Calamities that changed the world and moving house.

What does these two have in common? Well, for my family at least, it seems that this is the second time we are moving house in a midst of a global calamity. I remember moving house to Woodlands from Yishun in late 2001. I remembered moving to our new house with some furniture still missing (we bought them, but it hasn’t arrive yet). We were having takeout dinner in the living room with the new coffee table, but no sofa yet. The TV was already set up at one corner of the living room. As we were having dinner on the 11th of September 2001, two planes were headed towards the twin towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan. That singular event will forever be seared in my mind. It changed the world completely. I remember a sense of dread the next morning as I went to school, unable to focus on school work for much of the day, with the clip on TV of the planes crashing onto the buildings like missiles constantly looping in my mind. I was only 14. But I understood the implications and the severity of that singular event.

Fast forward almost 20 years later, and my parents are moving house again. 2020 was the planned year in which they will officially start hunting for a new house, sell the old one, start renovating and finally moving and settling down to their new house. It will be their retirement home moving forward. My parents aren’t young anymore. So it was important for them to choose a house and furnish it well so that they can live the rest of their days in bliss. Usually, such a move requires lots of planning, and the whole process will take at least the better half of a year.

Now, we are in the midst of moving. Renovation is about to start on the new home. It will take about two weeks or so, while we finalise the logistics of furniture delivery, kitchen appliances delivery, packing and finally moving. Their target date to finally settle into their new house will be no later than 1st May. They started house hunting back in December. Got a buyer for their old house in January. Made the transaction over several weeks, dealing with paperwork and such. I was right. Moving house takes a better part of half a year.

Coronavirus is raging globally and a catastrophe on such an epic scale is happening in the midst of our move. What a coincidence!

The world will remember what life was like B.C. (Before Coronavirus) and what life will be like A.C. (After Coronavirus).