journal of a writing man

Riches beyond the dreams of Alice

December 3, 2007 · 16 Comments

Monday December 3, 2007

To Cannington early this morning, dropping Graham off to join the car-share pool to the holiday club.  He’ll be back this evening.

I was tasked to rush home and wait for the parcel man to come and collect the Gaggia coffee maker for return to the service centre.  Needless to say, no time was specified, so we planned for an all-day siege and also for the eventuality that I might still be waiting at the end of Graham’s working day.

Got back home toot de jolly sweet and peered behind the front door in case the guy had woken early just to catch me out. Nope.

I looked anxiously up the road and decided there’d be time to finish my morning ablutions before he might arrive.  Done. No sign.

So I came up to the study and sat working between peeks through the window to be sure he wasn’t outside.  Done. No sign.

Then I got all hungry and decided to risk breakfast.  Three slices of thick-carved ham, three large tomatoes, four small organic eggs, all hashed up together with a wipe of olive oil in a medium pan.

I got that done, too, and still no sign.  Breakfast was however a big mistake, especially after an early outing. Simply couldn’t keep my eyes open during the long wait.

I woke just after noon and was padding downstairs for coffee when the doorbell rang. Such delicious timing!  The delivery man was quite tasty, too. Such riches!

Categories: personal
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16 responses so far ↓

  • Kelli // December 3, 2007 at 1:56 pm | Reply

    Hee hee! I’m so glad it all worked out, John. I remember telling a friend of ours once that our UPS man was pretty hunky. She UPS’d me an Easter Basket that year (rather than delivering it) so I could have a reason to interact with him. :)

  • bonnie // December 3, 2007 at 2:08 pm | Reply

    Our UPS sneaks up to the door and drops pkg’s, rings the bell and runs back to the truck and is off before you can even open the door.

  • oldgreypoet // December 3, 2007 at 2:12 pm | Reply

    Just looking, ladies… just looking… ;-)

  • Mary Lee // December 3, 2007 at 2:33 pm | Reply

    What is going on here? My UPS guy is pretty yummy too. I’ve had to tell him we must stop meeting like this. (Just a joke, son. Just a joke.)

  • Brigitte // December 3, 2007 at 2:35 pm | Reply

    Me too, me too… Sigh… :-)

  • mageb // December 3, 2007 at 2:39 pm | Reply

    Thanks for my morning smile, John. Glad he was tasty.

  • Alison P // December 3, 2007 at 2:54 pm | Reply

    Waiting for a parcel here too. I don’t really care what the delivery person looks like so long as the parcel gets here! Supposed to take 24-36 hours and that was Thursday…..

  • wendync // December 3, 2007 at 3:23 pm | Reply

    You folks have all the luck. I get either the string-bean guy or the short, chunky woman, whether it’s UPS or Fedex. It’s good for the budget, though.

    John, I’m glad you had a pleasant experience.

  • S // December 3, 2007 at 4:08 pm | Reply

    Hello Mr. Bailey,

    I was not familiar with Gaggia, and did some poking around for edification: oh, but those are nice units! Some items should indeed be repaired.

    I’m doing the siege thing as well today, but for a delivery (instead of a collection). Fortunately the carrier provides updates via their web site: the item [allegedly] left the depot about 45 minutes ago. We shall see. :-)

  • Linda Ball // December 3, 2007 at 4:12 pm | Reply

    Nice entry which perfectly captured (1) that tension of waiting for someone to show up at your door; (2) the unexpected surprise of a nice-looking stranger (my husband prefixes all his female friends names with ‘Tasty.’; and (3) the lengths one will go to for a favorite coffee maker. Good job on this one, John.

  • Kelli // December 3, 2007 at 6:31 pm | Reply

    I was only looking, too! :)

  • wqah // December 3, 2007 at 9:17 pm | Reply

    Mr.Old Grey Poet, you’re so old and so grey, and i am neither, your oldness and greyness must have brought wisdom with it, can u comment on my writings if you have free time, because i seriously want to improve…please :)

    Always happy to help. Post yr URL, please, and I’ll take a walk.

  • Dick // December 3, 2007 at 9:29 pm | Reply

    Sometimes we get all the breaks!

  • Kate & Jim // December 3, 2007 at 11:20 pm | Reply

    Oh, this made me laugh, John.

    We have an ‘easy on the eye’s’ UPS man too! But we’ve had to stop making him ring the doorbell, because the dogs go nuts, when he rings it. Now (like Bonnie) he drops the package and runs…(of course I don’t know whether it’s from ‘me’ or the dogs…) ;) ha!

  • oldgreypoet // December 4, 2007 at 9:20 am | Reply

    When Graham asked about the parcel collection and the tasty bloke he gave me a variant on the ‘lucky s**’ line. I told him that in Scotland the postmen wear kilts. “Cool,” he said. “Precisely,” I replied.

  • wqah // December 4, 2007 at 8:58 pm | Reply

    thanks,
    http://wqah.wordpress.com

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