Monday 30 January 2012

Somerset time


On Saturday, I waited for the joiner to turn up to build me a corner wardrobe for my bedroom. At present there is an orange pine-effect laminated chipboard affair that doesn't fit under the sloping ceiling, allowing Hamish to hide in the space behind it whenever he hears me coming up the stairs. Good camouflage for him, he being orange and all that, but visually intrusive in a way that Hamish wouldn't be. If he were visible. If you know what I mean.

There's a lot of orange fake knotty pine in my bedroom; I shall paint it soon. The wardrobe might have been painted too, except for it not fitting under the ceiling, and it won't go down the stairs either, to be given away, and being chipboard, is unlikely to dismantle without some damage. (I know this because its twin, which stood very orangily next to it, couldn't turn the staircase, was dismantled, wouldn't go back together again, and, when I dropped one of the doors on my ankle, causing great pain and dramatic swelling, was taken away in rage very decisively - to the tip.)

So..... a plain joiner-built cupboard will be replacing it. Tongue and groove, like the one in the dining room. I love T & G.


After waiting a long while, dogs becoming restive, I rang the missing joiner, and asked tentatively if it was today he was coming, wasn't it?

No, he said; next Saturday. Now, this sort of thing happens regularly to me, and I tend to assume that it's my error, my failing memory, my inability to write things down on the right section of the calendar - the right month, even. But I didn't think next Saturday sounded like what we'd arranged at all.

We chatted amicably for a little, and then, in horror-stricken tones, he suddenly blurted "No, it's me! I told you the 27th!" That rang a bell. And it would have worked out well, had the 27th been a Saturday, not a Friday, and anyway, was now past....

So next Saturday it is. Except that he's coming tomorrow. Tuesday.

17 comments:

John said...

Wow! Like The Twilight Zone there.

annie hoff said...

At least he owned up - not leaving you feeling quite so old and forgetful!

the veg artist said...

I'm guilty of causing this sort of confusion.

It is Monday today. If I told someone I would see them next Wednesday, I would not actually mean the day after tomorrow. I would mean Wednesday of next week.
Is this common? Is this what happens when you live all your life in an area where the locals sound as though they should mean what they say, but actually mean something quite different?

I suspect 'Somerset' and I would understand each other perfectly!

Noelle the dreamer said...

Hmm, I think you confused my (permanent)confused state of mind Rachel...Grab another cuppa...it works for me! I also use a planner...We heard the weather is likely to be a challenge in your part of the country so keep warm!
Hugs,

Anonymous said...

Hmm, having just read the Veg Artist's comment, I believe that she is Welsh, as am I, so we would understand each other's speech patterns. Perhaps. So, if he is coming tomorrow, the 31st, you are not to much inconvenienced -
I hope? Fingers crossed that it goes well Rachel.

Arthur Ransome said...

Well, I'm in stitches, anyway. I hope he does turn up. I never know what anyone means by "this" Wednesday or "next" Wednesday. It's always confused me and I've only been in Somerset twice. I just love tongue and groove too and have the shutters to prove it. That chipboard stuff is sooooo heavy to shift, isn't it? I long to see what your chap makes when he does turn up. Hamish may take to hiding under the duvet which is what his lookalike Tuppence does.

alice c said...

I expect he will be with you dreckly.

Lynda (Granny K) said...

I bet he had his 'planner/calendar' open at the wrong month when he wrote you in - I do that!

the veg artist said...

Yes, Toffeeapple, I'm Welsh!!! Someone understands me!!!

knutty knitter said...

Ha! Sounds just like our builder friend. Never quite know just when he will turn up. Eventually is a word that figures highly I think.

viv in nz

Marcheline said...

Egads, this is like a replay of the conversation I just had with me mither about her impending visit in May.... I only wish I was getting a new cupboard at the end of it! 8-)

Dartford Warbler said...

I hope he`s good when he gets there!

Ginnie said...

Nice that it's happening today and not Saturday - that means we get to see it sooner. (It is all about us, isn't it? You have to keep thinking of projects to entertain us. And we do appreciate it.)

colleen said...

Brilliant result if you ask me. And you're on the moral high ground.

hasenschneck said...

I'm very glad that I'm not alone in having observed the phenomenon of Somerset time. When I'm down here, I'm always turning up somewhere in a rush to find people not even ready for me. Or they come on the wrong day. And the slowness of the people on the till at the Co-op. I love it.

SmitoniusAndSonata said...

How very Mediterranean you make Somerset sound !
As for the whole "next"and "this" thing , I agree with veg artist . "This" means a day this week , "next" means a day next week .
Simples!

Elizabeth Musgrave said...

Drat, you hadn't forgotten! I am always forgetting and for a glorious moment I thought I had a companion. Drifts sadly off to another room to wonder what I am there for.

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