That Friday Feeling

It was a strange and somewhat freaky day on Friday and not in a particularly good way.  It started well enough, in that the milk was on the doorstep when I opened the front door, but as this was the day that I had decided to cancel my order I almost hoped that it wasn't all present and correct, so that I might feel justified in my decision.  I had to ring the dairy and tell them and I didn't enjoy it as they have provided a good service over the years I have had my milk delivered.  As I explained to them, when two more bottles disappeared from the doorstep on Monday morning, it just seemed like there was no convenience to having it delivered anymore.  I left it until the end of the week, until I'd paid the bill up to date.  I felt sad making the call, but expressed my thanks for their hard work and that it was absolutely no reflection on them that I was cancelling. 

Later, on the walk up to school I was talking to Little Bird and her friend and was asking said friend what she was going to ask for from Santa this year.  A look was exchanged between Little Bird and her friend and I knew in that instant that she had swallowed the worm of doubt over Santa's existence.  I advised her not to listen to malicious gossip about the poor man, but I'm afraid the damage has probably been done and my little girl no longer believes.  It is a sad day in some respects, but I guess it demonstrates that she is growing up and fast.  It felt like a watershed moment and it left me singing Don't Stop Believing at the school gates, much to her acute embarrassment.

Whilst walking the dog this morning I saw a sandwich board for a local newspaper, headlining a shoddy shop blog that had gone viral.  I couldn't resist looking around on the web for it when I got home.   Turns out it was a tumblr post about an Express supermarket in our borough, which had infuriated one guy so much that he had written a post about it and it had gone viral, causing the big supermarket chain to very quickly jump in and rectify many of the faults highlighted.  It reminded me of the power of the blogosphere and social media to reach an incredibly wide audience, sometimes when you'd least expect it.  

Ironically, when I ventured out into town to do a few errands later that day,  I parked in the car park of another branch of said supermarket, which normally allows 1.5 hours free parking for people using the store (and town centre).  Luckily for me I wasn't long on my errands because when I returned to the car I noticed that the free parking had suddenly been reduced to 1 hour only, with no extra warning signage to draw attention to the fact.  Whilst I'm sure this is perfectly legal it made me a bit grumpy, as these privately run car parks with camera control are quite happy to send out parking 'fines' for overstaying your welcome, as I found out to my cost on one occasion, but don't have the decency to adequately advertise changes in their conditions of use.   No wonder city centres are losing business and shops are closing down.   It is sharp practice such as this which contributes to it. 

Rant over.  I could go on a little more about the woes of ,Friday but I've probably depressed you enough.  I guess we all have 'bad' days.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day!  At least it's the weekend.