It was a day of ups and downs yesterday - none serious, more annoyances really. The ups involved synchronicity and being on the receiving end of various random acts of kindness from friends. Sometimes it seems that I really am just in the right place at the right time.
The annoyances involved trying to send a fax without the benefit of a computer. You might scratch your head and wonder who in this advanced technological age still sends a fax via a piece of paper inserted into a machine, and yet there are circumstances where there is no other way. The difficult part of doing this is when out of familiar territory is finding an outlet that will actually do it for you.
I was in the supermarket checkout queue when I received a call to say I should send the fax (fortunately in my bag) within the next 15 minutes. Well, trying to hustle through the till was quite an achievement, as the cashier found it necessary to change the till roll, ask me if I wanted bags (no, I'm going to balance it all on my head) and no packer. I was in an unfamiliar store and its system requires you to sign the card slip (about as outdated as sending a fax) and I was already pushing my trolley when called back to do so. Time was ticking by. The Information desk informed me that I could use the internet cafe next door which was music to my ears and I bustled outside, only to find the door closed and a sign saying "Back at 2" which was more than an hour away. There is only one place where cellphone shopkeepers go on a Friday between 12 and 2, so I knew it wasn't a toilet break.
Where to next? I spotted a stationery shop further along the mall and pointed my trolley in that direction and trundled across the brick paving, dodging street vendors, advertising boards and shoppers who were apparently not running to a schedule. The lethargic ladies in charge told me I could use the internet cafe (they obviously don't know about the Friday thing), then said the pharmacy could help me. So back I trundled to the other end of the mall. Of course, the pharmacy couldn't help me (I have no idea why I was told they could) and said I should go to the library which was over the road. Time was now really on the red light (it's a Toastmasters thing) as I threw my shopping into the boot of my car and sped through the parking lot as best I could without causing an accident.
Hurrah! They weren't even closed for lunch! But of course the fax machine stood there with a sign saying "Out of Order". The lack of interest in my problem matched that of the previous encounters. I'm sure I gave them something more interesting to talk about than alphabetising their books.
Back in the car, I was tossing up whether to go to my niece's house about 5 minutes away where I know there is every mod con, when I got a phone call that let me off the hook - I just read the letter over the phone.
You cannot believe what a stressful event that was! It has happened before and reinforces my view that there are too many people in the world who are unwilling or unable to make a simple decision that could make someone's life a little easier. I have no doubt that somewhere on my fax-hunt a little machine lurked behind a counter.
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