One of my long-term dreams has been to own a roll top desk. Ideally it would be made of mahogany, with a leather topped desk area and lots of little drawers to store my writing (and drawing) paraphernalia. But honestly, I was not really that fussy – almost any roll top desk would do.
On Saturday I opened my messages to see a roll top desk being offered on Freecycle. I collect it, I get to keep it – for free! I sent back a hopeful message. Sunday morning I got a call. It was mine!
Fortunately we own a metal canopy trailer. Perfect. The weather has been quite wet of late. We were going to need a cover so the desk would not be drowned on the way home. We (as in my hubby) hitched up the trailer and we set off on a one hour tour to collect the coveted item.
Little did we know what a saga would be involved.
Twenty-five minutes later we arrived at the it’s soon-to-be-ex home. The desk was a heavy brute. We finally got it to the trailer…
It would not fit through the back gate of the trailer. Nor the side doors. The openings were four centimetres too small!
Fine – just unscrew the bolts and remove the canopy. Easy.
Not. The bolts were stuck fast. What to do? I took advantage of mobile phone technology, calling taxi truck companies. No go. They were either closed for Sunday or would cost $100 per hour, with a minimum of 4 hours hire. For a free, second-hand roll top desk? Not likely.
So it was that we lugged the desk back to the house, ensuring it was under cover; the grey clouds were gathering and the temperature had already dropped a few degrees. We drove back home, unhooked the trailer and made our way to Bunnings (hardware store). Best news of the day? We got free trailer hire if we bought something. Well, we did need a new tarp – especially as we no longer had the canopy to protect the precious cargo from the oncoming storm. We had two hours until the trailer was due back.
Once again we started our one hour tour to collect my ‘free’ roll top desk. Fate was laughing at us – again. Do you know how much fun it is not to get lost on a detour of the back streets, with malfunctioning GPS, following a total inbound road closure (three lanes) – complete with five police cars, at least one fire engine (and I think I also saw an ambulance)?
Eventually we arrived at our destination, loaded up the desk, tied down the tarp and began the final trek homeward. Yet another detour – as traffic on the main road was now backed up for kilometres on the outbound lanes as well – and we were navigating the back streets once more.
Home again. Only seven minutes to go until the trailer is due to be returned. Our fingers flew as we wrangled my Dear Heart’s excellent knot tying skills and finally released my prize. The trailer was just returned on time.
On Monday night my desk found its new home – in the front room Thank you Freecycle Gifter.
A one hour pickup grew into a four hour adventure. At least the hail has held off until today.
Now what to write???
