No problem – new radiator required

Sources of Joy – Day 43

The first source of joy came from the utter calm of composing a quotation to a potential new client this morning. Integrating newly absorbed ideas from the recent conference into daily practice made me feel as if a plan were coming together. I was also happy that I gave this task priority over heading off to my mechanic.

My mechanic told me the part of my radiator which has sprung a leak – and somehow the word leak is not nearly forceful enough to describe what is actually happening – is made of plastic. I need to get a new Tupperware® radiator. Cool. I mean, I hope it is at least as cool at Barbie’s® Dreamhouse®. Just think: It is technologically possible to match your radiator to your scarf, though hardly likely to be this year’s most innovative idea.

My few days away gave me the opportunity to learn how to use my smartphone a little more effectively. This is not a source of joy; rather the absence of impatience, which is good enough for me. Armed with a little more knowledge, I now realise the extent of my ignorance of this device which is really far too small for my hands.

I was not able to fret too much about the extra expense of the radiator, since it suddenly occurred to me that it was in fact Tuesday, and time for me to go for my acupuncture session. I arrived at the doctor’s and before going in, used my new-found absence of impatience and diminished techno-eejit status to search for and find on the Internet the phone number of the civil registry. Then, I phoned them and managed a whole conversation of inquiry in Portuguese without stuttering once (again, possibly thanks to being at the conference – and chattering so much).

The final joy of the day came two hours later when I merged from a deep sleep. My clever little phone was ringing for the second time, yet I was immobilised by doziness, and could not move anyway because of all the needles in my pin-cushion body. At that point the doctor came into the room. She handed me my handbag. It was the mechanic’s wife advising the price of the new radiator. I was thrilled and delighted that it was not my German client phoning with a new job simply because they have caught me half asleep once before (time zone difference), but at five o’clock in the afternoon my time, I really would have had a lot of explaining to do! In any case, the response would have been the same: Yes, that’s fine.

Allison