Grey

today started like any other seemingly innocuous of days.

i was woken, as usual, by breakfast in bed, a cup of tea and an overly cheery disposition. this is usually brushed off by an admittedly rude half-asleep grunt, but today i was talkative and unusually quite content to discuss whatever irrelevant and insignificant with my mother. apart from waking up initially thinking it was monday, my day off, today was going to be a good day, i thought.

knowing then what i know now about how the day would progress, id have stayed in bed.

after enjoying a slight sleep-in, i drive thru the winter drizzle and arrive late to work. i turn into the private road to come face to face to the tractor, and have to back out and wait until it had reached its fork and turned off into the field. not a problem. so far so good.

i notice mine iss the only car in the carpark - which means we we're 2 pickers short.... again. I come in, do the little bit that's required in my corner and go out to wash some stock that Bennan had picked by himself earlier. With my hands submersed in freezing cold water, wearing thick waterproof gloves that work better at being waterproof if there were no holes in the finger tips, I hear the other pickers arrive finally.

"Sorry, we had a flat tire."

Ok fair enough.

Then they disappear to join Bennan in the kitchen. They've been gone all morning, been here 5 minutes and now they're on a break?? I continued washing.

Later inside.

Where the hell's my rosemary? Brr Brr. "Mum? Is there a box of rosemary on the porch that maybe I missed this morning?"

"Nope, nothing there at all."
"Okay, they've forgotten about it. I'll wait for them to bring it here. Thanks."

Bliiiip. '1 New Message' says my mobile phone. "Tell Mum we'll be late. See you soon."

What? I'm not even fucking home.

I turn around to hear what my shed worker is saying.

"Can I go after I finish today's packs?"

Yeah, we're doing ok today. "Sure, but before you do can you pick some sage?"

A groan is the response. Followed by a lowered head and a 10 minute whine about how bad the sage is and its sooooooooo hard to make 15 bunches and how much we hate doing sage and blah blah blah.

Okay okay forget it. I'll do it. Go home when you're ready.

Bliiiip. '1 New Message' says my mobile phone again. "Get credit soon xx"

If you want to pay for it.... But still, I was happy to get that message.

Riiing Riiing. My boss calls the shed. "How you guys doing today? I'll be out of here about three."

Wha? Why are you checking up on me? "We're going alright. See you then."

Another hour or so and the 2 latecomers are inside again.

"We're going home because she has a stomach ache."

Grrrr... "Okay, fine. Hope you feel better."

I view the picking board that shows us what's happening and what we need for the day. Then I check what still needs doing in my corner.

"Hey, do you mind if you do stay a little longer, now that they've gone, to do a little bit more? You can still go early..."

A further 15 minutes of bitching and whining and 'that's not my problem' crap.

Fine. I don't fucking want you here anyway if you're gonna be like that. "Okay Okay Okay - finish what you're doing and go. Good? Good."

Bennan comes in and I tell him what still needs to be done. Pretty soon it's just him and me. I give him instructions and go out to pick my sage.

Bliiiip. '1 New Message' says my mobile phone yet again. "I'm going to Dublin!"

Yes, I know... you emailed me ages ago and told me..... ?

I bring in my sage and begin to bunch it. The boss comes in. I finish the sage and go help Bennan. He hasn't picked enough for one order in particular. Outranked now, I consult the matter with my boss.

"Well, she's expecting 3 kilo's of it!"

Okay, so we'll pick more of it. It's not fucking hard. "Alright" *insert strained fake smile*

"I've locked the bike away already!"

So? "That's okay, we'll walk."

*mumble mumble*

I know better than to ask her to repeat that, so I go out and continue to wash stock. It's past 5pm and has been raining on and off all day. Half of my time has been spent at the trough outside, so I am by now very damp and very cold.

Bennan has quite a bit more to pick so I come inside again and do odd bits and pieces of work that needs to be done.

"I mean, I would have picked it at the other farm but it wasn't ordered." Another 5 minute further broken lecture about the order we're short on.

Why the hell are we still talking about this??? "Yes, Jill."

I can hear that my CD is jumping. It's been on the same song back and forth for about 7 minutes. I take it out to find that it's been scratched by the dust and crap that's in the player. I turn off the stereo and go outside.

I pack the trailer as best I can, leaving room for the 2 boxes that are still to come. It's raining pretty steadily now, and I'm very ready to go home.

I sweep up. There's nothing left to do, and Bennan still isn't finished. I grab my cutters and walk over to the other side of the river to see if he needs help.

I bump into him coming back and we complete the day. The trailer is packed and all is ready.

Finally, time to go home. "Thanks Bennan, you're a great help."

I flip thru the folders by the sign out sheet.

Where the fuck is my timebook??? "Oh look Bennan, someone put my book in the 'O' section.... funny, I thought my lastname begun with 'F' hey?" *insert tired and somewhat disinterested forced laughter*

I grab my keys. "Okay, see you next time."

I staggered to my car and collapse into the drivers seat. I turn the key. The car groans in effort and is silent. Dead.

I look at the arm by the wheel. The lightswitch is still down. "For god's sake!" I curse aloud.

I walk back thru the muddy puddles and pot-holes to the shed.Brr Brr. "Ness? You don't feel like coming down and jumping my car do you?"

"Be there soon, sweetie."

Paul arrives at the end of Brookside Road and I walk up the dirt private road to find him and lead him back to my car, as Ness stays on my mobile phone and listens to me pour out my day. "Are you and/or Paulie in a bad mood today? 'Cos everyone else is..."

Ness and Paul are their usual beautiful kind selves and he jump starts my car and follows me out to make sure it's all ok.

"Thanks Paulie." I give him a massive hug and a bag of Tatsoi for Ness as a big thankyou. I can't seem to thank him enough.

Later on South Road he heads for his turn off and gives me a wave.

At least, the day wasn't *all* bad.

Walking thru the back door into my dining room I slide to the floor, then crawl to chair at the table where my family is finishing dinner.

Yum, chicken.

"Thank god that day's over."

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