* Foot Notes

What businesses deliver?

Sure, there are pizza places and Chinese restaurants. But did you know that pharmacies and nurseries regularly offer delivery services? How about dry cleaners that offer free pickup and delivery or notaries public that go to your home and office?

* You’d be hard-pressed to find a regular doctor who makes house calls, but other health professionals do, including podiatrist Joseph Cortez, (818) 993-8675. If it’s mental health therapy you’re looking for, a spokesman for the San Fernando Valley Psychological Assn.--(818) 700-3502 or www.valleypsych.org--says some therapists will go to patients’ homes or provide consultations by phone or e-mail. If your pooch has a problem or needs a haircut, several veterinarians and pet groomers make house calls.

* If it’s food you’re looking for, more than a dozen Valley restaurants deliver to your door. For those that don’t, you can call a restaurant delivery service. Cuisine to You works with more than 50 restaurants from Encino to Glendale. The charge is $6 with a $15 minimum order, cash or credit card, (818) 985-7900. Waiters on the Run delivers for about 26 Valley restaurants for a charge of $4.95 and a $15 minimum order. Waiters on the Run, (818) 366-0399, accepts cash, a credit card or check. Both services have an average delivery time of about an hour.

* Pink Dot, in Van Nuys and Burbank, will deliver groceries, videos, nonprescription medicines, fresh baked goods, liquor, sandwiches, pastas and salads to your door for a charge of $2.99. They don’t deliver fresh meat or seafood. You can order by phone, (818) 567-4900, or online at www.pinkdot.com from 9 a.m. to 3 a.m. seven days a week. There’s no minimum charge and they promise to deliver your order in 30 minutes or less.

Sometimes you just don’t want to leave the house. The world looks a) too dangerous, b) too hectic, c) too cold, d) all of the above. Or problems arise and you can’t leave the house. Whatever the reason, sometimes you just have to let the world come to you.*