Perfect Timing!

On Saturday mornings, I have a routine. I follow the same routine every Saturday, rain, hail or shine. Today, it was all shine … a lovely sunny day.

At 7.30, I go to my letter box to pick up Saturday’s paper. The local newspaper is called the New Zealand Herald. But today, I got an unpleasant surprise. It wasn’t there! It usually is, but today there was nothing in the box when I opened it.

At first, I was angry, but then I calmed down. It wasn’t the end of the world after all! And there was something I could do about it. It’s better to take action and fix something rather than just getting angry.

So I went back into the house and phoned the Herald. I didn’t talk to a person, though. Instead, I was answering questions from a recorded voice, for example: “If you are calling to report an undelivered paper, please press 1.” So I did that.

Then I had to answer more questions, and in the end, this is what I pressed: 111111. At the end of the phone call, the recorded message said that the paper would be delivered soon, and I thought to myself: Yeah, right!

So that was the first part of my Saturday routine. The next part is walking to the local Post Office at 8.30 to pick up any mail from my post box. Usually, there’s only a weekly local magazine called the Listener, plus maybe a bill. Today, it wasn’t a wasted journey, because the magazine had been delivered. And better still, there wasn’t a bill.

I walked home, wondering if the replacement paper would be in my letter box when I got home. Actually, I didn’t think it would be, but as I approached my house, a car very quickly turned into our car park. Then it reversed very quickly and stopped outside the letter boxes. A guy got out with a paper in his hand. I stuck out my hand and told him my address. He gave me my replacement paper and drove off. How’s that for timing!