Lift Adventures

Dear Diary,

I'm still in the grip of the Cold, and reality still feels a bit blurry. 

Yesterday I might possibly have managed to pass the virus on to strangers myself. (Hopefully neither they nor I will ever know.) 

When stepping into the lift to go down to the laundry room in the basement, instead of taking me straight down there, the lift (very confusingly) took me UP to the 3rd floor - where I was joined by a youngish couple whom I can't recall ever having seen before. Presumably living here, though, as they weren't dressed to go outdoors. Their destination was the basement as well. (The ride down only takes half a minute, which did not really allow for more conversation than to establish that fact.) 

Down there, our ways parted. The couple disappeared down the corridor towards some storage space. I had the laundry room to myself; and over the next 2-3 hours also managed to go up/down in the lift on my own a few more times without interference... Until finally I was going back up with my last bag of dry clothes...

When the lift came down, and the door opened, it was empty of people - but its floor covered with Stuff. I could also hear voices from the entrance floor above. Obviously someone was in the process of moving things (perhaps also themselves?) either in or out of the building.

Not yet having walked the whole set of stairs up to my flat since before my knee accident, I really did not want my first attempt to be with the extra burden of a heavy bag - and who knows, maybe even encountering other people carrying things or furniture as well... 

On the other hand: Stepping into a lift half full of someone else's stuff didn't seem like a super idea either. So I didn't. But left the lift go back up without me.

There's a door to the stairwell next to the lift. I opened that; and caught sight of a couple of people handling more "stuff" up at the entrance. One of them was (I think) the same man who had been in the lift with me when I first went down. Luckily it seemed they were moving things out of the lift rather than into it. I called their attention; and soon the man said that the lift had been emptied now so that I could use it.

Looking out of my window when I got back up to my flat, there was no removal van parked outside, though. Only an ordinary car. Not having known for quite a while now who lives in one of the flats upstairs, I'm still not sure if anyone was really moving out (or in). Perhaps they were just having a bit of a clearout. 

It did strike me that it was the 31st of the month, though. So note to self for the future: Avoid booking laundry room on the last (or first) day (or weekend) of the month...