Today, after three weeks of planning on both sides, we had a young couple arrive and take away our old letterpress.
We had met these people about two weeks ago when they drove up from Connecticut, and it was a long trip up from the seashore, to have a look, after their job all day, and investigate what this old Golding printing press was. First off, they saw it was or seemed to be 1000 pounds. Like two truck engines piggy-backed. They weren't sure, but they had arrived on the clear advice of a press man in Massachusetts who I took on as a lark he might know something, or someone, to buy the press when I saw his advertisement on the Internet. He turned out to be a lucky charm. I dropped him an email one Saturday night, and Sunday morning I had a very friendly email back that he had just held two workshops with two separate parties and he thought he knew just the couple for the press. He would be getting nothing out of this, and he asked for nothing. It was good old mutual respect.
So he contacted this young couple and they contacted us and we made a date for them to visit.
The visit was one evening and the couple liked everything they saw, including us and the homestead, and aura. They said so. Now we had to plan around all the rainy weather that lasted far too long — flooding the gardens, flooding the pond, even flooding above the cottage where the letterpress resided. Patience.
The rain let up and the young couple, writing many emails worked their way around the anticipation, impatience, and got into a glide that it was all going to be okay. They left half a deposit on the press before they left. We also asked them to bring a deposit out of goodwill for any property that was damaged during the move. We didn't expect any, but if any occurred we'd have some cash at hand to repair flooring, trim, stairs, door frames, landscape. They got it. No problem.
Today they came, with two young strong fellow workers and for four hours they worked at getting the beast out of the cottage.
The three guys are all mountain climbers. The fellow that bought the press with his girlfriend teaches mountain climbing, and the two helpers are his sidekicks. The head mountain climber had a dog a bit like our son's dog, a dog we like. The girlfriend sat in the shade with the dog until the removal got to the point where all-hands-on- deck was needed and she jumped into the fray.
The letterpress came away. No damage anywhere. Done with immaculate care and respect. The two sidekick guys as they relaxed in a new place and meeting new people warmed up more & more. Everybody got along. The couple gave us the rest of the cash for the letterpress before any of the work was carried out, and we held the goodwill cash in our pockets to see what harm was done. None. Handed it back. All smiles. They now had a three hour drive down crazy I-91 on a Sunday afternoon with all the other bats leaving the Belfry (Vermont). They looked tired but happy. A very warm day.
They asked us where was the best place for pizza heading south, and we said one word, "Pinnochio's".
photo © bob arnold
