According to my chocolate advent calendar, there are only three days left to Christmas, so I'd better hurry and find out where they're holding the ALDI and COLES staff Christmas parties. I've been using their self-checkouts all year round and am definitely entitled to attend them.
Not that I am in any hurry to leave the house as, right on cue, outside a heatwave is raging with temperatures in the high thirties, while inside the temperature is an almost air-conditioned comfortable mid-twenties without any air-conditioning, thanks to the house being two-storeyed.
Someone sent me an email, "Hi there. I'm interested to have a look at your property and if we could arrange a suitable time to meet please let me know. Thank you Justine". I don't use agents and can vet inquiries myself, and much can be gleaned from people's names, the way they write, but also their email addresses. Nothing much to see here but the email address is a bit, well, shall we say 'juvenile'? Anyway, I shall ignore this one for the time being and wait until they write a second time.
It's my way of 'prequalifying' them: if they don't bother emailing a second time, they are not really interested. It reminds me of the many times when useless agents brought in scores of useless 'tyrekickers'. I finally terminated their services when one day they phoned and asked if they could bring someone out in less than half an hour. "Have you 'prequalified' them?" I asked. "Oh yes, they are really interested", was their reply. "In that case, could they come later this afternoon?" I suggested. "Oh, they'll be gone by then", I was told. Q.E.D., I think!
With Christmas so close, we won't be going anywhere to avoid the holidaymakers already crowding the Bay and the beaches. Anyway, as Homer said — no, not THAT Homer but Homer of the Simpsons — "What's the point of going out? We're just going to wind up back here anyway."
