Yes, what a day. The nub of the tale is that the mover never showed up. There we sat, with all the “porch furniture” in the scene shown above, as the quarter hours ticked by with no news. The man with a van had to report that the crew that was supposed to take care of us had had an accident — a big accident — on the West Side Highway. But the real dereliction was that he (our man) dropped out of contact for a long time, leaving us sitting in an ever more chilly loading dock with a lot of stuff that couldn’t be transported by ordinary means, not knowing what to expect or do next.

In the end, Kathleen came through with two cars. The cars brought the boxes of plastic bricks (eight in all), plus Ray Soleil and me, back to Yorkville. The bench and the chairs had to be tucked back into the storage unit for another time. The bricks were the big deal, though, and Ray spent the entire afternoon, and then some, laying them out on the floor of the balcony. They transformed the balcony from small into cozy. When Ray took a bit of a break, I got down on my knees and added a pathetically small border to his work: my knees are not what they were when I laid down the bricks ten or so years ago. I was very glad that, when the balcony had to be cleared last fall so that the railings could be replaced, I’d held onto the flooring: even moreso after Ray — who couldn’t stop talking about the beauty of the bricks that were breaking his back and abrading his hands — told me that they’re no longer available. (Hence no link.) I’d saved the bricks because they cost about $700. Little did I know that they’d become priceless.

There is much else to report, but I haven’t the energy. One bright thing that happened was the arrival of a package of books from Amazon.co.uk (Amazuke). I’ll say at the outset that I believe that the problem is American customs, but the fact is that I haven’t received a package from Amazuke since last summer. A November order simply disappeared, and various amounts were credited to my charge card. Today’s package turned out not to be my latest order, but one that was supposed to have arrived in the middle of March. In frustration, I’d ordered one of the books — about the Profumo Affair — a second time. That package was supposed to get here a week ago Monday. When it finally does, as I begin to hope that it will, I shall give the second Profumo book to Fossil Darling. Fossil Darling and I actually remember the Profumo Affair. In any case, it’s fantastic to be back in simpatico with Amazuke.

A domani.

Drop me a line at rjk@dailyblague.com
This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 15th, 2013 at 9:54 pm.