I try not to see 13 as an unlucky number. Today made that a bit hard. Our internet connection ground almost to a halt, we’ve been working from home with multiple connections for over a week, but today I could practically see the mail server loading the emails one character at a time. I dialled into the video conferences because I couldn’t get a fast enough connection for video.
That however wasn’t the unlucky part of my day. Oh no. That was merely the preparation to ensure that I was in the right frame if mind for the unlucky part.
Out for a Walk
We were all feeling fine today, and although I started counting on the first day that we didn’t send Lucy to school, day 1 was actually the day before. So Tracy, our resident medical professional, thought it would be okay for us to walk to the local shop for some exercise, and to replenish the milk that we’ve almost run out of again. (We got eight litres delivered on Friday morning, as of Monday evening it’s all gone).
The weather has been pretty awful today, so we all put on our waterproofs and got ready for the walk to the co-op, which is about a mile as a round trip. Lucy decided that her ‘baby’ needed to come too, and she put her in the pram.
It was dry, if cold and overcast, when we left. There was hardly another person out along our route. It was a nice change of scenery, and when we got to the row of shops there was no queue. So I went into the pharmacy to collect my repeat prescription. Alexander went into the co-op first to buy a snack while Tracy waited outside with Lucy.
Inside the pharmacy they’d done an interesting job to protect people. The floor had some two metre lines marked in brown parcel on the floor. The cashier position also had a clear perspex screen and the card reader was on the front of the counter. I was second in the queue.
When my turn came I gave the pharmacy assistant the usual spiel. I’m here for my repeat prescription, told her my name and she went off to look for it.
A moment later she came back to ask what it was that I’d ordered. I needed a Symbicort turbohaler, it’s a repeat prescription, ordered on 17th March. She spent a moment looking at the computer.
‘We can’t get the inhaler for you. There’s a manufacturing problem and there are none in stock.’
It took me a moment to take this in. I was given a choice of either looking for another pharmacy or going to see my GP for an alternative.
When we got home Tracy called a couple of other pharmacies, and neither of them had it in stock, nor did they know when it would be back in stock. So tomorrow I need to talk to my GP again.
Stunning story there. What happened after? Good
luck!