Finding a Birthday Card is not Easy & Yodel Make me Wait.

With three birthdays arriving soon, and one or two just past, I have had to make the long slow search of suitable cards for each individual.  This as you know is not easy.  The Great Nephew, aged 3 in a week or two, cannot read, does not understand, but forces me to buy a card for him, or mum might say something.

Niece's and great nieces will not object if nothing comes for them on their birthday, though they will remember this!  Therefore I have to have a pile of cards, along with an 'Amazon' voucher included, in the desk.

Naturally, when the birthday approaches none of the cards are suitable.  

Therefore I stand in a shop staring at a vast array of cards, some asking prices that would make a CEO of an electric company jealous, while looking for 'that' card and that one alone.

It is of course not there.

So, we visit one shop, then the other, the first offering a huge shop full of dull, boring cards that grannies are supposed to like  The type you send to people you do not know very well.  This causes me to ask, why then are you sending one?  You leave the shop deflated, refuse to peruse 'W. H. Smith,' voted annually 'the worst shop on the High Street,' and enter the 'Card Factory.'

When this shop first opened it was full of tat.  The cards were mostly unfunny, unless you were still at school or read the 'Sun.'  Otherwise it was cheap and cards marked for 'Mum,' Cousin,' or '3 Today,' type cards.  Also on offer were a variety of cheap gifts of various types.

Recently I noticed the cards have improved, the prices dropped, the ones I bought were £1:49 each, and the quality much better.  The others were still available, as the cheap China made tat, but much better in my view and I bought several to fill the desk with, even though they are not the greatest cards but will do the job for some.  

The young lady at the desk added things up, studied the reading on the screen and told me that as there was 'Buy 2 get one free' on some I could have 3 more cards free.  Naturally I raced back and found 3 more, at which she then totalled up and took my cash.  Note, CASH!  Shops such as this can take cards but many prefer to pay cash.  Some trendy places are dropping the cash bit.  Soon it will arrive here.

Such good staff, not unusual in this town, it does not always occur but many do act very well here.

Now I sit here trapped.  Trapped waiting for the man from Yodel delivering a wee packet.  It is now past 6 pm and no sign of him yet.  He comes from the Ipswich depot, possibly has 500 drops all over middle Essex, and gives me no indication of when he may arrive.  This is unfortunate as most carriers these days at least give a 2 hour gap when they may deliver, not Yodel. Of course the driver, on possibly £3:25  drop, may not be keen to rush about, or else he is working so hard he might have come off the road somewhere.  Yodel are the carrier company that make people use Hermes!  

This is the period of time when I am considering moving through to the west wing and settling down in my bed to watch/read/cogitate/ or encourage somnolence.  Especially after trawling through town looking for cards, being spoken at by two women from the Kirk, and enjoying the delights of almost, but not quite, buying something.  I am ready for the west wing.  

However, as you know I am not one to complain.  I will sit here listening to a podcast of some sort, avoid Twitter wars for a while, and getting agitated by the podcast.  First World problems I suppose.  I am too used to getting what I want easily and grumble when it does not happen.  Tsk!  I need a good slap!

Quiet Saturday

Not a great start to a day that has not started greatly.  Overcast, with patches of blue peeking through, wind blowing tepid air in my face as I staggered drunkenly up the road.  My intention was to head for 'B&M' and obtain one or two things for the kids, and something for myself before the crowds arrived.  

There were no crowds, and there were no items I wanted either.  All those toys and not one suitable for either of them.  What I wanted, a new small clock, was not to be seen either.  At one time thousands of these wee clocks were to be seen in such stores, not one can be found today.  Have they all run out? Did the ship sink on its way from China?  Who knows. 

I wandered back across the park as the weather began to spitefully rain on me.  Even the dogs there this morning ignored me.  

This exciting life continues...

 

 

Isn't it always the way that when you buy cards for birthdays and the like there is not a suitable one in the drawer!  I have just looked through a pile of cards and not one is suitable for the purpose I have in mind.  Why is this?

