So many things changed and continue to be different during and through and after lockdown. Before we would occasionally order things on-line and have them delivered – when the world shut down we, like so many other people relied for all sorts of things on their delivery. The driver we saw most often, delivering to us, or to others down our road was a young blond woman, quick, speedy and efficient, whose van registration began with ZFU. We named her Zafou, not that we ever spoke to her except to call ‘thank you’ when she left our parcels on the door mat and hurried back to her van.
We never knew anything about her, she never glanced at us, waved, or communicated in any way except to call back ‘you’re welcome‘ when we thanked her. Sometimes she had another person with her, and we thought maybe she was teaching them her route. Once we were able to leave home, occasionally we saw her in her van delivering to other addresses in the area. She always was focussed completely on the delivery, and didn’t notice our car, even if she might have recognised its registration. She always worked so hard, from early morning until into the evening.
The world turned and life resumed, and the needed to have items delivered diminished. There were still vans zipping about taking parcels to people, but not as many as there had been in the quiet times.
Today we had a delivery, and there was Zafou’s van, but ZFU was driven by someone else, a brown-haired young woman. I called thank you as she hurried back to jump into the driver seat, as Zafou always had, and she called back a fleeting ‘you’re welcome!’ I’ve no idea where Zafou is and no real interest, in fact I’d probably not recognise her if we did pass each other in the street. She was only doing her job, but thank you Zafou wherever you are!
Lois Elsden 