There are two stages of packing for a move, as everyone knows. The first stage happens when you have loads of time before you have to leave, and is when you box things up in a way that makes sense. You slowly wrap up all but one of each piece of crockery in old wrapping paper and copies of The Metro, and put them in a box with KITCHEN written on the side. You put most of your books and DVDs in smaller boxes because they are very heavy. The majority of your clothes go into a suitcase.
The second stage is the panic stage, which is done anywhere from about a week from your moving date up to the second you hand your keys back. At this point you shove everything into wherever it will fit and have a lot of boxes that say ‘GENERAL’ or ‘STUFF’. When you start unpacking these boxes, you get to enjoy being suddenly ambushed by a load of pants or a scented candle lurking in a box of plugs and batteries. Unpacking does a very accurate representation of this, whilst also being a very satisfying and sweet game of Tetris-with-stuff.