it was a cold dark November day when I came home from school, about 10 or 12,
and asked my mother what sort of a day she had had . “Awful, thank you” she said. “I spent all day waiting in for the gasman.” On-line doesn’t very often do it for me. I recently filled out all kinds of stuff for Malwarebytes and was asked to prove who I am in yet another piece of kit which verifies (gevalt) that I am indeed who I say I am.
However last week the cats came back. Not really In multiple, it only take one to do damage, and he frightened the robin to death. I quite like cats, and I know it is the nature of the beast but it is your beast and that’s why I don’t have one.
And I don’t want them – and have had them – messing in the garden. I have opted for plants and birds, the latter in short supply.
So I found organic cat repellant and I ordered it. So far, so good. Then I found an offer for something I really wanted. and did that too. At that point I needed a rare second cup of coffee. and then I found beeswax candles.
This may be very routine to you but it isn’t routine to me. However I know you can go from here to Hai Phong looking for what you want – and not find it. And here was what I wanted.
I came home from lunch yesterday – having done three errands as well as eaten, not a moment too soon, procrastination truly being the thief of time – to a discreetly screened package in the garden. It was Silent Roar, scented with the urine of lions. I just hope it works and gives felon felines the sort of headache that stops them short and repels all boarders.
Of course what I would really like is the lion to materialize as the cat gets into the garden, roar and shrink back magically into the pellet – but you can’t have everything, Even on line. So I wrote to the supplier Fitfit and said it arrived, in a sensible place, thank you – which a human acknowledged with the words “You’re welcome.”
The second offer is en route, emails, texts and all, and I am currently experiencing the 2024 version of my mother’s extended wait because not every delivery crew rings the bells, uses the knocker or speaks to the neighbours to see if they will take in the delivery. All too many of them are thinking about the next stop before they dump the item on the front step, and the rate of casual theft round here is rising.
So I have taken a view: I will wait.
I learned to wait, a long time ago and this is waiting in a good cause. I managed to delay the ironing yet again ( I hate ironing) but went through a drawer or two, read the articles I had set aside from the paper – and took delivery from the smallest agreeable Filipino of an offer on firelighters, the first time I have ever used ebay. Sensibly packed and marketing heaven – with a small box of matches in the bottom, how classy!
Can I be this lucky tree times in a row?
We shall see. However then the computer had migraine and I used another long wait – till I was told how to temporarily fix it – to do the aforementioned ironing (grrrhh), and all sorts of other domestic trivia like relining drawers and reorganizing storage.
This has resulted in a weekend quite a different shape from my usual one. When I belted down to the supermarket much later than I usually go, the Chinese lady who works on the sushi bar (I hate sushi but we always speak/laugh/wave – these are people not automata) looked up taken aback:”But you usually come in in the morning !” So I wagged my finger warningly and we both grinned.
I have breathed and prayed and been, and life has flowed round me as if I were a small rock and that sense of solidarity has been oddly comforting. Human beings are creatures of habit, me too, and it is never bad to change the habit. I think it’s called a learning curve.
Annalog 