Day 1347: The Chair, Part 45 – The Transportation

Before agreeing to buy the glider chair off Gumtree.com I make Serena promise me something: that we sell the IKEA chair on Gumtree.  The idea of carrying the IKEA chair all the way back across town was overwhelming.  And I thought we were getting such a great deal on the glider chair that I wasn’t worried about taking a little bit of a loss on the IKEA chair… if we needed too.  To me, it was worth it.

However, once we committed to buying the glider chair posted on Gumtree I was faced with the real possibility of having to venture out on foot, once again, to get the ‘like new, never used, smoke free Harrods’ glider chair.  To say the least, I was not excited… and when I saw how many trains and buses I would have had to take to get there, I became even less excited.  It would have been impossible for me to carry an assembled glider chair and stool, by myself, all the way back changing trains twice and taking two different buses.  I had to put my foot down.  There was just no way.  We still wanted the chair… but there was just no way to do it on my own.

Now, before I continue… you should know that a lot of our decision making from here on had everything to do with the great deal we thought we were getting.  We were buying a $550.00 chair for $150.00.  So, in our heart of hearts we were saving $400.00.  And since we had paid $200.00 for the horrible IKEA wobbler chair, we were willing to spend a bit more money for the far superior glider chair.  And that extra money, as you can imagine, was going to be spent in the form of transportation and/or delivery costs.

It took a while, but when Serena finally agreed that carrying the chair on and off public transportation was not going to work.  We thought about renting a car, however, the prices associated with that option were exorbitant… not to mention the price of gas… and the fact that I had never driven in London before… it was a recipe for disaster.  So, I continued to look for options.

Eventually I found a Dutch guy on Gumtree with a van who would run odd errands for people and based on his hourly and mileage rates I estimated it would cost around $50.00 for him to pick-up the chair.  Which was way less than the rental car.  So, I called the guy up and he was available.  He came right over, picked up the money for the chair and drove off to get it.

And I know you’re probably thinking that I never saw him or the money ever again… but no… that’s not what happened.   The guy was Dutch!  I knew he’d come back… eventually.