Once upon a time...

"Miss E needs some help removing some clothes from under her mattress. This should be a quick and easy task"

As instructed, Hilary and I met at Miss E's ready for our "quick and easy task". It soon became apparent that Miss E's plans involved more than just lifting up the mattress and we were soon put to work (literally...Miss E would have made a great drill sergeant) moving the bed, emptying drawers, sweeping (and mopping...) the carpet and then getting to use Miss E's "Magic Broom" (a misnomer if ever there was one) to try and pick up the dust and other bits.

Miss E's friend (we'll call her S) was also roped in to pass us brooms, mops, carpets and various other items, until she wisely retired to the living room to watch the news and leave Miss E, Hilary and I to it.

With drawers emptied, bed back against the wall, we got round to the mattress lifting and removal of clothes...those familiar with the fairytale of the Princess and the Pea will have wondered how anyone could have slept comfortably with the amount of items we removed from under the mattress, but once done, Miss E bounced up and down on the mattress and declared it (perhaps unsurprisingly) much more comfortable.

Miss E then wanted to lay a new piece of carpet by her bed and remove the old piece - a quick and very vigorous sweep of the floor ensued using all available items (whereupon Miss E put my sweeping efforts to shame when she took over to show how it really should be done) and with a flourish we rolled out a small red carpet, and somehow (after a bit of grunting) got it to fit where she wanted. With the bed back in position, we were able to return other items of furniture to their rightful place, and so free up an exit from the bedroom and the hallway.

Miss E asked if we could take away the unwanted clothing, carpet, sheets and bedding - we determined the most efficient way to do this and save on trips up and down the stairs would be to throw them all over her balcony to the floor below to then drop off in the nearby bins...and with that done we declined Miss E's very kind offer of a cup of tea, and bid farewell to both her and Ms S and went down to retrieve our manmade material mountain just in time for the binmen to take it all away.

The End.