Sevan's story

Kash and Sevan's first E of the day, Mrs E, had them stumped for a while. Mrs E was moving out and had inherited items from a number of relatives who'd passed away. She needed to sort through the items that she'd inherited before moving so she needed to get access to them.

All of the clothes to be sorted were in the loft and Mrs E was sure that the pole to open the loft hatch was nearby. Kash and Sevan hunted high and low and there was no sign of it. They were stuck, so they thought about alternatives.

1. Could one give the other a punt up to the high ceiling? Maybe, but one of them wasn't keen
2. Could they create a makeshift pole from things lying around? Apparently not
3. Did Mrs E have a ladder? Yes!

Kash went to find Mrs E's step ladder and returned with something very short, leaving Sevan still 20cm away from unlocking the hatch. Mrs E said that there was a bigger ladder hiding somewhere, which Kash found. It was so tall that Kash could reach the high ceiling herself and drop the ladder down.

Finally able to start the search for clothes in the loft, Sevan climbed up and looked around, finding lots of bags and suitcases. Some were empty, some contained documents, one was full of video tapes and plenty had clothing, curtains and blankets. Mrs E's priority were the last groups, so those fabrics were slowly moved into Mrs E's spare bedroom.

Mrs E believed that there wasn't much more in the loft, except for some pots and pans. Kash and Sevan brought them down too, plus 48 toilet rolls that Mrs E wouldn't otherwise be able to get to.

There were still plenty of items left in the loft, so Sevan described what was there and showed Mrs E some photos. She was surprised as she thought that the GoodGymers had more or less emptied the space.

Kash and Sevan closed the loft hatch the same way that they'd opened it and walked to their next E of the day. Ms E, who lived not too far away.

Kash's story

A black and white cat jumped off the bed as Mrs E got up to search for a stick to open the loft. The attic hid years of history the lady hadn’t seen for a long time - and probably wasn’t looking forward to seeing. The previous year was a devastating time, when Mrs E, already struck with illness, lost several family members, and now had to move out of the property. And now that stick - the key to the past that had to leave the house together with Mrs E - was nowhere to be found.

Two strangers who came all the way from West London to help Mrs E, and introduced themselves as Sevan and Kash, couldn’t find the stick either. But they had an idea. A long step ladder they found in the kitchen let them reach the high ceiling and open the treasury of Mrs E's family history. The lady asked them to bring down any clothes, bedding, glassware and dishes they could find in the loft and organise them into suitcases and black bags to keep in one of the bedrooms.

The carrier bags currently storing the belongings in the attic were so fragile that they’ve been falling apart in Sevan and Kash’s hands before making it to the lower floor. But the two had ideas to remedy that, and patiently repacked the items into sturdier bags that could be safely carried down.

Ninety minutes of problem-solving and moving things around brought the most important items to the spare bedroom for Mrs E to go through. That concluded the first chapter of reviving the family history. Mrs E was grateful to have people to help her with what would otherwise be impossible on her difficult journey to the past. Video cassettes, lampshades, carpets and bags of sandpaper will have to wait in the loft for the next adventurers who will dare to venture to the further corners of Mrs E’s past.