Three Southwarkers met in Elephant and Castle today to rearrange furniture so that Mrs L could get home for Christmas.

The requirements: One massive, three seater, reclining sofa to go upstairs. One double bed to go downstairs. And lots of bits and pieces to rearrange along the way.

The obstacle: One twisty, narrow staircase furnished with umpteen jigsaw puzzles.

The hypothesis: Mr L and his friend Mr D initially anticipated failure. We are only three weak and feeble women afterall. If I'm honest, I could understand their point...

The reality: With grit, determination and our strong, womanly muscles we took apart the bed to transport it downstairs, cleared all the bits and pieces to maximise the space and decided, with no other options to store the sofa, that we had to at least try. And try we did. With many a pivot, a heave and a ho, we twisted and turned the sofa one step at a time successfully to its new home.

Hurrah! High fives all round.

We quickly set the bed back up, tidied up as much as we could, gave the cat a cuddle and said our goodbyes.

Mr L was delighted and impressed and it's great to know that with our help Mrs L will be back in her home in time for Christmas!