Meet Sparrow, an average man passing an average life…
Saturday, June 6
There are now two thermometers at the clock-in station at the hotel and the new one appears to be producing correct temperatures…Just for funsies, I used both before reporting for duty and the old one reported a temperature of 90.1 degrees, basically telling me that all bodily functions had ceased, while the new one – tuff to figure out at first – said I was a hale and hearty 98.6, tho even that is suspect because everyone is getting 98.6 from it, so maybe we’re not using it right…For added hilarity, I logged the 90.1 temperature on the screening form.
One thing we’ve learned here is that guests cannot ring the bell to get my attention if the goddamned bell isn’t out…I forgot to put it out again tonight but fortunately, Mr Inertia saw to it I went out there immediately when I heard noises…I have no idea why and regular readers of this crap know I enjoy letting non-ringers stand in the lobby until I choose I to favor them with my presence.
He needed a room for the night and I told him I had to check because I honestly didn’t know what we had…In the pre-Virus Era I’d check within a few minutes of reporting for duty, but we’ve spent the last nine weeks unable to take walk-ins so I got out of the habit of looking…As it turned out, we had plenty of availability and while the system was asking $147, plus tax, for a room with one king bed, I didn’t even bother, immediately quoting him $109, plus tax…I was going to ask $99, plus tax, but I wanted the moral win of getting a three-figure rate from him.
I neglected to report the new (to me) chair I bought Friday…It was about 1400 and I left the Veterans Service Office (VSO) to go get something to eat when I saw a sign on Main Street for an estate sale…It was hard to read the small sign at 40 MPH of course, but I noted the street name and it was in a hoity-toity part of town so I detoured and turned on the street and there was sufficient signage that I found the place in short order…You never know what you are going to find in these places.
At first, I started in on the books…The selection was modest and dull and it was one of those rare times I could find nothing that even remotely interested me…Then I saw the chair…I’m not smart enuff to know the type offhand – nor interested enuff to look into it – but it was old, came with a matching ottoman and it was plain it was probably pretty elegant in its time…They were looking to move product, too, and immediately an heir to the estate was on me, extolling its virtues and advising an immediate test sit…It was an older lady and she all but pushed me into the seat.
It was really comfy…I ain’t gonna lie to you…Plus, I’d been wondering for a while about getting off the couch for reading…I have no idea why…I’m hardly complaining about it…I mean, I like lying on my back…But I was in the mood and the chair provided a good sit and the old, worn look is right in step with the decor at The Shire, so I didn’t even bother haggling the purchase price, with the proviso we could fit into the new ride…I was invited to back into the long driveway and the family took complete command…The only obstacle was the birdseed and feeder I’d bought two weeks ago were still in the trunk, but it was a simple matter to move it to the front seat and then fold the back seats down…They made it work, too, with so much room to spare we didn’t even need to tie it down, key because no one had any rope.
I got home and took everything in thru the front door and then I realized how little room there actually was for it…The cabin at The Shire is rather modest…After some thought, and because it represented the least possible work at the time, I put it immediately to the left of the front door, where the cat immediately started inspecting it…Then I moved the reading light from the behind the couch and settled in for some reading…I think, tho, that I will move it across the living room…There’s a small bookcase there we can move down the wall a bit and put the chair where that used to be and for those of you keeping score at home that would put it immediately in front and to the left of my desk.
Also when I got home Friday some supplements I’d ordered online were waiting for me on the porch…How the delivery man was able to put it there without getting killed by the nesting robins isn’t immediately clear, tho I was able to safely retrieve it.
Sparrow’s Sleep Log: 0900 Saturday until 1500 Saturday…A routine 6.0 hours for the day and an anemic 43.0 hours for the week, which some research shows is the lowest total since mid-March.
The Diary of a Nobody is a novel. All elements are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Anything else is a coincidence.
It was inspired by the 19th-century British novel of the same name.
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