So now we know!

We KNOW why they have such squidgy little beds ... it's because of the squidgy little stairs!

Wow that was hard work! There were quite a few moments when logic said: This can't be done. This shouldn't be attempted. Turn back now!

But by then the 5' mattress with full orthopedic support and pillow-top was thoroughly wedged in the stairwell, jammed between the stairs and the ceiling. So we struggled on. I shoved and grunted, and Peter pulled and groaned.

We had to actually b-e-n-d it a bit to get it through the doorway at the bottom and into the stairwell, and then another bit of a b-e-n-d to get it through the bedroom doorway. We thought maybe we could back out and put it through a window - but there are no windows that open more than a crack. (I guess in a fire we'd be smashing windows and jumping out - they are not actually double-glazed as far as I can tell.)

And then, as we dropped it onto the bed - which had arrived flat-pack and Peter had painstakingly screwed together following the wordless instruction pictures - we noticed the label. A very nice mattress, but not the one we ordered.

If they show up with the right mattress, they can jolly well get it up and this one down by themselves - don't want to do that again for a long time. I guess we'll have to not only stay in Norwich, but in this house ...