With
the puppies safely on the bed (and Treacle appeased) I made toast and
watched another episode of "Shadow and Bone" which is getting
rather good. This is yet another of those shows which passed me by when it was
first released.
I
had a quick look at Facebook and chuckled at a meme I read. Based on the "Charley
Says" cat that was popular in safety films of the 1970s, "Charley"
said that back in the 1970s we didn't have people going to food banks because
we didn't squander our money on mobile phone contracts, nail bars or designer
label sportswear. Am I being harsh in wondering if "Charley"
isn't entirely wrong? Certainly in my experience those people that I've seen
talking about having to use food banks have been doing so via the Internet
connections of their mobile phones.
And
there were quite a few "back to school" photos as well this
morning. I quite like seeing them. This year there didn't seem to be quite so
many people (always those without children) being rude about these photos,
which was probably for the best.
Taking
care not to disturb anyone I got ready for work, and rolled my eyes as I
realised it was dustbin day... I realise that the dustmen have a job to do, but
the really do make maximum inconvenience as they do it. Usually they make a
point of blockading the pavements with the recycling bins, but on seeing me
walking out of the house, one of the bin men (with a cheeky smile)
literally hurled our bin at me. I managed to dodge it, but it hit the fence
with a crash. I then spent five minutes waiting for the dustbin lorry to get
out of the way before I could set off.
As
I drove the pundits on the radio were talking about today being the last day of
the Conservative Party's leadership contest. Several so-called experts were
wheeled on, all of whom agreed that the public are sick of hearing about it. I
must admit that after two months speculation over what certainly seems to be a
foregone conclusion, it has got rather tedious. However what seemed to go over
the heads of those presenting the news was that it was them themselves who have
been bombarding up with this endless drivel.
I got to work and
cracked on with the early shift. As I worked I got a message from “er
indoors TM”. What was the orange thing that Morgan had been
chewing? It was the connector that joined the power cable from the plug to the
cable to the pump that powers one of the water features. The thing is
repairable (I hope), but I wish he hadn't chewed it. It was just as well
that I only switch it on when I am there, isn't it?
And
I got a message from the repair people who had a look at the scrape on my car
yesterday. They'd priced up the cost of repairs... over a thousand quid. Not
overly keen on driving round in a scraped car until I get a new one I thought I
might try talking to the insurance people. It took a while to get through.
After being told I needed to speak to someone else and being put back on hold
for the third time I gave up.
When
the boss wasn't looking I spent a few minutes poring over the map. After
Tuesday's debacle I didn't fancy taking any country lanes on the trip to
Eastbourne. I plotted a route along
A-roads and slipped off at the earliest opportunity… and fell at the first
hurdle. The A road was closed at Wateringbury, and signposts to Eastbourne just
stopped once I’d got into Tunbridge Wells.
After
two and a half hours I finally got to Eastbourne Hospital. I went to the ward
to see Dad. He was fast asleep, so I let him sleep. And after ten minutes I was
(rather curtly) told he was being taken for an X-ray and he was taken
off (still n his bed and fast asleep). I tried to talk to the nurse
about why he was going for an X-ray and about one or two other things, but the
nurse clearly didn’t want to talk to me. She didn’t actually say “f… off
baldy” but that was definitely her unspoken implication.
So
I came home… I got home nearly five hours after I’d started driving. I’d made a
round trip of a hundred miles to watch Dad sleeping for ten minutes and to be
fobbed off. Perhaps the nurse was having a bad day. I’ll give her the benefit
of the doubt for now…
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