Southwark

Mission

Amazing space, how sweet the ground

2 GoodGymers made their way to help an isolated older person in Southwark.

  • David Drury
  • Elizabeth
 
Thursday, 28th of November 2019

Tonight I met up with Dave for a mission in Southwark for Mr W.

Mr W is currently in hospital following a fall he had three weeks ago. I'd previously visited his home 2 weeks ago on a mission to remove a bed to allow him to be released from hospital. Unfortunately, more space needed to be made before the hospital equipment could be installed. GoodGym were asked if we could help with this.

After saying hello to Mr W's wife, Mrs W (or re-hello for me), we got started. Our instructions for this mission were very, very, very detailed and involved moving a lot of breakable figurines and some large display cabinets. Consequently, the first thing we did was to ask Mrs W what needed to be moved instead of looking at our instructions. This was a bit of a rookie mistake, but we think it worked out well in the end.

In essence, our advance instructions were to move large display cabinets and a couple of armchairs on the right hand side of the living room into an adjacent bedroom. Instead, what happened was that we moved some smaller, stackable coffee tables and an armchair from the left hand side of the living room into the bedroom. This was because Mrs W really didn't want the right hand side furniture in the bedroom as she thought that it would block access to her clothing. She was also a bit worried about it blocking the static hoist in her room, which was fixed near the ceiling.

Space-master Dave had a look at it and reckoned Mrs W was right: Not only would the right hand side furniture block access (it was mostly large display cabinets), he was also worried that we wouldn't be able to put Mrs W's bed back into position at the end of the move. This would mean that Mrs W would have to sleep in her chair. On the other hand, I was concerned about her heater being blocked during winter. Not ideal. So, after a bit of head scratching, discussions with Mrs W, and some string to measure spaces relative to Mrs W's hospital bed, we decided that if we moved the furniture on the left hand side, everything should just about fit.

Plans made, we started shifting. Mrs W has some really interesting collections, including some Liverpool FC memorabilia, which led to discussions about people I've never heard of, and so will probably come up in conversation again within the next month or so. Such is life (and the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon).

An hour or so after our start time, we'd just about finished moving everything (and no breakages!! 🎉😄), and it was time to say goodbye. There was just enough time for Dave to do a quick angel on the floor to demonstrate the space we'd made before we headed off into the night 😎

See you again soon, Dave! 😄

Report written by Elizabeth


Discuss this report

Kate Jansen
Kate Jansen
Friday November 29th, 2019 12:50

Thank you SO much guys! This has been a long haul for Mr & Mrs D but the end is in sight now, but it could not have happened without you.

Thanks for going the extra mile and even cleaning!

Sorry that you were caught up in conflicting requests from therapists and Mrs D.

We've learnt some lessons from this too

Elizabeth
Elizabeth
Friday November 29th, 2019 13:33

It's really good to hear that the end is in sight! :) We could tell that she really missed him

Amy Pezet
Amy Pezet
Friday November 29th, 2019 16:06

Brilliant job Liz and Dave and it's great to hear that Mr W might be home soon!

Redbridge runner
Redbridge runner
Monday December 2nd, 2019 13:01

Well done, both! Great title, Liz!

Elizabeth
Elizabeth
Monday December 2nd, 2019 16:50

Cheers, Dharmesh! :)

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