Wednesday, March 29, 2017

A Day Out but Sort of Working





Waking ten minutes before the alarm went off this morning, I took a solo executive decision to put the light on, at which Steve pulled the duvet up past his eyes to secure the last few moments of sleep.

A few days ago before he left the house he stood and turned to face me before a, ‘Don’t forget to do this and don’t forget to do that and don’t forget to call Bellmans’ onslaught delivered with all seriousness, as if he were Henry V shouting “Once more unto the breach, dear friends once more, or close this wall up with our English dead” Then he stopped and smiled sweetly saying “Its like having a permanent nag here isn’t it?” I told him that it was not’ LIKE’ having a permanent nag here, it ‘WAS’ having a permanent nag in the house. But then my return volley of “Cry God for England Harry and St Geoooooooooorge”, was like having somebody who permanently quotes Shakespeare in the house, or famous lines from movies. ‘Go on punk…. Make my day……. Heathcliffe….. Of all the gin joints in all the world….Rosebud’. So what’s good for the goose if passable for the gander she maybe has it coming.

My swim this morning was strange. It was like an out of body experience. The girl I usually have to work to keep up with glared at me more than once and at the end complained that it was like being chased by a porcupine with my acrylic nails jabbing at her feet. I had no aches or pains and the swim was not an effort it was more dream like. She asked if she was swimming slower today but I pointed out that the swim rests were the same and said I was sorry about the contact but she should do something about the hard skin!

The set was:
1 x 300 mtrs
1 x 150
Rolling.

From the pool we drove the couple of miles to Arundel and parked right outside the coffee shop, Osteria in readiness for later. We ran one lap of the two lap Arundel triathlon run along Mill Road, through the gates at Swanbourne Lake, up the long steep climb to the Hiorne Tower, down the road passing the infant school, the St Mary’s Gate Hotel and ran between the Great Cathedral and the delightful Oberon’s Palace behind the castle wall, and down the High Street to the Post Office where I thought we had finished. But, Steve turned back and we walked right up to the top of the High Street again and then ran one loop of lap run we do in the dark during winter. THEN came back for the coffee and the sweet almond biscuit they serve with it.

Because I am still in some sort of ‘don’t know what to do with myself’ state I have volunteered to go with Steve on a job this morning. A regular client of ours sent an email asking us to collect a table he had bought online from Bellman’s Auction. We sent a van to pick it up and they told the driver it was at their new premises in Winchester! One table. That he only paid £50 for.

When I told him what he had done he was apologetic and said he would leave the table if that was easier. He is a nice man and always a fair man and so we decided to do the trip ourselves as a day out together where we could finish the quite long book we are listening to on the journey. We normally have a story on the go that we listen to in the tub and through dinner and with no long trips of late we would be happy to get on with the story. It is, The Muse, by Jessie Burton and read brilliantly by Cathy Tyson who has a delightful Jamaican accent as well as a super posh English voice for the character Quick. It gets the different vote and we are enjoying listening to it together.

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