Arnot Hill Park – the Pond

It is just before 9.00 and I have just risen. The curtains are not yet drawn and I am now sitting at the computer. This, with small adjustments, is my new routine. Today my time is my own. I am free to write a masterpiece and prepare an excellent repast ready for Julia when she returns from her cafe shift this afternoon. However, I will probably set my sights a little lower. Perhaps I will tap away at a few medium grade numismatic articles and make vegetable stew. I may even have a snooze after lunch.

Last night I read about Mauretania. It’s part of the process of self-education I have decided try in retirement. It will last for a few days and, like my diet, I will let it lapse for a week or so. It just goes to show that life is complicated. I was just Googling the last country to abolish slavery and was amazed by where it took me. That trail started with reading Paol Soren’s blog post on forced labour in the Channel Islands of WW2.  At times like this I feel the weight of my ignorance and really wish for my alternative life – the one where I have an office and an academic career.

Currently I have music playing in one ear. I don’t like having it in both as it allows Julia to sneak up on me. Despite our age we have never really progressed beyond that stage where a it is amusing to tickle an unsuspecting spouse or lay a cold hand on them. I am, of course, less mature than she is, but there is till a danger of being jabbed in the ribs whilst concentrating. Status Quo and You Never can Tell (which I just have been) is an ever-present danger. This just changed to the Eagles and Hotel California. It’s a bit like comfort food. My interest in music seems to have petered out in the 1980s and my taste in music, like my taste in puddings has not really moved on.

However, I now have a title for Monday.

Nasturtiums Wilford Mencap Gardens

Photos are from October 2019.