I have successfully sold Edmund’s last great extravagance, a Kamado Joe ceramic barbecue with a smoker and an electric rotisserie. It cost more than $2,000 in 2020, and I got $995 for it after four and a half years under a tarp with resident spiders enjoying Liberty Hall. The buyer is a firefighter, so I can be reasonably sure he and his buddy won’t hurt themselves when they load it on their truck. I interrogated him about the truck — do they have straps and tie-down cleats? He was amused.

He bridled audibly when I asked for $500 up front to hold the barbecue for him until Saturday. “That’s a lot!” he complained, and I said that it had to be enough to hurt if he decided to blow me off. He wasn’t ready for that level of blunt, and griped that he didn’t know me, etc. etc. etc. I said I don’t know him either, which is why I want a deposit, and as a firefighter I’m sure he has friends in law enforcement so I wouldn’t get far if I defrauded him. We settled on $250 by e-transfer, the balance in cash at pick-up.

I wanted to take down the ad because my phone was blowing up with people determined to get their hands on a fancy bit of kit for comparatively cheap. (New, that model of kamado costs more than $3,000 today, without the accessories.) I would not mark it Sold without a deposit.

Apart from that adventure, today I’ve just been enjoying the full use of my house again, including the stove, the bathrooms and the waste-baskets. No more low-contact living!