I took the morning off work today, because John Lewis said they were going to deliver me a bookcase at some point between 10:30 and 12:30.

At about 8:30 I heard some muffled thumping noises from downstairs, but thought nothing of it (you learn to ignore random noises quite quickly when living in a flat) and went back to sleep.

At about 10:30, Gareth and Jon showed up with the intention of playing board games with me while I waited for the bookcase. How nice of them. But when I answered the door, they pointed at the large bookcase-shaped package leaning against the wall by my front door and said ‘Did you know you've got one of these?’.

I'm triply annoyed by this. For a start, if John Lewis had seen fit to tell me they were going to deliver it at 8:30, I could have come in to work after the delivery and I wouldn't have had to waste half a day of holiday. Secondly, if they'd bothered to ring my doorbell when they did deliver it, I could have rapidly changed the plan, gone to work anyway, and cancelled the half-day. Thirdly, leaving a heavy item outside my door and running away is extremely unhelpful when I'm not strong enough to lift it on my own! I'm just lucky that Gareth and Jon did come round and could help me bring it indoors.

I feel a letter of complaint coming on. There is no point in having a service that gives a two-hour period in which the delivery will take place, when the delivery doesn't take place in that period. And too early is potentially just as bad as too late. Gah.

Still, I suppose it could have been worse; I got a lie-in, I got a couple of games of Puerto Rico, and Gareth and Jon helped me get the bookcase assembled in record time. Doesn't excuse John Lewis being incompetent in any way, but at least the half-day wasn't a complete waste…