In Which I am Living in an A-Mazing Bunker

I am writing this from a bunker in Wilmot, Tasmania. The bunker is in the form of a maze, formed by stacks of cartons–boxes of various sizes and shapes, cemented together by my inertia.

I’ve been here for a week, now, and most of my progress through the maze has been made by re-positioning the boxes. This has been a great help as I can now find my way between the boxes, from one encampment to another, without getting lost, or falling over. There’s the Kitchen Encampment, the Bedroom Encampment, and the Living Room Encampment. The other rooms are all Storage Depots.

There is another activity that forms part of the daily drill: this involves opening, inspecting, and sometimes unpacking all, or part of, a box. Strategically speaking, this is the most difficult part of the whole operation. My Objective is to unpack as little as possible. This, of course, is counter to the requirements of the Storage Depots.

I know what you’re thinking. You are thinking, “After all these months of whining about not having all your stuff, why in the world don’t you want to unpack it?” The answer, my friends, is that I do, but there is painting, and more, to be done and it seems silly to move everything around both before and after the work is done.  And besides … All those dozens of boxes of books stacked up around the walls make excellent insulation.  Even though it does look like a branch of the Cosmic Cupboard

I am having a sneaky peek in most of the boxes–just not unpacking them. Certain things are needed, and certain things are wanted. For example, I have yet to find the cutlery. My son, Adam, has graciously provided me with some knives, forks, and spoons to tide me over until they are found. Also, I have had the old oven & stove top removed, pending the arrival and installation of new appliances, so Adam has leant me his induction cooker. He’s a loving son, no doubt about it, but even I can spot cupboard love when I see it. That’s okay — I’m happy to provide the odd meal in exchange for the much-needed help schlepping boxes. In fact, Adam and his (our) mates Stam, Olivier, and Kelly have done most of the work while I direct traffic. It’s a good arrangement. And for their efforts, I’ve already baked some apple pies with apples from my two lovely apple trees.  Yum.  This afternoon I plan to make a pot of vegetable chowder, and some no-bake cookies (if I can find a recipe in all this mess!)…

I need to get back to work now — the Nespresso machine has gotta be in one of these damn boxes…        MM