Jill Murray

First off, a big thank you to Team Toronto: Andrew, Dalia, Eva, Greg, Jennifer, Luke, SJ, and Trina, and to Team Montreal: Jess, Jim, Kevin, and Tash, for helping us move. The Rapper was injured in a relatively serious bicycle accident just days before (he’s doing much better now), and we could not have made the move alone.

It takes a village to move Les & Jill, and we obviously lucked in to a mighty generous village. We hope any injuries sustained– emotional, physical or psychic– were neither serious nor lasting, and we totally understand if these friends– clearly the best we’ll ever have– never want to speak to us again.

And we promise we’ll hire actual movers next time.

Although just getting the truck was a stressful ordeal that probably cost more in time than movers would have in cash, the drive was actually FUN! That’s right, I drove a 17′ truck 550 km, and then parallel parked it 6″ from the curb in exactly 3 moves, on the first try. WooHoo! I also scraped the side of the truck on my way out of the lot when I first picked it up, but the rental dudes didn’t even react, so perhaps it’s a right of passage. Those double mirrors are cool, but they take a little practice.

We were worried about how Frances would deal with the truck, since she deals with buses, cars and streetcars by taking out a tidy silk bundle, unwrapping it, revealing a small but finely crafted ceremonial dagger, and threatening to commit hari-kari all over The Rapper’s lap. But after about 80km, she actually stopped panting, tucked her tongue back in her mouth, and attempted to go to sleep with one eye open. She then provided much delight for road-drowsy children and adults alike at every rest stop along the 401 between Toronto and Montreal.

The move was a lot of work: for us, for the kind people mentioned above, and for the various patient truck-rental people at the 1-800 number who couldn’t tell me why the phone was off the hook at the district office.

It’s great to be here in Montreal, but our work is not yet done. Building shelves, painting stucco, missing deliveries, photographing the neighborhood in detail, and trying not to blow ourselves up with the new barbeque: all of these adventures are yet to be chronicled.