It Never Rains but ... and it's Still Raining!

In the town where I grew up there was a soft drinks company named Doubleday.  Where that name came from I have no idea, but it comes back to me now as I review a few days of distinct ups and downs.  Best, as always, to begin at the beginning.  On Monday I had the usual enquiries from my friends at breakfast as to what I would be doing today, and unusually I was able to answer them positively.  Normally if there's a definite answer, then I'm already on the road, and not there to give it.  This Monday, however, I knew exactly where I'd be for most of the day, since the van was booked in for a service and MOT.  A couple of years ago I had an argument with a bollard on one of Tesco's car parks and come off second best, with the result that I've been driving around with a headlight that was fully functioning but with a cracked glass.  Gradually since that assault the interior has been gathering dust and damp, and has grown ever dimmer so, deciding that now should be the time to have a replacement, I was fairly sure that the whole sequence would take up most of the day . . . a day easily absorbed by my current family history project, once I'd completed my January accounts and submitted a VAT Return.

Tuesday and Wednesday were both good days, and went some way to compensating for the loss of income on Monday.  Tuesday began early with a local collection for Northampton, and goods to bring back to our customer in Letchworth, followed after only a brief interlude by a couple of local jobs.  I was nearly back from the second of these when I was diverted to collect from our office, where there is a small medical warehouse facility.  Three items were then taken to the Russell Hall Hospital in Dudley - another journey made easier by having done the exact same job five months ago - resulting in a return home about 9.45 pm.  I made straight for bed, resolving to do the daily admin when I got up.

As soon as I'd finished breakfast on Wednesday I rang in as available.  It was about 8.30, and I anticipated having an hour or more to record the doings of the past day and read through the e-mails and social media that had accumulated since Tuesday morning.  Not so.  Within about five minutes came a call asking me to collect something urgent for Oxford from a healthcare firm in town.  By the time I'd collected this, another job had come in for something to be taken from Welwyn Garden City to Didcot.  The visit to John Radclife Hospital in Oxford resolved a doubt I'd expressed a couple of weeks ago as to whether or not I'd been there before.  Clearly I hadn't, for I'm sure I should have remembered it, if only for the difficulty in finding the main entrance.

My goods were designated for the theatre, so having once found a reception desk and placed my enquiry I was distressed to learn that they had at least two operating theatres.  Since I had no indication which one I needed, it was agreed that I should be sent to 'main theatre', and followed the directions to the main entrance, which I had already bypassed in ignorance in my original search.  Once there, the staff were very helpful, and examined the goods I'd brought, in order to determine their application.  On discovering that these bore the critical word 'paediatric', they sent me further afield to the Children's Theatre, escorted for convenience by a member of staff, whose swipe card could gain access through the otherwise securely closed doors.  Once the delivery had been completed, I was then escorted in the opposite direction to recover my van at the main entrance.  Taking into consideration the length of the corridors, and the speed and energy of my escort, I felt I'd had this week's workout by the time I set off for Didcot!

After negotiating an alternative route to avoid a road closed owing to floods, I had almost reached home when the almost dreaded call came, sending me immediately onto another job.  This involved collecting a small bundle of timber from Hitchin for a public house just outside Nottingham.  I'd just picked this up when another call announced that a customer in Letchworth had a small parcel for Leicester (which turned out to be a large box of plastic trays - bulky but lightweight).  This was definitely two days in one, and by now the rain had settled in for the night, although it was still only about 3.0 pm.  An accident on the M1 caused a diversion on the way up, and the road conditions made it slow going anyway, so I was getting a little anxious that all the staff would have gone home by the time I arrived at my destination.  In the event the manager was looking out for me; the door opened just as I pulled up outside and, by the time I'd completed my paperwork after making the delivery, he had secured the premises and driven off himself!

On then to Arnold, where the Greyhound Inn is being refurbished.  By good fortune I had the phone number for someone involved in the operation, and a quick call resulted in a door opening to indicate how access was to be obtained.  Another late night ensued, and at 10.30, it was time for bed when I got home.  When I got up on Friday morning I already felt tired, and decided that a couple of local jobs would satisfy me quite nicely to end the week.  So this time, I didn't ring in after breakfast to say I was available.  In fact, I didn't need to, because the phone had already rung before I'd finished my cereal!

Friday was already under way.  I managed to squeeze in a little essential admin before I was sent to Luton, following which I was summoned once more for the next job before returning home.  This time I collected from Stevenage for Rochford, to deliver to badly-identified premises on an industrial estate behind Southend airport.  I confess, I didn't hurry home, was then conveniently given a job to start off next week, and felt confident in beginning my weekend routines.  When the controller rang at 5.45, to ask if I would be able to do another job that evening, I was pleased at the way I confined my response to a polite but firm 'No,' following this with the advice that, since two late nights had robbed me of two evenings, I needed to catch myself up before embarking on a busy weekend.

And so it is; my busy weekend has already begun with a follow-up to that MOT: a tyre check that reveals the need for a new set of four!