Dave ordered groceries online last week, and when they arrived we found some very peculiar purchases. I'd asked him to get some green olives, and for some reason he bought three 170-gram containers -- a little more than half a kilo. That's a lot of martinis! And on the flip side, although he bought two bags of potato chips, they're small enough to fit into the palm of my hand.
The problem, Dave says, is that everything is listed on the web site by weight, and he's not always good at figuring out how big a package will be.
Looks like he'll be snacking on green olives after work.
I found this sticker in the library yesterday afternoon. I couldn't figure out why, but my boss said it was for International Women's Day, which was Tuesday. Apparently some kids were distributing them. I stuck it over my desk. I can get behind smashing the patriarchy.
I was writing e-mails to the parents of kids with overdue library books yesterday, and I was swept by a feeling of absurdity -- there's A WAR GOING ON, and I'm writing e-mails about library books. Granted, it's not our war -- not officially, not yet -- but still, I had the sense that what I was doing was silly if not offensive.
I had a very weird dream just before I woke up this morning. I dreamed I was coming home from work but I had to take a school bus -- one of the big, old-fashioned yellow buses with the green seats that we all took growing up. (And which, incidentally, the school where I currently work does not use.) The students were very amused that I was on their bus. I suddenly feared that I was on the wrong bus, or maybe I had missed my stop, so I went to ask the driver, and for some reason I told him I wanted to go to our old address in New Jersey. I thought he'd object to talking to me while he drove, but on the contrary, he was quite happy to turn around in his seat and let the bus drive itself -- which apparently it could do.
If that's not a dream about feeling out of control, I don't know what is.
(Top photo: A shopfront in Holborn, a couple of weeks ago.)
We just have to keep on keeping on.
ReplyDeleteOrdering online is not easy.
It seems like it SHOULD be easy, doesn't it? But yeah, confusion reigns...
DeleteThat photo makes me smile.
ReplyDeleteIt made me smile too!
DeleteI guess I’m over my knee-jerk reaction to smiley faces. (Oh how I used to hate them in the ´70s and ´80s.) I actually like those windows. Great photo. If only the patriarchy could be truly smashed. I wonder what kind of world this would be. Although we’d still have Virginia Thomas, Mama Grizzly, Marjorie Taylor-Green, and Lauren Boebert — not to mention the likes of Margaret Thatcher and Imelda Marcos. Still, the patriarchy should be smashed.
ReplyDeleteI remember another blogger ordering a beautiful rug online and receiving a rug coaster.
Well, they were all the rage back then, weren't they? "Have a Happy Day!"
DeleteAs someone said below, the patriarchy is part of what enables all those evil women.
Oh, and that coaster story made me laugh! It must have seemed like a very inexpensive rug (or been a very expensive coaster)!
DeleteThat bus driver was a very silly man as the school bus could have easily crashed. There would surely have been many injuries and as you were talking to the driver at the front you could have easily been thrown through the windscreen (American: windshield) - then there would have been no more "Shadows and Light" But hey there are other blogs to visit!
ReplyDeleteOr, since it was a dream, we all might just as easily have taken flight or turned into a submarine!
DeleteIf the patriarchy were smashed people like those dreadful women would lose their power! They are a wholly owned subsidiary of the patriarchy. So there's that.
ReplyDeleteWeird dream, Steve. I wonder if self driving cars have been on your mind. Buses would be next. Then you could let the pigeon drive the bus.
Exactly re. the Thatchers and Palins of the world.
DeleteI have been burned a time or two on Amazon by not paying attention to sizes of what I’m ordering.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to envision size, even when they give the dimensions.
DeleteBut all is not lost, because the bus driver was at least willing to take you wherever you wanted to go. That top photo looks a bit like a bus itself.
ReplyDeleteHa! It does look like a bus with advertising on the side!
DeleteGood of you to support International Women's Day by putting that sticker up. I'm quite sure the young women/girls who left it for you are thrilled to know you care.
ReplyDeleteEither that or they'll think someone punked me by putting it on my desk without my knowledge. LOL
DeleteI like the photo, I like the sticker, AND I like green olives! Actually, I like most any kind of olive.
ReplyDeleteI love green olives, actually -- and we've already consumed one of the containers, and they last a long time. So I don't think this is a real crisis!
DeleteDreams and olives...
ReplyDeleteSounds like something I'd write about.
Oh, how I remember those school buses! Those slippery green seats, those windows that you could sometimes manage to unlatch with the little squeeze things on the sides to release them. There are some things you can never forget. Funny you asked to go to your home in New Jersey!
A sudden need to visit me!
DeleteI remember those buses vividly, which I guess isn't surprising considering how much time I spent on them.
