"Parcel" © 2010 Nils Geylen, used under a Creative Commons Attribution license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en
Hello my sweethearts!
Recently, I mentioned my nephew Steven, and how he had gone from being unemployed to carving himself out a courier job, delivering small parcels around the county. Well, recently, Steven has upgraded from using his father's bike to using his father's van – and, as a result, has started to get bigger assignments, very often in other parts of the country.
Last Sunday, out of the blue, he called me to invite me on, of all things, a ride-along! One of his employers wanted a parcel delivered in Birmingham (of all places!), and because Steven knows I am interested in learning about anything surrounding a courier job, he invited me to come with him. Because it was a Sunday, the café was closed and I had already gone to church so I gladly accepted, hopped in his van, and off we went!
I have to confess, as we rode to Birmingham, I felt a little like those journalists in police programmes on television, riding along with the agents so they can write their book or whatnot. I had never pictured myself having a courier job, and yet here I was, helping out with one! Well, maybe 'helping out' is not the right word, but I was...'taking part' in it. Steven even let me drive a while – not the best idea, since Auntie Gertie is a tad bit uncoordinated! That did not last long, however, and soon I was back in the passenger seat, watching my nephew dodge traffic as if he was a race-car driver.
The rest of the trip went uneventfully. Steve delivered his parcel, got the signature and the receipt, and we took the rest of the day off to sightsee, have tea and do a bit of shopping. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but the truth is, at the end of the day, I felt like maybe doing a bit of parcel-delivering myself! Before I do that, however, maybe I ought to take a couple of refresher driving lessons...
Ta-ra!
Gertie xxx