thisendoftheswamp

The Squire and I were to visit my nephew for Christmas, but he sent us an email on the 22nd to say the whole “fan damily” had come down with Covid. His wife had caught it and given it to her parents and to him. They have three children 12 and under, so there’s no way the kids are going to avoid it.

I went to 5:00 Christmas Eve service at St. Alban’s, a 1928 church not too far from us, and then zipped home to go to the 7:00 service with The Squire at Resurrection. I opted not to take Communion with him, because even as rowdy as I tend to be I don’t need to be “washed through and through” twice in two hours!

Theoretically, we don’t exchange gifts anymore, but we generally find some little thing we think the other person needs. A while back, The Squire had been complaining that the steering wheel was cold. When I asked him why he didn’t wear his gloves, he replied they are too bulky and awkward. And they are. I went online looking for “men’s lightweight dress gloves” and found a pair of “Stewart of Scotland” gloves – 100% wool, fleece lined, and real leather palms, for less than half price. Still a fair amount, but so very much worth it. He was delighted! When we were at my nephew’s home for Thanksgiving his wife had a wood and plastic gizmo for slicing bread, which I thought was the greatest things since, well, since sliced bread. The Squire went online and found one for me. Actually, I think mine is even nicer, because it is all bamboo, and it folds for storage.

We went to an Indian restaurant for Christmas dinner. We both enjoy Indian cuisine and because they are not Christian, we don’t feel guilty about ruining their holiday. Does that make sense?

Spent yesterday napping and working a jigsaw puzzle and went off to church this morning. Bishop Sutton is following CDC guidelines and closing down the churches for 14 days, which means we won’t have services at Resurrection next week, but there’s always St. Alban’s.

Mind you – these fourteen days may grow into something much longer, but we shall see what happens.

I have been taken to task by quite a few of my loyal readers for not having posted more than once a month, and I apologize. I worked five days a week for all of November, had a week off, and then started working again. This job is supposed to run until April! I’m really enjoying what I’m doing right now, but I’m too old for this nonsense! Getting up at 6 AM and staying up all day without a nap is too much.

Right now, I’m working for a hobby shop, and as you can imagine, things have been a wee bit hectic. This company is located in an exurb just north of Baltimore, which is important to this story. Two people called in on Monday – back-to-back, no less – who have a very weak grasp of geography. One fellow clicked on the “No shipping charge” option, figuring it would take longer, but save some money. When he hadn’t gotten his package in two weeks, he called to see what was up. Maybe the problem wasn’t geography was much as reading skills, but when you live in Altoona, PA, choosing curb-side pickup in Baltimore isn’t a good option.

The other call was from a truly outraged customer who wanted to know why we had charged such an exorbitant price for shipping. He’d selected overnight air delivery, but he lived less than thirty miles from the company! If the package was marked “Air Mail” it probably went into a bin and was sent to the airport before anybody realized what he had done. It took longer to find it than it would have taken to send it UPS, and far, far longer than if he had just come and picked it up!