DeleteIt is hard not to worry about the war and the world problems but at the same time, it isn't helping anyone for me to get all frantic and despairing. Even tho, I often do feel frantic and despairing about it all. I guess that is that out of control bus ride feeling... What to do, what to do...
ReplyDeleteYes, exactly, that very feeling is what gave me the bus dream, I'm sure!
DeleteI sometimes have that same problem ordering items on the web. Enjoy the olives and have a super day, hugs, Edna B.
ReplyDeleteIt can be tricky, for sure!
DeleteThat's a teacher dream. I had them often and they fade away during retirement.
ReplyDeleteHa! Along with standing up in front of the class and being completely unprepared and in your underpants, right? (Or maybe that's more of a STUDENT dream.)
DeleteI'm definitely behind "smashing the patriarchy." Nice sticker!
ReplyDeleteYou do have a lot of martinis in your future.
I had one last night! One down, 99 to go.
DeleteThat's a great photograph.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteI love that photo. Those smiley faces on Holborn are kind of fun. And the 'smashing the patriarchy' sticker is also good. I'd put that up too.
ReplyDeleteI've been having strange dreams that last few nights too. No buses but it is always about something I have no control over. The stresses of the world are sneaking up on all of us.
Indeed, I'm sure we're all feeling out of control right now.
DeleteI think we all feel that our regular lives are rather frivolous right now when we turn on the News and see the Horrors of War. It seems so Wrong to sit on the sidelines and Witness a Genocide taking place... again... History repeating itself, and that's quite unsettling. Makes it hard to Blog about the fluff of life or go about our daily privileged lives unaffected... I just can't most days right now. Weird Dreams, having them often lately.
ReplyDeleteBut at the same time, I think it's important to try to keep chugging along and not get too bogged down in the misery. We have to keep ourselves going, you know?
DeleteThis made me smile Steve, how very British of you.
DeleteI love a good dream, and that one fills the bill.
ReplyDeleteSo many olives, so few martinis??? First world problems! 😀
I'm not sure it's really even a problem!
DeleteI've accidentally bought huge sizes of things for pick up because I'm apparently not good at weights or measurements. Anxiety dreams involving going places, feeling out of control and getting lost are common among educators.
ReplyDeleteWell, as long as it's something that doesn't expire or go bad, then you've just gotten a jump on all your future shopping!
DeleteHi Steve, Olga and Dave. Be careful what you order online or anywhere. This is my story: I ordered a bird bath (I thought) to go outside in my yard. When it came it was a mantel piece. It cost me $39.00.. it came from walmart and I didn't return it. My next bad order was in December 2021. I hadn't bought myself anything big since 2017. So I saw these beautiful sweater coats on Amazon and loved them so I ordered 5. A whopping 329.00. As beautiful as they were I knew I was getting a bargain. Oh well I got a scam where they show you one thing but send something else. I said hell no so I went on google and found Amazon customer service number and called them. So the company(out of China) and I started emailing each other. They said they didn't refund. I told them bulshit, you are getting this stinky crap back and putting my money back on my credit card. After I threatened them and Amazon with an attorney they started to put money back onmy credit card but was keeping shipping and handling I told them again, bullhit, you are giving me every dime back . This was a scam.I got my money credited back to my credit card and will never order any type of clothing from Amazon anymore and nothing from walmart.
ReplyDeleteWe don't order much online beyond groceries, at least not routinely. That's quite a story! Good for you for sticking to your guns and getting your money back! I'm impressed!
DeleteWow that is a very strange dream. I am not sure what it means, but yep Who or What was driving the school bus?
ReplyDeleteI have the same feeling or had the same feeling of doing something mundane while people were fleeing the dangers in Ukraine. I think if we knew what to do other than just send money maybe we would feel like we were helping in some small way.
Have a great weekend. We are staying home and watching Netflix. Or at least I am. xx
And sending money isn't insignificant. I think helping however we can is important, right?
DeleteJust adding a small memory..I used to be part of a food co-op and we ordered bi-monthly.
ReplyDeleteOne member ordered 12 toilet rolls...not realising that "1" was an outer of 12!!! We all shared them!
Ha! At least toilet paper doesn't go bad!
DeleteHad to laugh at your dream. I have some weird ones too.
ReplyDeleteThe dreaming brain is a very strange place.
DeleteI have really weird dreams if I eat icecream right before going to bed. I gave that up three years ago, so now my dreams are less weird, but still odd.
ReplyDeleteLife does go on even when life has been brutally interrupted elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteI rode the bus all 12 years of school (well, that's not true - I didn't start riding a bus until middle school - but I rode it all the way through high school). I'm surprised I haven't had any bus dreams!
ReplyDeleteThe good thing about olives is that they will probably last forever. The bad thing is that they're disgusting. Ha!