Adventures with a reclining sofa

Do you know how it feels to wish for something and cannot, for the life of you, give up that idea, no matter how crazy it sounds? I am not talking about dreams, because I already talked about that subject in Follow your dream!. I am talking about wishes that need at least a … human angel, because you cannot transform them into reality on your own. 🙂

When I left Romania I also left behind a bed that was a blessing for my back problems. It was actually a reclining sofa from JYSK. It was not “top of the range”, not even that expensive, but it was perfect for me. I am not going to start a monologue about this subject. You all know sleep is very important; you have each experienced at least one day after an unsettling night.

When I moved to the UK I lived in 4 places, so I slept in 4 different beds. It was not wonderful, I know, but I had no choice.

The last house I moved into had no furniture, so I had to sleep on an inflatable mattress that broke a few times, and, in the end, it looked like it went through a long string of surgeries at the hand of a savage. 😛

Going back a bit in time, since I got to the UK I kept sending packages to Romania using different courier companies which I gave up, one by one, when they messed up badly. Timo, my little bear, told me about a new company, so I started sending mine and my friends` packages through this one and everything went fine.

Regarding my bed – no matter how many stores I went to in the UK, I couldn`t find what I wanted. JYSK didn`t have any stores near me or even in my county. I started working hard towards my wish, so I wrote an email to JYSK UK, attaching the sofa`s link so they can see what I am talking about. Their answer: “We don`t sell the same products in all countries, so we don`t have that one”. I wrote to JYSK Romania to ask if they can send the bed to the JYSK UK or (please, pretty please!! 🙂 ) to my house. “It cannot be done”. 🙁 They suggested I order and pay for it and they can hold it for me for a week, while I am finding some form of transport for it because they don`t deliver.

I analyzed my options which were not merry: it implicated at least a person who had space to hold it, a van and two other people to bring it from the store and … then how will I bring it here? I thought of the fact that the bottom of the bed was made out of a very cheap material that can easily break while being transported so many times, rendering the space (under the bed) useless. In the end, I didn`t care about that, I was sure I will find a way to fix it, just to get it here!

I wrote back to JYSK Romania asking for the weight of the sofa because on their website they only had the measurements. I needed it because in the meantime I called a few British and Romanian courier companies to give me a price for bringing the sofa here and all of them asked for the weight and the measurements. Most of them said they cannot take such a long trip for a sofa (I understood was not worth the trip or the fuel for that) and one of them gave me a price that I had to say “No” to instantly (£600).

One time I met Cristi, the driver who came to pick up my packages for Romania and I asked him, on a whim, if his company has a van big enough to bring a sofa from Romania. He looked at me very naturally and said “Yes”. I thought he was kidding. He told me they transport anything that can fit into that van, any shape or size, and he showed me a little crate full of fresh tomatoes from Romania and a big fridge that was leaving the UK.

He asked about the measurements and the weight. Since I`ve done my homework I told him. He asked me where the pick-up point is? I told him that right now the sofa is in the shop, but as soon as I find a place to store it, I will let him know.

I continued my quest, looking for a person or more to help me with this. I couldn`t find any, and not for the lack of trying or bad “alliances”, but because all my friends lived in apartment buildings, so they had no storage space.  

While trying and failing to find a solution to my “wishful thinking” sofa, I let myself be “seduced” by a sofa from DFS, which looked a bit like the one I wanted. I called the company and asked where can I go to see it? They said that`s not possible because that sofa was one of the many items that can only be ordered online, so I will get to see it when it is in front of my door! I couldn`t agree to that, I wanted to make sure it is what I wanted, to sit on it, to touch it and so on.

A few days later I got a call from DFS saying that they now have what I wanted in a store, so I can go and see it. A customer ordered it and when it got to his house he couldn’t bring it in, in any way, because it was bigger than any of his entrances, so he had to return it. It was reduced in price, they even offered free shipping because they didn`t have space to keep it in their store, but they added I will have it in 2 to 3 weeks!! I thought it`s a sign. I signed the papers agreeing to pay for it over the course of 12 months. (But … two weeks later I witnessed a miracle, so I had to call DFS and cancel my order. They were not happy, I thought as much, but they accepted my motives.)   

I wrote to Cristi that I have to postpone my wish because I am coming up with nothing. His company was in Focsani, my sofa would`ve been in Bucharest (102 miles away). I didn`t have anyone living close to his town, to make it easier for him to pick it up.

He asked me which store sells that sofa and which one is it and the next day he wrote me his bank account number so I can send him the money for it. I didn`t think twice, I sent the money and I waited for Saturday (his normal drop-off day) like it was Jesus` second coming!   

Cristi got to my house on Sunday around noon and he had to take everything out of the van to get to my sofa. I was like a crazy flea, jumping around, helping with boxes and bags, and not knowing what to do with my happiness that was bursting from the inside. I even jumped in his arms with tears in my eyes, kissing his face. Cristi is a big guy, quiet and calm, who`s demeanor doesn`t invite hugs and kisses, but he was sweet enough to bear my happiness because he understood how important was what he did for me. To me was not just a sofa, it was something that I deemed necessary to my well-being.  

He told me that after he found the sofa on the website, he called the store to see if they had it in stock in his town. They didn`t. He looked further away but he couldn’t find it. He managed to find it in Buzau (42 miles away) and it had the color I wanted (even if I told him from the start that I don`t care about the color, I just want that style of a sofa).

With his and his colleagues` help, we managed to take it into the house. It only had 56 kg (123 lbs.) but it was hard to maneuver in tight spaces specific to the UK houses. 

That night was the first of many in which I could rest and relax, pain-free, and it is all because of Cristi and his colleagues` kindness, who made my wish come true in one week, a wish that I tried to plan for over 3 years.

I don`t know if Cristi Anghel would ever read this article, but my thoughts of gratitude will always be directed towards him and his magic colleagues and I want to say a big THANK YOU for the people they are! And to add that, no matter when they will get in my vicinity, they are always welcomed, with love, into my little house!

In their company`s offering, it is not written: ”We do your shopping and we deliver it to your door”. They only carry packages from point A to point B (actually more “points” than that). Even if it seems easy, it is not. They drive day and night thousands of miles while more times than not are being called by angry and anxious customers. Sometimes they barely have time to eat because they are on the clock, no matter the season. However, they can still find the power to smile and joke and bring joy to people.  

My lesson was that the Universe has simple solutions to everything we need, we just have to ask, be clear about it and it is done! It will always send beautiful people in our way, to help us solve the “unsolvable”, shielding us from planning and solving complicated equations.

*The picture for the article is showing my real and dear sofa 🙂 .