Perry's Blog

I decided to sell my Drawing Board, drafting machine an adjustable stand on eBay to make room in our bedroom.

I don't sell a lot of stuff on eBay, but this was quite successful and I was very happy with the outcome.

When the fellow rang to organise picking up the Drawing Board he said "I'll just have to hire a trailer..." Now here's the funny bit coming...

Sandi and I had only a week or so before hand discussed getting rid of our trailer that we'd had since we owned a large ride-on lawn mower (actually, not that model, but it's close). We actually haven't owned a tow-bar for about 8 or so years, we'd have to borrow a car from a friend to use our trailer . It occurred to us that all the friends that we'd borrow a car from also had trailers, so we could borrow a car and trailer if needed... so the trailer was superfluous.

Now, when the purchaser of my drawing board said he'd have to hire a trailer, I sort of said without thinking too much about it: "We've got a trailer, we can give you one!"

There was a little silence on the other end - like he couldn't believe what he'd just heard: "You mean give as in FREE?" He suggested maybe I could send some photos, probably still not believing that anyone would give away a working trailer... "Was it registered?" "Was it road worthy?" etc. It was of course "yes" to all of those: it's an OK trailer; a little bit of rust in the floor, but sound enough.

Anyway, he finally agreed that accepting the trailer was a good and generous idea... so that was all settled.

After getting off the phone when I'd committed the trailer to him, I realised that it was not dissimilar to Pay It Forward... not that that had even occurred to me originally: but realising I'd sort of done it without thinking was sort of neat. We'd really enjoyed the movie when we saw it (so long ago now), and it's always resonated as being very similar to Do unto others what you would have them do unto you (I love that translation BTW): get in first and take the initiative...

So when he was checking again that I was sure I wanted to give away my perfectly good trailer to a perfectly good stranger I mentioned that it was a little like the concept in Pay It Forward and sent him the link. When he eventually arrived to pick up the board he said that he was passing it on too as he was keeping it at a friend's house (and his friend would be using it more than him). Technically, I said, you should pass it on to three people; but he sort of had the idea and that was even better that he'd already started passing it on.

If you haven't seen the movie, here's the trailer: