What items would you pack in the “open me first” box while moving?
Off the top of my head:
new shower curtain, still in package, that I just bought
1 towel per person
1 set of dishes/silverware/something to drink out of per person
coffee maker
corkscrew because I’ll need THAT in fairly short order
Haha, you can see what my priorities are! But, I’m completely blanking on what else this should include.
Every other move I’ve done has been local and done over the course of several weeks.
Since we will be in temporary housing for a while, I’m not including things like a roll of TP or basic toiletries, since we’ll be able to, like, grocery shop while in town but not in a long term apartment yet. Also not clothing because we’ll have a big suitcase apiece of that already that’s going with us on the drive down.
This reminds me that I do not actually own a rain jacket! That doesn’t seem wise given where we are moving!
All that will be with us in the temporary rental. Chargers, battery packs in case of storm, Kindle. Sleep mask is a good reminder.
Oh! Bedding and pillows! adding to list
On two occasions - one of which was New Orleans 10 years ago! - I have developed a pounding headache while traveling and after hours when no stores were open. You should’ve heard the profanities coming out of my mouth when I discovered that the Walgreens (?) near where we were in the Quarter closed at 10 at night! I never ever travel without painkillers any more and I have emergency advil hidden in my purse and in my makeup case if I forget. It really sucks to be unable to sleep at all because you feel like your head might actually explode.
LOL that Walgreens sells booze there.
… actually I think some Walgreens here do too, it varies by ward and in my ward you can’t get booze at Aldi or Walgreens or CVS. Though you can at the Jewel? Go figure. One ward over, no such restrictions. It’s very odd.
Whatever you want for pajamas and one clean pair of underwear in case things go wrong with however your clothing’s getting there. And a toothbrush.
Roll of paper towels for the inevitable cat issues. If having the roll keeps there from being any cat issues, you’ve won. And it can double as plates because you’re going to want delivery pizza that first night. You know, to go with your wine.
Oh, put the bottle of wine in, just in case you get there after Walgreen’s closes.
Ok, I’m really doing it, going to start biking to work next week.
Bike safety question/tricky intersection
There is an intersection that I’m not sure how to handle safely since it’s been many many years since I’ve ridden in urban areas.
Basically, at one point during my short commute, the right lane turns into a turning lane only and I need to shift to the left lane to keep going straight. Immediately before this is a big intersection and then a very busy right turn from the right lane into a parking lot. Helpfully, a bike lane starts immediately after this . This is a fairly busy street so there will likely be cars merging in both directions just past the main intersection in order to get to their preferred direction. My other options are all busier streets with a similarly tricky intersection.
Question: When is the safest time to move to the left lane?
Alternative question: if it’s very unsafe, should I walk the bike on the sidewalk for that stretch?
Pics below. Red arrows are the lane that I need to get out of, green shows the start of the bike lane, yellow is where I will be biking in the right lane through the main intersection before the tricky spot.
I’m trying to be somewhat anonymous here so I may remove them later. (I know at least one person here may recognize the intersection lol and it’s not like my house is in the photo).
Sheets for the bed and extra sheets (for the windows, in case there aren’t blinds). Cat related stuff, tape, toilet paper, paper towels, trash bags, meds, chargers, zip ties (always useful), knives (to open the rest of the boxes), and all your valuable documents.
That is really tricky. My inclination is to stay all the way right until the last minute, where the Y intersection is, but then if there’s a lot of traffic it may be impossible to move over. I’ve ridden in the left lane before in a situation like that, but I know it feels very much like…I shouldn’t be here…but technically if you are supposed to move according to traffic laws, and you are not turning right, I would think it is ok to be in the left lane. You could stay all the way right, and then stop in the shoulder where the red lane veers away from the green lane, wait for traffic to clear and then ride across the road to the green lane. Paging @anomalily who is much more experienced at riding in busy city streets
I am cautious and not a great biker so I would walk a few times at least until you get a sense of how busy it it.
I had a similar intersection where my options were 1) walk the bike, 2) stay all the way to the left the whole time and take up the whole lane like a car, which was surprisingly ok since there was less traffic going slower than I expected or 3) go on a side street for a while and avoid the whole thing. Once I figured it out I mostly went with 3.
There’s a crosswalk at the y intersection so I definitely could stop and use the crosswalk to get back over to the bike lane.
If there’s a red light at the big intersection I could inch into the crosswalk to claim the left lane more right from the start.
In case it’s relevant, I will be riding an ebike so I can go pretty fast pretty quickly. Not sure if that makes things safer or not if cars would be surprised by the speed…
Oh, in that case I think I’d just stay left as long as you feel safe. I’d do as you said, claim the left lane in advance at the crosswalk so the stopped cars see you and expect you to be there…I’d put it into “turbo” mode and zoom through that section and hop into the bike lane when you can. The cars will be ok for a block, and that looks like a downtown area so I can’t imagine the speed limits are super fast?
Thanks, that’s a good point I can walk at first and see how I feel as I get used to the traffic patterns.
There’s not a great side street option but I could take the right at the y intersection, which is a two-lane one-way street. I’d have to go through another light but it would end up hitting a side street that would take me right where I need to go so maybe that’s a better option! I’d have to go ~25 feet on the side street in the wrong direction because it’s briefly a one-way street though… hmmm
Once you do it a few times it’s also much easier to see what sidewalks you could possibly ride on vs which are too narrow/crowded. When I rode on the way out from work there was a really nice bike lane but on the way in (because of one way streets built for cars) there was a very pothole filled road with street parking and no foot traffic and I could ride on the sidewalk for a few iffy blocks.
. This is a fairly busy street so there will likely be cars merging in both directions just past the main intersection in order to get to their preferred direction. My other options are all busier streets with a similarly tricky intersection.
