Almost a washout

So along came Tuesday morning and I was expecting the delivery of the building materials I had ordered. A lady had called me on Monday night asking if I could install a new power distribution panel in her apartment and I could only visit the apartment during the morning as she was driving to work in London in the afternoon. I asked her therefore if I could call early because of my expected delivery and arranged to be there at 8.15. I didn’t stay long,  just enough time to assess the work. She would call me later to arrange a day for me to do the work as she would be in London for a few days. I returned home, which was less than two miles away and waited for the materials to arrive.

Early Rural Free Delivery vehicle circa Sept. 1905 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Rain was expected in the afternoon so it was important that they arrived before then so I could put it all in the garage. This time it would be eight bags of sand, three bags of granite dust (granno), three bags of stone chippings, two bags of cement and one more 900 x 600 mm paving slab. Whilst I was waiting I received a call from a woman who wanted me to do some work any day in the morning as she worked in the afternoon. However because I told her I wasn’t available until the following Monday she hung up! She wanted the work done immediately and it didn’t matter to her that people might have previous engagements. In my case I would be working at home while the weather was dry, though I didn’t tell her that. It was almost twelve o’clock and the materials still hadn’t arrived so I called their office to check and was assured my order was on their delivery vehicle, wherever that was. When the vehicle arrived it was twelve-fifteen and my order was its only load. I thought to myself that they had only just loaded it. I had called them about twenty-five minutes earlier and their depot is less than a mile and a half away, plenty of time to have just loaded it. Whenever I have ordered something to be delivered by this company it never arrives when they say it will. Had I been waiting to use the materials immediately I would have been very annoyed and that is why I never rely on them to deliver on time. Just before I had called the merchant’s office I received another request for my electrical services. I explained that I was waiting for the delivery but would call back once they had arrived. I did that work at two o’clock and on my way back home the promised rain began to fall but by four o’clock it was sunny again. The day had been almost a total washout except for the electrical work and the fact that I now had plenty of materials to hand with which to complete the project on the Plot.

Shirley Anne