THE ELEVATORS IN apartment buildings here tend to be tiny. We have two elevators in our building. They each carry at most four people — as long as those four people aren't very large and aren't claustrophobic. Movers have to use the stairs for most furniture. We live only three floors up. Our 11th-floor neighbors gave their movers quite a workout.
Fuengirola Movers arrived across the street Monday morning with two trucks and a powered ladder with a box attachment to move someone out of a sixth-floor apartment. The sides of the box dropped open to form a large platform. So much easier.
It reminded me of our house in San Francisco. The grand piano wouldn't fit around one stairway column to the third floor. So they craned it in to the balcony off the kitchen. When we bought a large spa for the back deck (with no access from the street or driveway), the salesman told us they could crane it in over the neighbor's backyard. And, if that didn't work, they could always helicopter it in.
LOS ASCENSORES EN edificios de apartamentos aquí tienden a ser pequeñitos. Tenemos dos ascensores en nuestro edificio. Cada uno lleva como máximo cuatro personas, siempre que esas cuatro personas no sean muy grandes y no sean claustrofóbicas. Mudanzas tienen que usar las escaleras para la mayoría de los muebles. Vivimos solo tres pisos más arriba. Nuestros vecinos del piso 11 dieron a sus motores todo un entrenamiento.
Mudanzas Fuengirola llegó al otro lado de la calle el lunes por la mañana con una escalera eléctrica con un accesorio de caja para sacar a alguien de un piso en el sexto piso. Los lados de la caja se abrieron para formar una gran plataforma. Mucho más fácil.
Me recordó a nuestra casa en San Francisco. El piano de cola no cabría alrededor de una columna de la escalera al tercer piso. Así que lo estiraron hasta el balcón de la cocina. Cuando compramos un spa grande para la terraza de atrás (sin acceso desde la calle o el camino de entrada), el vendedor nos dijo que podían colocarlo sobre el patio trasero del vecino usando una grúa. Y, si eso no funcionaba, siempre podrían enviarlo en helicóptero.
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| A BOX ATTACHED TO A LADDER. UNA CAJA UNIDA A UNA ESCALERA. |
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| THE BOX OPENED INTO A PLATFORM BIG ENOUGH FOR A SOFA. LA CAJA SE ABRE EN UNA PLATAFORMA SUFICIENTE PARA UN SOFÁ. |
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| DUDO'S PAL FLEW IN TO WATCH. EL AMIGO DE DUDO VOLÓ PARA MIRAR. |
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| AND THAT'S WHY DUDO IS STILL SITTING HERE. Y ES POR ESO QUE DUDO TODAVÍA ESTÁ SENTADO AQUÍ. |
I hate watching men working at heights , it makes me feel physically sick
ReplyDeleteJohn:
DeleteI enjoy it. But then I lived half my childhood in a 16th floor apartment.
I'd hate to be standing below men working at heights for fear they'd drop an armchair in me.
ReplyDeleteBob:
DeleteThat's why they USUALLY don't let anyone stand directly below. These guys didn't.
Oh he'll no. And to think, I felt bad when the movers had to take my oversized furnishing up one steep flight of stairs!
ReplyDeletemistress maddie:
DeleteWhen my parents moved us from our house to our apartment, their 9-foot sofa wouldn't fit in the elevator. The movers carried it up 16 flights of stairs. (And my father gave them each a $5 tip for doing it. It was 1964, but that still sounds awfully cheap to me.)
The brightest thing my first brother in law ever said was, "thank god your sister doesn't own a grand piano," as he was moving her into yet another apartment without an elevator.
ReplyDeleteTravel:
DeleteWe would NEVER move our piano ourselves --- Well, we didn't much bother moving anything else ourselves either.
That is ingenious! I bet it would be great fun to ride.
ReplyDeleteWilma:
DeleteI thought so, too. But no one rode it.
Gawd, moving must cost a fortune there.
ReplyDeleteDebra:
DeleteIt's of course not cheap, but it's much less than we had expected when we moved from Sevilla to here.
that's pretty clever though
ReplyDeleteAdam:
DeleteI was impressed, especially with the box that turned into a platform.
Now THAT ought to do it!! Makes sense and saves on labour!
ReplyDeleteGreat capture of the swallow!
Jim:
DeleteThey were finished in no time. Had they used the stairs, they would have been there for half the day.
Last time I moved it was me and my sister shoving furniture in an elevator that went three floors up. And it was raining. Sheesh. The hardest item was a mattress. The hardest thing to move in the world, I'll bet, pianos notwithstanding.
ReplyDeleteKirk:
DeleteWe have never moved ourselves. Maybe some carloads or a rental truck for plants but, even then, we complained much of the time.
Holy crap, obviously they've done it before. Movers here are so crappy we prefer to do it ourself so nothing gets broken. You best just get the kitties beds for in front of that hole, it is much like bird tv.
ReplyDeleteCheapchick:
DeleteI probably should just put a little rug there for them to lie on... but they don't need any more encouragement.
How wonderfully efficient! Love Dudo’s pal in the photos.
ReplyDeleteRobin:
DeleteIt probably took them longer to set up than to actually move out. Dudo has so many pals!
This reminds me of our moves in Rome. We had one elevator which held two people and they brought everything up on one of those lifts but there was no balcony that was big enough so they took out one of the living room windows. I couldn't watch.
ReplyDeleteWillym:
DeleteWhen our grand piano was craned onto the balcony, Jerry's mother and I watched from a wall of windows in the kitchen. As it swung into the air, she went downstairs and waited in her bedroom. I WISH I had pictures.
I've wondered what the exterior of your building looked like. Very nice. I know about Europe's small elevators.
ReplyDeleteStephen:
DeleteThat's the building across the street as viewed from ours. One of these days, I'll share a picture of ours.
Those moving ladders are a common sight in Paris.
ReplyDelete