Just a mile today…
…as I’d already done a five-mile walk first thing this morning. I’m trying to alternate longish run days and short run plus walk days while I’m covering all this extra ground to grab my tokens for my online game.
I was having a good day up until about lunchtime – after I’d finished my run, I did a nice yoga session as well – but then I had a postal issue that has been the absolute last straw in the string of postal issues plaguing me since lockdown began.
We are now down to an average of about two postal deliveries a week, if that. Most items are taking a good fortnight to arrive, even if posted first class. I have had numerous items go missing in the post, and several more items arrive with envelopes already sliced or ripped open. The latest of these arrived today. It was a package that I had ordered that was meant to contain two items; it arrived completely ripped up two sides, and one of the items was missing.
If this was a one-off occurrence, I would be annoyed but able to put it to one side after contacting the sender (which I have done, though it will probably take a couple of days for a response so ANXIETY UNTIL THEN YAY). However, I am already extremely stressed about the post following months of this nonsense, in particular the last two weeks, during which I have been waiting for a delivery of hearing aid batteries from the nearby hospital. In normal circumstances, I can just walk into the hospital and pick the batteries up; in pandemic circumstances, I have to request for them to be posted out. I made this request two weeks ago. No batteries yet. I emailed the hospital yesterday to check that they had been posted out; the hospital emailed back this morning to confirm that they had been, two weeks ago, and said that they would send me some more. I am not hopeful that these new ones will arrive either, and after two weeks of struggling with my hearing due to lack of hearing aids (which comes hot on the heels of struggling with my hearing due to blocked ears a few weeks ago), I am completely on edge about everything and close to tears.
The kindest explanation that Geth and I (mostly Geth) can come up with is that the whole post office system is understaffed due to the pandemic and so things are sitting around in warehouses and going missing for non-malicious reasons (although there was a particular item delivered a couple of months ago that had blatantly been deliberately sliced open). But I know from Mum and Dad that their postal service in Edinburgh has been absolutely fine, so it can’t be a nationwide thing. I just don’t know what to do, and I’m now extremely anxious about a delivery due in a couple of months’ time that will contain irreplaceable items.
I know that in the grand scheme of things, this is a total first world problem – but it’s causing me a lot of stress at the moment, especially regarding the hearing aid batteries and now today’s package with the missing item. I just don’t trust the post anymore, which is a bad thing in these times when we’re all more reliant on it than usual.
Trying to finish on a positive note… I’m hoping to be able to lose myself in some videogames this evening.
Today’s earworm playlist:
Red Box – ‘Lean On Me (Ah-Li-Ayo)’
Fleetwood Mac – ‘Dreams’