50p Saves the Day

Cancelled Trains and a Flash of Serendipity

‘Did you hear the wind last night?’

Who are they kidding? You could have a party in my room with a full band, clashing cymbals and hysterical laughter and I’d sleep like a baby. I have the luxury of taking out my hearing aids and spending the dark hours in a ne’er to be disturbed slumbering as profound as the hearing loss in my right ear.

This, my friends, is one of a few perks of hearing loss.

No, I didn’t hear the wind in the night but I did experience its force and aftermath. Our local, but no less busy, A-road had a fallen tree blocking one carriage way. Continuing along the route into Harrogate, drivers were weaving a winding course over leafy detritus and dodging the weighty branches ripped from the grandiose trees which line the route on both sides.

I say drivers because, trust me, this was not a day for cycling.

My friend and I reached our destination without incident and I later thanked her for the offer of a return lift home. I explained that I needed to buy a suitcase full of cards because September is on the horizon, which is one of my two months when all my friends and family have their birthdays. A slight exaggeration, but we all have those months, huh?

I’d happily take the train instead.

Big mistake. Correction, on first glance, this appeared to be a big mistake.

Scroll back an hour and said friend and I were in the Yorkshire Cancer Research shop at their head office in Harrogate. Readers, you know that aged perception of charity shops, which has recently been upgraded to clean, well-ordered little gold mines of potential new garments and other items on sale for a fraction of the cost and for a good cause? This shop is exactly that with bells on.

Click for more about the Yorkshire Cancer Research shop and cafe

On this day, it wasn’t so much the clothing arranged in colour and size order – high street retailers, are you listening? – but the stationery table which held our interest. I feel I may be preaching to the converted here and that you will understand our excitement when we spotted the… notepads.

Ahh, the humble notepad I don’t need, or should I say, didn’t need, or even, certainly at the point of purchase, the notepad I had no idea I would need. It was an A4 jotter ✔ the paper smooth and perfect for my, ahem, not insignificant collection of parker biros to glide over ✔ The paper was a ruled, sort of old parchment shade of cream with an aged leather coloured edge✔

I don’t need this, I say, brushing my fingers adoringly over the cover,
turning it over for the price, just out of interest of course, to read: 50p.

Still, I remind myself, with all my books in my TBR, or rather my TBRR – To Be Read Room – rather than in a neat pile by the bed (I have that, too) I’m not sure I even have room to store a notepad I don’t need.

Of course, I would need it eventually, though. And it’s only 50p and a fantastic cause.

I have a bit to do with Yorkshire Cancer Research, enough to say that they are a formidable organisation who are, as is their mission, saving lives. One example of so very many, is that it was with Yorkshire Cancer Research funding that Tamoxifen, one of the breakthrough drugs that changed the face of breast cancer, was researched and developed. Anyone who has read Tea & Chemo will know of my love/hate relationship with Tamoxifen but despite a tough relationship with it at times, I am acutely aware that for all I know, I owe my ten years currently cancer-free to the existence of Tamoxifen.

Readers, I spent the 50p.

Back to the cards. Just outside the shop, I checked Trainline for when the next train would be leaving. Ooops!

There were trees on the line. Of course the trains were affected. Of course they were cancelled for the next few hours. That was one big, ongoing storm.

Normally I take my iPad everywhere with me because you never know when a little writing opportunity might throw itself in my direction. More’s the point, I would kick myself if I was stranded somewhere (I take a lot of trains) and missed the aforementioned unexpected little writing opportunity because I had nothing to write with. I didn’t have my iPad on this day because, well, who knows why I decided on this day not to take it?

But I had my new notebook. And a pen at the bottom of my bag (they get everywhere) and a free coffee voucher.

Readers, I had the most idyllic unplanned two hours of uninterrupted writing when I figured out a tricky scene I’d edited oh, so many times, but without cracking, and I wrote this post.

Serendipity, alien influence, the gods feeling sorry for me because work swallowed any writing time this week, who knows? But that 50p was the best 50p I ever spent 😊

When have you bought something that proved way more worth than you envisaged? Please share! I’d love to hear your stories…