An unexpected gift

About 3 weeks ago I applied to take part in a cetacean research project up in Scotland. I applied for one of five grants of £1,000 towards the costs of taking part in the project from a company that owns the magazine New Scientist, and New Scientist advertised the grants. If I had been successful, I would have gone up to a little village near Aberdeen for a week in mid-September to take part in an ongoing research and rescue project on the whales and dolphins that live in the area. If I had been successful I would’ve heard at the end of August, but I heard nothing so (although I was disappointed) I forgot about it. Until now...

Something dropped through the letterbox on Monday morning, so I wandered downstairs to see what it was. I had been expecting something from my mum, but this was a thick jiffy bag with a book inside. I hadn’t ordered a book, so had a slight panic that I’d accidentally spent yet more money buying something I didn’t need (and I definitely didn’t need it if I’d forgotten all about it...). But I got a really nice surprise when I opened the envelope and pulled out a little note on New Scientist headed paper along with the book. So the disappointment of not getting a place on the project was made up by getting a nice new book and knowing that I was good enough to be shortlisted, and it was very kind of New Scientist to send me something even though I wasn’t successful.

Day = made.