed that the quality is not the same as 'back home' or worse because they are imported they carry a super inflated surcharge.


So thank goodness for Internet grocery delivered to my door as I ordered probably my largest ever home delivery grocery order from Tesco's ready for the packers. A screaming £747.00! Plus an eye smarting £355.00 from Boots. and £159.00 of dog food. In addition I had already visited Costco and departed with over £400.00 for 'stuff'. Ouch, Ouch, Ouch......


For people who are planning to move to Chennai in the near future I was told to bring by expats in Chennai and our doctor:



Sunscreens for the fair skinned such as moi :)

Insect repellents with 50% deet. (difficult to get)

Children's med's (Indian one's taste 'different')

Mosquito nets (for first few months)

Shampoos, Shower gels, soaps, (quality not the same)

Usual skin care products

Laundry care products (quality not the same)

Toilet Paper (very expensive - $1. a roll!)

Dishwasher products (expensive, quality and not easily available)

UV 50+ Swim Suits for Children

Herbs, dried basil, oregano, anything Italian etc.,

Olive Oil (expensive)

Parmesan Cheese (Dried - very expensive)

Vinegars, Balsamic, etc (expensive)

Dried yeast and breadmaking flour, caster sugar, and brown sugar.

Once all this runs out I may have just found out where to source some of it in Chennai. That's if I can do the queues, crowds, heat and haggling!

The packers arrive tomorrow, am I ready? Am I heck!