I hope you are sitting comfortably as this is a long story! A long, long time ago I ordered a shed from a company that had been recommended to me. The recommendation came with the warning that getting the shed would be an experience but the ultimate item would be a good un! They weren’t wrong! Every couple of weeks I have been ringing them up asking when my shed is going to be delivered and have either not been able to get hold of them or have been told a range of reasons as to why it wasn’t coming just yet but it would be really, really soon. I suspect you are thinking “why not just get a shed from somewhere else” and it’s a very valid thought but this was a really good shed, in fact it was more than a shed – it was an section of an old army building so it was more solid and warmer etc So the waiting continued…
Amazingly a couple of weeks ago I got the call to say that the shed was going to be arriving on Monday but it was coming on an artic lorry which wouldn’t be able to fit under the railway bridge up to the farm so I had to sort something out. A very kind man called John who has a trailer agreed that he would bring it down to the bridge and we got unload it from the lorry and them put it on the trailer to get it up the hill. Easy we thought! Monday came and it got to lunch time – nothing. I called and was told they would call me back. John went up and down the road to check just in case. nothing. It got to Half 6 they ring and say it’s not coming today it’s going to be thursday now and its really heavy so we will need some strapping folk to get it off the lorry.
Irritating but not the end of the world. I manged to gather together some strong folk ready for thursday and the trailer was still available. It was seeming that the shed might actually be ours at last… 7pm on Thursday we get the call – not today maybe next week ho hum…
I was going to be away if France the next week so I had to once again call on the favours of John and Chris who said they would sort it out for me which was great!. I got a call on the Monday night saying it would be there 9am tuesday. John and Chris were poised ready for action… around 4pm I get a call from the lorry driver saying he is an hour away. Massively late but at least the reality of the shed was closer he was actually trying to get there. 7 o’clock arrives and John and his helpers have to go home. No sign of the shed.
8pm and the shed finally arrives – so close!
It turns out that the shed has been packed up and loaded onto the back of the lorry by a fork lift. It is dark now and Chris is only one man – the driver is not inclined to help him get it of the back of the lorry. Andy the Digger Driver who lives down the lane was on hand and came to have a look but he didn’t have anything that could get it off the lorry and there was no way he and Chris could have done it themselves. They call the company and after some umming and arrhhing they agree to send some people to help unload. The lorry can’t really fit into the road up to the farm so they decide to go up the road to the garden centre and unload their. At least if they can get it off the lorry they can leave it their until I get back from France. By about middnight the men have arrived and the shed has been unloaded and stacked in the carpark. the lorry driver spends the night in his cab and Chris gets up bright and early to check with the Garden Centre people that it is ok to leave it their until the weekend. Exhausting for all involved but at least we have the shed.
Or do we? Roger and John decided to go and see if they could move any bits up on the trailer themselves and when they arrive they find some gentlemen trying to help themselves to it as according to them no one wanted it so they should make use. John let them know it was wanted but it certainly seemed we couldn’t leave it their until the weekend as the chances of it staying put were small.
What to do next , Roger, John and Chris are all retired from work and retired from lifting really heavy stuff so they couldn’t move the shed themselves and all the people that I know that could help were at work and it would be dark by the time they were finished. We had a mild panic! Amazingly though Chris managed to recruit some fabulous people, even some of the boys from the Garden Centre helped and after 5 or 6 journeys and a couple of hours of lifting the shed finally made it to Allotmore. I am massively grateful to everyone that helped. I can’t believe something as simple as a shed could have caused such a palaver. I have brought back a shed load of wine from France to thank everyone 🙂 Now all we need to do is put it up… what could possibly go wrong 😉
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