It was another one of those days when I didn’t know whether I was coming or going and it all felt a bit treacly. I woke up early, intending to ‘go to church’ but didn’t in the end, just sat in bed reading my book. When I finally winkled myself out of bed it was already mid-morning. Shall I have a shower now, or later? Later. I’m going to be decorating.
But I didn’t start the decorating until this afternoon. There was tidying to do. And washing up. Which all seemed to take ages and ages. It was lunchtime by the time I’d done all of that, by which point John had taken himself outside, with the rake, to gather up all the golden leaves adorning the drive at the front, and then into the back garden to gloriously reveal a green lawn underneath the golden carpet. He worked very hard all day, and I watched a bit as I stood at the sink sorting out the pots. I was putting off the decorating obviously.
I sat down on the sofa for a drink of orange juice and a snack. Still putting off gathering up all the decorating stuff. I relaxed and read a bit more of my book. Then felt guilty, so got off my bum and went into the former-office-cum-snug-cum-gym to survey the scene. I may have said this before…. but I hate the prep….. ah, well, I did eventually buckle down to it and finally, finally, got one coat of paint on the ceiling. But it felt very hard work today.
Had to laugh at myself though. I got all ready in my nice, new pink overalls. I knew that they’d be warm so I just popped a T-shirt on underneath. Just as I was getting my bits and pieces ready, I thought I ought to go to the loo first so that I could really take a run at my paint pots. Got a bit of a shock as I dingle-dangled the sleeve over the edge of the loo though, didn’t I? Oh, blimey, that needed a wash and dry before I could carry on wearing it! I mean, nothing is ever simple is it? Made me chuckle though.
The afternoon’s decorating was threatening to run on into the evening, but fortunately, John came in from the garden, Darth Vader-style, and said, “That’s enough for the day. Stop now.” I thought I’d do as I was told, so I stopped. We sat on the sofa and trawled TV programmes for a minute or two. Plumped on Blue Planet II which turned out to be quite soporific. John was soon snoozing and I felt my eyes going. But I needed a proper clean-up after my exertions this afternoon, so I ran a bath. Oooh, luxury.
While the bath was running, I whacked some chicken and veg into the oven to roast, so that it’d be all ready when John was awake and I’d finished bathing. Unexpectedly, John appeared at the bathroom door. I hadn’t thought he’d wake up yet, but actually, he’d only got up to go and have a lie down on the bed. He sorted out lighting the candles in the bathroom for me and then disappeared for a proper rest. And I had a proper rest in the bath. It were luvverly.
It’s funny though, isn’t it, the things that trigger melancholia? As I lay in the bath I thought of all the times I’d done that when the boys were little and they’d sometimes got in with me – and I was reminded of my favourite little book: ‘Five Minutes Peace’ by Jill Murphy. And I felt sorry that those times are over and wondered where the time had gone to. I know everyone says, ‘Don’t know where the time goes’, but sometimes it’s just a bit more poignant than others. And then, I thought of all the things I’d done wrong as a parent and wished I could have the time back to do parenting properly. And that’s how it gets you, isn’t it?
After we’d eaten our evening meal, which turned out to be delicious, John decided he’d go back to accounting on the computer. He is playing ‘catch-up’ and is probably about half-way through now. I am not in the mood for numbers or what we’ve got where so I am no help to him at all. Thank goodness he has his head screwed on, that’s all I can say.
The evening passed with John popping his head round the corner every so often to tell me something monetary, while I addled my brain with Strictly and I’m a Celebrity. Although it was late, neither of us wanted to go up to bed so I read to the end of my book, and John watched The Undoing.
So here we are, at the end of another day where COVID features prominently in the news but with the possibility of Christmas get-togethers. Sadly, many families will be mourning the loss of loved ones this Christmas due to the virus and will no doubt wonder whether their infections were avoidable.
The data today shows 18,662 people infected and 398 deaths, plus 137 in hospitals, related to the virus. It looks like it’s slowing maybe? Although there’s thousands and hundreds still……
Take care everyone and take heart – there’s a vaccine on the way. God bless.