Happy Canada Day, More or Less

It is July 1st, Canada Day. A day for some to relax and enjoy a nice summer day. But for some, July 1st is a day from hell. It is the day of an annual gruesome ritual called moving. As I just experienced over the past 10 hours, helping a buddy from work out. So I am tired, sore and a little cranky. That's what I am posting twice on one day.

For those who live outside Quebec, you don't know what a horrible day July 1st can be. You see, years ago, the Quebec government, in their infinite wisdom, decided that leases for things like apartment rentals would start on July 1st and end on June 30th. Why, I don't know and I don't have the energy to research this. So if you sign a lease on October 12th, it goes only to June 30th.

So for most people, they move around July 1st. Moving is already a stressful situation. But this imposed time of moving adds so many more issues to the situation.

The first is cost. Because of the demand for trucks, vans, U|Hauls, moving people, etc, the price sky rockets a couple of weeks before July 1st and a couple of weeks after. A U|Haul that would normally cost you $19.95 for a day now is $19.95 for three hours. The price for professional help doubles or triples in price. So what might normally cost you $50-$100 now goes into the $200-$300 range, if you are lucky.

And because of the demand, there is the booking issue. You have to book the van or whatever early to get a time that fits your schedule. Otherwise you have to take what they have left. You might be moving between 8 PM to 11 PM. Which makes planning a complete nightmare.

If you are lucky, you are moving into an empty place. But all too often, you aren't. So you are affected by the schedule of the other people. This happened to my friend Kate. We had the truck from 8 AM to 11. But the people in the place we were moving her to weren't getting a truck until 11.

We were lucky and the weather was decent, so we could put stuff outside in front of the building. As could the other people. So we ended up playing an intricate ballet to get Kate's stuff into her new place. If the weather had been bad, we would not have had a place to put her stuff. There wasn't a garage or enclosed area large enough to hold her stuff.

Then comes the traffic. Since there are many vans, cars, etc. out there moving people, traffic can be hell when you are moving someone. Today, as we navigated different streets, we were weaving back and forth because of truck jutting out from drive ways. Or swerving to avoid a car that pulled out of a parking spot because the driver wasn't watching what he was doing. And mostly like stressed out because of the move he was involved in.

Of course, we can't forget getting help here. Most people I know don't like helping people move. It is as exciting as helping paint an apartment. But if you don't ask early enough, ten to one, your friends have already committed to helping someone else. So you get a situation like Angela, where there were only 4 people to help her out.

And my last point of this rant before relaxing is Angela was lucky. July 1st was part of a weekend. She can relax tomorrow. But when it is during the week, yes we get the day off but we don't get the day before & after off. All too often, people have to take vacation time just to be able to move. What a wonder waste of well earned vacation time.

So if you are visiting Montreal some time around Canada Day, our day for celebrating our country and hear people bitching about having to move, take pity on them. Unlike most people in the rest of the civilized world, they are involved in cruel and unusual punishment imposed by the government. You have no idea what a move is until you are involved with a move here in Quebec.

But enough ranting. To all the Canadians out there, Happy Canada Day! Enjoy the long weekend. And have a beer on me. And to all the Americans out there, all the best for your day coming up. Have a good beer on me.