What a morning!

There I was, sitting by the phone waiting for the haulier to call to say he was about to arrive with the sculptures.

By 10.30 I was getting worried. Surely he should have called by now?

At 10.45 I was - momentarily - cheered by the news that the truck was half an hour away. Then came the bombshell... "You do have a forklift truck to take the crate off, don't you?" Erm, well no, actually. We'd been told the truck would have its own or a tail-lift. Panic!

Called my team of volunteers and met the driver when he arrived. Right, let's see: one large crate on one large truck (now parked across our gateway)... Nothing for it but to get up on the wagon, break open the crate and start handing the pieces down individually. Which is what we did, with the assistance of a REALLY helpful driver to whom I am eternally grateful.

Amazingly it only took us half an hour or so to unload the whole consignment this way, the crate itself being the last item off. The items ranged from tiny parcels that fit in the palm of your hand through to one that took three of us to lift! All still wrapped up so the actual contents remain a bit mysterious. For the moment we have put everything into safe storage, the unwrapping will come in a few weeks when we catalogue everything.

So thanks to all the offloaders: Janet, Iain, Alistair, Jim, John x 2, Valerie, Allan, Pauline and Hilary. And to a very kind truck driver. What a morning, indeed! And there was more to come, which I will post next.