After the gardener left in Gold Coast

Living in Gold Coast, you get used to council collections that are always months away. We've got six big palms along the back fence, and every few months they drop fronds the size of a canoe. I'd been stacking them behind the shed for most of a year.

There were branches up to about the thickness of my arm, a mountain of hedge clippings, a tangle of lantana and a couple of old sleepers that had been edging a garden bed.

Gold Coast is a city of beachside towers, canal homes, family suburbs and hinterland acreage, and getting things out isn't always simple. We bring the right truck for the street, from tight unit driveways to wide acreage tracks.

I half expected to be put on hold, but it was the bloke who'd actually be doing the job. He asked about stairs and parking, which made me think he'd done this a few times.

Two of them turned up right on time in a tipper truck. Before they lifted anything, they walked the route from the pile to the truck and pointed out a couple of spots where they'd put down protection.

I was worried about the lawn, as we'd just had it returfed. The crew laid boards from the back gate to the truck and barrowed everything along them. The lawn didn't have a mark on it.

When they were done, they swept up and walked me around to check. I paid the price we'd agreed, and that was it. The whole thing took less time than I'd spent worrying about it.

My advice to anyone in the same situation is not to wait as long as I did. The relief was worth more than the cost.