removals and despair

Big thanks to everyone who replied to my last post. I started to reply individually, but then barely got near the PC over the last couple of days. It's lovely to know that everyone cares, especially on a day when people in general have been annoying me intensely!

Have spent the last two days helping my parents, brother and Small Sis move house. Can't remember when I've been so exhausted, although today not as bad as yesterday. Still feel a bit like a stunned penguin, barely able to think.

House removals are both exhausting and depressing. What's especially depressing is how much they still haven't taken out of the old house. Starting to feel like I will be living with their clutter forevermore.

My brother's room is especially depressing. He's very obsessive compulsive and never throws anything away, so extracting him from the room and persuading him to sort through his junk and bin even some of it has been an absolute nightmare. Just getting to the point of being able to get the bed out of the room took a herculean effort! I can't begin to describe the entire miserable process, because I'll just depress myself. But I will relate this one exchange, from which you will easily gather the general gist.

We were trying to get the bed clear, so it could be dismantled for transport. There was junk piled up all around it - years' worth of letters (both opened and unopened), carrier bags, clothes, magazines, old bubble wrap, random rubbish, etc, etc just heaped up all around, because Mum went on strike years ago and refused to go into the room to clean it and S doesn't seem to mind living in squalor. Exigency (and me!) forced him to start sorting in recent weeks because of the move, but it has been like pulling teeth ('you really should have started sorting this stuff months ago' he was told at one point yesterday. 'But we weren't moving months ago,' he said. That house was bought last September - they've been preparing for the move ever since! He lives in an impenetrable world of his own and has absolutely no concept of time or its passage). What feels like tons and tons of DVDs, books and comics have already been moved, and yet the heap never seemed to get any smaller. Yesterday we had a van for the removals, but only for 24 hours, so it was a race against time to finish and get the furniture out, his room having been left till last so that the clearing could continue while the rest of the furniture in the house was moved.

So, S was sorting...but he was sorting paper only. Everything else he just dumped onto the bed in a massive heap. And he could not see what the problem with that was. After all, he was clearing the end of the bed - what more did we need! That end could be unscrewed, and then he'd worry about the next bit...

Gah. In despair, I went in and started speed-sorting the junk on the bed, stuffing carriers bags into one bag, bubble wrap into another, clothes into another, etc. And then we had this exchange:

Me: 'Perhaps it might speed things along a little if you tried multi-tasking a bit, so that, for example, as well as sorting the papers, you put any carrier bags you find into a bag instead of chucking them aside, which just creates another job for later.'
S: 'I am multi-tasking. I'm doing the paper and you're doing the carrier bags. That's multi-tasking.'

...

I almost put my head through the wall in despair at that point.

I don't think I need say any more! Except to add that Small has also been a nightmare, between the combination of moving and PMT. Yeah, it's been quite the couple of days.

Tomorrow I'm having a day off. It'll be the first Saturday in weeks that I haven't gone down there to help pack and sort and whatnot. I feel I've done my bit for their move (although undoubtedly will do more in the week) and have plenty to do ready for my own.

Can't remember what it felt like to have an actual day of rest. Looking forward to actual holidays immensely, if I can remember how to unwind and relax!

removals and despair

Big thanks to everyone who replied to my last post. I started to reply individually, but then barely got near the PC over the last couple of days. It's lovely to know that everyone cares, especially on a day when people in general have been annoying me intensely!

Have spent the last two days helping my parents, brother and Small Sis move house. Can't remember when I've been so exhausted, although today not as bad as yesterday. Still feel a bit like a stunned penguin, barely able to think.

House removals are both exhausting and depressing. What's especially depressing is how much they still haven't taken out of the old house. Starting to feel like I will be living with their clutter forevermore.

My brother's room is especially depressing. He's very obsessive compulsive and never throws anything away, so extracting him from the room and persuading him to sort through his junk and bin even some of it has been an absolute nightmare. Just getting to the point of being able to get the bed out of the room took a herculean effort! I can't begin to describe the entire miserable process, because I'll just depress myself. But I will relate this one exchange, from which you will easily gather the general gist.

We were trying to get the bed clear, so it could be dismantled for transport. There was junk piled up all around it - years' worth of letters (both opened and unopened), carrier bags, clothes, magazines, old bubble wrap, random rubbish, etc, etc just heaped up all around, because Mum went on strike years ago and refused to go into the room to clean it and S doesn't seem to mind living in squalor. Exigency (and me!) forced him to start sorting in recent weeks because of the move, but it has been like pulling teeth ('you really should have started sorting this stuff months ago' he was told at one point yesterday. 'But we weren't moving months ago,' he said. That house was bought last September - they've been preparing for the move ever since! He lives in an impenetrable world of his own and has absolutely no concept of time or its passage). What feels like tons and tons of DVDs, books and comics have already been moved, and yet the heap never seemed to get any smaller. Yesterday we had a van for the removals, but only for 24 hours, so it was a race against time to finish and get the furniture out, his room having been left till last so that the clearing could continue while the rest of the furniture in the house was moved.

So, S was sorting...but he was sorting paper only. Everything else he just dumped onto the bed in a massive heap. And he could not see what the problem with that was. After all, he was clearing the end of the bed - what more did we need! That end could be unscrewed, and then he'd worry about the next bit...

Gah. In despair, I went in and started speed-sorting the junk on the bed, stuffing carriers bags into one bag, bubble wrap into another, clothes into another, etc. And then we had this exchange:

Me: 'Perhaps it might speed things along a little if you tried multi-tasking a bit, so that, for example, as well as sorting the papers, you put any carrier bags you find into a bag instead of chucking them aside, which just creates another job for later.'
S: 'I am multi-tasking. I'm doing the paper and you're doing the carrier bags. That's multi-tasking.'

...

I almost put my head through the wall in despair at that point.

I don't think I need say any more! Except to add that Small has also been a nightmare, between the combination of moving and PMT. Yeah, it's been quite the couple of days.

Tomorrow I'm having a day off. It'll be the first Saturday in weeks that I haven't gone down there to help pack and sort and whatnot. I feel I've done my bit for their move (although undoubtedly will do more in the week) and have plenty to do ready for my own.

Can't remember what it felt like to have an actual day of rest. Looking forward to actual holidays immensely, if I can remember how to unwind and relax!