I never know what to think about a Tuesday. It’s a day that is neither here nor there. However, regardless of its place in the week, I treated it like any other day and hoped it would treat us well. And, as it turned out, it did.
I made my way to yoga this morning, despite the wind and the rain, and came out afterwards feeling a lot better than when I went in. This particular session is ‘Somatics’, which is all about using the mind-body connection to help you review your internal self, and trying to heed the signals your body sends out about areas of discomfort or imbalance – or even where you might be ‘mind-numb’ to a particular bit of your body.
Aligning and re-aligning your body, trying to take account of it and trying to work out which bit is doing what is hard. Which bits of my body are on auto-pilot? And can I re-discover them? The movements may be small, but I find that there’s lots of bits of my body that I have trouble being aware of.
After the yoga session I shot home and collected Rio, the white fluffy cat, who insists on leaving his white fluffiness everywhere around the house. I took him to the groomers to see if some of the white fluffiness could be tamed. Usually, I leave it too late and the groomer has to spend a good hour or so wrestling with the tangled and matted fur. I felt virtuous today though, because I had booked him in before the knots and tangles had kicked in.
“Do you want to wait in the car?” asked Sam, the cat groomer. “Yes, OK – how long will you be grooming Rio, then?” I asked. “About 15 minutes,” came the reply. Wow! That was good news. So we were in and out in no time at all. Still cost the same though……
Once home, I got on with more Christmas stuff. There are still plenty of parcels to wrap! John was watching a programme called ‘Succession’. It certainly seems to be aptly named – there seem to be lots and lots of episodes in the series – a succession of them, in fact!
I was doing the wrapping upstairs in our old bedroom. But I did spend a fair bit of time running up and down the stairs to ask John if I should order this item for X, or wrap that for Y. It kept me fit anyway. John was internet shopper extraordinaire and did all the research to buy all the decent gifts. Nearly there……
When he wasn’t checking stuff on the internet, John was doing a spot of DIY. We have a new system. We have a little black book in which I write down all the jobs that need doing. John has a look at the list and does the ones he can, when he can. And today, it was the family bathroom’s turn – a new handle on the door! Much to my relief – I will now be able to open the door easily, without fighting it. Previously, we had a round door knob there which was quite large in my hand, making it difficult to grip and not at all conducive to my rather arthritic hands.
This evening it was my little prayer group meeting. I had tentatively asked the group if they’d mind doing a lateral flow test before we met. Two of the group replied but I didn’t hear anything else from the others, so I thought maybe it was a ‘no-go’ and so, disappointed, sent my apologies.
However, late this afternoon one couple sent their results through: ‘We’re clear’ they declared; another then declared the same; and then another, until I felt confident enough to go along to the meeting. They had taken it as a ‘given’ that they’d do a test and hadn’t replied to the email as a result. And boy, was I glad to be there. It was such a wonderful evening, with lots of friendly fellowship and great discussion in a very cosy home. Marvellous. It was rather lovely to turn my thoughts to spiritual matters this evening.
We are still ‘living with COVID’ of course, and that means 45,691 people were reported as infected with the virus today. It also means that people are ‘dying with COVID’ – 180 of them in the community reported today and 713 people admitted to hospital. 59 people were also ‘dying with COVID’ in hospitals in the last 48 hours.
Still, as long as we can have parties, we’re alright, aren’t we?
Take care everyone. God bless.
A little something from my favourite wordsmith, Susie Dent, who says… ‘On this windy day, a reminder that to ‘bloviate’ (19th century) is to bluster or speak at length whilst saying very little‘