I started off by delivering Julia into servitude at 8.30 this morning. She’s not fond of Thursdays as she has to rush across town at 4pm to get from one job to another before finally being allowed home at 8pm.
Then I went to Newark. It was cold, business was non-existent and the tale of the last two weeks was one of cold, snow and poverty. After an exchange of cards, a cup of tea and a laugh about old times (there’s nothing to laugh about at the moment) I went browsing in W H Smiths looking for writing paper. I didn’t find any. The notes in my Christmas cards will, as a result, be written on paper torn from a spiral-bound notebook. To be fair, this is a more accurate reflection of me than smart writing paper.
A trip round Wilkos netted a tin of Vaseline lip-care products for Julia, a bucket of fat balls for the birds for £4 and a chicken and stuffing sandwich for £1. Yes, I know, I’m not supposed to be eating bread. However, as I’d already treated my self to a sausage and onion cob for breakfast I didn’t think a chicken sandwich was going to do too much extra damage, either to my waistline or my digestion.
From there it was a quick trip to the doctor to put in some prescription requests and on to TESCO for healthy veg and new gloves.
Resisting the urge to go home I visited the shop to drop off Christmas cards to my new colleagues (I’m such a creep) and helped with the delivery of two new cabinets for the new shop. It’s starting to take shape.
I then went home, supposedly to post on the blog but actually to engage in a variety of displacement activities, including sleeping in front of the TV, watching TV, checking ebay, picking Julia up from work, browsing the internet, writing notes to go in Christmas cards and warming up soup. I was tempted to say “cooking” but I’m pretty sure preparing soup and a sandwich isn’t cooking. We normally have something more substantial but after a day that saw us both deviating from our diets we thought we’d cut back a bit.
I even managed to do a bit of reading, having bought the Kindle edition of Maya and the Book of Everything by Laurie Graves. It’s going quite well so far. We’re right into the action and moving along nicely and there’s no boring stuff about chivalry or whales. She is therefore already ahead of Cervantes and Melville in my estimation. On the minus side there’s a definite lack of talking animals, though Sir John Oldcastle is about to make an appearance. I like Sir John.
Sometimes the YA or children’s books are so much more interesting than “adult” selections. It is funny that there is soooo much more SciFi/Fantasy in both groups now than there were way back when. Must be the Harry Potter, Star Wars and Dungeon and Dragon groups among other influences.
Yes, in my day we just had Narnia… 🙂
Again, many thanks! And I want to prepare you—no talking animals in Maya. I hope this doesn’t spoil the story for you. 😉
I suppose I’ll get over it… 🙂
Wait a minute! There is indeed a talking animal in Maya. How could I forget my own creation? I hang my head in shame. Perhaps “creature” would be a better description. I’ll leave it to you to be the judge.
I’m reading a few chapters every night – I look forward to it. 🙂
Pingback: Wild Guinea Pigs of Newstead Abbey | quercuscommunity
Very enjoyable post. I like the idea of delivering Julia into servitude. Ah, those sausage and onion cobs. Where is the shop, exactly?
Wollaton Road. Curently in the old stamp shop but soon to be two doors along.
http://www.collectorsworld-nottingham.com/
Thanks, from your post I had imagined it was in Newark and wondered if I would know it. You might like this one: https://derrickjknight.com/2012/10/25/the-rosewood-wine-table/
I must learm to write ore clearly. The Newark episode was at the market stall of a friend.
Ah. Not the one who fenced our stuff, I trust 🙂
No, he’s not a furniture man. 🙂
Bravo to you for buying the kindle version of “Maya”. I bought the paper version and loved it. I just recently got a tablet that I could read on – perhaps I will be a digital reader in the near future.
I decided to buy it , and minutes later I was reading it – the advantage of electronic books. I prefer paper but Kindle means instant gratification.