to the bone

Despite managing to get out for a walk at lunchtime I still managed to finish at a decent time. Despite then checking my email just before I left and finding a request to ring someone I still managed to leave in daylight during the hours of shop-openinginess. Despite the shop not having had any target items of a sufficient standard when checked in the past they had two acceptable things which might get more attention at the weekend. Despite the particular bit of the Royal Mail who does our street having severe problems with deliveries (especially on Thursdays when they usually fail to deliver New Scientist) they'd actually managed to add the parcel containing blipcards and badge to their already-heavy bag, hoist it onto their weary shoulders and lug it all the way to Newington. Unfortunately they then fucked up by leaving the parcel in a plant pot as it was too big to fit through the letterbox; a worrying development as the Royal Mail were the only people I thought could be relied upon to either stick something through the letterbox (if it would fit) or take it back to the sorting office on Brunswick Road for me to collect at a convenient time, putting a "we tried to deliver" notice through the door rather than leaving it in the stairwell for anyone to steal as Citylink, Parcelfuckface, UPS and DHL have all proven themselves well capable of doing. By leaving a parcel outside in the stairwell they've lowered themselves to the level of Parcelforce and Home Delivery Network Limited. The others aren't quite as bad - UPS left a package with a neighbour (though not a neighbour I would have chosen to leave a parcel with seeing as their flat is full of manky envelope-chewing dogs) but at least avoided using the stairwell and put the card through the door; CityLink have left a parcel next-door once or twice but usually took packages back to the depot (though the convenience of popping to it to collect has decreased slightly since the nearest depot retreated to Livingstone from South Gyle) but always leave the card in the main stairwell whereas HDNL left my laptop under a plant pot and Parcelforce lost my first s9500. As I believe doorstepping to be a practice deemed foolish by postal services even by their own lower standards I shall try and find some sort of complaint-receiving department and send them a scan of the we-tried-to-deliver card on which the fuckwit postman not only scribbled evidence of leaving the package in the plant pot but also ticked the "this package has been taken back to the sorting office whence you might collect it no earlier than 24 hours from the time scrawled illegibly overleaf" section, almost as if he was preparing to do his job properly but then decided he couldn't be arsed. Despite the absence of a postperson-name or number on which to pin blame they ought to be able to work out who it was from the route and the date. Despite being left in a plant pot in a shared stairwell the parcel was still there and the contents safe and undamaged.

It would have been more sensible to go straight to sleep to try and catch up and get back to normal or go out for another walk but I used my bonus-time to eat something proper rather than just such oatcakes as are available from the Ryvita tin on my office-desk, listen to some podcasts in the bath and catch up on some downloaded telly. It would be more sensible to finish off BSG as I'm 2/3 through the second series rather than starting something entirely new but went for the first episode of the freshly-downloaded first series of The Wire instead seeing as anyone who has anything to say about it only says good things. My only criticisms so far are that Dominic West should stop over-acting with his mouth muscles (and learn to walk properly) and that there are far too many people wearing woolly turtle-necked jumpers which make me itch just upon seeing them. Good opening music, too, even if it does sully The Blues by bringing religion into them. Also caught Wednesday night's Newswipe which is definitely worth similarly catching if you similarly missed it.