YOYO DAY

When I opened my bleary eyes this morning I drank my tea congratulating myself on the fact that as I had done extra duty yesterday and there was no baking to do I would have plenty of time to catch up on some outstanding odd jobs and maybe have some time to do my hair nicely, in short, spend a little time on myself. As soon as he considered me fully conscious my darling son broke the news that a card had been slipped through the door declaring an aborted attempt to deliver a parcel, that it was now at the sorting office and if we wanted to collect it we must do so before twelve o'clock..This sort of thing happens often as the blasted postman knocks once and the leaves almost at once without waiting at all. As Pa and I both have difficult walking we often reach the door only to see the post van haring off down the road to their next victim! Add to this the fact that for the second time in a week the delivery was at seven-thirty,which means that my son would not yet be home from work and Pa and I still asleep you can easily see that there is a problem.

Knowing that my son would be unable to collect his parcel before next week, knowing that stuff has a habit of disappearing from our sorting office and knowing also that there was no chance that Pa would be up in time I gulped down my cuppa and set off on the buggie. The sorting office is fortunately not too far away and I was able to collect the parcel easily enough while deploring the necessity of having to do so. I mentioned to the man on the desk that perhaps this problem would occur less often if his postmen waited a minute after knocking before bogging off in a hurry, after all, I remarked we cannot be the only disabled or elderly people they deliver to. He was quite obliging and said that he would mark our sheet with a note about waiting while we answered the door. I expressed my gratitude but remarked that his note would only work if the postman bothered to read it and that this was not the first time he had made such a note at my request. Answer came there non so I gave up and trundled off home. I had hoped to return before my son was went to bed but he was fast asleep and Pa was wandering about in his night clothes so I made so bold as to boil some eggs for breakfast and make a pot of tea.

Pa and I sat down to breakfast, he kept falling asleep and bumping his head on the table so it took quite a time to finish the meal, after which I washed up and Pa fell asleep again on the sofa! This was vastly inconvenient as I was hoping he would pop into the village to collect something from the pharmacy, what a hope. I cleared the kitchen and loaded the washing machine, prepared some cauliflower for dinner and watched as it began to rain heavily. By now Pa had been asleep for a hour and showed no sign of stirring for ages so during a lull in the storm I got out the chariot and buggied off in the opposite direction to the earlier jaunt as fast as possible. There was a long line of people in the pharmacy and by the time I got out it had begun to rain again, Cursing Pa and muttering about vengeance I set off for home.. Fortunately the squall did not last and I made it back and put the buggie in its shelter only slightly soaked to the skin! Pa was still in the recumbent posture and my patience was insufficient for this latest trial. He woke as a yelled my soggy fury down his ear. He had been asleep four several hours. It was now one-forty-five. I used some gentle.....persuasion to encourage him to do the odd job or two and went off to wash my hair. So much for a relaxing day .There is a line in the play Gammer Gurton's Needle delivered by the priest in which he remarks:

“It were better twenty times to be a bandog and bark
Than here among these folk be plague by such a lark,
But I shall never be at rest one pissing-while a day,
But I must trudge about the town, this way and that way;”

I have changed the odd word but the sentiment and the swearing which I endorse belong to the author of the play who's name has been long lost in the mist of time. I recovered my temper while drying my hair and ordered a new sweater for winter, mine are all so venerable and bobbly and have been washed so often that they can find their own way to the laundry basket. Pa had been rather nice to me last night, bringing me a glass of milk as I was in too much pain to want to go down stairs and remembering this my conscience smote me some I gave him a big hug and we had a cup of tea and made up our squabble, Making up after a fight is a more sedate affair as one gets older!

Dinner was a dish of pasta with ham and cheese for my son and a cauliflower cheese for Pa and me..My son was so pleased to have his parcels that I was really glad I went to get them, and the evening ended with everyone happy again. Life is too short to hold grudges I think and I wish I had a better temper, I can be a little waspish at times. Still nobody's perfect as they say but it does not hurt to try.