A Frustrating Week
Dear Ann,
My little Toyota Echo car was due for registration so I had been a bit busy getting quotes, insurance etc. & my last port of call was to have a registration check for the RTA . I have been going to the same mechanics for the past thirteen years, since moving here. The boss, Andrew, knows me quite well; looks after me very well & when the festive season arrives he is on my list for a nice big Christmas pudding for the good service he gives me.
So he took my car into the workshop & I opted to wait for the required check. It wasn’t long before the mechanic came to where I was doing a crossword puzzle & took me to the workshop to show me a little problem.
With heart in my mouth I learnt that something (I can’t even remember the name) had a crack in an important piece of the steering works, which was going to cost a few hundred dollars. He explained it was okay to drive & could be left for awhile, but would only worsen. If the authorities saw it I would have a fine of nearly a thousand dollars on my plate. I told them to do it straight away. It would take two days & an appointment was made for this past week for Tuesday & Wednesday.
As I was about to become housebound for the two days I thought it a good opportunity to do a batch of fifty kilo Christmas Puddings. So last weekend I bought all the ingredients necessary & started weighing, mixing etc. Â I was doing very nicely.
By Tuesday morning I had them well under way when I delivered my car to Andrew who had someone drive me back home. I was completely reconciled to being housebound for two days.
This never happens unless there is a good reason as I go out every day. I was working back at my pudding project when, after a few minutes I had a call from Andrew who was highly embarrassed because the parts they had ordered to do the repairs were found to be the wrong ones.
This meant another delay & that I was not going to be housebound at all this week. This was an unexpected change of plan that meant Andrew had to come & collect me again so that I could have my car returned to me. Another appointment was made for next Tuesday & Wednesday.
It couldn’t be helped & it didn’t bother me as it did the mechanics. I just got back to my pudding making & was down to the last nine puddings to be weighed out, tied up in their cloths ready for boiling.
So I got my good old fashioned scales out to do this small job. As I had the last container holding the mixture sitting on the table where the cloths were laid out ready, I did something I had never done before. I put the scales next to the container on the table because it was only for such a small quantity of weighing. My regular practice is having them on the kitchen bench with the container next to them.
I had weighed out one pudding when I knocked the scales flying across the floor & did a good job of smashing them.
I had the big saucepans on the stove with the electricity encouraging them to boil quickly so, I could get the last nine nestled in the boiling water. I had to turn the stove off because as frustrating as it was, it was necessary to dash out & buy new scales.
After three shops I finally ended up at The Good Guys just up the road from me. I really must have been in a flap because they were the obvious people to go to in the first place! Also they are the closest to my home.
They had scales but only digital ones. My dear old faithful scales has pounds & ounces as well as grams & kilograms. As I am old fashioned I like old fashioned scales.
It wasn’t to be. They only had digital ones. I refrained from using a naughty word & only said it under my breath. I just didn’t have the time running to the next suburb, so I had to settle for digital. The lass serving me showed me very quickly how to set them up.
So off I drove home with something I knew I wasn’t going to like as I tried them once before & they were so slow!
I arrived back home after an hour, turned the stove on again & set out to weigh out the mixture. At least the scales were flat & I wouldn’t send them flying!
When I came to tare them for the mixing bowl to weigh the mixture into I got highly confused as I always do with new tools. I thought I read something about batteries, but I had to get the aid of a magnifying glass to read the small print.
There was nothing else to do but turn the stove off again & – armed with batteries, bowl & scales – I choofed off to The Good Guys again. I was feeling a bit foolish when I walked in & three good guys were having a chat together.
As I walked in one asked if they could help me. Yes sir, please show me how to tare these scales so that I don’t give my puddings the incorrect weight. The nice good guy was only too happy to help the poor little old lady & showed me how to do it: just where it says on-tare, press that button! No batteries needed, nothing.
As I stepped back into my car I thought how, at times, it is good to be looked at as a poor little old lady that knows nothing about gadgets! I came home, turned the stove on again & got the job done.
Wasn’t it Shakespeare who said “much to do about nothing?” Well he was right. This was such a small thing that caused me a lot of frustration & time. Not that time worries me as I have plenty of it, but I had planned that day to have the last nine puddings in the pot, cooked & hung up to dry by 11 a.m.
As it was I got to go to lunch at 2 p.m. with them still boiling in the pot & due to come off at 4 p.m.
The ray of sunshine through the cloud was that I had my car when I needed it, so I guess all that was meant to be seeing as I found it necessary to send my lovely old fashioned scales flying.
I kept my cool & went off to line dancing on Friday. As I was dancing I couldn’t help thinking how good it was to leave everything behind & dance. Sometimes the mental & physical is just so good for me. I may not be the best in the world, but I do love my line dancing. I really realised that as I was floating around doing the dance to the tune of ‘The Rock & Roll Waltz.’
Then we had our first five minute break, when our teacher, Jean announced that she had made a decision to retire. We were all a bit stunned.
My immediate thought, after the first dozen immediate thoughts, was what I learnt from my son many years ago “life is full of changes, they are inevitable & we must embrace them.” But I’m going to have trouble with this change in my life. I am greatly attached to all my teachers & to my fellow dancers as, apart from their friendship these good people bring me their empty jars each week for my relish & they buy my puddings etc.
Jean talked with us during this break saying she was going on a family holiday for five weeks in July & is trying to decide whether to retire before she goes or come back after those weeks away, perhaps feeling refreshed & continuing on until the 8th Dec.
We all left it for Jean to decide, but we are hoping she will leave it until December as, right now, it seems a bit too sudden. I kept my mouth closed during the conversation as I can sometimes tend be selfish, but this is the same Jean who organised for all the class to come to my home for an afternoon tea party when it looked like I wouldn’t get back to dancing.
It is the same Jean who encouraged me in saying she had an aunt who did line dancing until she was ninety six with the aid of her walking stick. This is Jean who asked me to the Multicultural Church Service. This is the Jean who, when I asked her, found a market for me to go to where she lives, which happened only last week.
It is also the Jean who lost her husband last year. After a life time of teaching, we all feel that she just wants to spend her time with her family now. Having written that it makes me feel better & I have been fortunate in knowing Jean & having her in my life.
I am just hoping the expiry date will be the 8th Dec. Â I also hope that Philip is here for his birthday to give me his arm as he so often has done. I don’t think I have the get up & go to attend a different line dancing class, but I guess I will need to jump that hurdle when it comes.
In the meantime, thanks to Jean, I have to forget about puddings, dancing & all that as next weekend I have two markets to think about: one on /saturday & the next on Sunday. I had better change my boot scootin’ footwear for some others as I have a few batches of relish to make, bottle & price by the end of the week.
Whatever, life is good & with all the frustrations of life I am very fortunate & very blessed.
Heaps of hugs & love dear friend. Dawn X O X O.