Odds & Sods.

It’s been an eventful week or three since last I wrote, starting with the visit to my sister’s house for a family do a couple of Saturdays ago. It was a great time, as usual, with plenty of good food and good company. We swapped news, gossiped and generally had a lot of fun. Then, later in the day, four guitars appeared and ex-brother in law, Gerry, led us all in a sing song. The weather behaved itself for most of the day too so that was the icing on the cake.

Sunday morning, for no apparent reason, my back gave out. I’d had a little niggling pain there for a week or two previously and I usually take that as a warning to be careful. But then, after spending a relaxing day in the garden at my sister’s, the darn thing still gave up the ghost. So much for being careful. I did discover something though. When I visited the doctor he pointed out that this kind of thing is likely to happen when you have arthritis. Now that was the first time I’d ever been told I had arthritis in my back. And I’m sure I would have asked on previous occasions. So why is it that doctors like to keep all this stuff to themselves? Personally, I think it’s just to make them feel powerful. Most of them are full of their own self importance at the best of times. But don’t get me started on doctors!

 

Not only did my back give out, but my router packed up too, so I spent a week and a half off work and unable to surf the internet. A scary prospect but, as it happened, it turned out okay because my lack of internet access inspired me to go through some of my old files and I managed to add a few pages to a story I had begun some fifteen years ago. It was a spasmodic affair though as I was unable to stay in one position for any length of time. But by the middle of the second week my story had grown somewhat and my back had improved a great deal so I went back to work last Friday.

I mentioned before about having my picture taken with a few colleagues for an article in some company periodical that gets sent to the managers. Well, when I got back to work the boss asked me to do a write up for the article to go along with the photo. Of course, that was right up my street and I said I’d do it. The boss then told me he needed it by Tuesday! Cripes, talk about under pressure. Still, it was only a paragraph or two and I managed to cobble something together. I showed it to the boss on Monday, who added a line or two of his own (just to get his name mentioned) and then I prettied it all up at home in the evening and emailed it to him for the Tuesday. It all looked okay in the end but I made sure to save it as a Word document in case they need to edit for space in the mag. It will be interesting to see the finished result. Here’s the pic:

Last Sunday started off with a few of us going for a breakfast at a nearby café. We do this quite often and it’s a nice start to the day. Being postmen we’re all early risers so we’re usually there around seven in the morning. This Sunday though, was different. There was a football match planned for a little later in the day. The footie match was arranged by our former boss who plays for a Sunday league team. They needed some practice and our guys managed to drum up a team to give them a friendly challenge. The two teams met last year but it all turned a bit nasty with a few of our lads getting sent off and a couple of threats against the ref. So much for a friendly.

This time though, it all went much more smoothly. The ref was a little older and more experienced and he ran the game really well, I thought. The icing on the cake – we won 6.1. Not bad for a bunch of knackered postmen. Well, okay, they weren’t all postmen and we did have a few youngsters to call on for the occasion, but still, to beat a team that plays all through the season is no small feat, when you consider that our bunch only meet up for this one event each year.

This week a customer surprised me by giving me a thank you card. She called in a few weeks ago and was worried that some keys that had been posted to her would be lost in the post. The main problem was that she was due to go away in two days time and she wanted to be sure she had her keys before she went, otherwise, she decided, she would have to have the locks changed before she went. She was obviously very distraught and more than a little annoyed at her daughter for posting the keys in the first place. Especially since she only lived five minutes drive away.

Well, to cut a long story short, I managed to retrieve her keys from the box they’d been posted in. I went to her house to return them but she wasn’t there. So I called her mobile. “Hello,” I said, “This is Barry, from the sorting office. You’ll be pleased to know I’ve got your keys back. I’m outside your house now so I can either rob the place or post the keys through your letter box, which would you prefer?” She was so relieved I think she was almost in tears. I posted the keys and thought no more about it. Until last Monday when she came in with this card. I thanked her and told her it was quite unnecessary but she wasn’t having any of it. She said, thanks to me she was able to go away on holiday and was able to relax completely, something she’d never have been able to do had I not found her keys. But how nice was that? It can be a thankless task, serving the public and we meet our fair share of rude people along the way. So when we get a customer like this lady it helps somehow to restore the balance, if only a little.

 

I’m finally getting my tiredness problem looked at. I went to the hospital yesterday to pick up a machine that monitors my sleep pattern. It’s a small thing really, about the size of a TV remote control, but it was strapped to my chest. From this gadget there were two other electronic gizmos, one strapped to my chest, the other round my waist. Then there was another cable that went to my finger, presumably to measure my pulse etc. And finally, there was another piece that went into my nose to measure the snoring. All these straps and cables had to be taped so they didn’t become dislodged during the course of the night. By the time we were finished strapping it all on I must have looked like a suicide bomber and I had my doubts that I’d be able to sleep at all. I needn’t have worried though, no sooner had I started reading my book and my eyelids started drooping. All things considered, I had quite a comfortable nights sleep. It remains to be seen what the machine made of it all and I won’t find out about those results until early next month. I’m hoping they’ll prescribe brandy as a nightcap, I think it would be quite nice to get it on prescription.

 

Well, this was something of a scrappy entry tonight, but at least I’m actually writing something. I think I’m slowly getting back to my old self, writing a lot more, both here and in my other outlets. I’ve been tempted to take a creative writing course which is run by Reet’s English teacher, but it’s forty quid for five sessions and I’d be away on my holidays for the first two so I don’t think I’d be getting my moneys worth. Still, maybe next year if the class is still going.

Okay, I’ve wittered on enough for this entry. It’s time to cook dinner anyhow so I’ll have to upload this later tonight.

Cheerie – bye. x