Day 1217 Taking stock

10th December 2020

It was collection day, no work in the garage, and the sun was shining. Kelli had scoured Marketplace for furniture in areas that would make an easy, and convenient collection route.

We set off for Allendale (the second trip in as many days) to pick up a pink dresser.

It had been left on the porch of a large house set back off the road. There were a collection of vehicles parked all around the place. They ranged from a small bulldozer, a four wheel dune buggy, a large RV and a speedboat. That didn’t include the truck and car in the garage.

It looked like a police pound for stolen vehicles, but that seems normal here.

Next stop was a mobile home park in Grand Rapids. We were to pick up a pine dresser covered in child’s graffiti with a broken knob.

From the look of the owner, who could barely get his beard out from the broken door, he probably gnawed it off in a fit of rage.

It was then off to another address in Grand Rapids to collect a set of screw on legs for an ottoman we had got from Goodwill a week ago.

I gave the lady a shock when I stuck my head around the garage side door and said in my finest English accent “Hello”

She was halfway up a ladder to the loft to get the legs down. Her husband had done a rare thing and put them away rather than leaving them on the porch.

That’s what porches are for over here, leaving shit on, what else?

Then we made our way home, but there was another collection to be done later.

It is always a good idea to collect stuff in the dark, I’m surprised we haven’t taken other thing by mistake, because it is often pitch black, it’s only the glow from Kelli’s teeth that lights our way.

We arrived at this address in Zeeland. The lady was there as we drove up, and guided us down the slope of their garden to a door in the basement.

This was going to be a challenge, there was a tall dresser, a long dresser and two side tables.

Once again the storage capacity of a Toyota Highlander amazes me. We managed to get all of it in, and close the doors, the interesting thing whether we will be able to get it all out again is another matter.

We devised a new game on our travels, based on the card game of snap! Every time we see a Trump flag or sign in someone’s front garden it’s the first one to shout “Idiot!” wins the point, and there’s many points to be won.