Category: That’s life

On unwanted correspondence

I went to fetch our mail from the post office this morning.  When I opened our post office box (as usual for a moment feeling like Alice sticking that very small key into that very small door) I found something terrible inside:

A POST OFFICE BOX RENEWAL FORM!

It’s terrible.  Don’t they know that I’m having a hard enough time of it as it is?  Now the stupid post office is adding to the pressure, asking me questions to which I simply do not have the answer.  Don’t they understand?  I just don’t know if I need to renew my PO Box for next year or if I need to cancel it.

I’m still waiting to hear about that job, you see.  And yesterday I was a bit of an idiot and, on a whim, checked on their Facebook page where I saw a post stating that the meeting where they will decide who to appoint would be last night.  Needless to say, I’ve been staring at the phone the whole day, willing it to ring.  Going to the post office was an excuse to get out of the house and clear my head a bit.  Yeah, that helped.

Actually, I blame my sister-in-law.  If she didn’t message me on WhatsApp to ask whether I’ve heard anything yet I would never have visited their Facebook page, which means I wouldn’t have needed to clear my head, which means I wouldn’t have gone to the post office, which means I would have been blissfully unaware of that evil form lying safely locked away behind a miniature lock in my post office box.

Giant post box Calvinia, South Africa
For when you have really long letters to post…

Speaking of post boxes, did you know the world’s biggest post box is in South Africa?  It’s in a town called Calvinia and is almost seven metres tall.  The first post box in South Africa was an old boot buried under a milk wood tree in what’s today Mossel Bay.  Now there’s a real post box under the tree…shaped like a shoe.

On my job interview – a twitterventure

As you may or may not know, last night I had a job interview in another part of the country.  Because I was in a silly mood and wanted something to do while waiting for my flight to be called at the airport I decided to tweet the whole adventure.  In case you missed it on Twitter and Facebook, here it is for your enjoyment, now with added commentary and pictures (for some reason my picture tweets didn’t want to go through – captions with pictures are as I remember the original tweets, but probably not the same at all) and including replies on Twitter and Facebook.

Continue reading “On my job interview – a twitterventure” →

Car troubles

At 7 this morning I settled down to work, still in my jammies as it’s winter now, I work at home, and it’s easier to go shower once it has heated up a bit.  Around quarter past my wife left for school.  A few minutes later she calls me from our building’s parking area downstairs.  Her car has a flat tyre.

flat tyre

I grab my car keys and head down, thinking she could take my car and I’ll change the tyre and take it in to have fixed once I am dressed.  I put my key into the ignition and turn.  Nothing.  Not even a click.  Battery is dead, deceased, it’s spark snuffed out.  My car does that in winter.  It doesn’t help that I don’t drive it that regularly, preferring to walk if I need something from the shops.

I get out the jumper cables.  Our parking spaces are behind each other, so my wife backs out and I push my car out as well and manoeuvre it next to hers so I can connect the cables.  Turns out the battery is too flat even for jumper cables.

Eventually, realising she’s now later than she would have been had I just changed the tyre from the start, I got the jack and spare tyre out of the trunk and changed the tyre.  It was -1 degrees Celsius.  I was in my robe and slippers.  Without gloves.  At one point I feared my hands will freeze onto the lug wrench.

Now I’m waiting for her to come home so I can take her car in search of a battery charger.  Then I’ll need to get my car going so I can get it back up the driveway into my parking space (at present it’s partially blocking the gate to our parking area) where I’ll leave it to recharge.

Not really any deeper point to this post.  Just thought I’d share it with you.

P.S.  While searching for a picture for this post I found an inordinate amount of pictures of women in skimpy outfits changing tyres while in very impractical positions.  Why?  Just, why?

On Missing the Point

The other day I read this post by Matthew Wright which made me think of an experience I had with the post office a few years ago.

I was expecting a package.  It was an overnight counter-to-counter courier package.  They’re supposed to be available by eleven o’clock, so I showed up at the post office just after eleven.  The queue was quite long as the South African post office is also one of the largest banks in the country (in terms of client numbers – they don’t offer any credit facilities and all transactions are over the counter, so it’s the bank of choice for most low-income earners) and, as with any post office in the world, only two of the twelve cashier windows were staffed.

After 45 minutes of shuffling forward a bit at a time, in the process memorising all the notices and posters on the walls (this was before I had Twitter), I finally reach the counter only to be told that I cannot get my package. Continue reading “On Missing the Point” →

On biting off more than you can chew

I think I’ve mentioned before that I’ve started with my Master’s Degree this year.  Yesterday I finally received the last of my prescribed books.  Here’s how they all look together.

2013-04-23-11-41-27

Seeing them all stand neatly in a row like this, I’m starting to wonder what on Earth I’ve let myself in for.  I have to pass oral exams on all of these before I can submit my research proposal for my thesis, which I want to do by October.  Guess book four of A Song of Ice and Fire will have to wait.  It’s all non-fiction from here.

Wish me luck.