The Letters

 The queue is ten deep in the Post-Office. The nine people in front of me are clutching bin-bag packages corseted in gaffa tape. I may be some time. A man nudges me in the back. 

"Do they sell letters?" 

I'm flummoxed. 

"Sorry?"

"Do they sell letters here?"

"They don't sell letters..."

The woman in front of me turns and says, "Aye love, just up here." She gestures towards the stationary. Envelopes. He means envelopes. Right. 

He goes off and gets one and stuffs his papers in it without paying for it. Fine. Not my problem. Just some petty theft. I'm sure Big Envelope is insured.  

"Shit." he says to his friend. He's taken the papers out of the envelope and is examining them. 

"Shit."

"What is it?" says the friend. 

"I really needed to have posted this today."

But you're in the queue at the Post-Office, I think. They will be posted today. 

"Is the deadline today?" says the friend. 

"No, it's tomorrow. But I don't think the Post-Office is open tomorrow. Shit."

But you're in the queue for the Post-Office today, I think. It doesn't matter that the Post-Office is closed on a Sunday because today is Saturday and you are here, now, queuing to post your package in a stolen envelope. 

"Shit." he says. 

There are nine people in front of me when I start queuing, and when I leave the shop ten minutes later there are still nine people in front of me. I have to do a bit of shopping. I'll stop in again on my way back. Maybe the queue will have died down a bit. I head to M&S where I am annoyed by the amount of people doing their shopping with trolleys, but I'm always annoyed by that, every time I go in there. It's a small shop. They clog every aisle, cholesterol in an artery. 

When I return to the Post-Office the queue is twelve deep, so I leave it. 

I note Ballyhackamore now has a Japanese-style Cat Lounge and, while I don't know what that is and can't believe anyone would have use for it, I note the handwritten sign in the window: "Fully booked today". Well done them. Who knew a Cat Lounge was a gap in the market?  

Walking home a small girl shouts "Hello" at me from a passing car. She is waving and grinning and I wave back vigorously. I find myself smiling. It is the best thing that's happened to me today.