Moving day was rapidly approaching. My girlfriend and I had found the most amazing apartment which had the dual benefit of being close enough to both our new jobs to eliminate transport and sporting the modern aesthetics? we both craved. It took months of wrangling to optout of our original leases, yet once that trouble was out of the way it appeared that it would be smooth sailing from one place to another. All we needed were the necessary plastic containers to pack our valuables into. The days of cardboard boxes breaking open are a thing of the past, thanks to these space-age storage boxes that would safely hold our valuables until we unpacked them. I am not one to give praise to such a humble creation, yet I must give these plastic boxes their due, as their space saving design and tight lids saved my goods from any possible damage.



A week before at my girlfriends apartment in the suburbs, we packed her clothing, toiletries, kitchenware, etc into various cardboard boxes with much squeezing and packing of items. Everything was going as planned until we attempted to lift the flimsy boxes, and the contents came spilling out onto the floor. ?We need more something more reliable then this?, I said. It was at very moment an idea formulated. The hardware store near her apartment had a sale on and I'd bet to myself that my solution lay in that musty old store. It was a Saturday and a particularly dry one at that. We emptied the boot of our car in preparation for new items and drove in the direction of the homeware store. Once inside, a variety of options presented themselves to us. There were large metal crates, bulky wooden ones and puzzlingly enough, see-through Plexiglas ones for those who do not favour privacy. Near the back-end of the store we uncovered the true treasure chest, a multitude of large plastic storage boxes. A rainbow of boxes ranging from tiny to enormous begged to be purchased. I selected eight wheeled bins which were easily stackable and my girlfriend did the same, only each one was a different hue

After the purchase of the plastic storage boxes our task of packing became much, much easier. The lids flip open smoothly and it loves to be filled with all and any materials we may have. Once the packing was complete (a day and a half later) we simply wheeled the plastic containers into a corner, stacked them on top of each other and cleaned the apartment for the next tenant. The packing for my apartment was slightly trickier. Although I possessed a large and spacious home, the corridors were tiny, barely wide enough for two people to walk sidebyside. This meant that after I had finished packing my countless number of gadgets and jeans, I would have no room to move more than one of the large plastic boxes at a time. Time was at an essence, so my former roommate and I worked throughout the night, packing plastic containers and slowly lowering them one at a time over my balcony and into the moving truck. It was a long and nasty experience.

The pay-off at the end was worth it though. Thanks to the various large plastic containers, we had successfully and easily moved from one apartment to another, with little to no collateral damage. My storage boxes are now packed away, eager for the next move where they will undoubtedly be unpacked then re-packed with all my goods. Cardboard boxes, I will not mourn your passing.