22) The High Life

One of our early deliveries was to a house in Riviera Road in Terrigal. The road winds along the side of a hill. The houses on both sides have very steep driveways. The houses with even numbers have steep driveways down from the road to the houses but the houses with odd numbers have steep driveways up to the houses. Some of the driveways are so steep that cars cannot be driven up to the houses. The garages are on the same level as the road and there are steps up to the houses.

We arrived at the house with the huge order and started to climb the steps to the house. The steps were narrow, uneven and badly maintained. About half way up we were feeling very puffed and wishing we had not started a delivery business. To cheer ourselves up we thought of the wonderful view we would see when we go to the top and struggled on. By the time we got to the top we had decided that we were not getting paid enough for this delivery and we jokingly said that we would ask the client to help us with the rest of the groceries that were still in the car.

Someone told us later on that according to building regulations one could only have 17 steps and then there had to be a landing. So 17 steps is the equivalent of one floor. We counted 75 steps so it was higher than a four-storey climb but was harder than most as the steps were so poor. We got to the top and knocked on the door but got no answer. No one was at home.
So there was no way we were going to get any help. That was obviously why she had had a delivery; she did not want to carry all that food up the hill. We joked that she was probably hiding under the bed or behind the curtains waiting for us to finish the task before she showed herself. We thought of just leaving the rest of the parcels beside the road but we knew we could not do that. We sat on the top step to look at the lovely view but we were very disappointed. Terrigal is a seaside village, very popular with tourists, as the beach is very attractive but from the front of that house you could not see the sea at all, it faced the wrong way. The view was only of the valley below and the rooftops of all the neighbouring houses.

We looked through the large windows of the house into the lounge. It was nicely furnished with a large comfy looking lounge suit. I said to Jonny that we should be grateful that we were not in the furniture delivery business, can you imagine how hard that would be. I think we did three trips each up those stairs carrying about six packets of groceries each time all for a payment of $6. We were quite ready to give in that day, but of course we didn’t.

Over a year later we had another delivery to do to that very same house but we did not realise it until we got there, as the name on the docket was different. I asked the customer if she had lived there long and she told me that she had only just moved in. I once again felt sorry for the removalists (as the Australians call furniture removal men.) I asked her how they managed to get her furniture up the steps and she said “We paid” and I remembered how, when our furniture was going to be delivered the company wanted to know all about the lay of the land. I suppose this lady had had to pay a very high premium to get her goods into her new house. We tried to think of ways to make the same principle work for our business but what works for furniture does not necessarily work for groceries.

We did do other awkward deliveries over the years but we always hated to see Riviera Road appearing on the docket but were less upset if it was an even numbered house.