Late Shift

June 28, 2013



I'm going to work at 9:00 today. Great! Sleep a little later but still have time for breakfast and coffee in my own kitchen. And best of all reading the newspaper before going to work. I walk down the driveway but I don't SEE the newspapers. Maybe they are hidden right at the end of the driveway. But no. They are just not there. It is 7:15. The day before they were also not there but I was told they had until 7:00AM to deliver. Really? I thought the deadline was always 6AM. They are morning papers right?


So I call the Times and the Register. They promised to deliver a replacement paper. I actually spoke to a human being at the Register. He said they had new carriers to "improve efficiency!!" My previous carrier, a young lady, was very efficient. She delivered all through the snowstorms and would be pulling up to my driveway when I was leaving for work at 5:30 AM. What happened to her?


I'm sure I will come home tonight to four newspapers in the driveway even though I have a slot in my mailbox. AND one of them will be wet just like last night. I will be too tired to read them both tonight even though the Register has been getting smaller and smaller. Then I will put them, unread in the recycle bin on Sunday night.

USPS

February 15, 2013



I recently heard that mail delivery on Saturday will stop this summer. Why? I love getting mail. When the kids were little and I was alone with them all day and night seeing the mailman drive down the street was the highlight of my day. I would wait until he finished the street and turned around before I went out to get the mail because I didn't want him to think I had been anxiously awaiting his arrival. How pathetic would that seem?

But I still feel the same way about my mail. I love to get magazines and flyers. Even the stupid one. I really enjoy getting cards and letters. Yes I still have friends who send me personal correspondence via the USPS. My friends send me lots of cards and I never know what will be in the envelope when Margo's name is on the return address label. She makes handmade cards for me and uses calligraphy. Some are inspirational sayings  (which she thinks I don't appreciate ) and notices filled with things to do.

On Sunday I have the newspapers to fill the void of no mail. During the storm last week I read the papers on line because they couldn't be delivered and it was not the same at all. And even though the papers are getting smaller there is still nothing like spreading them out on the sofa in front of the fire. I was delighted when the newspaper and mail delivery resumed. I don't really know how the mailman is reaching my mailbox as I could only manage to dig out a narrow path for him. But what will take its place on Saturdays? No mail and just a regular newspaper. Woe is me.

News Haven

October 2, 2012



News Haven is closing this month after spending 30 years on Chapel Street. It is one of the last news stands in the state. I used to love to go there and look at all the glossy magazines and foreign newspapers. Whenever we would go to New York or Boston we would stop there to get a magazine or recent newspaper to find out what was going on in town.

Apparently the internet has taken over much of the news. Young people don't read newspapers. They search the internet. Our own local paper has dwindled to a few pages. I'm afraid the same will happen to our libraries. I love to visit libraries in different towns and cities. Each one is a reflection of the neighborhoods they  inhabit. I love the sheer number of books in one place and the quiet. Oh, the quiet! I imagine what it would be like to spend the day in quiet instead of in the crazy, loud, high pressured surgical environment. Sometimes I think I would have liked to have been a librarian. But then I come to my senses. I would probably go stir crazy. And I really love the constant motion of my job.

But, there is nothing better in the winter than being on the sofa under a blanket and reading the Sunday papers. Especially during a snowstorm. I am always so happy when the paper guy delivers my papers during a storm. Especially if it's Sunday and I don't have to work. It's much better than curling up with the Ipad.