Tuesday 30th October 2018

Winter is coming.

And this day it very much felt like it, as before dawn the rain started to fall, and it continued pretty much all day, causing it never to grow fully light, or seem like it, so I worked with the table lamp on.

This was also the day of the bird carnage, thanks to Mulder.

Jools decided that me moaning and walking like an old man complaining about my back meant that we should try to do something about it, so she brought her office chair downstairs for me to work from. I did not want it, my pride and stupidity said that if I just stiffened my upper lip, I could just grin and bear it. She was right, of course, and as the day went on, the pain that would build from my back pressing against the chair back that had happened the last few days, just didn't happen. Didn't get better, but didn't get worse.

And with the rain falling, usually the cats would spend the day inside, looking mournfully out of the window at the falling rain, but this day, Mulder decided that we would spend the day catching dinner for me. So, over the course of a couple hours,, he brought in a goldfinch (dead), robin (dead), goldfinch (alive), Goldfinch (dead) and robin (dead). And he announced his arrival through the catflap with his little meow that he saves for these presentations to us of feathered dinner.

But work carried on, sometimes me having to break off from meetings to scoop up the feathered corpses that Mulder left around the living room, or under the table, for me. I would pick them up, check for signs of life and deposit the body in the food bin. I have to say it is very rare for them mogs to bring in birds or mice now, so this was very unusual.

Sitting in the office chair was at least comfortable, and the morning and early lunchtime just flew by.

I booted the cats out in the afternoon, as if not bringing birds in, they are meowing for food. And that seems to keep them quiet. Mulder is not impressed that one his favourite ten places to sleep is now downstairs, not in the back room where it catches the morning sun. Oh well.

And so the afternoon fades into evening, with dusk coming before five, and outside the rain having just about stopped. I cook steak and ale pie for dinner, mainly because we have a pink of bestest beef gravy to use up, and there is now way we're throwing that away. We have steamed veg and roast potatoes with the pie. And wine. Always wine.

And very nice it is too.

Nowrich played in the evening, against Bournemouth in the League Cup, or whatever its called now And played very well, created a hatful of chances, but still lost 2-1, but impressed those reporters at the ground, apparently. But I missed the end, as I lay in bed with the radio on quietly, and dropped off at about twenty past nine.

Rock, and indeed, roll.