Waiting for Stuff (not Guffman)

It has been nearly 6 weeks since the movers packed up our stuff in Kentucky.  Yet our stuff still has not made it to Ireland, let alone our house.

I apologize if I’ve complained about this before, but it is one of my greatest frustrations at the moment.  Earlier, I noted how meal preparation has been affected by the lack of items such as a peeler or can opener.  Similar challenges also arise from a lack of measuring cups / spoons and a lack of spices.  With the lousy weather and time on my hands (unlike LBJ, who already started work), I’d like to make a nice big batch of chili.  But there are simply too many obstacles.

This week, I caught a cold.  I’m feeling better, except when I have a coughing fit.  Being sick is another area where it would be really nice to have our stuff.  I’d love to relax on the couch and put my feet up, but we have no couch.  I also think we packed a few medicines, etc. that would be useful, too.

Another thing I have learned here is that over the counter (OTC) medicines are WAY more expensive here than in the U.S.  Supermarkets here don’t sell stuff; as far as I can tell, a pharmacy is the only place to buy such items.  I just wanted something like Nyquil to help me sleep with coughing or being so congested.  I got a small bottle that cost 8 euros – roughly 10 dollars if not more.  And the bottle was tiny – 10 servings.  A generic equivalent in the U.S. is about 3 dollars.  Oh well, what can you do?

Back to our stuff: the latest estimate is that our stuff will arrive in Dublin port, or at least in Ireland, sometime late next week.  Then it needs to clear customs.  This has been quite a challenge for us, as the customs department requires substantial documentation to show that we were living in the U.S. and we are now living in Ireland.  Otherwise, they will charge us VAT (value added tax), which is in excess of 20 percent.  We did not keep a lot of documentation from the U.S. – didn’t think we’d need old utility bills, etc.  But my parents nicely mailed us copies of our last utility bills (we forwarded our mail to them).  Fortunately, the gas bill listed the duration of service, illustrating that we were in Kentucky for 6 years.  We are hopeful that this bill plus a couple years’ tax returns will be sufficient proof.

Then, if we’re really lucky, our stuff will clear customs late week AND get delivered to us by the end of the week.  Otherwise, we should get our stuff the first week of July, 7+ weeks after it left our “old Kentucky home”.