July 31, 2020
Dear Everyone:
Here in the Bay Area, we have something called
“natural air conditioning”.
What that means is that, while the outside temperature may climb up into
the 90s during the day, when night falls, it can drop down into the 50s.
This mostly has to do with the marine layer that extends inland
overnight.
Last year, I replaced all the windows in my
condominium and had internal shutters installed.
What that means now is that I can open all the windows in the
morning and enjoy the cool fresh air as it wafts through all the rooms.
It’s really quite lovely.
Of course, I still have to climb up on a step
stool to reach the kitchen window; but that’s because the architect who
designed the place assumed that “normal” people would live in it.
And I have to be able to move the desk in the bedroom by a few
inches in order to open the shutters enough to be able to open and close
that window.
This desk has been in my possession for so long
that I’m not sure when I acquired it.
I am sure that it originally came from our maternal grandfather.
Which is to say that it was in his possession when he passed
away. Whether or not he
considered it “his” would be a matter of conjecture on my part.
The desk was painted white, with gold accents,
at one time. Somewhere along
the way, I stripped off the paint and stained the underlying wood to
suit my preferences. It
stands about 31 inches high and has a long central drawer which, in a
more traditional desk, might be considered a “pencil drawer”.
This is flanked by a set of two
drawers in either side, each drawer utilized by containing such things
as cosmetics, tweezers, nail files, clippers and a myriad of small items
that seem inclined to accumulate of their own accord.
For many, many years, I have used the desk as a
dressing table. These days,
I don’t feel the requirement to apply makeup every morning, but I still
use the table for many things.
So it stands in front of the window.
There is also a chair, an ergonomic chair that
is height-adjustable, under the desk, more or less.
In fact, the chair only fits under the desk because it is
height-adjustable. When the
chair is at a height that is comfortable for me, it is too high to fit
under the central drawer. So
I have to sit in the chair, s-t-r-e-t-c-h my arm down to reach the lever
and pull it up. Whereupon,
the chair suddenly plummets to its lowest height.
That sudden drop is decidedly not good for my
fragile spine. In a word:
Ouch! Nevertheless,
several times each day the chair goes up so that I can comfortably use
the desk, then down (ouch!) to fit under the desk and out of the way.
Then up. Then down
(ouch!)
Recently, I happened to wonder why I am still
using this old desk.
Certainly not because it’s a “family heirloom”.
Grandpa wouldn’t mind if I chucked it out.
So I started looking online at desks.
For the most part, desks are intended to be used in offices, with
lots of floor space, and no need to move them a few inches away from the
window mornings and afternoons.
Basically, they are big and heavy.
What I really need is a table top that’s easy to move, plus some
drawers to hold all the doodads that make life more pleasant.
Time to think outside the box.
I researched a great many “tables” online and
ultimately fixed upon a “conference room / training” table on castors.
It was the castors that decided me; they would make moving the
table away from the window and back so much easier.
I also looked at a plethora of small
collections of drawers, both plastic and wooden.
In fact, I’m still researching those.
But there’s plenty of time for that.
In the meantime, I ordered the table, with a
projected delivery date of July 27th.
Last week, I got a phone call from a “Logistics Company”
informing me that my “shipment” had arrived and could they deliver it
this Saturday, the 25th.
As it happens, I had somewhere to be on that day, so we agreed to
go with the original delivery date of the following Monday.
That Monday, I made sure to be home all day,
and called the Gate to let them know to allow the delivery truck in.
By the end of the day, there was no truck.
I had saved the number for the “Logistics Company” and called
them. Fortunately, I also
had the Tracking Number.
Apparently, the shipment had been “misplaced”
and the person who took care of that would call me back.
The next day, Tuesday, I called again.
This time, I was informed that the person who took care of that
did not come into the office until 11:00 am and she could call me back
later.
Indeed, Tuesday afternoon, I got a call from
the person who took care of that, asking me if I could “describe” the
shipment. Which I have never
seen, of course. I told her
that it was at least five feet long since the table is 60-inches in
length. Longer than the
current desk, of course, but manageable.
With that information, she went off to search
“the dock” for the missing shipment.
On Wednesday afternoon, I got an enthusiastic call that they had
located the missing shipment and would like to deliver it on Thursday,
between 10:00 am and 6:00 pm.
And deliver it they did, Thursday morning.
Two cardboard boxes, one large, one smaller, both significantly
tattered. One can only
imagine what they’d been up to, hiding hither and yon out on the dock
from the person who took care of those things.
Maybe she followed the trail of little bits of cardboard and
Styrofoam, like breadcrumbs.
In the meantime, having caught wind that I
would be receiving a 100-pound table, some assembly required, “Jeannie”
has graciously volunteered to come and help me put the whole thing
together. She’s worried
about me attempting to manhandle 100 pounds by myself, castors
notwithstanding.
The two cardboard boxes, the larger one
currently resting against a wall in the hallway, are now awaiting
further developments.
Love, as always,
Pete
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