Roadies – Sandra 56

 

[For a quick guide go here: Quick guide.]

[There's some back story here: Story so far at 30 Nov 2020 and read more recent Sandra episodes like this one.]

[Other back story through in-links.]

Sandra was late. She knew she was going to be late before she even left the house. She was going to be late because frankly she wasn’t used to leaving the house to go to work and she’d sort of forgotten how to do it.

She was pretty sure that back in the days when she did leave the house to go to work she had a go-to bag for work that was ready and stocked with everything she needed. However, once she’d actually found that bag – it was buried under a number of files and the latest bulk deliveries of coffee pods and A4 paper (although who did anything on paper these days?) – she found the bag to be useless. What had been left in there – and she wasn’t sure what it was – had grown mould and was attempting to discolour everything that hadn’t already been discoloured by the biro that had leaked, possibly back in October 2020 judging by the reach and dryness of the ink.

She searched for the back-up bag for work but couldn’t find that either and really if pushed, she wasn’t even sure what it looked like any more. So she went instead for the trendiest looking tote bag she could find and started filling that with what she thought she would need for a trip to the office for work.

But what exactly were those things? She’d not left the house for the purposes of work for, well for quite a while. Also she’d never actually left the house to go to work for her current employer, Epsteins at all. Which raised another issue. She’d never been to their office. She sort of knew where it was, thanks to a bit of online research and she thought she’d left herself enough time to find the block on the industrial estate as described by Google Earth. However, the time lost due to the non-starter of work bag number one had eroded into the time she’d allowed for finding the office.

It was going to be OK. No problem. She’d get there. She was on a mission and that would drive her towards the right room in the right office at the right time. 

Into the bag she put an A4 notebook, a couple of USB memory sticks, a bottle of water, three facemarks, two bottles of hand sanitiser, four packets of tissues and her customary box of pens and pencils. Some of this was practical, some of it was pure habit and borderline lucky charm. Her lucky pencils went everywhere with her. 

Laptop was next. Mobile phone would go in her handbag or coat pocket. Which coat? Choice of two, black one given what she was already wearing so at least that choice had been made for her.

Further masks and hand sanitiser were found to go in the pockets of the cost and thus attired Sandra felt she was prepared for anything. Or at least prepared for anything she could think of which probably meant she wasn’t prepared at all. She grabbed an A-Z road map as she left the house - pristine condition, never used - just in case satellite coverage was bad. She almost checked the first aid kit and thermal blanket but told herself she was going too far. The drive was literally twenty minutes.

And it wasn’t.

Of course she could have gone by bus, but given everything there was no way she wanted to risk it. Not only was she uncertain how she felt about going on the bus, negotiating seating areas, trying not to seem too wary of other people’s breath, but if something happened to the bus then how would she get there. Walking would take too long and the bus could crash, stop, pause or the driver stop for lunch or a pee – there were too many uncertainties.

As it was there were roadworks or the third roundabout before the industrial estate she needed and traffic was backed up round the second and first roundabout too. 

Still, with mobile phone lodged in appropriate dashboard bracket she could swiftly call David and tell him she’d be late. 

“That’s OK,” said David. “I’m in the same traffic jam as you.”

They bantered for a while, well, for at least another twenty minutes as the trail of cars shifted at snail’s pace. They decide David was about three cars behind Sandra, but this was hard to verify due to a large transit van.

“If only there was a way to avoid having to go into work,” sighed David over the phone.

“You’d think we’d have sorted this out by now, wouldn’t you?” agreed Sandra.

“Nah, video interviews and conference calls. Never take off. It’s nothing like the real thing.”

“Yeah,” said Sandra, smiling. “So what’s the meeting about this afternoon?”

“Nothing really,” said David. “Just thought it might be nice for us to meet face to face.”

“Yes,” agreed Sandra. “That’ll be nice.”