Not every sleeper couch is the same.
If you want to emigrate anywhere in Europe, I will always recommend our part of Austria - Burgenland - for its fabulous and friendly people, stunning scenery, delicious wines and its second hand furniture.
Admittedly, this sounds weird, but it is so true. Let's face it, once you decide to move to another continent, not everyone can and wants to hire a container to transport all of their stuff. Bob and I decided to give away all of our things ( except for our books of course! ) to two wonderful co-workers. They needed stuff and it felt jolly good to be able to give .
Arriving in our new place with two suitcases ( books somewhere on the high seas ) made our adventure even more fun, exciting with the odd moment of hankering after the old. As we didn't move here with oodles of money, we couldn't just rush out and buy new furniture.
In South Africa, when you buy or sell your home, it is the home and not the furnishings. You might get lucky with a few kitchen appliances, but that is it. Coming over here, it was amazing to realize that when people sell their homes, they leave most of their furniture & stuff in it. Eh, by stuff I mean: Bedding, linens, towels, chairs, beds, kitchens & utensils and of course sleeper couches. Just to put your mind at ease, Bob and I discarded some of the above, but kept the rest.
If you are not squeamish, you can basically get your home furnished! Once we moved into our house, it was nice and uncluttered. We had a sleeper couch from our folks, a nice second hand kitchen table with chairs and our NEW beds. God moves in mysterious ways, because the word spread that we were happy to accept old furniture. ( One of the reasons why people leave old furniture and stuff is because you have to pay to throw anything away. )
We have an art deco lounge suit given to us by friends up the road. We were just so happy for more seating areas, but were even more pleased when my aunt came for a visit and told us how valuable and en trend this furniture is!
Back to the sleeper couch story. The one my folks gave us is great, but once you unfold it, you can feel a hard metal strip across your back. I circumvent that by putting extra blankets over it and most of the time it works. My Prince, Bob, can't sleep on it because he feels this metal strip most of the night.
Yesterday, we drove to collect anther sleeper couch from a friend who wanted to get rid of it. It is a heftier and I suppose more solid couch. Even transporting it was a mission with a few bruised knuckles earned manoeuvring it through the various doorways. The couch is old and once we had it here, we vaccuumed and cleaned it. Yet...
It has an old and slightly mouldy smell. When I mentioned it, Bob just poo-poohed me and told me I was being too fussy. Fair enough. Last night was our first night on it. My Prince could sleep next to me watching TV. Nice, but I could smell the smell and it also felt a tad bit too short as my feet were dangling in space. Like a good wife, I kept my complaints to myself ( at least after the 5th time. )
At one stage, when Bob woke up, he too mumbled that he didn't like the smell....Yeah, maybe my old couch will make a come back! As we have a democratic marriage ( men will know that a happy wife makes a happy life ) I guess that we will sleep on this sleeper couch for a few nights, and then decide....
Biggi
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