I was listening to The Archers the other night, just like I do every night, and I heard a familiar voice. I couldn’t work out why it was so familiar. Okay, it was Fallon (Joanna Van Kampen) but she sounded like someone else I knew. And then it struck me. She sounds exactly like Jade at Starbucks.
Then, this morning, Jade made my coffee. I asked her if she listened to The Archers, and she shook her head. I told her she sounded exactly like Fallon, and she winked and said she WAS Fallon. It was her secret, other job.
I mentioned that Fallon also worked in a cafe, but it would be a bit weird if she was married to a policeman (Fallon is married to police officer, Harrison Burns). She looked shocked as she told me she WAS married to a policeman. That’s all kind of coincidence, right there.
Not so weird is the raft of new starters that Sue is training this week. She has staffing problems; vacancies that have had to be filled by baristas from other branches for the last couple of weeks. Now she has four newbies. Today I met Hannah, who seems bright and bubbly. The other three I guess I’ll meet as we go along.
In the meanwhilst, in Waitrose, Pamela is on holidays at the moment and Phil was at the meat counter. Apparently he was feeling the cold last night and decided he’d make a stew in his slow cooker. Then, this morning at around 5am, he was woken by the strongest, most delicious smell emanating from his kitchen.
He said his mouth was watering for stew. He didn’t want to wait but, strong-willed man that he is, he resisted the temptation, delaying the pleasure until tonight. I told him he was stronger than me. If the smell of stew had woken me with mouth watering, I’d have had stew for breakfast.
Regret flickered across his face.
Back at home, Mirinda had left for yoga and then Book Group, so I took the puppies to the park where we met the most beautiful dog.
He was the result of crossing a standard poodle with a Newfoundland. He was so soft. He also needed a hair cut.
The owner was very quick to reassure me that his dog was friendly. He then told me he has to do this because people are frightened by the dogs size. I told him I just wanted to give him a big cuddle. The dog, not the owner.
Freya wasn’t at all bothered, and Emma was only worried he’d steal her tennis ball. She jumped up next to me on the bench we were sitting on, not realising that he could easily steal her ball while standing on the ground.
The weather was glorious, even with the sudden sun shower that lasted all of two minutes. It annoyed Freya for longer than it lasted. And, of course, the park look glorious.
You would honestly think there was nothing wrong in the world.
