imperfective
In the mending basket were three pairs of trousers waiting in diverse states of wear and disarray. They had been waiting there for some months, and weighing on my mind for longer – indeed, since I gathered them together with patch and thread and needle to undertake the task of repair, before setting them aside to stew in their own shabbiness.
The other day I happened not to be too busy and thought to clear out all the mending – repair what could be repaired and discard what could not be salvaged. I pulled out the first pair of trousers and found, strangely, that the repair was already complete. Certes, the patch was not neatly reinforced, the mend was not ideal, but they were perfectly wearable in their present state. The same, too, with the second and third pair: both mended and only waiting to be laundered of the dust they had gathered during their sojourn in the mending basket.
This came to mind because I was putting off some work I was supposed to be doing – I put it off and dreaded it for several days as the deadline drew closer. Finally, I opened the files and found – the work had already been done before I had started worrying about the problem of doing it.