Appointment... not

It seems to be a looong long way from the port of Christchurch to NZ Van Lines (the moving company) in Christchurch, because it has taken a full two weeks before our stuff has arrived there and they are able to deliver the container to Ashburton. But, tomorrow Friday 10 November it is finally going to happen.

NZ Van Lines will transfer the contents of the container into a truck at 9:30 AM. During that procedure also the MAF will check out the stuff they want to see. At about 11:00 they will depart from Christchurch, to arrive in Ashburton at about 12:15. I have asked if I would be allowed to attend the MAF check, and they agreed. After the check I then can follow the container truck to Ashburton in our own car. Good.

This afternoon I called NZ Van Lines to ask them if everything was still going as planned. Boy am I glad I did. In their boundless wisdom they have decided not to transfer the container’s contents, but to drive it to Ashburton directly. At 9:00 AM they will be due to arrive in Ashburton and the MAF will then perform the check over there, during unloading. Oh yeah, they should have told me, that’s right. Oh well, they forgot. Sorry mate. Rigggghhhhhtttt.... if I hadn’t called I would have been at their office in Christchurch at 9:30 tomorrow, while the container actually already would have had arrived in Ashburton, at a 1.5 hour driving distance. Not particularly handy, if you ask me…

This is something Dutch people really have to get used to over here: appointments are not set in stone. For example, it often happens that if you take half a day off work because a craftsman (plumber, electrician, etc.) is coming to do work in your house, he has rescheduled the appointment without notifying you, so you are sitting there at home waiting for nothing, after which you can take another half day off for the rescheduled appointment to take place. Oh well, we’ll just have to learn to live with that I guess :-)