A Gold Week, Day by Day

The biggest contrast between 'working' and 'retired' weeks for me seems to be the fact that things on my desk get started but not finished ... like the references I gathered for something last weekend, that have sat there since Sunday afternoon, gathering dust and making me feel slightly guilty every morning.  One afternoon I was home by 3.30, with no call on my time in the evening, and I felt uneasy about spending six hours or so working on a spreadsheet to understand the history of some investments I started when still in employment many years ago.  This was as a result of something that had come in the post that morning, and I felt it was distracting me from the work I'd left unfinished at the weekend.  Had this been a 'retired' week, there would have been no problem; but it's one I've made for myself, so I shouldn't grumble.

Perhaps this tension is also partially due to this week - the first of the new financial year for me - being what I term a 'gold' week, i.e. when both the actual turnover and the profitability of each mile driven have been above budget, and at the same time the total of miles driven has been below the budgetted figure.  It involved four early starts (pre-7.30), however, and on only one day was I home before 6.0pm (as noted above).

After the men's breakfast at church on Monday, the week got under way quite slowly.  It was, of course, a standing start, so I wasn't surprised not to be called until noon.  I then did just the one job, to Halesowen, and returned in time to have dinner and then go off to a crowded ringing practice.  I think word is getting around what a good teacher our tower-captain is (although he's now in his eighties!)  There was no after-ringing half-pint for me, though; I had to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to collect some air conditioning equipment in Welwyn Garden City at 7.30 next morning. These went to Suffolk, and then came an urgent delivery of computer parts to a technology complex in Birmingham.  Two days down; three to go before a none-too-restful weekend.

Wednesday found me heading early for Sussex, where I collected some flooring, and then over to Pirbright near Guilford, for a machine door.  After a brief rest, I was called to take some drugs across to the hospital in Luton, but even then the day wasn't over, because I was sent to Biggleswade to collect some items for a Mothercare distribution centre beside the M1 the following morning.  As usual, I didn't know exactly what I was collecting; after tracking it down, the man told me to make sure I wasn't overweight with these three cartons that he carried in one large hand.  His smile was almost as big as the cartons!

Thursday, though eventful, was a pleasant morning.  Having made my delivery on time at 7.15, and enjoyed an exchange with the Polish girl there over the pronuncuation of her name, my thoughts turned to food, and I repeated a sequence of some months ago, when I'd remembered a BP garage just off junction 22 of the motorway.  In fact, there are three BP's quite close together, but none of them has a Wild Bean Cafe, where I could get my prefered breakfast.  Step by step, I recalled my former experience, and carried on for a few miles to a roadside cafe.  The condition of this place justifies its potentially pretentious title, 'Diane's Food Emporium', for the surfaces were not only clean but had recently been renovated, and the wall of the kitchen area proudly displayed the foor hygiene certificates of both mother and daughter who run the operation between them.  I expressed my anxiety that such an attractive place boasted no customers, until I'd walked in, but was reassured that there would be a steady stream once the day got under way.  I was, after all, quite early (it was scarcely 8.0).  Having obtained sustenance, and made a donation to a local charity, CBTRC, I continued my journey, aiming for a 9.0 collection in Nottingham.

This wasn't to be, however.  A mile up the road I joined a very slow-moving queue, waiting to leave the motorway at the next junction.  I think there had been an accident, but the matrices were giving no details, simply saying that the road was closed.  I found my way through local roads to rejoin the motorway further along, and eventually made my collection about 10.30! After a local delivery following my return, the day ended with the six-hour spreadsheet noted above.

Yesterday was one of those 'start and go on until it's done' days.  I left home about 7.15, in order to beat the traffic and collect some printed matter in Welwyn Garden City at 8.0, but I forgot that Friday's traffic is usually lighter - I've never worked out why; I'm just thankful that it's so! - and by 8.0 I was on already my way to take this to Bicester.  Then I was directed to a pick-up from a hospital in Oxford for a customer in Letchworth, and on the way came the challenge of getting two washing machines into the van beside these eight items, to be taken to a building site on the outskirts of Norwich. Before I'd reached Letchworth, I had already received instructions to make another collection, this time just round the corner from delivering the hospital stuff.  This was a bundle of steel bars to be taken to a small complex in March.

I had already protested my anxiety that by the time I got there, the workers on the building site would have packed up for the weekend, and when I arrived about 4.30, I certainly feared that this was so,  The site office and canteen were both deserted, although there were clearly people around somewhere because there were cars on the car park.  Further investigation led me to the discovery that the site manager and others were by the show house, which was due to open today, and to which access was separate. Desperate for fuel, I headed for a filling station on Norwich's ring road, where I decided to also get a snack for my tea, and finally made it home about twelve almost non-stop hours after leaving in the morning.

Tired but satisfied, I turned my attention to getting the weekend under way, with shopping and washing, in order to get to a church meeting this morning.  Life may be cluttered at times, but no one can tell me it's dull!