Coordination Breakdown

Mrs T's referrer, Nurse R, opened the door before we knocked. In the living room, Mrs T was laying on a light brown leather sofa. She didn't look comfortable at all. The lady needed a hospital bed and we came to make room for it. Next to the sofa stood an identical piece of furniture - apart from the fact that no one sane would sit or lay on it. Rows of nails poked through the fabric, and the frame could be described as "wobbly" at best. The couch didn't have one arm. Next to it laid a couple of long bolts with nuts. Someone must have had a stab at it!

"Cool glasses!" exclaimed a tall gentleman, who was standing by the door to the back garden when he saw Sevan. "They look just like mine!"

The man, who we learnt was called Mr P, disappeared in the garden, then returned to tell us there were tools outside. He moved his bike out of the way to make more space for the sofa exit. When he tried to be more helpful, Nurse R assured him we would know how to break the couch into pieces, and led him out of the living room.

From the very start, Sevan was obsessed with tearing the fabric and leather of the couch, which would help us separate the back from the seat. He tried different approaches, including furious stabbing the textile with a screwdriver.

Kash tried a hammer to take the sofa arm. When she realised that loosening the nut with a spanner would be more reasonable, it was too late. After Kash had mangled the frame, the nut was no longer easily accessible. While she had another go with using the hammer as a lever, a little table in the corner tipped, and something decorative dropped on the floor. Mrs T seemed worried seeing Kash's lack of coordination. Kash assured her that nothing had broken but she took out the small table into the garden to make room for using brute force.

Sevan had an idea about separating the loosened sofa's arm - we would fold it until it cracked. And snap! The arm was no longer attached to the couch's body. It hung miserably on a piece of leather. We then tore off the material that connected the back and the seat - Sevan released his inner beast again and stamped on the fabric until it tore. The back was free to go out!

Mr P suddenly made an appearance again and took one side of the sofa's back to take it to the bins with Kash. Sevan carried the pillows that Kash had torn off. The second trip to the refuse area had Sevan and Kash carrying the seat and Mr P the arm of the sofa. The mission was finished in 20 minutes. On the way back, our helper Mr P found a Tesco carrier bag next to a bin with a treasure inside: a toy car for one of his grandchildren! It might have been broken, but certainly not as bad as the battered sofa we left outside! Hopefully, Mrs T will get her hospital bed early next week!