The lights are going up again at the butcher's

I check with the call centre to see how things are going. (For the record, operationally it seems to be going quite well, despite the technical frailties of the project management.)

"Not so bad. It's a relief to get a library enquiry instead of one from highways. They've been a bitch."

"Oh yes, you said they were being launched the same week as us."

"They didn't say it was also going to be the same week that the mile-long stretch of Henry Kendal Boulevard between Tesco's and Epiphany was going to be turned into one long open trench. I've had two 'phone calls asking when the British Expeditionary Forces are to be expected."