If I trawl round the appropriate shops, at least three here, I will not find one that fits today.  There will be billions that will fit next week, but will have gone by then, but today there is nothing.

It is because of such major traumas I am now insane.

 

Is it just me or is nothing happening just now?

The media appears empty of real news, Sunak made a statement yesterday which has disappeared quickly, and even Boris spouting in the Mail' has drawn little response.  Have we all given up?

The only excitement concerned Farage.  

Making an appearance on TV bemoaning being locked out of UK ,was intended to gather support from his Blackshirt followers.  Instead, it has sponsored rumours about his Russian money, with Twitter offering many photos of him with Russian ambassadors and the usual crew of Brexit ner-do-wells.  Little sympathy has been on view, this, in spite of a spirited defence by all the usual rich right-wing faces filling the right-wing media.  

Poor little rich lying nazi.

 

Quiet Saturday

How quiet the morning appears when a holiday is on.  The rat race in the evening was very slow last night, and not because of the crowds.  Just force of habit caused drivers to dawdle at the normal speed for the rush hour.  Today, Saturday appears the same.  How lovely to think those that would normally block our streets in the morning are all blocking the road into Dover as they await a ferry to France.

Tee Hee  You vote for Brexit and then wonder at the result?  The man in charge at Dover claims the French have put on more staff, many on overtime, yet still they wait.  This, he made clear, is a result of Brexit and nothing else!  It is hard to feel sympathy.  However, those going through Belgium have little hindrance, that however, does not make a story for the tabloids.

I toddled to Tesco for bread, I usually run out when shops close for one day, and chatted cheerfully with the man in the queue in front of me.  We both glared thoughtfully at the woman at the front on the only open checkout while she fussed over what we considered to be 'nothing.'  Holding the queue up is what women do we decided, men always just 'get on with it,' and fuss later.  Two women behind me, with a few items each, moved to the next checkout when it opened, looking questioningly in my direction.  I urged them to go as I knew the man in front with a trolley full would be quicker than they with half a dozen items each.  And he was.  We sniggered like schoolboys and moved on.

Later that day my laziness caught up with me.  So I addressed three cards, two for Easter eggs and one for a birthday, all running very late, and struggled back up the road and posted them in the best post box.  The cards ought to be no more than three days late!  My unhealthy body did not like this dawdle, especially as my head wished to be refreshed by crossing the park.  The sight of greenery, council Daffodils, and a dog or two under a blue sky is very helpful  Such small benefits are huge at times.  If I go out tomorrow I must struggle down the long road.  I am not looking forward to this and may reside here.  But it is Easter Sunday, one of the two days in the year when the scruffy church turns up better dressed.  This is a sight to see.  Normally, only visitors make sure they look good before entering.

I noticed the two Crows happily avoiding me as I passed.  Also, I noticed the two Magpies who have taken up resident in the trees opposite me are still there.  This surprised me as I expected the Crows to see them off their land by now.  I wonder if they have noticed, or if they are just waiting their time?

The soap opera's of the wildlife can be interesting.  Last night there was much loud barking, this from a young Roebuck deer in the park, hiding in the darkness.  I heard no reply but his folks must have been about.  These are timid creatures, soon off at a pace if they see you.

Bumbling Along...

It's a terrible thing when having eaten an inadequate breakfast you must run for a bus because you need a birthday card quick.  The best place for cards is not the local card shops but the Oxfam shop in Dunmow, not only two smiling young ladies but a decent choice of actually funny cards.

 
So I pushed my way past men selling strange kids waving things, there must be an event on today which explains the crowded streets and lack of traffic, and found the shop, brushed past the crowds and selected a few cards.
As it happens this area is of course wealthy so the book side is always worth a look and I obtained, for £2:99 a copy of 'Plutarch. 'The Rise and fall of Athens' to place on the 'to be read' pile.  Charity shops in well read towns are much better than those in the grubby back streets if you wish decent books.  The lower orders, like around here, read wimmins books, the trashy novels that ought to be burnt.  Better educated folks often dump books of quality, especially when clearing an aged relatives home.  Sadly they are all healthy and well at the moment in Dunmow.

