On this very chilli cold morning, I have been trying to stay warm. But I haven’t really found a good way yet to bring feeling back into my fingers. I think that by lunch we should be all warm again. But until then, I thought I would share a story with you to warm your heart. And my fingers as well.
A couple of weeks ago, when it was really cold, a had an Emergency Turf Call from a Fencer friend of ours. Yes Turf farms do get Emergency Turf Calls. They vary in nature. From the “My lawn is dying, HELP!” to “My Hill is washing away, HELP!” to “Oh No, I forgot to order the turf that I told my partner I would, HELP”. The call from our Fencer friend was of a similar nature. His Mate was in a bit of a rush.
His wife had gone to Belgium to visit her family, for an actually health emergency. Much more important than a Turf Emergency. But her husband stayed at home, and as husbands who can’t fix the problem do, decided to do something else to make wives feel better, like fix their house and yard. His wife had been asking for many years now it seems to fix up a few things. So while his wife was away Mate wanted to do all the wonderful things to their home she had longed for. The thought was amazing. So he enlisted the help our Fencer friend, who is actually a Carpenter by trade, to help him renovate their lounge room, back terrace and of course their fence. Mate’s wife was due to be away for 3 weeks. So Our Fencer and his Mate thought they had plenty of time up their hand helping beautifying things. They pulled out walls, ripped out the kitchen, put up frames, put in sliding doors, put in new walls, all after they had both finished a day of paid work. A truly amazing effort.
Then Mates wife calls to say things have settled down in Belgium and she is coming home a week early. Joy and Panic buttons were pushed everywhere! Fencer went into crazy working mode finishing all the reno’s, and even calling in favours from other trade friends to get the job done quickly and beautifully. Mate worked harder than he ever had before, labouring for all trades. There were blisters and sweat and beers had by all. And 2 days before Mates wife was due to come home our Fencer friend rang me with his Turf emergency.
Now as most of you know we usually need 3 days notice for all deliveries. Coastal Turf is not only a family owned business, but we are a Family operated Business. Out if the 4 of us, really there is only Mick who isn’t related. Dad and Mick deliver your turf and look after the farm, Barbara (Dad’s cousin) answers the phones, and I deliver your turf, look after the farm, answer the phone, write interesting (hopefully) blogs and do all those other odd jobs no one else wants to do. And the week that Fencer called, Mick was away. So it was just Dad and I on the farm and delivering. And we were already trying to do the work of 3 with 2 people.
But a Turf Emergency, is a Turf Emergency. Especially for such a lovely husbandly cause. We knew we could harvest the turf, some beautiful Blue Couch, but Dad and I couldn’t work out how we were going to get it to him. Fencer said he could come and pick up one pallet at a time with his trailer. The order was 300sqm, thats 8 pallets. And A lot of trips. I thought I could hand deliver in 3 trips . After Fencer explained to Dad all the ins and outs of what he and Mate had done over the last 3 days, Dad and I made the call to work into the dark. We harvested in the late afternoon and dropped off the turf to Mate and Fencer in the dark. Mate had lovely neighbours who all didn’t mind the late delivery, with the noises of the truck and bobcat. They helped with lights and torches. I think for some of the kids it was the highlight of their week.
And the turf went down that night, and the next morning. That afternoon Mate went to pick up his wife from the airport. While he and fencer were putting the finishing touches on the house and lawn, Mate said how devastated he was that they were going to get home in the dark. And then his wife wouldn’t see all the amazing work he had down when she was away to make her happy . So being the quick thinking amazing man Fencer is, he suggested an overnight stay in Brisbane the night she got in, “Blaming tiredness of course and not wanting to drive home when both of you are tired”, and returning home in the light.
I saw Fencer a couple of days ago and I asked how Mate went. “Real Well! She was chuffed. He didn’t leave the house for 3 days, not even for a surf”.
Mate had made his wife extremely happy. And all of us Fencers friends all had that warm fuzzy feeling that comes from helping out a mate. And besides its always good to have a Carpenter owe you a favour….
Chat soon
Sare
An Up close and personal view of the Blue Couch