Tuesday 15 July 2008

Z spreads a little happiness

Yes, well, you don't get three posts every day. Just lucky St Swithin's day, I suppose. It hasn't rained, by the way, which I think means nothing at all. It's if it rains that it means 40 days of rain. Not that this happens, literally.

Um. Oh, I remember. I was leaning forward a bit on one elbow, reading blogs and I shut my left eye and the right was all blurred, though when I shut it and opened the left again, it was fine. Then I sat upright and put out my arm, so that I was reading the screen at the correct arm's length distance, and the left eye was blurry and the right eye was clear. I slowly moved in, with both eyes open, and I couldn't tell at which point the left eye took over the reading. Isn't that interesting?

Oh. Well, I'm interested.

Anyway, I spread good cheer all round the village this afternoon. There were 7 prizes for the hanging basket and tub (of flowers/vegetables, not bath tubs) competitions and another 6 lucky draws (no not lucky drawers) for the voting slips. One of them was my grandchildren's (I didn't draw them, I got a Respected Local Personage to come round) but I thought they'd prefer a toy and some beads to the £15 voucher for the local haberdashery.

Afterwards, I biked round distributing prizes. I made a monumental cock-up at one point when I put a £20 voucher (aren't local businesses kind?) for the lovely local place to eat through the door of the neighbour of the person it was intended for. I had to go to a friend's house (I hadn't taken my bag so had no pen or paper) to write explanatory notes for both. What a little plonker I am. When I got back to the houses, Donna was in, so I was able to explain and advise her to await the return of the prize from her neighbour.

Everyone was happy of course and a couple of prizes, it turned out, were going to relations of village people who live Elsewhere, so I was able to pass all of them on. I sent in a lovely spreadsheet with all the voting figures, added up and averaged (as some people had occasionally got missed off the voting by someone who hadn't got round all the village), and the names of the winners, to the editor of the village magazine, and all I have to do now is give the entrance money to the treasurer.

Right. No more tonight. I'm going to bed. Goodnight.

10 comments:

Gordie said...

You are a lovely and virtuous person, but I am more interested in your eyes. Mine get stroppy when visited by an optician, but they change afterwards. what's a boy to do?

Id Entity said...

Actually, it's whatever the weather is on St Swithin's Day, it's supposed to be like that for the next 40.

I'm interested in the eye dichotomy, and I can't help wondering if you tried hard enough to find the change-over point. Though I have a real problem with opticians. When they ask you which circle is the best for you, it's really hard to tell.

As for the cock-up, I think you handled it well. I would have wanted to kill myself, I would have been a nervous wreck. Truly, you are an inspiration.

ps Are you saying a barely verbal toddler voted in the hanging basket comps? Is that correct procedure? If he's old enough to vote, he's old enough to go to the haberdashery, that's what I say.

dharmabum said...

that little experiment with the eye and reading - makes you sound like a little scientist!

Dave said...

Did the dog get a vote?

Z said...

Visiting the optician makes my eyes unco-operative too. I think the thing about which circle is because when you can't tell the difference or they're equally good, it's right.

There must be a change-over point but 10.30pm when my eyes are tired may not be the best time to look for it.

I considered, briefly, self-slaughter, but it wouldn't quite have solved the problem. I completely humiliated myself instead.

Including Pugsley was something of a courtesy, but they are both old enough to have an opinion. I asked, in each case, if the flowers were a little bit pretty, very pretty or really, really pretty and whether it was more or less pretty than the last one. Squiffany doesn't much appreciate the smell of heliotrope, but they both entered into the spirit of the thing. I did think that giving a £15 prize to toddlers was rather pushing the boundaries of sporting behaviour though, which was why I used a lesser, though more child-appealing prize that had been donated by someone who would think that use appropriate. I didn't take the dog.

Z said...

I seem to remember a rather awful sort of 'hoots mon' rhyme regarding St S - they should have stuck with the rain, which at least people would believe. There may have been 40 rainless days in 1976; the hot dry weather was broken after many weeks by torrential rain on August Bank Holiday, but I don't think I remember such a thing before or since.

Wink said...

I always feel such a prat when I can't read the alphabet when I'm having my eyes tested!

Z said...

It helps to be able to read the first line, at least.

Eddie 2-Sox said...

Bless your cottons, you're like a benevolent little easter bunny of horticulture. I don't make that many people smile in a whole year.

So what if you don't have 6/6 vision - who does?

Z said...

I don't mind not having good long sight, because at least I don't need reading glasses.