Going Swimmingly..until a Banking Crisis Hits

Thursday, September 6, 2018
Bombay

Going Swimmingly...until a Banking Crisis Hits!

     Namaste from Bombay!
     Waking up to another day at Silly o'Clock (about 4.35 am), I got down to email responses and blogging. I also spoke at length to Llew (a most soothing conversation as he set so many of my anxieties at rest--as he always does).
     Breakfast was birschersmuesli which I am routinely enjoying. Then, I dressed and walked to Bandra Gymkhana, about five minutes away, where I have an annual membership. It was great to see old faces and old friends in the gym where I worked out for over an hour using the elliptical machine and the stationary bike. I felt so good to be back in the swing of things before the personal assistant on duty asked for my payment receipt. I thought I had a year-long gym membership but it turns out mine expired in March! To renew it, I will have to wait till October 1 as the membership is done quarterly. I suppose I shall have to walk in Jogger's Park or on the Carter Road Promenade for the next month.
      Back home, I showered and returned to my laptop when the crisis hit. I received a phone call that brought to my attention the fact that I have inadvertently been writing checks out from an outdated checkbook. Dad's poor eyesight was the culprit as he had been holding on to all my banking papers and he gave me the wrong one by mistake. Meanwhile, the cash was sitting in my account and I kept wondering why no one was cashing the checks I had written--many big ones associated with my studio rent.  Good God! What a crisis to be plunged in. I called Dad, he began frantically looking through his papers and found the right, current, valid checkbook. I made a trip to his place to pick it up and also went to the bank to carry out a couple of banking chores.
     By then it was lunch time. I took a quick nap and continued reading Prince Charles by Sally Bedell Smith as I waited for the internet service techies to come in and adjust the work they have accomplished yesterday which was not properly done. I spent the entire afternoon waiting...but nothing happened and no one came! I had a pot of tea and continued reading (thank goodness for my book or I would go mad with boredom!).
     I then had to write emails apologizing to those to whom I had issued wrong checks and had to make plans for handing over the correct checks to each of them personally tomorrow! This banking crisis has put me in a real tail spin and caused so much additional leg work for me!!! However, it was entirely my fault, so I have to bear the consequences of it.  Thankfully, my landlord has been very understanding and has emailed me the way I should now make the money available to him through a bank wire transfer which I shall do first thing tomorrow morning.
      Meanwhile, when evening came, I went to church with Dad for the 7.00 pm Mass which in this country takes a whole hour. It gets over at 8.00 pm or later. I might have to try going to a morning mass (perhaps 7.00 am as I do wake up early anyway). Back home, I had my dinner and went to bed early. I find myself fading by 10.00 pm (as I wake up so early).
      What can I say? It was a day of unpleasant and very nasty surprises and I was not a happy camper at the end of it.
      Until tomorrow...