  
The need to finish some of the family history has kept me busy, little else has been done, or indeed interesting enough to draw me away.  Now I have finished part one, soon to be sent north so my sister can understand the depth of depravity in her forebears, then I can look further back to Great Granddad where already I think I see problems...
Something to look forward to I suppose.

Museum Musings

Another day another few hours of fun and jollity at the museum.  The term 'fun and jollity' is not to be taken seriously!  It was fun and at times there was jollity but I found too few people to discuss history, theirs or the towns, with today.  Several came in to see the postcard exhibition, 600 postcards in all mostly of the town and area about a hundred years ago, or slightly less.  Too few from the period after the war.  It is amazing just how much remains the same even though it is very different.  Did I just say that?  Indeed little has changed in the basic layout but some buildings are drastically altered.  The old market place, pub and all, is now a modern Tesco, what once was the 'Fairfield' used often by the 'fair' is now a large old Town Hall, modern library and 1930's ex-Post Office building.  It's quite amusing to note how things have changed in many visitors lifetimes.

The school class today, dressed suitably as Victorians, faced the stern Victorian teacher for an hour or so bravely but would not understand a life in which computers of one sort or another were in use. Being about eight years old they have grown up into a computer world and many bought slates, the type once used by schoolchildren learning to write (hold your hand up at the back) just to practice in similar fashion to kids of yesteryear.  We had one or two of those in also today!
Among the stock we have old Victorian pennies made into key chains.  Pennies I once used have become historical items!  Amongst the books we have 'Living in the 50's' and the same in the '60's' but this canny be history, I was there! 

I was much amused this week to read of a lass in Brazil who had spent many years praying to a statue of St Anthony.  Now I have no idea who St Anthony was, if he ever existed, and see no point in praying to dead men, Jesus is alive so ask him, but it is important to ensure you pray to the person you think you are praying to.  This lass was in fact unknown to her making use of a figure from a 'Lord of the Rings' set!
It is not known if she got an answer...

 
With Christmas just past it would be thought that cards were the last thing folks wished to buy yet I sold several today.  The girls like these and the ones featuring the 'Warners Silk Mill' designs.  I prefer cards with humour myself, specially one that fits the receiver, but women prefer intricate designs for the most part it appears.  These animals are particularly popular.  
Christmas cards I suppose have come down now, however I notice mine are still in their place hiding dirty marks and preventing me dusting places, so they had better stay for a while.  This adds a touch of colour to the room and avoids the 'empty feeling' that results from removing them.
Ah well, that's enough fun and hilarity for one day.

 This brings to mind some of my readers....
   

Another Rip-Off!

This ad has just fallen into my 'in box' from Thornton's. "Mothers Day gifts! Mothers Day? Another chance to show how much you care, just a few weeks after throwing cash away n your loved one (bet she didn't!) and not long before Easter! Great! Just what I need, another excuse to obtain another letter from the bank for being overdrawn! Woopeedo!

Was it always like this? I am sure we used to just boil eggs and paint them and roll them down hills when young. maybe a thin chocolate egg to go with it. Mum's day was unheard of when I was young I'm sure of it, and later we did not spend that much. Now it's a card and a box of chocs or flowers. (Chocs are cheaper and I use Thornton's for this, and a better idea if you are actually with mum!) This after your woman has emptied your wallet on Valentines night (no wonder Valentine got killed I say!) .

Add to this birthdays and other personal and family drains on your wealth (wealth? Ha!) and one is left wondering what it all means. I know what it means, it means someone (Hallmark, various chocolate sellers and Interflora) are making money even in a recession. Anything can be celebrated this way. Especially where women are concerned. Blackmail comes in here. The lass will say she does not mind, but woe behold whoever forgets her birthday, Valentines card or worse, chocolate egg! Something should be done, I will write to my MP!