Grant has gone off to attempt a good deed, leaving me feeding the cats and the washing machine.
Grant is a bit tough, a little gruff, as one might expect of a man conscripted at an early age to go off and fight a bloody war. He’s seen things and had to do things I don’t even want to imagine.
But underneath all that, Grant has a kind heart.
Grant is very clever with his hands. He makes things.
Nice things that are classed as “bush craft”, although the term means something totally different in his native South Africa.
Most of his work is done on sewing machines.
Machines have varying capabilities, so he has several.
In fact, I discovered recently, he has 9!
It seems everyone is selling machines these days.
Grant got them for a token amount and fixed them.
I’ve no idea where he keeps them all! It was hard to navigate downstairs when he only had four. But that’s his domain.
Why did it not surprise me when he called up about another machine that was going free? This one can do sleeves.
But the lady was very sorry, there were 23 people ahead of him who had called.
While I was having my final eye check-up yesterday,
Grant got a call to say “if you still want it, it’s yours!”
Surprise. The thing wasn’t actually working.
But Grant said he would drop me off at home and continue on to Mechanicville to get it.
Only our usual bridge was closed and a tiny error of navigation (not mine!) sent us back the wrong way.
So we did what I had suggested to start with, delayed cat supper and carried on to Mechanicville,
Where I sat in the car to wait….
……and wait.
It began to get cold and I wondered if Grant had been attacked by some mad woman with a grudge.
But finally he returned with the machine in hand.
The lady had a broken table, so he’d fixed it.
“Well, she was giving me the machine!” he said.
“Not working machine” I reminded, but I was glad he’d been kind to her. I’m an elder woman myself.
We set off for home in the dark.
“You know the way?” I asked. “Oh yeah.”
Then he took me on a tour of the countryside in pitch blackness.
“I think I just missed our turn.”
Then he turned onto a rough road saying:
“It’s always good to see new stuff!”
Who could see a damn thing?
“You know this road,” he eventually said.
“How could I tell? I can’t see anything!”
It got late. My back hurt. My jaw hurt.
But finally we passed the Town Hall.
Everyone had dinner, then Grant went to play with his latest machine. And got it working.
“This was that lady’s ‘baby’,” he said, ” she used it for years. She’s got a new machine but she really liked this one.”
As luck would have it, the lady called to say she’d forgotten to give Grant the pedal and he said he’d pop over today.
But what he’s done is take the machine with him, now it’s working, to give it back to the lady.
Even though he really wanted a machine that could do sleeves.
He’s been gone some time, so he’s either having a hard sell,
or perhaps something else was broken….
Or maybe the navigator led him astray again!
Your Grant sounds like a treasure…. I’m glad you have interesting companionship and a helpmate for the journey. I hope you and your “tribe” have a wonderful holiday season and a healthy new year. You light up my mornings with your posts…
Thank you, Judy and best wishes to you too!