What a relief

Today being 23rd April, I just had to kick off by flying the flag of St George.  Of course, it's not just St George's day, it is also the 449th anniversary of the birth of William Shakespeare.  But to get back to the whimsical title of today's piece.

I was relieved, when I descended the stairs first thing this morning (well, it was first thing for me although some of you may well have thought that it was half way through the morning by then).  Anyway, as I came downstairs I was pleased to see that the morning paper had been delivered.  It wasn't yesterday, and on Sunday we received only one of the two papers we have delivered.  Granted, our newsagent is usually very good and if, for some reason, our paper has not been delivered by, say, nine o'clock, we just ring him up and he comes round.  But I was just a little concerned that we might have done something to upset him.  If that had been the case, I'm not at all sure what I would have done to get the papers delivered.  There is another newsagent very nearby, but - and this is really leading to the point of all this drivel - I can't go there.  I've been banned.

We have lived in this house for more than 40 years and for 40 of those years we had our papers delivered from the newsagent's shop just round the corner, only about 200 yards away.  Of course there was the occasional hiccup but there was no great problem and we maintained a very amicable relationship with the three different proprietors over those years.  Until the present husband and wife team took over.  There were many occasions when our paper failed to arrive and when I went round to the shop, I was told a different fairy tale each time.  Apparently, our house was not clearly numbered (untrue) or the paperboy couldn't find it (he had the day before) and so on and so on.  Eventually it reached the stage where I could stand it no longer and I accused the newsagent of lying.  That did it.  He told me that it was costing him money to supply me with my daily newspaper and that I could get them elsewhere in future.  I was banned!

So we changed to a different newsagent, the only other one who will deliver to our street.  If he should ban me as well I just don't know what I would do.

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We won last night - Tony and me, that is.  Not only did the two of us win the shove ha'penny, we also had the highest score of the evening.  Brighton Lions' pair won the pool and other came third in the darts and the dominoes.  Overall, Brighton came out on top - which means we are still top of the table, albeit only by two points.  There are still two events to come - indoor curling and skittles - and those are not our best events so it seems unlikely that we will be Zone Olympic champions this year.

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My wine rack needs restocking so I'm off tomorrow.  I have scribbled a few little bits which I will put on the schedule to be posted while I'm away.