Funny thing about Christmas cards. If you live at a distance from me you are more likely to get one during advent than if you live over the road or next door to me. This is because when the weather is inclement, which it mostly has been this year - if not raining then perishing cold - it is often a step too far to deliver the cards by hand through the letterbox. If you live in another country it is also touch and go whether the card will arrive in time because that means going into a post office and queueing. For the rest, I can do everything from here: write, put in envelope, affix stamp - and then Mr. Signs posts them for me. It isn't as though I never get out. But when I do I have a kind of tunnel vision. First I have to actually get to the car, which may be parked a short distance away because how things are in this road - it's everyone for themselves and you park wherever there is a space, which might not be near your house. If the windows are iced up there is that to see to - back to the house for a bucket of hot water to chuck over the car or time spent scraping the ice off. Then there is the car to heat up so as to make it bearable to sit in - if the car actually starts up, which is not always the case when it is cold. If I go into the nearest town I have to find somewhere to park that won't leave me too far from shops or having to negotiate a steep incline. The village is easy as long as you just aim to get to one place rather than attempt both chemist and health shop in one trip. Bearing in mind that adventures of this kind have to be thought about when you are a few spoons* short of a cutlery set, you can imagine why I have finally succumbed and begun to do a bit of serious online grocery shopping. It actually works quite well, though they didn't have the particular kind of celery and organic broccoli I ordered so substituted those for bog-standard kind which is fine but I was still charged for the more expensive items I asked for. A quibble, perhaps, but something else to sort out. Pleased to have got a fridge and vegetable rack stocked up without setting foot outside the house. Not pleased that I forgot to cancel my Abel and Cole order so was completely vegetabled out yesterday until I managed to offload some potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, onions, turnips and green stuff onto my neighbour.
*spoonie = someone with a chronic, debilitating illness
4 comments:
I haven't even started on my cards yet, but the advantage of having a reduced social life (if you can call it an advantage) is that you aren't showing up to places with a handful of cards to give out—so a lot of those more casual friends won't be getting cards this year. A few of those friendships—people from my classes and the gallery—have probably run their natural course anyway. That's sort of a side effect of relapses (or getting ill in the first pace). I don't feel sad though.
Christmas shopping is via Amazon this year, which is normal for me anyway. In the past few years I'd go out and buy a few little extras like fancy bars of chocolate, exotic coffee or chic little espresso cups, but not this year.
By the way, I've discovered the joys of print-your-own postage from the Royal Mail website. No more stamp hassle—but you have to post by the following day or send someone out the post box.
Hi Digi, I quite like the idea that some friendships one makes can be ephemeral - that one isn't signed up for a lifetime for Christmas card (or any other) exchanges. There are some people, though, that I like to remember even if I know I may never see them again. I always send a card to my kids' old child-minder. She was so lovely and I don't know how I would have managed without her.
Good to know about print-your-own postage!
At first I thought you were going to talk about a set of Apostle spoons and what not.
I like that idea of chucking a bucket of boiling water on a freezing windscreen.
I do not think I shall be trying it any time soon.
I've just had to look up Apostle spoons, Montag - never heard of them before. I have a silver spoon, though, with my name on it - given by a grandmother on the occasion of my birth.
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