Stuff happens

Was it Donald Rumsfeld who said that?  Not that it matters a jot who said it, stuff does happen.  And not always bad stuff.  For instance, I won a prize last Saturday.  No, not the jackpot in the national lottery: you need to buy a ticket for that and I haven't bought one of those for many a long year.  My prize was a bottle of wine, and I won it for being a member of the winning team in a kurling competition.  I didn't know anything about it until Monday, when Tony brought my prize round to me.  The reason for me not knowing about it was not that I had been blind drunk but simply because I wasn't there!  I was supposed to have been a member of the four-man team from Brighton Lions Club taking part in a competition against other local Lions Clubs.

[Note: "four-man team" is not a sexist remark.  It was a team of four men, none of our lady members wished to take part.]

[Note also: "kurling" is the indoor version of the winter sport usually played on ice-covered lakes or rivers or ice rinks.  The "stones" in kurling have ball-bearings on which to run across a polished floor.]

I had also had to cry off running the Friday evening bingo session.  You see, the Old Bat had taken to her bed on Friday - I even had to ask for a home visit by a GP.  It was simply a fairly mild infection but the poor dear has had arthritis attack one of her knees very badly just recently.  She is not very mobile at the best of times and while unwell and in bed, needed me to be around for when she had to go to the loo.  So my excursions over the last few days have had to be kept fairly short - and timed to fit in with calls of nature.

Anyway, there was no substitute available for Saturday evening, the three-man four-man team from Brighton won, and the organising club insisted that the fourth bottle be presented to me.

And in other stuff, it was also on Friday that I heard from my insurance company that repairs to my car would be completed on Thursday, 29th May.  That just happens to be the day after we are due to go over to France - by car - so I telephoned the insurers.  The young lady (well, she might be young) I spoke to told me that the third-party's insurers who are paying for the repairs and the hire car I am driving, would not pay for the hire car once my own was ready, even if I did happen to be out of the country at that time.  I pointed out politely (I believe) but firmly (I hope) that it was the insurers responsibility to put me as near as possible into the position I would have been if the accident had not happened.  This meant that I was under no obligation to alter previously booked travel arrangements.  And in any case, the car had been in the body shop since 6th May - nearly two weeks already - and when I had first spoken to my insurers, I had told them of my travel plans and been assured that my car would be ready before then.  She called back a few minutes later to say she had asked the body shop to move my car up the list for repair.  I have rung today and been assured that it is nearly ready.  I hope.

Anyway, the Old Bat is once again up and partly about, although my culinary skills are being tested to the utmost as she is not able to prepare meals.