Last week I got set up with three different Dutch moving companies who want to help facilitate our move. It’s nice but it’s complicated.

It’s complicated because they each need to pick an American moving company to partner with and pick up our stuff, and two of them have set me up with moving companies in Seattle instead of Portland. I don’t want to make fun of them, because Seattle is only three hours from Portland and in the last week alone I’ve told people I can make afternoon trips from Amsterdam to visit them in Italy, Munich, and Ireland. Seattle is pretty close if you don’t zoom in on the map too much, and these Dutch moving companies aren’t big on zooming.

It’s also complicated because everyone wants to come take a look at our storage unit, which is half an hour from our apartment, and several hours from Seattle.

And it’s complicated because one Dutch moving company has a representative named Brenner or something, who calls every few nights at one in the morning Portland time, and leaves very polite messages that I don’t hear until after their office is closed.

I called Blennen back this morning at 6:30am my time, about a week after I should have called him. Bmennev’s English was flawless. He asked how I was and I asked how he was.

“Well quite bad, because I’ve been trying to contact you and you don’t return my calls.” Bvennel said.

I don’t think I get to pick moving companies, but I like Bnellek’s no-nonsense attitude and I hope he gets the job. And I hope he picks an American moving company in my time zone.

Image: Tom Gauld