Special Valentine's Day Delivery Perks Up My Day!

Thursday, February 14, 2019
Bombay

Special Valentine's Day Delivery Perks Up My Day!

     Namaste from Bombay!
     In something of a record, I managed to go to the gym today--making it four days in a row. Clearly, not having interviews scheduled one after the day early in the morning is good for me. I am waking up later now--about 6.00 am and then getting down to blogging. My day seems to begin only after I have reviewed the doings of the past day. This schedule works for me. I had my breakfast of two broons with cheddar cheese and spreads with coffee--I am now alternating this breakfast with my muesli and coffee--I enjoy both immensely and really look forward to this first meal of the day which I make delicious and substantial. Then I got dressed and left for the gym making sure I had the address of Russel's physiotherapist's clinic where I was required to go to pick up crepe bandages for him.
     My gym routine went off well. I met Steven who used to live in my Dad's building (before he got married and moved out), a Master Mariner who captains ships at sea. He and I grew up together and are still friends. He gave me a ride after his gym workout and mine. I found Valerian's clinic easily, had a long chat with him, picked up the bandages and went straight home to Dad's.
     However, Valerian had suggested that a family doctor should come in to take a look at Russel's leg where the skin has begun to break and a little blood is oozing out. Valerian wanted to make sure that the doctor gives him antibiotics so that he does not develop an infection under the bandage. Hence I did not do the bandaging today but will do it tomorrow. I have a feeling that dressing will also have to be done. I did not wait long before I returned hom to get on with my day.
     Back home, I had a shower and began working on my grant application. I reviewed my essay proposal letter and looked at the cover sheet I need to fill, etc.  It was noon by then and I expected the plumbers to come and continue work on my sink. Needless to say, no one showed up and after an hour, I called my landlord to request him to follow up.  Long story short, there was a glitch which seems meaningless to me. They will return tomorrow to take care of the matter. I have told them that I will not be home tomorrow but they will obtain the key from my neighbor upstairs. I will leave my laptop and iPad with the neighbor downstairs, Salma, who told me that she will supervise the operation. I will also leave all my money with Dad this evening as I do not want to have any valuables in my house while the workers are in and out of it.
     I had lunch of meatball curry, cauliflower and dal with an orange for dessert--I had picked up oranges and apples from the fruit man downstairs earlier in the day. The long wait for them enabled me to focus on my grant application, to finalize it and to email it off. Fingers crossed! Let us hope I get it.  One never knows with so many academics always applying for so little funding. With a prayer on my lips, my application went on its way. I could not take a nap as I never knew whether the plumbers would come calling or not. Anyway...I got a great deal of work done as I waited.

St. Val Comes A-Calling:
     I stopped for a pot of tea with cake and two cheese sandwich biscuits and got back to work on my laptop again--this time I began transcribing the interview I did with Marat Bissangaliev at the NCPA. And that's when Dad called to tell me that he was worried as the Valentine's Day package that Llew had ordered for me had not yet arrived. Llew had been calling him to monitor its arrival in the hope of making it a surprise for me--it would be delivered at Dad's (as my presence at home in my studio is so erratic). Well, of course, Dad got all stressed that it had not arrived and he was calling Llew, and Llew was calling him and then Dad was calling him, and Dad was calling me...and so it went on and on...the saga of St. Valentine.
      I was not surprised that Llew had made the effort to get this package to me as he has done so every time I have lived away from home on St. Val's Day! I still have a Teddy Bear that was delivered to me in London the first time I was there, a card that I have kept also delivered to me in London the second time I was there. And this time too, there was something to be delivered--but because I was in India this time, there was no telling when it would reach.  It was almost 6.00 pm and there was no sign of my delivery.
     At 6.15, I was just leaving for Dad's when he called to tell me the package had been received! Wow! It would be there when I got to his place. The surprise never happened, of course, but at least I got my Valentine gift on the day itself! That, in itself, is a big accomplishment for an Indian delivery service!
     Ten minutes later, I was holding the dozen red roses, chuckling over the white Teddy Bear and salivating over the chocolate cake complete with red cherries decorating it. Of course, I had to leave for Mass with Dad but when I returned home, I found a vase, put the roses in water and left them at Dad's, cut the cake and took one-third of it home and left two-thirds for Dad and Russel and placed the Teddy bear and the accompanying card in my bag. Those, of course, will go home with me to Southrrot and become part of my Valentine gift collection! I was left thinking that I should be away from home on St. Val's Day more often!!!

Obsessed by the Oxford Webcam:
     One of the great parts of my day has been my pre-occupation with the terrific Broad Street Webcam in Oxford which has allowed me to see the manner in which the place changed through the entire day.  I switched it on at about 6.00 am local time when there was practically no one on the street and the lamp lights were still on. By 6.45, there was movement as a few people could be seen and a few cars began skimming through. By 7.30, it was foggy and the lovely spire of the chapel of Exeter College, that is modeled on the one at Sainte Chapelle in Paris, was shrouded in fog. Visibility got decidedly worse for the next hour but then started clearing up. More and more people filled the street by 9 am when I started to see the first Hop On Hop Off red double decker bus (upper deck empty) begin to make its way down the street. I saw it go back and forth at a steady pace of every twenty minutes throughout the day. Sunshine flooded the street by the afternoon when more and more people were up and about with clusters of people--clearly visitors--taken on walking tours. They all stop opposite the Sheldonian Theater to admire the handiwork of Sir Christopher Wren. I am also astonished at the number of people who go in and out of the Weston Library all day and how many sit on the steps at lunch time getting a bite. There are loads of cyclists, of course, peddling back and forth (this is, after all, Oxford!) and most are bundled up in winter gear--it feels so good to have beaten the winter this year in Bombay! It has been so much fun. I have been enjoying it so much! It is like have a balcony attached to my apartment--a balcony that overlooks The Broad! What could be better???
     When I got back home, I had my dinner--more meatball curry, cauliflower and dal with a slice of chocolate cake for dessert (it is, after all, St. Val's Day!) and continued watching Did You Hear About The Morgans? which is a very cute romcom starring the dishy Hugh Grant and the adorable Sarah Jessica Parker. A bit of a corny plot, it was still fun to watch on Netflix.
     My day ended watching Oxford slowly wind down as the sun set on another day and the street lamps came on.  The sun set at about 5.00 pm, twilight lasted a long while as the crowds hurried home. About two hours later, as the evening arrived and pub crawling began, I fell asleep past midnight in Bombay.
     Until tomorrow...