… a busy boy today and have accomplished quite a lot, which has pleased me greatly.

Yet at first, it didn’t seem as if it was going to turn out like that. Although I was in bed early – round about 22:00 – there’s no surprise guessing how the night went. As I have said before … "and on many occasions too" – ed … all that going to bed means is that I wake up correspondingly early the following morning.

But in this case, it wasn’t the following morning because when I checked the time, it was 23:59 – still the previous night. That was something that filled me with dismay.

And once awake, I stayed awake, slowly watching the night pass by and the morning slowly arrive.

I must have gone to sleep at some point because I remember waking up again. I was thinking that in five minutes or so, I’ll check the time and if it’s a reasonable time, I’ll leave the bed and do some work. However, the alarm beat me to it this morning.

As usual, it took me a good ten minutes or so to leave the bed and stagger off to the bathroom to sort myself out. And back in here afterwards, I had a listen to see where I’d been during the night.

That film and its partner, SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL GUNFIGHTER are two of the funniest westerns that I’ve seen for quite some considerable time, and the ending of this dream, where a group of people are running after each other, slowly because they are all covered in bitumen, is something that I can easily imagine happening in one of these films.

Regular readers of this rubbish will recall that a couple of years ago, there was a dream where I had to drive a lorry from Cheshire all the way across the UK and back again, despite the fact that I hadn’t driven a lorry since I’d passed my HGV test (in the dream anyway), and it was a similar kind of situation, where there was little traffic on the road so that I could re-learn everything as I went along, and how happy I was by the time that I returned home.

Regular readers of this rubbish in one of its several previous versions will recall that I had to drive from Stoke on Trent to North Norfolk and back all through one night round about Christmas sometime, and the only vehicle we had available was an old Rover SD1 3500cc that was next in the queue for breaking.

Luckily, there were still a few days’ tax and MoT left on it, but the exhaust fell off somewhere down the A50 between Cheadle and Derby so I had to drive the rest of the way there and all the way back with no exhaust – and you’ve no idea how loud a V8 engine can be when you put your foot down and there’s no exhaust. I had to accelerate very, very gently.

As for the rest of the dream, I have no idea where all of that fits in with anything that has happened in real life.

Isabelle the Nurse turned up rather later than usual today. While she was sorting out my legs and feet, I talked to her about the brothel in the rue du Nord but she didn’t know about that. And neither did her husband, she said, but she would make him aware of it.

After she left, I made my breakfast and read some more of THE REPORT OF THE WOOLHOPE NATURALISTS CLUB 1870.

Today, we have left the geology and history behind us for the moment and are now discussing Platypus Cylindrus or the “oak pinhole borer”. I know very little about beetles – it’s not really my thing – which means that I can’t identify any inconsistencies, but I must admit to enjoying what i’m reading, and I have the feeling that I really am learning something.

After breakfast I went and sorted out the washing and set a machine off on its cycle. But there was so much washing that some of it will have to wait until next time before it’s done.

Back in here afterwards, I reviewed my Leclerc order and sent it off – the first for three and a half weeks. There were one or two things that they didn’t have that I can live without for now, but everything else, including all of the important stuff, was available, including the beer for my friend, ready for the next time the Hound of the Baskervilles brings him.

A short time later, the doorbell rang. Regular readers of this rubbish will recall that I’ve been extolling the virtues of this vegan ice cream that I bought a few weeks ago and how I was wishing that someone I know could go and buy some more for me. So when I opened the door, there were my friends from Wednesday bearing two packs of this ice cream. How wonderful is that?

They stayed for a good couple of hours, so I made coffee and we carried on our chat from where we left off until it was time to leave.

After they had gone, I went and had my disgusting drink break and my midday medication, and then I came back in here to carry on working.

Not that I carried on for long because the bell on the front door rang again. This time it was the delivery person from Leclerc bearing gifts, namely a pile of shopping from her shop.

She put the bags on the table, took away the empty bags from last time, and she was gone. And never called me “mother”.

Once I’d sorted out the box, I began to empty the bags, and this is where my faithful cleaner caught me when she came in to do her Friday afternoon stuff.

While she made a start on hanging up the washing, I began to put the shopping away. And it required a good imagination because the fridge and the freezer are full, but I managed it in the end.

Back in here, I began work on the rest of the radio programme notes, and now they are finished. But it took much longer than the first half did. It probably wasn’t helped by me falling asleep in mid-writing.

There was time left to write a rather terse message to someone about something or other that hasn’t been done. He replied to me a few minutes later with all kinds of promises. We shall see.

No tea tonight again as I’m not hungry. However, I did go to lock the door of the apartment in case we have “visitors” during the night. Not that we will ever again, I imagine. I’m taking no chances.

There was a little break for food later – more of my vegan ice cream with a fruit salad and apricots, followed by a handful of biscuits. This may well keep the lupus from the porte through the night, as they might well have said in ancient Rome.

So now that tonight’s notes are finished, I shall be going to bed early (I hope) for another good long sleep … "he hopes" – ed … But first, I have to do things like the backing up and the statistics. A

But before I go, seeing as we have been talking about buying beer … "well, one of us has" – ed … a young couple were out shopping. They didn’t have very much money, so they could only buy the essentials. However, the wife put some makeup into the trolley.
"Why did you want that?" asked the husband. "I thought we were only buying essentials!"
"It is essential" she replied. "I have to do my best to look beautiful."
The husband put all the makeup back on the shelves and stormed off. Two minutes later, he came back with a big pack of beer.
"This lot will also make you look beautiful, and it’s half the price of those cosmetics."

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