Rage!

I have been surprised at how well things have been going in the archive and with my room renting. I have been getting through the work at a reasonable pace and the room has worked out great. Matt and James are great landlords and we are getting on well.
The weekend was lovely. Lots of relaxing, good company and great weather.
The 'Case of the Vomiting Passenger' on the Monday morning bus was unexpected entertainment (the young man opposite me was either - a)not very well, at all or b) not quite recovered from some heavy Sunday night drinking.)and the discovery of some wonderful hand drawn maps and paintings in the archive was a delightful bonus. Otherwise it has been an uneventful week.
I suppose I should have known that it was going too well, or that there had to be a down side to my excess feeling of contentedness. But sometimes it just blindsides you and trips you up when you least expect it. Today my nemesis, the mobile phone, did just that.
Now, those of you who know and love (?) me know me for the gentle, mild mannered person that I normally am (!) but the mobile phone (or rather the inconsiderate mobile phone user)drives me into a frenzied psychopathic rage. The first mobile moment happened late this afternoon in the reading room of the archive - a place of quiet reading pleasure and discovery. Ring! RING! It's OK, I thought, take a deep breath and it will be switched off...she just forgot to switch it off on the way in (Despite the signs asking for all phones to be switched off and the polite idea that it might be courteous to do so!)OH NO! She actually answered it and said...Wait for it...'I'm in the library'!!!!!! (Excessive use of exclamation marks are justified at this point!!)I was so flabbergasted I probably looked at her with my mouth hanging open like a fish! Did she then hang up? If only! By the time I had made several incoherent spluttering noises she did get the idea that I may have been a tad unamused and said 'I'll call you back in a minute!' I should add that she was not a 19 year old student but was at least as old as me if not older!
I finished my last file for the day and I knew there was a good chance I would miss my bus. I have to walk about a mile to the bus stop and I rushed along but to no avail. Unfortunately if I miss the 6.50 p.m. I have to wait until 7.35 for the next one. I settled down to wait and discovered that miPod had decided it wasn't going to work. Occasionally it decides not to do anything and I usually have to let the battery die before it will work again. This was going to be one of these occasions. Oh Well, I thought, I will people-watch instead. Along comes another passenger for the bus, realises she has also missed the bus and decides to phone her friend. Who would have thought such a small woman would have such a loud voice?! Apparently her husband likes to have a bath every night and doesn't think that other people might also want to use the bathroom, her hoover isn't working, her children are difficult, work is a pain, her Mother-in-law...well, we won't go there!...I heard, it all. In fact most of the city centre probably heard it. When we got on the bus 30 minutes later she was still talking/shouting. Just when I thought I was finally going to get some peace another woman got on and I heard all about how she gets up at 6.00a.m to take her partner to work so she can have the car but she is getting too tired doing this so they are thinking about moving house but right now she is going home to tidy her bedroom...I DON'T WANT TO KNOW!!!
Then, when I got back 'home' Matt met me at the door and asked if I wanted some beef and ale stew with dumplings for my dinner. Suddenly I wasn't a grumpy old woman anymore.....