Keep on Truck'n

If I had any lingering thoughts of one day becoming a truck driver, they were well and truly quashed after last Saturday. Aff and I faced up to what was arguably the biggest pre-marital task of them all - moving out of our house. Well, strictly speaking, we didn't move out, we just re-distributed all our belongings for 8 months. This is the 6th time I have moved. It doesn't get any easier. Every time you think it will be easier, because you convince yourself that this time you are all the wiser, and know what to do. For the first couple of hours, you may even still believe this to be true... then it happens .. the wall hits,. This is usually marked by some irrational argument with one's partner about the quality of box they chose to pack your beloved PlayStation ..not this time however. This time it was marked by my complete inability to drive the truck we had hired to do the move.

Nothing quite gets the blood flowing like realising your truck has no hand brake. Equally, nothing quite gets the blood flowing like trying to reverse a truck on a steep drive way with no more than two metres between the front of the truck, and a parked car, and no ability to perform a handbrake start. Any inkling of thought about me one day ditching my research career and becoming a Truckee was instantly lost in that moment. Never have I longed to be in front of a computer as much as I did on that steep drive way. You will be pleased to know that I did manage to reverse the truck without incident .. though not without a very impressive string of expletives.

The other interesting phase of the move was our tip run. Aff and I were as brutal as ever about throwing out stuff. When we moved to Canberra, we did what I thought at the time to be a pretty comprehensive clean house. Well, that was nothing on this one. To be honest, I suspect I will regret a few decisions made in my tip frenzy. To make decisions in the days leading up to a big move is always a dangerous thing, because most decisions are clouded by the fact that you really don't want to lug around more than you have to. On the other hand, it really is incredible how much crap one can accumulate in a couple of years, and how hard it can be to throw some of this stuff out, despite how inconsequential some of this stuff is to your life.

As Aff and I cleared the back of the truck into the pit area at the tip, ready for the crusher, I did have a moment of doubt as I looked out at all the stuff we had decided to rid ourselves of. Old shelves, books, a computer .. a lot of stuff that did hold some value, and probably still had some use. I would be lying if I said I didn't have a moments doubt as I stared at all this stuff piled up. Almost perfectly on cue, however, the tip bulldozer entered from stage right, and quite literally, in the blink of an eye, all our belongings were swept away. It really was the rubbish tip equivalent of ripping off the band aid. There was nothing left behind ... including any doubt about what we had chucked out. The fact that I can barely remember what we threw out probably adds further support to the reason why we threw the stuff out.

So here we are, with nothing more than our sleeping mats, some clothes, and an esky. Suddenly everything is starting to feel a lot more real.