Thwarted

I confess, I am a little behind with my Christmas preparations. Perhaps I was overly relaxed when I thought two weeks was too early to start getting everything ready or maybe a tad optimistic as to how long the necessary steps would actually take. 

Let's say the wheels came off over the weekend when I realised the enormity of clearing a spare bedroom ready for Grandotty to sleep in. Sadly, it was full of those boxes we've just never found the time or perhaps more correctly enthusiasm to empty since returning home at the end of March. Thankfully, and bar only two that I have found space elsewhere to store, everything is now sorted, the bed is made and the floor is clear.

So a little late in erecting the Christmas tree, it became a task scheduled for this afternoon, after I had picked up the Youngest from the station and together we had undertaken a major food shop. Sadly, it didn't happen.

A delay on the railway meant that the Youngest arrived an hour late. Even then we planned to press on and hurry through, until we hit traffic on both the high street of our local town and then again on my attempted detour. This wasn't any old traffic either; it was gridlock. Sitting in the car, going nowhere, I felt a yearning for Christmas Eves of old, when I have been known to finish work at lunchtime and then dash to pick up a turkey, scared that the shelves might already be empty and always relieved to find that was never the situation. I'm unsure how likely that is to be the case this year, and do I really want to still be visiting the supermarket on the afternoon of Christmas Eve anyway?

Do you think society is changing? If there's a rumour that shops are going to run out of festive birds, will everyone dash out and buy three of them, creating a shortage as with pasta and toilet rolls before the first of the COVID lockdowns?

Ultimately fed up with our slow progression on four wheels and convinced that the carpark at our destination would be overflowing, after passing its competitor with cars queuing outside and adding to the traffic jam, we gave up. We returned home downtrodden and exhausted, our bags empty.

However, we have a plan. It is something I have never tried before, but as you know retirement is nothing without new experiences. Tomorrow morning, long before dawn, the Youngest and I intend to set out in an attempt to beat the crowds. Our preferred shop will be opening its doors at 6 a.m. Let's hope its shelves are stocked and there are spaces in the carpark!

(Image by Marzena P. from Pixabay)