Generally though, I find that my friends and family think it's OK to interrupt me working, on a whim, because they need coffee, a chat, a shoulder to cry on (though I'm not actually the most sympathetic person in the world - I'm more the get-on-with- it type), somebody to look after their kids, somebody to pick up their kids from school, somebody to come out and rescue them when they've run out of petrol, etc etc you get the idea. I even once had a friend ask me to collect her child from school and take her to hospital where I waited three hours for X Rays and Doctors reports (hockey accident - nothing broken) because she couldn't leave work. Oh the irony! Agreed all this makes me either a mug (likely), a great friend (true) or a martyr (on occasion). But when somebody turns up on your doorstep saying 'Have you got five minutes?" it's not as easy to say NO as you think it might be.
Today has been a day of more interruptions than usual. So far I've had - The Jehovah's Witnesses (2 nice ladies); a Viking delivery (three rolls of bubble wrap and 6 boxes of padded envelopes); my Mum and her friend who came to take plants and rocks from the garden as I'm having the pond filled in; the postman with a parcel from Canada; and a couple of times KW (daughter) who has needed advice. I have managed to list online NO books - not a single one. I have processed the orders (what there were of them) but that's about it. Actually it's quite sunny out. I might go and sit in the garden ;)