up a gumtree

We've recently been having a bit of a rethink of the upstairs room arrangements in the light the impending arrival of our second child. What this basically means is that we have to provide some living space for this small person, ready for when he or she turns up, and consequently all the other stuff that formerly occupied the upstairs space has to be crammed into a slightly smaller amount of space. As it happens this provides an opportunity to consider whether some of the stuff we've got lying around is really necessary, or whether we're likely to ever make use of it.

Having concluded that there's some stuff that can go, we decided that we might as well try and get some money for it, so I created a Gumtree account and posted a few items up there. So far we've managed to get rid of, for modest amounts of money, but with the convenience of not having to dispose of them:

• a double bed including mattress
• a 5-way metal ceiling spotlight
• an office chair
• a filing cabinet

Just in case anyone's interested there's a very nice pair of Wharfedale S500 hi-fi speakers still available for a very reasonable price, though that may well be an attempt on my part to sell a product that no-one uses any more, since everyone's got their entire house networked into iTunes via their media server now. Well, I haven't, as it happens, but I expect all the kids have.

I was slightly apprehensive about engaging with Gumtree simply because it implied also engaging with, you know, people. And, sure enough, although the people who have actually bought stuff managed to get their act together enough to communicate clearly, find our house, and remember to bring the agreed amount of money and some suitable transport, I did get involved in a couple of clabby text conversations that I eventually abandoned as they clearly weren't going to lead anywhere useful. The only useful thing they did was provide a bit of baffled amusement, and it's in that spirit that I reproduce them here.

This one was about the speakers - the only sniff of interest they've generated so far, but not in a form resembling human communication closely enough for me to be able to close the sale:

This guy wanted the bed. He also really wanted me to deliver it, even after I'd told him I wasn't going to, though clearly not explicitly enough:

Once I've got it through an MOT, hopefully not at sphincter-tightening cost, I'm going to put the Ford Focus up there, so we'll see what utterly mental responses that generates.