The question one asks as one sticks the 56th of 80 greetings cards (and its envelope) into its acetate sleeve, and realises that all the envelopes have been obscuring the card designs.

The question one asks as, juggling one heavy frame and two folders full of delicate unfixed pastels in one hand, and one ill-advised eco-friendly mug of coffee in the other, one’s trapezius threatens to part from one’s spine.

The question one asks as one totes a picture into an exhibition, weighed down physically but buoyant in spirit¹, to replace a sold painting, only to find that the customer has brought it back again², and the precious, precious sales money refunded³.

And so, I drooped off home to drown my sorrows in tea.

Fortunately, a kindly next-door neighbour salvaged my mood by dropping by to deliver some chocolate biscuits as thanks for mowing their lawn while they were away, reminding me that sometimes, pleasant surprises happen too, such as…

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1

After spending the morning chatting to a fellow local artist and admiring their beautiful artwork.

2

This also means that, tragically, my puns of the previous post were wasted, since it was the donkey painting which had been returned.

3

I’m glad to say that Bricket Wood Art Club nonetheless let me hang my replacement picture anyway, since I was on the warm and grumpy side after lugging it in and finding I hadn’t sold anything after all. I then made an ass of myself repeating to the staff all the donkey puns I could think of. Which makes them, of course, hot cross puns.