Coming Together

Somewhere, in a film, I think - answers anyone? - I once heard the expression, "Don't you just love it when a plan comes together?"  This morning I'm feeling a bit like that, because it seems that, during the last week, a number of strands of life have gelled, if not together, at least so as to work they way they should.  I fear my explanation may turn out as garbled as this opening paragraph ... I hope not.

For a number of weeks - perhaps since the new year - there have been a couple of things that I've had on my to-do list that keep getting postponed because one Saturday after another gets taken over by something more pressing.  One is the upcoming expiry of my mobile phone contract.  Even as long ago as November, while I was driving, I had a cold call from a phone agency about a new contract, with attractive terms and a brand new, up-to-the-minute handset.  It wasn't until I learned later that it wasn't with the provider I've now got used to, and with whom I wanted to stay, that I managed in time to pull out, and I resolved that, to avoid yet another cold-call pitfall (I've suffered from a number over the last couple of years), I should go to the showroom in nearby Stevenage, talk to the experts and get things sorted out to my satisfaction, and in my own time.  The other was the ever-increasing need for a haircut (!)

Last weekend I managed to get the tyres checked on my van - another much-delayed operation.  Fortunately it was just before they had become illegal, so I was able to get them replaced, at the expense of a greater slice of my Saturday!  They replaced a set that had taken me 43,500 miles since last July, so I have no real complaints.  The afternoon was taken up by the long awaited visit to the phone shop.  Here I discovered that my former contract, the product of one of those expensive cold calls, was with the business division.  Not only are they closed on Saturdays, but also it proved impossible simply to replace that contract with a new personal one for the deal I'd seen advertised, giving me a much more comprehensive service than I had, for little more than half the cost.  After much toing and froing, I managed to return home with a new phone, sufficiently similar to the old one that I needed only one evening to master the basics, and a couple of delays during the course of this week to enable me to become comfortably familiar with it.

Monday began with the church breakfast as usual, and afterwards came an admin session before work became 'live'.  The first call was to the phone company to cancel the business contract; I discovered that I was just in time to give them the required month's notice that I didn't want the 24-month term to be automatically extended, for which I was grateful.  Next came another sequence of calls which brought to a satisfactory conclusion another matter that has dragged on since the end of November.  On my way back from a tiring journey to Aberdeen and back, I'd called at a local filling station to refuel for the next day.  An administrative mix-up had resulted in my paying for someone else's fuel in addition to my own, and I have been chasing both the garage and the fuel card company to get the extra charge, which duplicated the payment made by the other driver, refunded.  As a result of Monday's calls I now have the credit note in my files, to be set against future purchases.

As soon as these things had been addressed, I had a call from the office, sending me to Liverpool, where I made my delivery to a private hospital right next to Penny Lane, of Beatles fame.  Tuesday was full, but uneventful, and ended with my weekly visit to the office to deal with paperwork and collect my self-billing invoice, showing how much I would be paid for the previous week.

Wednesday was a flat day for small vans, and the only job I did was a local one midway through the afternoon.  A morning at home proved most productive, enabling me to complete my accounts for January, and then my quarterly VAT Return and some outstanding correspondence with my IFA regarding my pension arrangements.  I then turned my attention to family history, and made further progress on the project on which I've been working for some weeks, detailing the history of the Sturgeon families in the village of Stanton, Suffolk, in the nineteenth century.  As it happens, this fitted in well with the second of my Thursday jobs, which were a delivery in Leicester, followed by a collection in Bedford which needed delivery to central Suffolk.  From there it was easy to re-route my journey home through Stanton, although there was no time for photos! 

Yesterday began with a regular run from an industrial unit just opposite my home to Pinewood Studios.  Then I was sent over to East Anglia again, with a delivery in Colchester, and an attempted one to the library in Wivenhoe, which proved to be closed, following the local authority expense cuts.  The goods were therefore returned to the depot, and more effective attempt will be made next week, now that the office knows the opening hours.

And today - in an echo of 'Penny Lane' - the long awaited haircut ... bliss!