Tuesday, April 3, 2012

The saga of my old desk

I've always liked roll top desks, so back in the late-'80's I splurged and bought a nice one, along with a matching 3-drawer oak file cabinet.  I had cubby holes and drawers and little compartments for everything.  I was a happy camper.  By the mid 90's, however, when PC's became popular, roll top desk's drawbacks became apparent.  I had a succession of laptops as they were the only ones I could use on my prized desk.  Problem is, I don't like laptops. My fingers and their keyboards don't get along.


Over the years I had to move it twice.  OMG, what a nightmare!  My philosophy of buying the best possible furniture and then taking good care of it forever was and still is good advice, but "the best" usually means solid and heavy.  That came back to bite me big time!  About three years ago I/we bought an iMac, and it was love. *sappy music*  The roll top had to go.  Sort of.  I took off the roll top part and had my cabinetmaker fashion a new flat top, and we were back in business.




Then I had my "downsizing" epiphany and my desk's days were numbered....again.  Few people wanted a desk that large, and those that did wanted a roll top.  Go figure!  (The old roll top part was long-gone, somebody's garage sale trophy.)  Finally, at the 11th hour before....actually during....our recent move, a guy answered my Craig's List ad.  On Saturday morning he came out to see it, we haggled a bit, and money changed hands.  Whew!  Now it was his problem.


I loaned him and the young guy he brought with him two furniture dollies to get it out to the parking garage.  I walked with them so I could retrieve my dollies, but instead of stopping at a pickup truck, they stopped beside a ragged-out old Lincoln Town Car.  What the....?  


If I hadn't seen it with my own four eyes I wouldn't have believed it;  the two of them picked it up and put it on top of that car, then secured it with a couple of ratcheting straps.  K met him in passing while we were moving and sized him up as being "not right".  What an understatement!  I later checked the news expecting to hear of a massive traffic jam on the highway caused by a desk that fell off the top of a car. 


I guess he got it home in one piece.  I can only imagine the home he took my prized desk back to.   Of course I'm glad it's gone, but at the same time I kinda miss it.


S


6 comments:

  1. Yikes! I would almost have been tempted to follow them home just to see what happened!

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  2. It looks like a nice desk and I imagine it served you well, but I can also sympathize with the desire to downsize and free yourself of the burden of things. I 've wanted an antique roll top my entire life, but you might have cured me.

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  3. Roll-top desks have been something that delight me ever since I fell in love with my grandfather's at age 4. It just seemed to me I could explore the many drawers and cubbyholes endlessly.

    I've never yet owned one. Maybe it's time to change that?

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  4. Scott, you should have had a photo of that desk on top of the Lincoln.

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  5. Bruce....Because of the move I was in the middle of it was one of the few times I didn't have my small Canon camera in my pocket. Just my luck....

    Suldog....If you have the room for one they're beautiful pieces of furniture.

    Steve....Don't let me stand between you and something you want. Mine did serve me well for 20+ years, but I've moved on to something...er...smaller and better.

    Dana....No thanks. I wanted to keep my distance from that guy.

    S

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  6. I do have the big heavy roll top desk but mine was designed for a computer. I don't know how people clean house for company if they can't pull down the roll top!

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