Yorkie time!
One of our developments this winter was to buy some new beds, these duly arrived at the beginning of the month on two big trucks and were all stored in the Met Lounge while we sorted them out and put them in the rooms.
Having new beds is great but it does present the problem of what to do with the old ones. We could just bin the bases but the mattresses are really costly to send to landfill, both in cash terms and environmentally, so I sent out a message over the COAST network to see if anyone wanted them. I had a referral from a colleague to one homeless charity and through them found another who would take them.
We had everything arranged for the pick up last Friday but at the last minute they weren’t able to come, neither could they come this week either! Cath did volunteer her mum’s partner Doug with their horsebox but unfortunately for us Doug had some more work come up. This meant it was down to us, we couldn’t leave the Met Lounge full of beds for Christmas and the garage is already full. I hired a big Transit from the local garage and Ginty and I loaded up and set off yesterday morning to the depot outside Pool, way down west. We found the depot reasonably easily and the guys arrived soon after us to help unload and store the beds. We had to make a second trip so headed back up the A30, it was quite windy yesterday and I really felt it a couple of times on the bridges.
Load two wasn’t quite as successful as load one as this was the bases which wouldn’t squash in - the van was 4 inches too short to get them all in, we will have to ask the team from Home Comforts to come and collect the rest after Christmas.
Going back to the title, we had been joking about having to buy Yorkie Bars to have in the van so I did get us one each when I put a bit more fuel in to get us back to the hotel, I think we deserved the extra fuel too! It was great to get all the beds out of the way, especially as they have gone to a good home and the lounge looks really festive now - a real tree, some poinsettias and a few decorations.
