What a frustrating morning! Admittedly, I had completely over-reached myself, by scheduling my car’s MOT, a visit to the doctor and a filling at the dentist all one after another, but still. Grrrrrrr. And grrrr. And grrr.
The first problem was that I had not been quite as efficient as I thought. I booked the doctor for 11.10, thinking the dentist was 12.15. But it turned out the dentist was 11.35. And the doctor always runs late …
I dropped off the car first, then told the doctor’s receptionist my dilemma, and we agreed I’d sit and wait for a while and see how the doctor got on …. eventually, she told me the doctor was now running a good half-hour late and did I want to make a new appointment? Naturally, there was no possible slot today, tomorrow or anywhere close …. so next week it is. In the meantime, I ran to the dentist, got there beautifully on time, and sat and waited. And waited. And waited! Eventually, I told the dentist receptionist that I had to leave in 20 minutes …. only for her to say I hadn’t been booked into the system and numerous people with appointments after me had got in before me ….’Who saw you when you arrived?’ she asked sharply. ‘Erm, YOU did,’ I said. The upshot was that I’ve had to make another appointment for the dentist, as well.
Oh, and in the midst of all this, the garage rang to tell me the poor old car has failed its MOT. Of course. It’ll have to go back next week as well. Grrrr …..
I was working up to a seriously bad mood on the drive back home when I turned on the radio. It was a 90-second clip to celebrate the BBC’s 90th anniversary of radio broadcasting. The clip was of four blind people visiting an elephant at the zoo, inspired by an Indian story. The amazement and awe in the voices of the quartet, as they felt a real, live elephant for the first time, was incredibly moving. One lady said that the elephant seemed a ‘patient, intelligent, noble creature’ – which is so right. A man was surprised at how small its eyes were. I felt for the elephant, being touched all over, even near its eyes, but it did, indeed, seem incredibly patient. Another of the group was surprised to find its ears hung down instead of pointing upwards like a cat’s! A lovely piece of radio, that took me out of my grumpingtons and kept me smiling all the way home, not to mention reminding me of how lucky I am to be able to see this extraordinarily beautiful world.
