Monday 1 November 2010

Warthog Day


Not a day I would care to repeat,
filled as it was with the most
teeth-grindingly awful encounters with banks and officialdom,
blank-eyed computer operators,
 processes and procedures,
and above all Queues.
I tried three Post Offices with an urgent package,
and couldn't bring myself to join the first two
as they shuffled wearily towards 'cashier number 3',
who was the sole service provider for 30 people.
I queued incorrectly in a bank
and a department store
and had to start again.
I failed to acquire a vital stamp for vital documents
and was unable to replace a pair of trousers for
a new suit that had been borrowed, ripped and then lost.


Warty pumpkins.

But then things looked up.
Or rather I did,
and I saw house martins flying from the rooftops 
in a shopping precinct
and a giant fiery red sun
magnified in the gap between a church 
and a multi-storey car park.
Then as it sank,
I smelt the chill, damp,
sour apple-scented air
and decided to visit two people 
for whom a day like mine
would have taken a week to accomplish
without the ease of mobility that I have.


5 comments:

  1. There's always so much to be grateful for.

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  2. Sometimes with effort we can turn the day around and realise just how much we have and how much there is to be grateful for - and occasionally, just very occasionally, we manage to get in the right queue - although not very often!

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  3. Congratulations! and thank you for sharing.

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  4. Looking up is such a powerful thing to do - when I do this it raises my mind above the frustrating things that can fill my everyday life.
    Fabulous photo.

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