This time we managed to get ourselves up out of bed, a swift breakfast of a marmalade butty, banana + milk. Off to work, but we were rather worried that the place seemed to be humming with a lot more people. Our fears were semi-confirmed – Val got a job (with buddy Gerry) but I was left with about 20 other rejects. I think I was overlooked by mistake, but that really didn’t help any. A guy there had a list of other addresses to try, so we went round to one of them, only to discover it was Crown’s ex-premises. So I walked home, more disconsolate than I would have imagined in that situation. I stole a newspaper on the way home, then called another delivery company – no dice. Was suddenly struck down with severe stomach pains, and spent half an hour in the toilet… nasty. Back to bed after that, and finally sleep. Woke up again about 9 – read the paper. Up around 11, called Meher, then down to Safeway to collect film. Over lunch, I went for a walk up to a small park I’d seen up on the hill behind the shop. It was nice up there – I drank a coke and looked out over the city. Came back down + read in the shop for a while, until Val got back at about 3.30. She had had a very easy day, just dropping off bundles of papers, and throwing from the truck, and she’d still made $40. We looked at the pictures, which were rather disappointing, so we decided to take at least some of them back and get them re-printed. So, the first item on the agenda was some lunch for Val, then back to Safeway, then a swift return to the depot – Val had left her skirt behind – and then, finally, on to Bart and off to Hayward. We caught the bus from Hayward Bart up to Calstate and then walked up to Bill + Meher’s from there. We arrived hot and thirsty, so shared a Pepsi. Ate our evening meal – delicious – then chatted, watched television for a while… a rare occurrence in the van Groenou household (I stayed up beyond everyone else and watched Bernard Cribbins in a series called After Benny – ugh) and then, finally, bed.
Not surprised that Val should have been selected ahead of me – I would choose her too – but not sure how she managed to leave her skirt behind! And without Val – a pretty listless day. Apologies for the comment on my stomach; important to me, but not necessarily worthy of comment. And another outing for After Benny; despite my professed irritation at the name, it didn’t stop me from watching it! Bernard Cribbins is a relatively obscure British comedian and actor (though I know Jim Crenna was a big fan), mildly famous for a couple of comedy records from the 60s, and a belated run in Dr Who more recently.
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