Speechless, me. Well, almost! As I was driving to pick up the kids from school, I went past a sign stuck next to a BBQ offering it free of charge. There was also a coffee table and a small pile of wood. I reefed the car around - very gently of course! - and backtracked to the loot. A couple of guys were wheeling a trolley back into the house where the goodies had come from and they came over to talk to me. I asked them to give me a lift with the coffee table so I could get it in the back of the car, but we soon realised I'd have to put the seats down and I knew I couldn't do that until I'd picked up the kids from school. A light flashed on in my brain and I offered the guys $20 to deliver my spoils in the Budget truck as our house was only just around the corner. They thought it was a fair deal, I gave them directions then went to get the kids.
As I was driving home, I noticed they'd finished loading the truck. I stopped to say that they could just follow me and then somebody asked if I would like a 6'x3' dining table... um yes please! The woman - who I presumed to be the wife of one of the guys outside - asked me to come and have a look at the table, to make sure I really did want to bring it home... then she offered me the chairs in the top picture (there are 4 altogether. They have matching cushions for the backrests - I will take more pics tomorrow!), plus some bar stools with wicker kind of seats, plus a butler's trolley with drop down sides, plus a couple of mops and a mop bucket, a plant pot and more!
The also offered me a couple of desks - the hutch on the right (on top of the coffee table) belongs on the desk on the left, then there is a cane one sitting on its end in the middle of the picture. You can see the table at the back and a bit of the barbeque poking out. What an amazing haul! I still can't believe it! I kept on asking whether they were sure, and saying that I felt very greedy and really, didn't anybody else want it? But they'd had all the family members through the house and everyone had already taken what they wanted and the rest was going to the op shop anyway. They reassured me I was doing them a favour and here I sit, still bemused and gob-smacked at their generosity - plus the two trips it took to deliver everything. For which I'd given them $20, but still.....!!!!! Oh and I almost forgot there was also a pair of cow horns (an essential accessory for every home!) and scrap wood that will come in handy in the garden...
Joe was impressed just with the barbeque, coffee table, vice and cane desk (which I will use for storage in the garage), but when he came inside and saw everything else, he was just as gobsmacked as I had been a couple of hours earlier. Everything needs a bit of TLC, but it's all stuff you can do things with - the coffee table has old brown tiles which I will remove and mosaic with broken bits of old china I have waiting for a home. But all in good time!
Can you believe it?! I will post more photos tomorrow - Sophie is particularly proud of her proper desk (the one with the hutch) and has it set up with teddies, books, drawing materials and more.
Smiles all around!