Paucity and a Piece of Past

Last week was typical.  It was a bit of a 'parson's egg', i.e. good in parts.  It provided some surprises, and brought blessings too.  Monday and Tuesday were both slow, with an empty trip to King's Lynn on Monday to collect some brackets for a building site in St Albans, and the delivery of a tender to Bexhill-on-Sea on Tuesday. 

A couple of weeks ago, I finally made the decision to invest in a Dart-tag, making it easier to pass through the tolls at the QEII Bridge, and bringing with it a small discount on the charge.  This was largely prompted by the increase in the toll fee from £2.00 to £2.50 each way.  With the tag I only pay £2.19.  When the tag arrived, the accompanying instructions said to install it behind the rear-view mirror; this puzzled me a little, since I don't have one in the van.  They went on to refer to a protective coating at the top of the windscreen and, thinking that the black patch at the top of my windscreen (where the mirror would have been) would come into this category, I avoided this and stuck the tag below the sun visor. 

Reflecting upon this decision, I wondered whether this would in fact still be within this 'protected area', and to be on the safe side I called the Dart people to make sure.  I was told, yes, it would be in the protected area, and I ought to have stuck it in the blackened section, because that was not subject to the protective coating, which interferes with the recognition technology.  However, when I answered the question of what van I have, I learned that this might be OK, since the protective coating on Vauxhalls isn't as impenetrable as some other models.

Now, since fitting the tag I hadn't needed to use the crossing so there had been no opportunity to try it out, until the visit to Bexhill on Tuesday.  I chose a pay-lane, and drove cautiously up to the barrier, with money to hand in case it didn't work.  Nothing happened, and I reached the point where payment would have to be made.  My hand reached to the window winder to open it ... and then 'beep', the barrier lifted, and the display changed from 'Van - £2.50' to 'Dart-tag Thank you.'  It had worked after all.  I enjoyed a similar, but a little more confident, experience a couple of hours later when I returned, my delivery made.

Wednesday brought a 'blast from the past'.  I was sent to a firm just by the A1 at Huntingdon with some electronic equipment.  It's a job I've done several times before and I knew that, despite the high level of security, it's a doddle.  This time, however, there were two additional items that had to be taken to their sister operation near Eye, Suffolk.  The last time I was at that particular site was some 24 years ago when, as a wannabe spreadsheet consultant, I'd secured a six-week assignment to stand in for an ex-employee to help in the completion of their annual budget.  It had been my first introduction to the wonders of the Lotus Symphony program.

But that wasn't to be my only dip into the past that day.  After a delivery in the centre of Norwich, I was sent to the outskirts of the city to collect some 'dead' computer equipment.  When I arrived, I realised that the property was adjacent to a factory where I had had a job interview in 1985!  On that occasion I didn't get the job, but last week I did get the computers - thirteen boxes and a few bits and pieces, that filled my van, and stayed there until the next morning when I could deliver them to a recycling operation quite close to our office.

Being so close, and with a magazine overdue to be read, I decided to spend Thursday's waiting time at the office, instead of coming home again.  It was an eye-opening reminder of how blessed I am under this new régime to spend such a good time at home.  My family history work has progressed remarkably over the summer months, at the cost of keeping up to date with reading matter.  I was also reminded how boring it was waiting at the office; there are only so many pages that can be read at a sitting, and the mind seeks other diversions.  I was very glad at 11.30 to be sent out on a job.  In fact, it was not one job, but two, and went a great way towards balancing out the shortage of work earlier in the week.  I left home turf with two small boxes, one for the centre of Birmingham, the other for a dentist in Warrington, and was home about 9.30pm.

Friday was similarly balanced.  I wasn't called until 2.30pm, but the job was far better than I'd expected so late in the day, and necessitated taking a box of components to a shopping centre in the middle of Gloucester.  By the time I'd beaten the traffic, the site staff had all gone home, but a phone call had advised me to leave the goods with the security staff, who readily accepted them.  I was glad not to be too late home, because I knew I had an early start the following morning.

My plan for Saturday was to visit the Suffolk Family History Fair at Needham Market, and it began quite successfully.  I arrived about ten minutes before opening time, but this didn't hinder my access for, along with a number of other early-birds, I was allowed to move freely around the stalls from the off.  There were talks in an adjacent room, too.  The first speaker had written the story of her Suffolk family, and prepared it as an illustrated book to give to her present day family, many of whom live far from this area, and to whom it would all be a 'different place'.  The second 'talk' was, in fact, a dramatic performance of a number of Suffolk tales and legends, some of which have parallels in many other places.  It was both interesting and amusing, and received much well-deserved applause at the end.

After lunch, my week took a different course from my plans.  In order to see round the rest of the Fair and make some purchases, I had skipped the Society's AGM, which was being held in the same room where the talks had taken place.  When I arrived once more for the afternoon talk, the only empty seat was one by the door, with a poor view of the screen.  This made little difference, however, because the speaker was one I'd heard before, and his delivery quite uninspiring.  I found myself nodding off, realised that there were better uses for my time, and prepared to leave, glad that I was seated near the door.  As I packed up my things as quietly as possible, I noticed that I had awoken the lady next to me!

Thus it was that, after the journey home, there was time to fulfil a number of essential chores before bedtime, and leave Sunday that oasis of tranquility that it's supposed to be and, thankfully for me, usually is.  Now to execute what that complacency has left behind!