Weather sunny and warm. Great day for moving.

I was out the door at 6, walked to the T, exited at Reservoir, and caught the 86 to the U-Haul shop, where I arrived just after it opened at 7AM. A 14-foot truck was available and I snagged it. Had to return it by 3PM. Yikes. I drove back to Rami and Aya's and commenced moving everything first into the garage, then into the truck. Medtner's piano sonatas played while I worked. Except for when I whacked desk #2 into the side of the garage, prompting Rami to grab one end on the way up the ramp, I moved everything myself: desks, bookshelf, piano, chair, boxes and boxes of books, dozens of free-floating computer paraphernalia, the entire Amitai Property Collection.

The drive from Newton to Brighton is but a few miles east on Commonwealth Avenue. However, this particular drive was a bit longer, because the north side of Commonwealth was being paved, forcing me to drive well past my destination and swing a U-turn across the B line tracks. However, when I turned onto Leamington Road, I lucked out with a parking spot big enough for the truck, right in front of the house. (I seem to have inherited my father's knack for being presented with convenient parking.) I had to take a wild guess when parallel parking, shift into park, get out and look, and repeat until the truck was positioned properly. My first approach was a bit off, but I got it right the second time.

I unloaded the computer bits and various boxes and bookshelf and piano into the hallway and living room, rested a bit, unloaded a desk, rested some more, and unloaded the other desk. Sweaty and more than a little bit fatigued, I drove the truck back to the U-Haul place, arriving very shortly after 3 o'clock. Almost everything checked out: no damage had been done to the vehicle, and I'd put in enough gasoline. But the woman behind the counter said she needed to talk with me outside. “Am I in trouble?” I asked. When we got outside, she told me that there was a problem entering the truck's information into the computer system, and that she could fix it but that it wasn't worth the effort, and that I would be refunded my full deposit within a week. Not convinced I understood, I asked for clarification. “It means you got a free U-Haul.” Oh.

I figured that meant I could afford to buy some lunch. Just down the street was a very highly authentic diner with old-style jukebox. The guy asked me what I wanted to drink, and I said “Milk”. He thought I was out of my gourd, drinking milk to refresh myself on a hot day, but tried to conceal it. I explained my affinity for the bovine beverage while he nodded politely, then sat down and handled the cheeseburger and fries, which were not nearly as good as Martin's. Too bad the quality of the food was not commensurate with that of the appearance of the diner.

The bus put me on the north end of Wallingford Road, which left a short walk to Leamington. I entered the house made nearly impassable by my strewn belongings, and took a nap.

A few hours later, Seth and James arrived in Seth's Volvo. I carried only light things in from the car. I was spent. Once their stuff was in the house, we took the B line to a Radio Shack near BU for them to procure a Sprint PCS phone. It was raining, and I couldn't have thought of anything better for the weather to do: I was hot and tired and not totally clean, and the rain was cool and refreshing.

We walked around the BU campus, looking vaguely for a computer lab or other source of public Internet terminals, but found only a sweet game room in the BU student center. At McDonald's, I suddenly became very dizzy and had to sit down. James and Seth recounted their high school days. Soon, Peter and I will too.

From the stash of movies apparently included in the realtor's definition of “furnished”, we watched Blink, a detective story with a twist. Good story, interesting twist.

Tomorrow we will clean the house.