the wonders of fb

so earlier this year i went into a little anti-fb rant. while i'm still wary and more selective about posts, i can't deny that fb has its fabulous moments too.

the first place we stayed in london was a converted bus depot, which may or not have been approved for human habitation. it was doubtlessly functional, as any bus depot space divided into two storeys and a couple of "rooms" would be, and an instant base for us to find our feet from. but it wasn't home and we're glad to have moved into a one bedder since. spent most of summer 2012 furnishing the space and as with most shoebox apartments, we had to be space efficient. we've always wanted a comfortable sofa that would engulf you as you flop onto it. the sofa we got wasn't. instead,  it was inexpensive, practical and multi-tasking.  

yet what you pay is what you get. much as the mister and i go for good value, sometimes you've just gotta bite the bullet and dig deep into the pocket. we've been on the look out for our perfect sofa for the longest time and after a near miss last summer, the mister struck sofa jackpot last week. it's times like this i'm especially grateful for a husband who enjoys furniture shopping and negotiates a 77% discount (originally 60% off but he somehow charmed a further 17% out!) for a defect-free UK-made piece. other times i lament how it's me on the receiving end of his persuasive power, like when i find myself hiking and kayaking against my will. it's quite unreal, really, how we ended up getting our grown up / grow old with me sofa. which brings us back to the small flat. timing was of the essence and at a pinch, we could probably fit the new sofa and not have much floor space left. 

in true tag team fashion, the mister sorted out delivery and i set about arranging collection for our starter sofa before said delivery. it's only 18 months old and in good condition so the obvious thing to do was to donate it to a charity shop that offered free collection. but it was such a faff trying to get the british*heart foundation to pick it up. i called the hotline that wasn't a hotline but the swansea (?) outlet then got directed to wandsworth which was no help and diverted me to ealing. after half an hour there was still no direction! got fed up and thought i'd chance fb. within minutes, a london-based friend got in touch, said she'd rent a zipvan and collect it in the morning. snooze you lose, bhf! thrilled that L took the sofa off our hands with no fuss. the sweetheart even gave us chocolates when i should be thanking her for sparing me the charity shop collection nightmare! all it took was one fb post and good timing :) yay for economy and resourceful friends!