Moving to Cape Town
Clear Path helps a client move to Cape Town By Pauline Borton, Clear Path Onsite Manager
Only days before Felicity was due to move to Cape Town, Clear Path was engaged to oversee her packing and to clean and clear the empty house, flat, and office after the relocation.
As usual, Marylou conducted the initial assessment and provided the quotation, and I met the client the night before the project began. The projects I work on with Clear Path are varied, and the people involved are at different stages of their lives, which is part of the enjoyment of the projects.
Initially a bit wary of me, Felicity and I discovered that we shared a love of nature and a passion for nurturing plants, which made it easy to understand why these elements were essential to her.
This time, our primary role was to work in collaboration with the movers on the packing days, document the boxes that were loaded, and work closely with Felicity to sort her personal items, kitchen, and study so that they could be packed in time for departure.
Felicity had her plan and asked that we work with her to identify her needs and assist her with her personal and more complicated packing while the movers packed and loaded the truck.
It was my job to respect this but also nudge the process along by making sensible suggestions and sharing what she called “good ideas” with her, as well as being very attentive to her needs and suggesting short breaks and tea when it all looked a bit overwhelming.
As I’d only met the client the night before and seen the property for the first time, I was not able to plan. Instead, I approached the project using information from Marylou’s proposal and took it one step at a time on the first day. When things felt more pressured on day two or three, I felt confident about guiding the process, making suggestions and assisting where needed.
I made sure to ask lots of questions for the sake of clarity and always found out what she needed. I ensured she knew she was in charge of the process while also providing clear indications of time remaining, tasks remaining, and next steps.
We recorded the number of boxes packed and from which room, documented the processes with photographs, managed timelines and Felicity’s expectations, and communicated with all the companies and people involved in the relocation.
As the day unfolded, we worked side by side on the more overwhelming tasks she had not yet addressed, such as sorting out the kitchen, pantry, laundry, and then, in the days ahead, her bedroom, bathroom, cupboards in the dressing room area, study/studio, and flat kitchen. We developed a system together where we packed, gave away, and discarded items using specific boxes for each, and she got used to what box was for what. This activity also allowed the movers to get on with things in the background.
On the last day, she was exhausted but also emotionally strained as we moved the last of her belongings and precious plants onto the truck. She spent a considerable amount of time collecting cuttings for me as a gift, which served as a good distraction.
Felicity had made it clear that she did not want to know what the new owner had done to the property. When I returned on a clean and clear day, massive parts of the garden, plus 100-year-old trees, had been cut to the ground, destroying much of the client’s beloved garden and plants, as well as making a mess along pathways, common outdoor areas, and the garden in general, potentially concealing items left behind. I feared that the client might request items to accompany a second load to CT, and we might not find them, given the large amount of organic waste.
Ultimately, this project was a success. However, it would have benefited from being a longer project (three to four days) as we continued to find new items to pack and sort up to the last moment. Consequently, the client requested more items on the clean and clear day, some of which included taking cuttings of her plants to be sent to Cape Town.