Tag Archives: snoozing

Day 37

Another day, another excuse . . .

If I had to write down everything I did each day of my life it would be a short list, easily condensed into sleeping, eating, muttering, snoozing (which is similar to sleeping but in a chair in front of TV), snacking (similar to eating but see previous definition), reading, writing, browsing eBay, cooking and making sandwiches. there is no entry for washing up or housework as Julia says I never do any. Or exercise, self improvement or personal grooming. I don’t see the point. Yes, there are several other activities, but good taste and literary style allow me to omit them. Oh, on-line grocery shopping, nearly forgot that modern pleasure.

In fact, I did forget it, so I just booked us a date and shopped by running down the list of favourites. It is quicker that way, though the menu is definitely less varied and you can end up with duplication and over-ordering if you don’t check. I’ll check tomorrow. That way I know the order is in. I don’t mind tinkering with the order, but I hate having to do it all  at the last minute. When I reserve the slot, and forget to shop until the night before, it can get quite fraught.

I’m finally beginning to pick up the reading again, after a month of only reading articles. I am now fully clued up on social-control by Communion Token, the use of Co-op tokens and the manufacture of plastic tokens from the late 19th century to the present day. Unfortunately, though it’s quite interesting (to me, at any rate) it isn’t quite as relaxing as a good detective story or as mentally nourishing as a novel. I am trying to get back to books.

On the other hand, I make my living by knowing stuff like that, rather than by discussing the finer points of literature.

 

 

Day 36

As I was leaving the shop today, one of the customers asked me what I was going to do for the rest of the afternoon.

“Well,” I said,”at the moment I’m trying to decide between sitting and watching TV with the gas fire on, or sitting by the gas fire watching TV.”

In fact, I did neither. I fell asleep by the gas fire with the remote in my hand. Julia returned home, gave me tea and biscuits, and described the research she was doing in some old family letters. She has just been sent some by an aunt who is clearing out and they cover things like her grandfather’s WW1 service as a tank driver and his time in hospital after being injured on the night of 14/15 November 1940 in the Coventry Blitz, when he was an air-raid warden. I know I have photos somewhere but don’t seem to have used them on the blog.

I made coleslaw and cheesy nachos for tea, which were tasty additions to the main part of the meal, which I subcontracted out. Yes, another takeaway. It will last for at least two meals under our new frugal regime. The coleslaw was red cabbage, spring onions, celery, pumpkin seeds, mayonnaise and lime juice. In other words, it was what I had to hand. The celery was starting to droop a bit and the lime was looking wrinkly, so it all went in. In dietary terms it’s not quite an antidote to a pizza, but at least part of the meal was healthy.

A bit more snoozing in front of the fire and a little light computer work completed the day.

I hope the header picture wasn’t too alarming. It’s a bit of a contrast to the last one, even though it’s only about. . .

Actually it’s probably 15 years ago. If the loss of colour and vitality continues the one I take in 2037 may well feature a handful of dust . . .

The End of the Day

Julia just woke me up with the words “You’ve done it again.”

She has, it seems, spent the last two hours in the company of a man who has been resting his eyes, and another evening has passed. Even the offer of a Club biscuit, which I found alongside my cold cup of tea, had failed to persuade me to open my eyes.

Looking on the bright side, I will be well rested when I get up tomorrow morning and head off for my latest blood test.

Today did not continue in the useful way of yesterday. I fell at the first hurdle. My initial to do list contained one item – write a to do list – and I failed to do that.

At work I packaged items which had only been listed on Tuesday. It is strange how things sell. Three of the items were newly listed – one of them had been listed for 18 months (the market for Edward VIII Coronation keyrings does not seem strong). You just can’t tell.

My first task, after seeing off the biscuit, was to make sandwiches. It is sandwich-making at its simplest – open a cob,  butter it, insert a cheese slice and add pickle – but it is also at its finest. The classic simplicity of a cheese and pickle sandwich is hard to beat. We had tomatoes in it today, but I don’t feel up to slicing tomatoes tonight. It is a technical job and not one well-suited to a man who is half asleep.

The same could be said for blogging, but I seem to have managed…

Fish & Chip Friday

I must admit I woke with worries about the Cats of Salmon Brook Farm. I know they were packed and ready to move as the fires advanced, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed for them all. Ideally the fires will magically die out as they get closer to the farm but I fear this may not be the case.

Julia had set her clock for 6.30 and I wasn’t able to get back to sleep, which allowed me more time to listen to the news. It seems that this country has sunk so low that even American politicians feel able to take the moral high ground from us.

I Googled “honest politician” and did find this man, so all is not yet lost. I do love this quote:

“People of Kentucky, you deserve complete honesty, so here it is. I don’t care about you. Unless you are a donor, a lobbyist who can write a big fat check, the result that you get from voting for me is negligible.”

If the Americans don’t want him, can we have him for the UK. I’d happily vote for him. As for the rest of them, I’m seriously thinking of giving up voting as it only encourages them.

We sold one thing overnight on eBay and another during the day, the second day in a row this has happened. It’s not good. We also got two stupid offers from people. I was on my best behaviour when I declined them, even though they were just wasting my time.

I then went shopping, ate chips, fell asleep in the chair and woke up just in time to post.

I Invent a New Poetic Form

Well, it’s been a thought-provoking day.

It started when I wrenched myself from bed and took Julia to work. The mornings are already significantly darker than they were a month ago. By 6.15 I was taking photographs by the roadside and at 6.30 arrived at the services ready to collect Number Two Son. He was supposed to be off shift at 7.00 but nobody turned up. Eventually he was relieved at 8.15 after ringing round.

 

I tried to pass my time profitably, by writing haiku and watching people. The people-watching didn’t go well as there was nobody interesting to watch, apart from a hairy middle-aged man wearing only shorts and flip-flops. Even that wasn’t really interesting, just an anthropological footnote.

The haiku? They soon degenerated into my favoured format – the clerihew. I didn’t produce  any of note this morning but this one has been hanging round in the drafts for a while. It features a Japanese word so it’s a hybrid form I just invented, the haiklerihew.

Martin van Buren,

was au fait with shitsuren,

and, stressing ideology over personality,

opened an era of boring banality

It’s a niche market and I can’t help feeling I may have written more haiklerihews than the world needs.

Now I just need to use canicular.

 

Then I did laundry, shopped, snoozed and picked Julia up from work. We had salad for tea. We were going to have roast vegetables and belly pork but I fell asleep in front of the TV and it was a bit late to start cooking.

I can’t help feeling I’m not using Sunday to its full potential.

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Strange clouds over the Trent Valley