A better day

After the last few days of sleeping in and hugging the bed, we were awake and fairly compos mentis early this morning. I looked out of the window and saw a gentle frosting of snow all over the garden. It looked so very pretty. It was as if each blade of grass and each leaf on the trees and plants had been carefully piped with icing. The contrast between the green and white was lovely. I watched for a while to see if there were any takers on the bird table, but no. Although I did see one or two blackbirds and a few sparrows dotting about the garden. One blackbird in particular, had taken to worrying a patch of leaves near the bird table, so I continue to live in hope.

Despite being awake early, we didn’t get out of bed immediately, but stayed there supping our tea for a while. It was very pleasant. Even more pleasant was the fact that the bedroom was warm. We had decided to leave the heating on overnight against the blast of the ‘Beast from the East’ which had howled all night long. The fabric of the whole house was toasty and we enjoyed it.

We had one or two things to do today and so we knitted a plan together to fit them in. First of all, it was a telephone consultation with John’s shrink. Well, that was easily planned. Stay in bed until the phone rings at ten o’clock, then answer it. Afterwards we decided to have a cooked breakfast….well, alright, brunch then, while we waited in for some new rugs to arrive. And, while the sausages were defrosting, I ran up to the chemists to buy some shampoo ready for a shower after breakfast (or brunch, if you like). See? It was a neatly woven plan.

Luckily, the rugs arrived early in the proposed delivery slot, so that left us free to nip over to Sutton to drop the last of the washing in to them. It’s now all done and I have no doubt that every drawer and cupboard is bulging and over-flowing with sweet-smelling freshly laundered clothes. Well, it’s better than the laundry basket over-flowing with dirty clothes, isn’t it? Gosh, I don’t envy any family struggling to get the washing done – I remember how it was when our kids were little and I’m glad I’m not there any more!

On our way back, it was snowing a bit. Not massively, or we wouldn’t have ventured out, but enough for me to suggest we might like some hot chocolate when we got back. Mmmmm…. that sounds like a nice idea, says John. Yes, says I, it’s a pity we haven’t got any cakes to go with it. Well, naughty us, we popped into Sainsbury’s and bought a couple of cakes…. illegal, non-paleo… tut-tut.

“Shall we light an open fire when we get back?” I wondered out loud after we’d agreed on the hot chocolate and cakes. Yes, we’d light a fire. So we had all the cosiness we needed. It was lush. The snow was falling outside, we hugged our mugs and truffed our cakes and toasted our toes before the fire. Marvellous. That’s the way to do it.

Not only that, but we were rather enamoured of our new rugs, which are rather soft and fluffy, so we revelled in the newness of those too. Mind you, we already had a accident on the nice, cream-coloured rug in front of the fireplace….. spilt coal dust on it, didn’t we? Even vacuuming didn’t bring out the greyness that the dust had left behind. Had to get the shampoo out….. Fingers crossed you won’t notice it tomorrow.

As I say, we spent the afternoon in front of the fire – John playing poker on his laptop and me reading my book. And the afternoon just drifted away until it was six o’clock already. “Hungry, yet?” we asked each other. Nah… not yet. Having had a full English this morning and a cake this afternoon neither of us were remotely hungry. In the end, we didn’t eat until eight this evening. Crikey! Our body clocks really are up the creak!

So, it was pleasant day, after the last few days of feeling neither here nor there, thank goodness. And I felt a lot more cheerful today, too. Of course, over 14 thousand people won’t have felt so great today as they tested positive for the virus; nor would the families of those who died: 333 in the community today and 219 in hospitals on 6 & 7 February.

As we conclude Day 34 of Lockdown 3 (Day 326 since Lockdown 1) I am sending positive thoughts and prayers for all those affected by the pandemic now, in whichever way that is. The impact is severe on us all even if we don’t fully realise it.

Here’s to you my dear friends and family. Stay safe, look after yourselves and keep smiling. God bless.