Hey-di-hey

Dear Spike and Dave were still smiling this morning and they didn’t take shelter – I hadn’t thought they would, but knowing you have the option is not a bad thing, when you have a young child.  They’re now rather hoping for snow deep enough to dig out a camp in, which I agree would be great fun.

So, I made them hot chocolate and then had hardly waved goodbye when my friend Colin arrived.  We were drinking tea when our friend Dave (Dave East, that is) arrived, by arrangement, to measure up for a DIY job he’s doing for me.  That is, DIH, I suppose.  One of the ones that the Sage had on his list for 20 years and more.  He had many good qualities, but he was a starter, not a completer and, since I’m the latter, I always had to exercise patience.

He did too, mind you, but completely discreetly.  I have little idea what about me irritated him, because he was too polite to say.  I don’t think this is a good thing, because I’m fine about taking a hint and I’d simply have stopped or changed or whatever, but he preferred to keep quiet about such things.  I don’t care for rudeness either, I should say, but a nicely-worded explanation is fine.  Or maybe I’m perfect and nothing irritated him.*

So, Dave measured up and we chatted some more and he went off with the wood to do the job.  I had Christmas pudding for lunch (look, it needs to be eaten.  I warmed it in butter, drizzled it with brandy, which I set on fire, and ate it with cream.  This is an excellent way of eating leftover Christmas pudding) and then I lay down and had a nap.  I can only think it’s lack of alcohol, I get sleepy in the afternoons.

Later, I went to the supermarket.  I have to say, the slack-jawed yokels were out in force, mostly blocking the aisles.  One portly young woman with a baby in a pushchair blocked me twice so that I had to go another way, she being oblivious the while; the bread aisle was so full of men staring and wondering what to buy that I had to go and do some other shopping before getting my loaf for myself and one for the chickens; the same young woman took up more than half of another aisle but I was able to squeeze past, carefully easing the wheels of my trolley past the wheels of her buggy – she noticed but neither said anything nor moved to give me room – then, two men blocked the wine aisle so that I couldn’t get past to the bogroll aisle, that had been blocked by two other people.  The place wasn’t even that busy.  A friend posted on Facebook that she had been sneered at by a woman going the wrong way up a one-way street.  It seems that the holiday season has been a bit much for some people.

Tonight, I have played the clarinet, cooked dinner (the lastest last of the Christmas beef) and I’m watching something on Netflix, but I can’t remember its name.  An American series, part one of the pilot.  If it’s good, it’ll last me weeks.

*Absolutely not the case

8 comments on “Hey-di-hey

    1. Z Post author

      They actually slept out in the open air, Mike. Dave had brought a foil bag for young Spike and I suppose they had warm sleeping bags and something waterproof set up as a cover. They were glad of a hot drink but they looked very cheerful. They’d asked if it would be ok to light a fire, so maybe they had that too, I haven’t been the other side of the field to look.

      Reply
  1. tim

    I had a very similar supermarket experience. Slackjaw Saturday? I find a gentle nudge with the trolley accompanied by a smile and a ‘sorry’ often does the trick.

    Reply
  2. kipper

    There are “slack jawed yokels” here as well. Lately a lot of the grocery shoppers-not me of course-seem to be off in another galaxy-standing and looking unfocused at the shelves while their cart is blocking the aisle four feet away. They don’t acknowledge others unless you have the nerve to move their cart a few inches to get by.
    Christmas pudding for lunch sounds perfect! So does the nap afterwards.

    Reply
  3. 63mago

    I did not know the word / expression “yokels”, but find it very nice and fitting. Nowadays I have absolutely no qualms about slamming one of these seemingly abandoned carts to the side when I want to reach an item or need to follow my way. In fact I just kick these obstacles out of my way. I do not kick yokels, usually a more or less friendly “Pardon !” does it, in combination with some more murmured words in dialect, it all depends on the situation and the clientele. I am not a large person, it’s all about humming, moving & taking no prisoners.
    I wonder whether Dave and Spike will be able to built an igloo – this is much more dangerous than sleeping rough in the open, I guess : No one wants a structure made from snow just give in or collapse over a sleeping person.
    And of course you are perfect, nodoubtabout it. 🙂

    Reply
  4. Z Post author

    I usually move aside and offer the person my place, they either make me go first or at least thank me.
    Don’t worry, we won’t have enough snow for an igloo, it just doesn’t happen around here. Dave is an engineer and a sensible, if adventurous father, he will work something out that gives the feel of extreme camping with no danger to a 9 year old – if we have more than 5 cm of snow, that is – we didn’t last winter.
    Ooh, you are lovely 😀

    Reply

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