Walked into the library. Entire length of counter taken up by a woman, her pram and a baby crawling on the floor.
Went to get a book. Other babies crawling on floor, toys strewn across floor. Had to pick my way across obstacles to get to books.
Back to counter. First baby crawling about floor, blocking passageway, nearly tripped over it. Mother oblivious.
Take seat at computer. Unable to log-on successfully – just one of those occasional occurrences that disappears as mysteriously as it happens…………go to counter to get assistance, all that happens is librarian comes and watches me try again and this time it works.
See an old man approach counter, bent down to place bag on the floor and bang his head on overhang. “Oh, you’ve banged your head” commented librarian, smiling. I have already fallen foul of that new counter and banged my head.
(I won’t recount here all the PERSISTENT irritations such as the wonky seating, the inconvenient arrangement of the computers, the lack of space and privacy — in fact, I’ve got so used to most of them that I would have to sit here and think for a while to remember. One becomes accustomed to these irritations as one becomes accustomed to a bad smell — after a while one doesn’t notice………
………….and last week when they rearranged the furniture such that a corridor was narrowed, I got my blouse torn on a protruding handle……and I won’t START on all the other problems caused by the new design of counter!)
As I say, this is a typical 5 minutes in my life outside the home. I made no protest, but I could feel my temperature rising and my temper fraying…………no wonder they have to create rules to protect the library staff from violent customers! And if this was just 5 minutes, you can imagine what an hour is like! Wonderful life? Brave new world?
Is it just me, or would you claim that your life is comfortable and free of thorns? What is 5 minutes in your life outside the home like?