Moving Day Is Almost Here

Posted on June 26, 2008

Friends, a pretty impressive Quebec phenomenon is about to take place this weekend. Canada Day weekend is the weekend when many, many quebecers move. It’s a pretty strange ritual to tell you the truth. I figure that after all the partying of Saint-Jean Baptiste is over, they move on to other things. Maybe Canada Day is not really cause for celebration for most quebecers, so move on they do.

As a child, I used to watch Musique Plus quite a bit. They always did that special episode around this time of year and it was all about moving day. Being from the Maritimes, I didn’t really understand what was going on, because back home, we just moved whenever we felt like it. Here, it’s another story though. You’ll see lots of chairs and tape blocking out parking spaces, near empty appliance stores, swollen truck-rental prices, and just a general mess for a city as densely populated as Montreal. Why would everyone want to move at the same time in a city of almost 2 million people? Beats me. The fact remains, here, that’s the way it’s done. In fact, it’s such an important ritual they’ve even made a movie about it.

I always moved outside of the general time period in order to avoid the shared chaos, but this weekend, it turns out I’ll be moving at the same time as everyone else. Mind you, I’m not moving very far… just across the hall so my landlord can renovate my apartment. I am however determined not to use boxes, tape, or packing paper, and to do most of it by myself. We’ll see how that turns out.

Having moved over 17 times in the last 6 years, I’ve been through all kinds of moves: winter storm driving with a full-load on dirt roads in the woods, trying to move with the strict minimum and going through the anguish of parting with some of my beloved belongings because I’m moving to another time zone, finally getting away from the roomate’s evil cat, being ditched by my truck-driver on the morning of the move because he was too hungover to help me, the list goes on. All the moves were special in their own way, and every one of them had their very own set of kinks. Something always goes wrong, that’s a given.

So what’s your moving story. I want to hear them all. What’s the worst thing that’s happened to you during a move? What’s the best thing that happened? Do you move a lot? Are you moving this weekend? If so, why? I’m sure you guys have lots of great stories to share, so let’s hear them.