Essex is a county in the East of England. The county town is Chelmsford,
and the highest point of the county is Chrishall Common near the village of Langley,
close to the Hertfordshire border, which reaches 482 feet (147 metres).
The name Essex derives from the East Seaxe or East Saxons. The Kingdom of Essex
was traditionally founded by Aescwine in 527 AD, occupying territory to the north
of the River Thames, incorporating much of what would later become Middlesex and
Hertfordshire, though its territory was later restricted to lands east of the River
Lee. It is through this origin as one of the 'Saxon' kingdoms that Essex is specifically
not part of the region known as East Anglia (the latter comprising Norfolk, Suffolk,
and Cambridgeshire), settled by tribes calling themselves 'Anglian'. Colchester
in the north east of the county is Britain's oldest recorded town, dating back to
before the Roman conquest, when it was known as Camulodunon, and was sufficiently
well-developed to have its own mint.
Essex County Council was formed in 1889. However, the County Borough of West Ham,
and from 1915 the County Borough of East Ham, formed part of the county but were
not under county council control. Southend-on-Sea also formed a county borough from
1914 to 1974. The boundary with Greater London was established in 1965 when the
former area of the East Ham and West Ham county boroughs and of the Barking, Chingford,
Dagenham, Hornchurch, Ilford, Leyton, Romford, Walthamstow and Wanstead and Woodford
districts was transferred to form the London boroughs of Barking, Havering, Newham,
Redbridge, and Waltham Forest; an area similar to that known as Metropolitan Essex.
Essex became part of the East of England Government Office Region in 1994 and was
statistically counted as part of that region from 1999, having previously been part
of the South East England region. In 1998 the districts of Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock
separated from the shire county of Essex becoming unitary districts.
A moving company, removalist, or van line is a company that helps
people and businesses relocate their goods from one place to another. Typically
they use moving vans, but for international moves or where storage is required they
may use special containerised vans or shipping containers.
National companies are typically organized with local branches or affiliated agents.
That affiliation may be in the form of a franchise, wherein the local agent is a
franchise of a national company, or a cooperative, wherein the local agent owns
a share of the national company. There are also many small independent moving companies
who operate within any given local area. In the United States all legitimate moving
companies must be licensed with the Federal Highway Administration and / or their
State Commerce Commission.
Household removals require careful wrapping and packing to avoid damage to furniture
and effects, so many household policies do not cover goods in transit unless they
are being packed, carried and unpacked by a professional remover. In the moving
industry, when a customer packs and unpacks his own boxes it is referred to as PBO
(packed by owner) and policies do not insure these goods. On PBO moves it can become
a point of huge contention between the mover and the customer as to who is at fault
regarding damaged items within a box. Was it packed improperly by the customer or
did the mover mishandle the box?
The process of packing a van or container for a removal requires that polished surfaces
are protected (usually with special blankets or cardboard). China and other fragile
effects are packed in rigid boxes, originally wooden tea chests but now usually
cardboard, with layers of bunched up blank newsprint commonly used to protect against
scratches and chips in transit. Soft materials may be packed in bags, suitcases
or boxes.
Removal vans will often have a Luton body, internal wooden wall bars to which tall
or heavy furniture can be secured with webbing, and a ramp or tail lift to assist
in loading. Space on trucks is at a premium, so an experienced loader will pack
into voids in furniture and use awkward shaped items such as ironing boards to fill
narrow gaps.
Moving furniture in and out of houses, especially older properties, presents challenges;
in areas where there are many older properties, furniture movers may be adept at
removing and reinstalling sash window panes. Most double bed bases can be split,
folded or dismantled.
Pianos are a particular problem; removals contractors will usually have specialist
piano trolleys and there is a device colloquially known as a shoe which is strapped
to the side of a grand piano to allow it to be rested on edge on the trolley without
damaging the polish or applying excessive force to the sides of the instrument.
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