Quite a mixture of comings and goings here in the Quirky Museum. I am pleased to report these are all positive.
As part of our kitchen and laundry upgrade taking place this summer, it was time to say farewell to the old gas tumble dryer. Nothing wrong with it really, though it was a bit of a blast furnace, therefore not best suited to one’s delicate fabrics and my increased collection of snug fitting jumpers.
I digress. The main reason for getting rid of the old tumble dryer was because of my nervousness with the old iron gas pipes running under the house and the occasional whiff of gas. So we have a snazzy new electric one now. Not a fast dryer but a thrifty one, so that’s just perfect.
The old one was put up for sale on eBay for £200. Initially someone was willing to buy it for spares and offered a miserly £35 which was promptly declined.
After a while another buyer came forward and agreed to pay the asking price and he duly arrived in his Range Rover. Not just any RR but a BLACK one, the most menacing, mean and aggressive versions of these gas guzzling vehicles which I have bemoaned many times before. Despite his car, he seemed a pleasant enough chap and I even helped him lift it into the boot. He explained he’d been to an auction and had hoped to buy a disused chapel, with the intention of converting it into a house. He didn’t get the chapel but instead bought a redundant hotel in Blackpool on impulse and this is where the need for a gas tumble dryer came in; he’d been advised this was the smart thing to do. So all good there.
Then there was the gas hob. How this was one we had bought second hand ourselves, about three years ago when we moved here. Back then it was £100, plus installation and a subsequent repair. Once again, eBay to the rescue. The first man to come and collect it declined when he saw it. It has been used(!) and was therefore not absolutely pristine. The second man was delighted and happily paid as much as we had paid for it! So again, all good.
While this is all very positive, I regret having to report that our snazzy new kitchen is still not finished, almost after having started. No doubt the kitchen fitters have started umpteen other kitchens in that time but they STILL haven’t finished ours. At least they haven’t given us an invoice for the final stage (they must realise that I am not paying it until it’s completed).
The final tale to tell is a charming one. Rachel had sold a set of champagne flutes, again on eBay. These were over a hundred years old and rather delicate. The deal was done and an arrangement was made where we met the new owner on Harlington station in order to hand them over, rather than have them turned into a zillion useless pieces in the back of a tatty old Transit van.
We met the new owner, a well spoken lady who lived near St Pancras, don’t you know. No need to wear a red carnation or stand under the station clock. The deal was done in a flash. She traveled back to London on the next train and we simply drove back to our village.
So all in all some very worthwhile and pleasant comings and goings. All good.