A few years ago when were living in our previous house, we did some alterations to the garden that required some extra top-soil. We checked the local paper and found a farmer who would deliver a ton of top-soil for a reasonable price, and even better than that he would deliver it the same day.

Feeling pleased that progress was being made we gave him our name, address and directions to our house. Then we sat back and waited for him and his trailer to arrive.

We waited, and we waited, no sign of any top-soil. I rang and spoke to his wife who said he was running late and not to worry, he wouldn’t let us down. So we sat back and waited some more.

And we kept on waiting, still no sign of any top-soil. Once again I rang and spoke to his wife. “Where is your husband with our top-soil?” I enquired. “He’s just arrived home” she replied, “I’ll ask him what happened”

A few moments later she returned to the ‘phone. “You were out”, she said “so he dumped it outside your garage”.

“But we don’t have a garage” I replied.

It would seem her husband had gone to what he thought was our house, found we were out and left the top-soil outside the garage. He apologised for his mistake and said he would bring us some more, which he did, but I’m not sure it was us he should have been apologising to.

After tea we went for a walk, well that was the excuse anyway. In fact we were going in search of the errant top-soil. When the farmer had arrived with the second delivery, he’d told us where he’d delivered the first lot, so we had decided to go and look for it.

And sure enough, there it was. Piled high right in front of the garage doors of our un-suspecting neighbour. What they thought when they arrived home is anyone’s guess. They must have felt like they were the target of some practical joke.

One thing’s for certain they wouldn’t be getting their car in or out of the garage without a lot of hard work. We considered knocking on their door and confessing all, but we didn’t actually know them and neither of us fancied the idea of moving our second ton of the day, so we walked by on the other side.

I like to think that after the initial shock, they would have seen the funny side of it, but it’s the kind of thing that if it happened to you, not knowing the who, the where, the why, would never actually let you rest.

In the unlikely event that the people concerned are reading this, then I am truly sorry, but I hope it did make you smile eventually.