How
often do you have one of ‘those days’ when things just seem to go very wrong? I
am not talking about days of virus epidemics or when you find out that you or a
loved one has some dreadful illness or accident. I am talking about trivial
stuff.

But
it can still be very, very annoying.

Broken Mop

A
few weeks ago, before the coronavirus was even a thing in the UK, my mop handle
broke. Just as the same kind had done some time before. I decided I not only
needed a new mop, but perhaps a new kind
of mop.

Luckily,
I have a very savvy neighbour, and I asked her what kind of mop she would
recommend. I won’t bore you with the details, but she suggested a particular
type and brand and I thought the problem was solved. All I needed to do was buy
it.

Online Shops

I am
a great believer that you can buy anything online and very quickly. Not in this
case.

I
went to the online supermarket that I use regularly and could see no sign of
this mop. Yes, they had the refills and yes, they had the bucket, but the mop
was nowhere to be seen.

So
off I went to Amazon, everyone’s supplier that they love and hate at the same
time (but that is another story). Yes, it turned out they had the mop, but not
the bucket.

They
were expecting to have the perfect ‘mop and bucket set’ for a good price, but
not for three weeks and I wanted the mop now.

The
mop hunting was getting annoying.

Actual Shops

It
then occurred to me that we have a not too distant hardware store, which sometimes
has such things as mops. I wanted to phone to check but it took me some time to
recall their name.

They
had the mop, they said, but it was so cheap that I doubted if it was the right
one (it is a rather over-priced hardware store). And the bucket would be just
under £50 ($65). I even phoned back to see if I got that right.

I do
not need a bucket for that price!

Mop Bought

OK.
Setting it out like this, the solution looks easy.

After
lunch, I worked it out. I bought the mop from Amazon (it arrived quickly, being
delivered for some reason by two
men). I ordered the bucket from my online shop and it was duly delivered a few
days later.

Even Trivial Issues Have Side Effects

But
I was in such a tizz. The whole experience had me completely frustrated.

When
one person in a household gets into a bad mood, it is easy to pass it on to the
other(s). I was so riled up over the fact that buying a mop wasn’t a simple, straight-forward
task that I went to make lunch and managed to quickly annoy my long-suffering
husband.

He
thought I was about to burn myself or the lunch or even burn the house down. I
didn’t.

But
it was not a relaxed lunch. I kept trying to explain to him what a problem I
had had, but he said he wasn’t really interested in mops.

Who
could blame him? How much trouble can it be to buy a mop?

Do
you have days when so many little things go wrong that you get in a tizz? Can
you provide any examples? Please share them below and let’s have a fun time
discussing our trivial misfortunes!