The ability to lift when the going gets heavy is a defining feature of all great moments in furniture removal.
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Last week the demons of backing a trailer up to a loading dock were detailed in searing honesty. The words "jack" and "knife" figured prominently.
This week we unpack emotionally what followed - which was unpacking the furniture from that trailer. And I say "emotionally", because moving heavy things, like hearts, minds and sofas, can be a stirring exercise, particularly when they don't seem to fit through doors, at first.
But greatness is rarely achieved without ambition, effort and the odd regret about not measuring before purchasing. Welcome to "Furniture Ninja" where the object of the game is interior feng shui whilst avoiding physical and interpersonal meltdown.
The Mount Midoriyama of this particular challenge was moving said sofa into the house via the eye of a needle known as our screen door.
An orifice agonisingly close to allowing passage, once a few door jams were removed, but still requiring a bit of Harry Potter riddle magic in motion and under load. It's a common challenge in furniture moving, when the jigsaw piece weighs over 50kg and seems harder to grasp than your fellow lifter's logic, which starts to defy that description the more gassed you get.
The situation brings into focus two things that allegedly elevate homo sapiens above other life forms - opposable thumbs and the ability to co-operate.
Opposable thumbs allowed us to get a grip on the sofa, but the linkage to co-operation was not so clear initially. That's because when outlining a plan to manoeuvre heavy items, you first have to visualise a plan. Then you have to verbalise it. Confusion can often arise at this stage when each person reckons the other has no idea what they're talking about.
As Aldous Huxley noted, there are doors of perception, and as furniture removalists will tell you, there is perception of doors.
The two don't always line up, but it will often appear someone is off their head.
The key to this dance is sticking to the plan, but in the heat of the lift, it can become hard to tell who is lurching, I mean leading.
It's imperative thus to focus on technique and block out the negatives, some of which might start to naturally relate to your fellow lifter. But you're bigger than that right? As indicated by the fact you're now jammed in the doorway.
It's not clear who's plan is in action - yours, or theirs. Theirs might be the same as yours only repeated backwards? Or it might be completely different.
It hard to tell once fatigue sets in. All you know is there's a lot of heaving and ho-ing going on - and watch that step!!!
A cathartic process only truly appreciated once the eagle is landed; in the lounge room if you're lucky, as planned, without too much damage to ego or infrastructure.
Great partnerships always find a way, though, but gee, you gotta love those sliding door moments.
