Jubilation for all

While many were by all accounts enjoying getting soaked on the banks of the Thames, I had the privilege of watching the progress of the Jubilee pageant on my cousin's TV, as I reflected on the doings of the past week.  I felt sorry for Her Majesty, wrapped in a much-needed shawl, but standing steadfastly at her post, acknowledging the cheers of her subjects.  From the comparative warmth of my own vantage point, I realised that we have much for which to be thankful - not least, in my case, quite a profitable week.

As usual, I'll pass over some of the detail and identify just the highlights of a week that has covered just over 1,500 miles and, in profile, resembles a theatrical stage, with an off-centre spotlight amidst wings of darkness.  Monday began - as is usual nowadays - at home, but I didn't have to wait long before I was sent round the corner to collect something for a village in the Cambridgeshire fens.  A diversion to Thetford led to a pleasant journey through the countryside to get there.  Later, jobs to High Wycombe and Wokingham were crowned by a phone call sending me further for a collection in Thatcham afterwards.  I was nearly there when another call announced that this had been cancelled - but will be paid for!

Ringing practice on Monday evening was a time of mixed emotions.  The ringing itself was quite well discharged, but much of it was of a low level, owing to the attendance of a couple of gents who rarely come to practices because of other hobbies and a comparatively casual interest in ringing.  As a result their skill level is less advanced and I confess to a degree of impatience and intolerance whenever they turn up.  Alongside this quite regular irritation, my young friend and fellow-ringer who is expecting her first baby in August, had returned from holiday looking bonnier than ever.  It is no surprise that her condition makes her the focus of social attention, and I felt sidelined.  When I returned home, I reflected how unreasonable this attitude was, which only added to my discomfort.

Tuesday yielded two jobs in another east anglian trip, and Wednesday found me revisiting a known factory near Basingstoke Town FC's ground before exploring the delights of Romsey.  Then came the spotlight of the week.  I returned from Romsey to the office to hand in my paperwork, and was there at just the right time.  Confirmation was awaited of a collection the next morning in Co Durham for a building site in north London.  All the other drivers had either been allocated work or gone home, and the controller found it convenient to ask me to wait until the e-mail arrived, rather than get his evening colleague to find a driver for it once the job was 'on.'  Thus it was that I returned home at 6.30 for a quick turnaround in order to be out soon after 4.0 am on Thursday.

My journey north was uneventful, and I stopped at Markham Moor for breakfast before arriving at the factory in Birtley - within sight of the famous Angel of the North statue - at 9.30.  After a short wait, I was loaded and heading south.  Five boxes of assorted 'building ironmongery' were destined for the same site in North London that I'd visited a few weeks ago, right opposite the British Library's Newspaper Archive in Colindale.  My previous visit was on a rainy evening when, there being no one about, I had made phone calls and, upon instruction, had left two boxes of door handles on the pavement outside the locked gate in the rain - a most unsatisfactory outcome, in my opinion.  This time things turned out much better.  I arrived mid afternoon, drove straight onto the site and up to the site office, where I met the chap whom I had phoned on the previous occasion.  Delivery made, I gladly made my way home for a lazy evening and early bed.

Friday set off much earlier than I had expected, with a call to make a collection from a familiar site in Northampton, and from that point one local job followed another until by 7.30 pm I'd visited three hospitals and a nursing home, and achieved a total of six jobs in the day - once not an uncommon phenomenon, but now a rarity achieved only once since August 2010.

After a lazy morning I gave SatNav permission to lead me via a 'non-motorway' route to my cousin's, which proved an interesting introduction to a weekend of family chatter and comfortably low-key Jubilee celebrations.