Dave, Ian and Nicky arrived bright eyed and bushy tailed at 0830 for this urgent mission to help move a sofa and bag up some clothes so that Mr W’s new hospital bed could be delivered. Mr W was amazed when we rang the buzzer on the buzzer of 0830! He was very pleased to see us and welcomed us warmly.

Mr W explained that his new bed was due to be delivered that afternoon and reassured us that the sofa was very light and he had brought it in single handedly nearly 20 years ago. The challenge was that since then many other belongings had also joined him in the flat and our first task was to bag up 20 years of paperwork, CDs and clothing to help free up the sofa and chair so that we could lift them out. It was a veritable treasure trove with World Atlases, Torches, multiple pairs of trainers, pillows, newspapers celebrating key events, money boxes and a fantastic collection of books and CDs. We dedicated a bag just to glasses cases, of which we found 18, and as the lounge floor revealed itself the balcony bag pile grew ever taller.

Sofa and chair free we then set about the task of planning their exit route. The chair was easy to lift out and take down to the garage, giving us a false sense of confidence. The sofa was long and sturdy and didn’t seem to want to leave its home of 20 years. If the exit wasn’t challenging enough, every wall was covered in mirrors, bringing lots of light to the room and also the potential risk of many years of bad luck if we broke them!?!

We unleashed our inner Ross from friends and the morning chorus of “Pivot!!!” rang through the apartment! After lots of grunts, tight squeezes, lifting and wriggling... we were well and truly stuck!! Sofa wedged precariously between the hall cupboard and the bedroom ceiling! But we’re GoodGym runners and we didn’t let this little set back get us down. Instead we retraced our lifts, grunts and steps and this time tried a different angle for our exit. With a glass door literally millimetres from the sofa corner we were able to eventually swing it round and out over the threshold. It was free!! We literally danced with joy and there were high fives all round!!!

Its exit from the building was far swifter than its exit from the flat, as a lack of space in the lift or stairwell meant that there was only one way down!!

We had made the seemingly impossible possible!! Such a brilliant team mission and a very grateful gentleman. What an amazing way to start the day!!