It probably hasn’t escaped your attention that Apple are launching a new product, the iPad, today. If you haven’t bought one (or at least considered buying one), chances are you will have received a marketing email from Apple, or seen some of the not inconsiderable volume of media coverage devoted to it.
Anyhow, the long and the short of it is that I have one on pre-order, with an expected delivery date of June 7th – still ten days away – as a result of waiting 48 hours before placing my order. Frustrated does not begin to describe how I feel today. In fact, I don’t really have the words to express how annoyed I am with myself for a delay which is completely my fault. So, with apologies to Samuel Beckett, whose Waiting For Godot I have shamelessly borrowed from, here’s what is currently going on inside my head:
Me: “Today is iPad launch day in the UK. And when will I receive mine? June 7th. June the seventh! Just because I hesitated in placing my pre-order. And what can I do about it?”
Unseen listener: “Nothing to be done.”
Me: “It’s driving me mad, this waiting.”
Unseen listener: “We are all born mad. Some remain so.”
Me (frustrated at the unseen listener’s lack of empathy): “Come on, man, return the ball, can’t you, once in a way?”
Unseen listener: “We wait. We are bored. No, don’t protest, we are bored to death, there’s no denying it. Good. A diversion comes along and what do we do? We let it go to waste.”
Me: “Yes, yes, I know I should have just placed the order straight away on the first morning they opened the website up to pre-orders. I know.”
Unseen listener: “Let us not waste our time in idle discourse! Let us do something, while we have the chance! Others would meet the case equally well, if not better. To all mankind these email invitations were addressed, those cries for help still ringing in our ears! What are we doing here, that is the question.”
Me: “Do you mean I should go and queue outside the Apple Store?” (Looks at watch, it is already 9.30am.) “It’s probably too late. I bet they’ve sold out already. What do you think? Should I go?”
Unseen listener: “And we are blessed in this, that we happen to know the answer. Yes, in this immense confusion one thing alone is clear. We are waiting for iPad to come.”