Friday 16th October 2015

Thursday

And another day goes by without be darkening the door of an airport or hotel: a good day, then?

Its funny, it has been just a week since I came back from my last trip, and already it seems a lifetime ago, and with it likely to be two weeks before I have to fly again, it seems nothing short of luxury. I know, I should not complain, and I am not, really, but air travel, especially in cattle class is not glamourous at all. But then, as I have noted on many occasions, it is better than sticking the giblets back up dead chicken's bums, gate guard at three in the morning in a blizzard and a long night shift on the back deck with psychotic blokes on a survey boat. Each of those things also had plus points, well, apart from the chicken factory, really, but you know. So it goes, so it goes.

And the thing that singles Thursday out from the other four weekdays is that it is bin collection day; so after Jools heads off, put the bins out, put in new bags into the indoor bins, and have another coffee and brace yourself, as that is the most exciting thing of the day. Already.

The bin collectors come at just past eight, so the second most interesting thing is returning the bins from the kerb. Phew, its all go!

The day progresses in the usual manner, punctuated by regular coffees and/or tea. Outside ran hammers down, and even before feeling cold I go upstairs to put the boiler on to keep the heating on.

Into the afternoon, and with the light fading, I think I could take some time off the hectic schedule to do some phys on the cross trainer. In fact I did 20 minutes the day before, so, although not very motivated, I thought it best to get it out of the way. I left the computers in the dining room, went upstairs to change into my trainers, go into the spare room, put on the i pod, find the track to listen to, and go to set the time and program. Only the cross trainer doesn't want to work!

Oh noes, is it broken, precious? I punch the buttons and dials harder, move the feet things, and nothing. I change the plug sockets, fiddle with the power lead and in a final move check the circuit breakers to find all is fine. Hmmm. Going downstairs, both computers are off. The TV is off. None of the lights work. I open the fridge door and the fridge pixie fails to switch the light on. I assume that there is a power cut, so go over the road to see Bob and Diana to see if their power is off too.

It is, and they are getting text messages from the power company, so I end up sitting there for 90 minutes, chatting and waiting for the power to go back on.

When it does come on at half four, what with the thick cloud and drizzle, it seems like it will be dark soon, and I had better think about starting dinner: steak and ale pie, and the rest of the veg from the weekend.

Jools calls at twenty past five, she is stuck in traffic, so I slow the cooking down, crack open a beer and turn the radio up.

Dinner is good, once Jools arrives home, just in time for me to dish up. Nothing like a good homecooked mean on a wet and windy night.

We seem to be tired all the time, so after watching The Sky at Night, we end up heading to bed at only just gone nine in the evening. Rock, and indeed, roll.