The Waiting Game
By admin. Filed in Planning, Uncategorized |
Four months of hard bike riding in Africa is not your typical trip. And as a not-so-typical trip, many of the things I want to take with me aren’t available on local store shelves. That means I have to order stuff and have it delivered. Sure, that can be convenient at times, but it also puts me at the whim of the UPS man.
Last week, my new solar panel was supposed to arrive. With it, I will be able to keep my cameras, lights, phone, and water purifier working. Maybe–and this is a stretch–I can keep my netbook’s battery topped off, too.
I had been following the tracking numbers of all my various shipments closely, so I saw ahead of time that a signature would be required. Most of the day had passed, and I still wanted to go to the gym, so I brilliantly scrawled out a note to the UPS guy saying it was OK to leave the package at the door. I wrote the tracking number and signed it. When I returned from the gym I discovered that my plan wasn’t so brilliant after all. On top of my note was a sticker from UPS saying that I had to sign for the package in person, and a 2nd delivery attempt would be made in 5 days. Five days?! I called to check on this. Sure enough, I’d have to wait five days for the package, and make sure I was available to sign for it whenever it came.
“Whenever” is a broad term. The package and the truck went out for delivery at 4:41 this morning. I napped by the front door until 8 before I finally got up. No package yet. My activities were confined to things I could do within proximity to the front door. Lunchtime came and went. Still no package. UPS says that most packages are delivered by 7PM, but even 7PM came and went without any sign of that big, brown truck.
At this point I had already skipped my weight lifting class and my spinning class for the day and I wasn’t about to give up. I am also expecting my tires to arrive any day, and with five days between delivery attempts, missing a delivery now means I would have to go without. (Tires are kind of important, don’t you think?)
At 7:29PM I’m startled by the deep rumbling sound of a diesel engine and air brakes. I had nearly dozed off while sitting in front of the house, leaning up against the front door. “Did you lock yourself out or something?” the UPS man asks.
“No. I was waiting for you. I couldn’t afford to miss you a 2nd time,” I said, pointing at the note I had left.
“Oh, I would have left the package if you did that.” I didn’t tell him that the sign was there last week.
Still no tires.