Puzzling times
It’s hard to believe that in 2020 we are experiencing a global pandemic in the form of a virus that has brought the whole world to a grinding halt. We’ve had to find ways to entertain ourselves at home without the privilege of going out to seek entertainment in the form of retail therapy, a night at the movies or catching up with friends. In isolation, I have found entertainment in doing puzzles. A kindly elderly gentleman across the road placed a pile of old fashioned puzzles on his letter box with a sign that said “free! All boxes have been wiped with antiseptic”. I couldn’t help but oblige.
I quickly regretted obliging when I realised I don’t have the patience for puzzles. This impatience has likely come about over recent years of the instant gratification that the modern world brings. Regardless, I persevered, unable to leave a job half done. I felt accomplished when I’d pieced together all the edges and had made good progress on the internal image of an English cottage surrounded by happy flowers and trees when my cheeky, attention-deprived (due to my recent puzzle infatuation) cat jumped up on the table and swiped at the puzzle pieces I’d painstakingly placed together of a very fiddly tree with knobbly branches extending this way and that. Puzzle pieces went flying! My jaw hit the floor, I still can’t believe she had the nerve to swoop in and wreck what I’d spent so many hours doing. I eventually regained composure and put the pieces back together and carried on and completed the puzzle one week and two days after starting. Yes, I felt great satisfaction in finishing, but some celebratory fireworks and a shiny trophy wouldn’t have gone astray to mark the occasion.
Recently, the team were thrown a curve ball that sent the carefully placed puzzle pieces of a major submission flying all over the place with less than five days until lodgement. We held an emergency meeting and made a plan to patiently put the pieces back together over the remaining days.
And we did pull it together, because we’re dedicated to the bid puzzle and we want to see it as a whole, beautiful picture made up of pieces painstakingly contributed by each member of the bid team.