The same old sun will shine in the morning

Two birds, one stone
10 November 2015 19:02

Honorary Saturday today, on account of having today and tomorrow off work. I had originally planned (and booked) yesterday and today, to give me a week-long weekend, but there was some important stuff to do yesterday, so I changed it. Sometimes I’m a company man – but only sometimes.

I wanted to do some shopping, but also wanted to do a long walk. I combined the two by walking to Basinghole – it’s about thirteen miles and it took me about four and a half hours (including two brew-breaks) which I thought was a reasonable speed.

I needed to go to the Royal Mail delivery office to collect an “unable to deliver” package. This is on the northern outskirts of the town, and I hoped to find a bench to sit on somewhere between there and the town centre to eat my sandwiches. I couldn’t find a seat, so ate while walking along the final street to my destination.

Most of the walk was along BOATs (Byways Open to All Traffic), one of which was the remains of the Harrow Way – a pre-roman road. The other BOATs could have been parts of the same track but their location wrt the Harrow Way (slightly further north, but not so far that it isn’t inconceivable that the track wound its way there) made this inconclusive - though the fact they they aren't so-marked on the map suggests that they probably weren't.

It was a pleasant walk, and extremely mild. I discarded my fleece after the first half mile and walked in shirt-sleeves. A bit of light rain – so light the dampness was more like that of mist – but not enough to don waterproofs. The heat from my body was sufficient to keep me dry.

The shopping centre was far busier than I’d expected – though my impression of “busy” may have been influenced by the fact that I had seen only five people in the previous four hours. Despite the crowds I ran into a colleague – the guy who sits next to me! He was doing some shopping in his lunch hour. Yes, if you are doing the maths, I started my walk early.

At one point, my mental audit of “have I got everyone and everything with me” went like this: “I’m carrying two items. That’s good I started with two items. No wait, I’ve bought something else. I should have three items. Oh rats, I’ve left something somewhere”. I had been to only two shops since I knew I had the missing package (I’d used it as a tray in Costa), so didn’t have too many places to check. It was in the first place I checked.

As I was retracing my steps my mental audit twigged a second problem. I was now carrying more than I should have been. I looked down and noticed I was still holding the supermarket basket I’d been carrying when I first noticed the missing item. Luckily it was empty.

I Managed to get everything I intended from my shopping trip, then caught the train home. When I got home I found another “unable to deliver” note on the doormat – so that’s another trip to the delivery office.

Tomorrow I have a list as long as your arm of “things to do”. That’s assuming your arm is the length of a piece of A4 paper. Including baking a cake for CGF’s birthday – wonder whether I still have the cake-baking expertise I had as a child, when I won first prize at village shows

Of course I didn’t really discard my fleece. I put it in my backpack

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