Problematic coffee orders, app deleted and assuming responsibility for communal hallway post-run mud
Friday PM
I had to shorten my run this morning at the start of what was a ridiculously busy day. I had been somewhat dreading the end of the week as I’d lost control of my calendar and was having meetings and appointments that left me racing to the next meeting.
It was predictably cold out in the park, and muddy, but oddly, I felt okay out there. I’ve made a note to get the (outdoor only) dust pan and brush when I get home to tackle all the mud I’m leaving in the communal areas when coming in from my runs. I’ll need to start doing what I did last winter, which is remove the running shoes before I step into the building, but that means remembering to remove the external socks (I’m running double-socked) when stepping into the flat. Often I forgot that, which left me then having to vacuum the carpets once I realised I’d been walking around the flat in ‘contaminated’ socks.
Here in the back-up café the waiters favour the double-handed latte delivery, I’m guessing because this place is so deep there’s so much that could go wrong on the delivery. The double-handed delivery can lead to stooping. There was that young waitress the week after Christmas who I never saw again who was prone to the stopping when delivering.
I had to use Google Meets for the first time today for a, well, meeting. That was fun… as soon as the meeting was over, I deleted the app.
There was some disappointing news in the afternoon, shortly after arriving in the back-up café and I just need to start again on that particular front.
There’s still no sign of Double Denim here. On a brighter note, my £3 ear phones from China have finally arrived. I’m road-testing them here in the café and either I’ve lost more hearing than the hospital have told me after a decade and a half of radio and podcasting, or these ear phones aren’t even worth £3. It’s likely to be a combination of both.
Right now, I’m just trying to stay busy and keep my mind off sundry things. It’s been a tough start to the year, the attempted fraud to resolve for a start but even that shunted to the side as January was dominated by the grim confirmation of the cancer now returning for someone in my family. They’re someone that’s always been in my life. I’m very close to them and after losing my parents half a lifetime ago, they’ve always been there for me, never mincing their words whenever I was veering off course life-wise (a frequent occurrence). We all need people like that and the long-term outlook isn’t good. This thing isn’t curable. We know that now.
It always makes me feel guilty but selfishly, seeing elderly loved ones getting overwhelmed by health issues makes me relieved I never had to see my parents go through similar. The sudden nature of their passing was traumatic for those they left behind, life-changing, no doubt about it, but their suffering, I hope, and believe, was limited. Of course, they had plenty of life to live, but I just think I would’ve struggled watching them move through their 80s, on walkers, paper thin skin, scared for the future. I don’t envy people that. Reading that back, it does read rather selfish on my part.
I should end on a nice moment. Despite being rushed off her feet, the Waitress with the impressive centaur-like posture, who I’d love to see working in THE café, notes my empty tall glass while she’s finishing serving a table of seven who with five toddlers between them look to have comfortably secured the next generation of their respective bloodlines, and she mouths ‘decaf’. I mouth something back but I have no idea what it is, and we close the transaction with a mutual thumbs up.
Footnote:
23 minutes later, this decaf latte still hasn’t arrived. They’re a very forgetful bunch here. I ended up piloting that ‘substitution’ hand-twirl gesture I mentioned in one of yesterday’s posts, catching the attention of Nostril Flare from this back table some thirty meters away. Three minutes later, the decaf arrives with an oversized head.
Twitter: @1607WestEgg
FB: @DRTcomedy
Instagram: @1607westegg
TikTok: @1607WestEgg