Column: Delivery times are trying my patience

The list could go on. I cannot be the only person who finds it soul destroying. Whether you’ve taken a holiday from work or it intrudes into your well- deserved free time, it always seems such a waste when there are so many things you would rather be doing. And I don’t know if you are anything like me but I’m always loathe to put on the washing machine or the vacuum cleaner in case I don’t hear the knock at the door. So basically I sit on the edge of my seat ... or more often pace about in front of the window in case I can spot them! I realise that it can often be difficult for people to give you an exact time of arrival as there is no accounting for delays which could hold them up – who knows where the next set of roadworks is about to appear. But really, to say they will be there between 8am and 1pm is certainly giving them lots of room to manoeuvre. However, I think some delivery companies are beginning to realise that we all lead such busy lives that we need a tighter margin for them to drop things off. Thankfully it’s not uncommon now to get a call the evening before when their route for the next day and give you a more specific team. Apparently my face was a picture when I took a call the day before my delivery of flat pack furniture and was told they would be there “shortly after seven tomorrow morning”. As I spluttered “thanks for letting me know”, Emma laughed and said: “Well at least you won’t be able to complain about spending the whole day waiting in for them. “Are you even going to go to bed or will you manage to wake up in time, after all mum, it is a Saturday.” Yes, that’s right. My well deserved weekend had a very early start that day. And it was made all the more amusing when the huge delivery van drew into our street at 7.05am followed by a taxi dropping off some of the younger neighbours who appear to have had a very good Friday night/Saturday morning. Hopefully our efforts at transforming the large number of boxes into furniture you could hang clothes in without it collapsing weren’t too noisy and didn’t keep them awake!