Danger! Danger! A storm is coming!

It's been a while since I posted. You would think that it's because of "real life" catching up to me, or whatever people say when their work and family takes too much time. But no! The reason why I haven't written about the games is actually the games themselves!

I live up north, far too close to the arctic circle. November is coming fast, and so is winter and snow! After my little local roadtrip a couple of months ago I suddenly had 9 arcade cabinets in the garage. That doesn't leave room for much else, let alone my car. I dreaded the thought of having to park outside and remove 10 cm of snow every morning through the winter. I also have the garden tools, furniture, bbq and all those things which I'd prefer to get inside before the first snowfall! Most important of all, I didn't want to move the games in winter conditions. I planned to rent the same large trailer that I used to pick up the games, and it's difficult enough to handle it without the icy roads.
I had been postponing for too long, and two weeks ago I asked three friends if they could help me move. The first date that was good for all of them was October 24th. Now, if you don't know the climate we have in this corner of the world, I will tell you that the weather can change from one day to the next. You look out on your green garden and go to bed, and the next morning 15 cm of snow punches you in the face. That was what I was very afraid of. I had to get the games moved before winter came.

Picture borrowed from the web

What I had planned was no small operation. I wouldn't worry if I had to move 1 or 2 games, but I was about to move 12! Our local pinball and arcade community has a game room where I have been storing games. I was going to take 4 of them home to my game room, and also bring 8 of the cabinets from the garage to storage. The trailer can take 4 games at a time, so that's a total of three trips back and forth. Doing this in heavy snowfall and on slippery roads would be a total nightmare.

The days went by, and I frankly felt stressed. The outside temperatures were getting colder, and I could see the first signs of frost in the morning. I tried to prepare as much as I could:

• Changed to winter tires
• Prepared games to be moved from storage, did a lot of tidying and freed up space
• Reserved trailer
• Made sure we'd have free passage in front of the storage area
• Made sure we'd have free passage in front of my garage

I was still nervous, but it was all looking quite good. Then Tuesday came, and the newspaper headlines hit me like a ton of bricks.

WORST SNOWFALL IN THE COUNTY SINCE 15 YEARS! 30 CM SNOW FROM TOMORROW TO SATURDAY!

Tomorrow? But.. That's when I'm moving the games..
My heart sank. I got a feeling in my stomach as if someone grabbed it and twisted it around and around. In my mind I could see arcade cabinets pulled through a thick slush of water and snow while standing in the middle of a blizzard. I could see the trailer slide off the road and fall over. In other words, I wasn't very positive, and there wasn't much I could do at this point. I bought a couple of tarpaulins, one for the floor of my game room, and one to cover each game as they were moved to and from the trailer. Still, I'll admit that I had the worst night's sleep I've had in years.

Tarpaulin on the game room floor

Wednesday was suddenly here, and so was moving day! I was looking anxiously out the office window all day, but there really wasn't much snow. That was expected, as the bad weather was supposed to kick in at 6 pm. I picked up the trailer at about 6:30, and still no sign of snow.
Well, to make the story very short, it all went well! Far better than I had feared. In all fairness, some snow fell while we were moving between the trailer and storage, but we were safe under an overhanging roof. The whole job took less than three hours, and all the games are in place now.

..and not a day too soon! The snow came with full magnitude that night, and completely transformed the landscape the next morning.
I am sitting inside a warm office building and looking at the mayhem outside. I'm so happy that the games are safe and warm, I don't have words. The newspapers are filled with reports of car crashes and trucks sliding and blocking the road. We could even see an accident from the office window.

Today this is actually a nice view

The only casualties were a socket wrench and the back door of my Outrun mini. My friends warned me that I should lay this cabinet on its side, but I didn't listen to them. Looks like the weight was too much so the door cracked. Oh well, it can be repaired. And all in all, everything went far better than I had feared. I want so send a big thank you to my friends for the invaluable help. I owe you all!

I'm going to write more about my game room now that I'm filling it with games, but here's a preview after the move. Looks like a restoration is long overdue!