There is an expression “losing the will to live” which is sometimes used in circumstances where dying is not the problem.

Waiting in the queue for the post office was one of these circumstances.

It didn’t help that I was only obliged to go because I had received a very nasty looking official letter from the water company for James, who didn’t have a postal address so always gave my address as C/O.

This was the second one. The first one I sent to the person who should be dealing with it.

This time I decided to send it to the water company with the address of the relevant person to get in touch with. I thought I’d better send it “raccomandata” to make sure it got there . (I think that’s the correct word)

I was quite proud of myself for doing something sensible .

I got to the post office about 8.40am. There was an Italian queue. That is a random group of people standing around and occasionally walking back and forwards in no particular order.

Luckily I know what to do , which is ask loudly ” who is the last? ” (in Italian) and then keep your eyes fixed on that person as they move around and chat to various people.

Making things a little more complicated this morning the person in front of me, after about half an hour , walked off saying he would be back at closing time.

So I had to ask again. This time it was one of my neighbours.

There was one person behind the desk in the post office. Normally there are 4 or 5.

After about 45 minutes standing in the street outside I eventually made it inside. Only 3 or 4 people were allowed in at once.

I got a ticket out of the machine and smiled ” maskily” at my neighbour.

Unfortunately there had been some confusion between the people who were standing around being a queue and taking a numbered ticket when they entered and some others who had marched in , taken a ticket and then went outside again.

So that was another 30 minutes standing around as I waited for my number to come up. ( my neighbour was in the same position)

As usual everyone had a nice little chat as they were being served by the very friendly post office assistant.

At one point someone came out from behind the counter and explained why there was only one person available. ( not sure why that person was not ” available”. )

Unfortunately it was a rather long winded explanation so it was possible, A. all the other workers had covid. B. all the other workers were off getting vaccinated. C. I have no idea, but I think we will need a green pass the next time.

A similar explanation, I think, was given to the 20 or so people now waiting outside who were getting a bit confused and more than a little restless.

It took about 3 minutes to get my letter posted and cost me nearly €7.

It was a nice walk home.

Once home , my 3 latest portraits were collected and maybe there will be more work to come.

The remainder of today has been spent working on the oil portrait and watching videos of people painting portraits in oils.

Wine time…hurray!!

Cheers 🍷🍷