But no. That would be just too easy.
The booth had arrived from Germany last Friday, and was waiting to be picked up from the warehouse in Erith. We hired a luton van with a tail-lift, and drove out there first thing after morning rush hour. The plan was simple - load the booth into the van, take it to the studio, then meet our gang of burly young men who were going to help us get it onto a dolly truck and wheel it through to the studio. The champagne was on ice ready to be cracked open.
So we arrived at the warehouse. First hurdle: I hadn't been given a reference number by the German contigent, and for a brief minute we were worried we wouldn't even be able to go in. But not everyone gets a photobooth delivered, so that was soon sorted. We were directed to follow the yellow path around a building, go up some steps, through a couple of glass doors, under the stairs... and, what was that again? Please can you help us?! It was like walking through a maze, but we finally found the right office, and were given the official picking up note. More directions: follow the yellow path around this other building, park our van in this bay... and then talk to someone called Dave Skinner.
We finally found him; everyone en route was so helpful and nice - it can't be often they see 2 young women around that warehouse! And we saw the booth:
It looked so shiney and new; hardly as if it had been in storage in Estonia for a few years. We were getting very excited.
But then the time came to try and get it into the van we had hired. Turned out the booth was larger and heavier than we had suspected; and it was just a few centimetres too high to get in the truck! About 4 guys with forklift trucks were surrounding us at this point, trying to discuss ways we could get it in. Understandably, they were reluctant to tip it, and weren't in the position to handle it. It is in such good nick that it seemed a shame to do anything which may damage it.
So, in the end, we were directed back through the maze to the office we had started off in, and waited there while the wonderful Tony and Stuart wracked their brains to try and find a way. All to no avail. Back we went with an empty truck and a heavy heart... to drown our sorrows at a pub in Camberwell.
And we are still trying to work this out. If any of you booth-ists out there have any secrets about how to move these beasts, please contact us.
