A Tale of Two Pianos…..

A little while ago, Andrew phoned. He was quite excited because a friend had heard about a mini grand piano which could be his for the cost of removal only. Crikey!!

“Where are you planning to keep it?” I asked, suspiciously.”Weee…ll,” he said, wheedling, “I wondered if I could keep it at yours?” I was firm. He could only keep it at mine if he actually came home and played it. Of course, he promised that that was his plan.

The next day, he confirmed the arrangements. It would arrive on Saturday about 2.30p.m. So, on Friday, Michael and the boys came over to haul all extraneous furniture from my ‘library’ area and the SnuGym in readiness. I was quite pleased with the result in the SnuGym. Desk, keyboard and easy chair all installed to perfection – of which, I only have a video and not a photo, so can’t show you how cosy it looked.

However, I do have a photo of the spare, very old TV that was left, by mistake, in the little room, on its way to the garage….. captions, please?

On Saturday, I tidied up a bit and, after lunch, I sat and waited.

Hmmmm….. the piano didn’t arrive. I had a horrible knot in my stomach. What if it’s a scam, I thought? I checked on Google….. and…. oh, Lord, that seemed to be what it looked like. I felt a bit sick. ‘What do I do now?’ I thought. ‘Text Andrew and let him know? Or wait until he arrives home at 1 o’clock in the morning before I tell him?’

I decided on the latter option. It wouldn’t be a very nice greeting but, I reasoned, it would be better to tell him face to face.

He arrived home, as expected, about 1.30 a.m. He had a lovely smile on his face, but his eyes weren’t searching the room. Nervously, I said, “Your piano hasn’t arrived, sweetheart.” “Oh…” he said, airily, “I know. It was a scam!” He didn’t look crestfallen or anything.

He explained, “I asked my mate where he’d found out about the piano and he told me it was an email in his junk folder. So I checked online and found it was a scam before I’d paid anything.” I was very relieved. But also a little bit indignant. I mean, we’d spent hours the previous day clearing the space. He could have told us, couldn’t he?

“What do you want to do with the space we created, Mum?” asked Michael when he heard the news. Put it all back was my reply. In the event, we just returned the chair and keyboard and that was that. Until……

…. a couple of Sundays ago, I was in receipt of a message from one of the ‘Teeny, Tiny, Toddlers’ Team, asking if anyone would object if we temporarily stored an upright piano in the ‘Teeny, Tiny, Toddlers’ Toy Cupboard. It would arrive the following evening – Monday, about 7.30. No objections of course, but a) it’s bit tight for space in there and b) it’s a bit damp. So I said I didn’t mind storing it at my house for a bit as I clearly had the space……

At first, this seemed like a good idea to everyone, until Kim, our choirmaster, poured cold water on the idea. It transpired that he intended to push/pull the piano all the way from Needlers End Lane to the Church Hall, as he lacked any transport for it. There was too much of a hill to push/pull it up to my house. Okay – no worries. And I sat back, knowing there was nothing more for me to do – unless I wanted to do some push/pulling? You can guess the answer to that!

On Monday, however, just before six o’clock, I received the following messages:

Erm…. OK! Of course, I said ‘yes’, and hastily tugged the keyboard back into the SnuGym……

In due course, a posse of people arrived outside the house, with trailer and said piano.

Sue, the girl in pink, had put a plea out on the local Facebook group for anyone with a trailer and anyone with any muscle to come and help. And here they all are!!

The original owner of the piano, Aimee, first on the left, is grinning like a Cheshire Cat at having re-located her piano.

Meanwhile, the piano was settled into situ….. not quite a mini grand, but still…..

As Kim was wrapping up the straps that they’d used to carry the piano into the house and as he made his way of the door, I said, “So, what’s the next destination for the piano now, Kim?” There was a bit of hmming and hawing; a bit of head shaking and erm well-ing…. before he said that actually he didn’t have a next destination yet. They were still looking for home for it.

Guess what? I am now the proud owner of an upright piano. It’s a bit grubby and a bit bashed; and it needs tuning, but the sound on it is lovely. Andrew: you gotta come home and get playing it now!! Hehe.

Shenanigans, eh? It is ever thus in the Sleath household.

Take care everyone. God bless.