Lots of Interesting Things

It's been an interesting week.  Peeled back to its beginning, this week actually began on Saturday evening, when I was asked to rendevous with another driver who had been in London all day.  He'd come back with something that resembled an almost spherical microwave oven, on a trolley, which we proceded to transfer to my van, ready for delivery on Monday morning.

When I arrived at an executive dwelling near Newbury, by 9.0 am as arranged (it was about 8.45), there was no one at home.  Fearing a problematic delivery, I decided to drive around and return nearer 9.0, rather than wait suspiciously by the door.  Just as I pulled up to the top of the drive, a car pulled up and the driver made encouraging gestures.  It seemed that there had been an emergency, and he'd had to take someone to hospital.  We swiftly transferred the machine to the boot of his car and, as we did so, I asked what it was.  It seems that the days of false teeth arriving after weeks of waiting subsequent to a visit to the dentist, the sole purpose of which seems to be to fill one's mouth with the most choke-inspiring gunge, will soon be a thing of the past.  This computer controlled machine makes the 'falsie', responding within an hour or so to a simple scan of the tooth, while the patient relaxes in the waiting room for a virtually instant fitting.

With a start like this, you could be excused for thinking that the week had provided all its share of interest at one go.  But no, there were more interesting things to come, the first one that very afternoon.  Many of Cambridgeshire's villages, for good reasons that I once knew but have now forgotten, boast Village Colleges instead of high schools, and one of these has recently extended its facilities by the replacement of its kitchen.  My assignment was the delivery of a quantity of new tableware, and I certainly learned very quickly how heavy this can be.  The consignment really required a larger van than mine, but I was there, and the suppliers, our customer, didn't want to blow their budget completely and have me replaced by a second vehicle.  I was therefore loaded with all I felt my van could carry - its 400 kg limit - and the firm's sales rep. followed me with the remainder in his car.

Tuesday followed uneventfully, with the first of this week's two (now almost obligatory) visits to Pinewood Studios, and on to Chessington with some wood.  Then Wednesday's highlight had to be the best one-liner of the year. I'd been sent to a customer in Hatfield to collect some printed matter, which turned out to be a number of large banners.  These were taken to one of those semi-military establishements that are scattered across the south of England. After I'd been questioned by the security people at the gate, I was told where on the site to drive to, and was met there by a man in a Land Rover.  As he transferred the items to his own vehicle, he smiled and said, "You wouldn't believe just how excited we are to receive these!"  Something in his intonation told me that his tongue was very firmly in his cheek!  I didn't dare ask him what he was going to do with them.

As I came home from that exchange, I was asked to call into the office before going home, and pick up a job someone else had collected.  This proved to be a book in a larger-than-necessary envelope, which was to be delivered to an address in Dereham, Norfolk, by 9.0 am.  My journey took me past part of the famous military training area in the Breckland, and I question whether it was just coincidence that a headland about three metres wide around all the cropped fields there has been seeded with poppies.  They were both beautiful and thought-provoking.  Much of that afternoon was taken up with the delivery of a washing machine and tumble dryer to a new property being built in Harpenden.  SatNav doesn't take kindly to new developments, and it took some time to discover, only to find then that there was no one there to receive the goods!

And so to yesterday, and the biggest event of the week.  At 1,132 feet long, with 17 decks and weighing 148,528 tonnes (according to Wikipedia), I have no hesitation in making this claim.  My small part in a minor refurbishment of the Cunard flagship RMS Queen Mary 2 was the delivery of two replacement parts for a champagne bar.  Here again, it was nice to get the full story, and it seemed that the original parts had been supplied in the wrong colour for a job that had to be completed later that day, before she sailed for New York.  The refurbishment is one of three, the others being aboard her sister ships Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth 2.

As if there were nothing else to do but celebrate, today I decided to stroll into the Garden City, and discovered that there is music everywhere.  As part of the summer's Letchworth Festival, today has been declared the day of dance, and one of the shopping centre's squares had a stage at one side, with a prominent programme of groups and individuals performing hourly during the day.  Somehow the event provides a suitable complement to a good week on the road, and the lovely summer sunshine.