There
was a time when, if I had to wait for something, I would have a book with me
and I would read. It’s not rocket
science. A simple activity with built in
cultural kudos. But now. Now things are different.
Having
forgotten about the service for my car once, I took extreme measures (well I
set the alarm) to make sure that I took the thing this time. A very discrete alarm did go off and I found
myself up and doing with enough time not to complete the quick crossword in the
Guardian.
And
now, I am stuck in Gava for two and a half hours while my car is done.
Luckily,
there is a major shopping centre within walking distance of the garage where my
car is being done and you would have thought that somebody with the
mother-shopping training that I have had would find it easy to wander around
picking up spoons that I have not intention of buying and ogling the piece of
technology that I have to stop myself buying.
But no, shops are not enough!
I
never thought that the day would dawn when I said something like that last
statement. My mother must feel that all
her schemes of getting me to like shopping as much as my father hated it – like
always meeting me in the Wedgewood Room of Howells and then asking my opinion on
various suites of glass and china – have come to nothing! That a child of hers could possibly find
shops boring, or at least inadequate!
The shame of it.
But
I came prepared. No books: but a
smartphone, iPad and MacBook Air. Now
you might feel that there comes a point where one is a little over-technified
for a wait which is of such a short duration.
But I have been sitting here for at least three hours and only 40 mins
have gone by! So I have decided to
write.
I do
feel a little ostentatious sitting in the walkway, promenade, paseo, concourse (I knew the word would come to
me if I exhausted all the other synonyms) but not as ostentatious as I would
have felt a few years ago. After all,
how long have portable computers, the laptop (an apt description at the moment
because all I have is a chair and no table) been with us. A frighteningly short period of time for the
universal adoption. Now it is an
everyday sight to see people tapping away in all of the most odd places. And so am I.
Yet
more time has gone by and I am still more than an hour and a half away from the
car being ready. I know that I should be
reading, but I feel like being a little more active and so I am typing. Though whether this is a more productive
activity is moot!
Talking
of activity, I am now going through the
oh-god-what-have-I-left-out-of-the-essayI-have-just-sent-in syndrome, which is
normal and natural for all students of the Open University once the TMA has
been thrown (electronically) at the tutor.
There
is a sense of melancholy loss on the forums, where people who have been working
at their degrees for umpteen years now realise that they have completed their
last tutor essay and that in a matter of months their years of study will be at
an end. A degree certificate is poor
recompense for the loss of the welcome stress that doing a degree at a distance
gives you. Rather than being gleeful
that the end result is within reach, people are sad that one of the ways in
which they have regulated their lives will be taken away. As I have been ‘doing’ my degree since the
1970s (admittedly there is a thirty year gap in my study!) I am in a different
sort of position, but I do agree that it is a very odd feeling.
And
I have to start packing!
The
day after tomorrow I am going to Cardiff.
An aunt of mine has died and I am going to the funeral. It is a melancholy thought that, of all my
uncles and aunts there is now only one left.
It does remind you that my generation is the next in line! These occasions are virtually the only time
that I get to see any members of my family – but that comes with living abroad.
I
hate packing with a totally unreasonably high level of detestation. This time I don’t even have to do that much,
but, however small the effort – I resent it.
And the suit. My all-purpose suit
is not as smart as it once was and so as fitting, in all senses of the
word. I might attempt to buy a new suit
when I am in the UK as clothing is usually cheaper there than it is here, but
alas, I am no long an off-the-peg size and so I have to factor in adjustments
and I’m sure that those can not be done in the limited time that I am
there. But, I have plans and it will be
interesting to see if they come to anything like fruition!
It’s
at times like these that I think of Paul Squared who has probably already
packed his case for his holiday in May.
Try as I might I can imagine no change to my essential character that
would allow me even to consider doing something like that
There
is now an hour to go before my car is supposed to be ready. I wish I could believe that it will be
waiting for me when I return to the garage, but past experience does not make
me feel jocose.
Well
time for a wander. Tea, shops, lottery
ticket and toilet. That should take up
some time!
