Smudger Snippets
Created | Updated Mar 10, 2005
I suppose it's because I have so much time on my hands these days, that all these memories come flooding back to me.
Choices
Have you ever noticed that when things go wrong in your life, that they always come in threes? It seems as if everything goes wrong at the same time. Even if you have made plans to make events run smoothly, it is almost inevitable that they go pear-shaped on the day.
For example, my wife and I have been waiting for over a year to have a ramp installed at our front door, to enable wheel chair access for my wife's electric scooter. We were told by the architect who came to measure up for the ramp that it would take half our drive away, meaning that we could no longer park our car up close to our front door. With this in mind we started to make plans to have the tree at the bottom of our drive pruned right back so we could use that part of the drive. The problem is that every time we have visitors they always have to park behind our car, which is right below that tree, with the result that, when they come to leave later on, their car is always covered in bird droppings! Even if they only stayed for a few minutes, the result would be the same.
So we had the choice of either having the tree pruned right back or digging it up and slabbing half of the grass area at the front of our house. Our plan was to get estimates for both of these jobs and, bearing in mind that we are both on disability and on a fixed income, we obviously had to go with the cheapest option.
We had a week to arrange all this as we were told exactly when the ramp was being installed. So we contacted various people to come and give estimates. This is when it all started to go wrong!
First none of them came on the day that they had arranged with us, so this held up any progress. Then, when we did eventually get the estimates, we decided to do both as they were cheaper than we had anticipated.
So we went ahead and arranged a time for both jobs to be done leaving days to spare before the ramp was built. Now it was around about then that things started to go wrong. I suppose it was too much to ask for the folk concerned to actually come when they said they would. I really get annoyed with folk when they do that to people; it's like they take advantage of your good nature. I mean, when I was working at weekends power-washing people's roofs to clean all the moss and dirt from them, I always used to honour my appointments. If for some reason I had to change or reorganise things, I always used to phone them and keep them informed of latest events. Mind you, there were hardly any times when that happened, as I used to pride myself in my punctuality.
So now the ramp has been in place for over two days and our car is parked out in the street! We did try leaving it parked under the tree but when we saw it absolutely covered in droppings after only one night, we decided that it was a bad idea. The grass is still there, as is the tree, and our car is out in the street, I suppose that's what you get when you make plans that involve other people in them.
Another point I have noticed recently is that when you phone these people to ask about having work done, they are easily reached by one phone call. Yet later on, when they have let you down, you find that it is not so easy to reach them. They are either out or their mobile phone is switched off. Is it because they know that you are looking for them, or is it due to their conscience bothering them? I mean, why do to make arrangements if they have no intention of turning up at that time? I just feel so annoyed and frustrated now, yet the funny thing is, if they do arrive at some time, I will not say anything to them in case they do not come back at all. They seem to have a canny way of making you feel guilty for even bringing the subject up. Maybe it's just me losing my touch after being out of the work routine for so long, as I seem to remember being more dominant when it became necessary in my working days.
