Well, where did it go? This week has been very rainy – indeed, torrential at times – and there’s been a definite chill in the air in the mornings and evenings. I was even forced to wear socks while working at home on Friday which seems a step too far after last week’s warm sunshine. I’ve swapped the cats so Ted and Bailey are the upstairs ones this week, as they’re pretty much guaranteed to lie on me at night and keep my feet warm. The downside of this is opening my eyes of a morning to find the pair of them glaring at me, especially if I’ve had the temerity to sleep in past 5.30am and their breakfast is late. Teddy, in particular, likes to tap-dance on my ribs to encourage me to wake up.
In the usual manner of things, of course, I can’t find the jacket that’s been hanging around all summer, and it’s still not quite cool enough for a coat. It’s also dark when I get to the bus stop in the mornings. It does mean we can look forward to crispy autumn and winter swims soon, and Thing 2 and I had fun popping conkers on the way home this afternoon. She brought me a pocketful of conkers from a walk the other day, knowing how much I love their shiny, silky shells.
I love autumn, it may be my favourite time of year, with the forest showing off its best colours – even London’s street trees get their chance to shed crunchy plane leaves all over the place, at least until the street sweepers turn up. There’s tiny pumpkins in the garden and squirrels are parkouring around the place collecting acorns and burying them so they’ll pop up as little oak saplings all over the garden next year. We* have transplanted enough of these into pots to make a small portable forest.
*Not me, obviously. My beloved, but I admire them when he’s done it and point out new ones when I spot them.
Other things making me happy this week:
- Christmas crafting – making gingerbread men and yet more tiny mice
- Afternoon at Jill’s for her annual Macmillan tea party. I left before the gin was cracked open…
- Colleagues who recommend good books, and library ordering systems
- Another cross stitch finish and a StayPuft Marshmallow Man
- My job – working in an organisation genuinely committed to EDI and understanding barriers to access both internally and externally. Kindness and respect go a very long way.
Today I am off for a morning swim, and then Thing 2 and I are off to the cinema to see Beetlejuice Beetlejuice – I was in charge of tickets and she’s on snacks, and then we’re going to go and see TT1 and the family. And then she’s in charge of dinner, hurray!
This week is new washing machine week, as Repairman 2 wrote it off. Currently when it goes into spin it sounds like its filled with cats and rocks, neither of which should be included in laundry.
Same time next week, then?
What I’ve been reading:
Murder at the Monastery – Rev. Richard Coles
The Island God – Sarah Painter
We Are All Made Of Glue – Marina Lewycka
Tricky Twenty-Two – Janet Evanovich (Audible – and a lot of live Eddie Izzard)
Real Tigers – Mick Herron
What Kirsty did next 