The kindness of strangers: burly gym-goer helps move stranded couch

I bought a new couch after my labrador chewed through the first one and planned to swap them just before my parents arrived, so the dog wouldn’t have a chance to destroy it. My apartment was upstairs and the new couch was in storage on the ground floor; I hired removalists to swap them on the day my parents came.

They took the tattered old couch down but didn’t carry the new one up, leaving it on the street and gone before I could correct them. My neighbour offered to help, but manoeuvring the bulky couch up a narrow stairwell was a two-person job and I wasn’t strong enough to lift an end; none of my friends were either.

Frantic to have the couch in place before my parents’ flight landed, I drove to the nearby gym and asked the receptionist if anyone there could help. She said she couldn’t ask on my behalf but I was welcome to approach people directly. A big, burly man was leaving just then.

couch, labrador, removalists, gym-goer, stairwell, apartment, storage, neighbour, receptionist, moving help