So I moved the couch this evening.

The couch hasn�t been moved in quite some time and I had a suspicion that I might not like what we found back there when the movers came to carry it out of the house. So I decided that I would pull it out from the wall myself, before the movers came or even Betty came home from holidays, and vacuum so that I wouldn�t later be embarrassed by the mess.

And what did I find?

Aside from the expected dust balls, bunnies and clumps, the most popular items were beer bottle caps (numbering at least a dozen) and the tiny foil tops off Hershey�s Kisses. You know, the ones that surround the tiny chocolate tops that almost inevitably break off the second you go to unwrap them? The presence of so many little bits of foil was somewhat sad. While beer bottle caps are only to be expected given how much glorious amber liquid is consumed around here, the little chocolate drops only appear in this house about once a year when I go to the States to see friends and shop for clothes, and always bring a supply of chocolate back as well. And not that big a supply.

Among the other things found down the back of the couch: a chapstick, two pieces of unopened junk mail, half a dozen price labels pulled off the back of books, several pistachio shells (which at least I know I�m not responsible for given my allergy to nuts), and the plastic wrappings that come on CDs and DVDs. Fortunately nothing truly gross. Unfortunately no money.

Getting around to cleaning behind the couch was just one part of my final week in the house. Standing in the shower this morning, hunched over shaving my legs, I realised that it was the last time I would be doing that in this house.

Everything I do this week will be the last time I do it in this house.

By next Monday I�ll be totally moved. It�s starting to feel a little odd really. For all the problems with this house - the crumbling plaster, the ever dodgy plumbing, the slugs (a whole other story) - it�s been pretty good to me over the last seven years. The great landlord, cheap rent, fantastic location, huge rooms. I�m looking forward to my new place, new kitchen, good plumbing, no slugs, but still, it�s going to be very strange not to be here.

I�m not going to miss the way that dust gathers on every surface about five seconds after you clean it. Or gathers in large balls under the couch - though that, like the dozen bottle caps, is clearly at least partly my own fault - but I am going to miss it. So, I�m determined to appreciate it, even with all it�s quirks and foibles, for the rest of the week.

And in my new place, the couch isn�t going to be flush against a wall.