Easiest Move Ever

We moved, it didn't cost me a dime and it was almost painless.

Okay we didn't move, barring a lottery win we are unlikely to move until daughter leaves home and I can downsize. The Vancouver real estate market is the second most expensive in the world, behind Hong Kong but ahead of London, New York and San Francisco so I won't ever be buying but we had the good fortune to find a reasonable rental in a fabulous area and we've been here for almost 14 years. Our landlord is neglectfully benevolent, meaning it might take longer for the dryer to get fixed but the rent increases are also irregular. Rent increases in Vancouver are limited to 2.5% per year and can't be applied retroactively so the years in which my landlord forgets to raise the rent save us all the way down the line, as a result I now pay roughly 20-25% below market value for our 2 bedroom suite on the main floor of a character house in one of the city's more desirable neighbourhoods.

Last month I got an email from my landlord saying he had commissioned a painting firm to paint all three of his rental properties, one is on the same block as ours while the other is three blocks away. Landlord apologized in advance for any inconvenience and assured me this was not a precursor to selling the house, which I knew anyway because our lovely little character house will meet the wrecking ball hours after it is eventually sold, the same fate as 750 homes have already this year in Vancouver but that's another story. A week or so later a sign went up on the lawn and a day or two after that the painter knocked on the door to explain his schedule and advise me when the outdoor plants would have to be moved etc., I asked him what the new colour would be and he said landlord hadn't specified and did I have a choice, in fact I did. Our house has always been referred to as "the purple house" and I enquired if he could come close to matching the original which was a deep indigo hue. he brought out his colour samples and between us we came up with something really close, the painter was very happy as he said "I like to see these older houses stay with their character colours".

We have been blessed with a sensational month weather wise, as opposed to the past few years when the sixth month of the calendar year was generally referred to as "Junuary" for it's wet, cool conditions. The result was the house was totally finished in about a week with minimal inconvenience and I must say it looks great. Given my druthers I'd have preferred new carpet and stainless steel appliances rather than a paint job but it does make my neighbours happy, in truth the old girl had become a little drab. The painting crew moved down the block and I figured that was it until this past Tuesday when I had a knock on the door and answered to see our mailman on the top step with a wry smile on his face. I asked if he had something he needed signed but he just handed me the mail and said "You know you screwed up the address, right ?". In fact I did not know but when I checked he was in fact correct, when putting the numbers back on the house our painters had become confused and moved our house three blocks east, our actual address is 853.

I thought about leaving it, but we changed it back.