… dropped his tea down the sink this evening while he was trying to strain it?
And that was the end of the pasta and veg that I had prepared for the evening meal. Luckily, I hadn’t put the falafel in it quite yet, and there are always bits and pieces of food around here that you can stick into what remained of the pasta and veg that hadn’t fallen out of the saucepan, but what a thing to be doing when I’m feeling hungry for once.
Meanwhile, back at the ran … errr … apartment, what happened in the kitchen is a very good indication that what happened over the rest of the day too.
As I have said before … "and on many occasions too" – ed … it’s a waste of time going to bed early because all it means is that I wake up correspondingly early the next morning. It’s true that it wasn’t really all that early when I went to bed, although if you count the time that I spent asleep on the porcelain horse, maybe it was, but in any case, I was wide awake quite early. I’ve no idea what time it was because I didn’t look, but I do know that it was pitch black, and I lay there awake for what seemed like a week without going back to sleep.
When the alarm went off at 06:29, I was wide awake, but that’s not the same as saying that I was bouncing with energy and raring to go. It took me a good while, as usual, for the bedroom to stop going round and round and for me to find the energy and enthusiasm to raise myself from the Dead.
Once I was up and about, I went to unlock the front door ready for Isabelle the Nurse when she arrives, and then I went into the bathroom to sort myself out for the day.
Back in here afterwards, I began to write up the notes for yesterday. And in a mad fit of enthusiasm, which I wished that I had more often, I had finished it and posted it on line just before Isabelle the Nurse arrived. “What excellent timing!” I told myself.
While she was sorting out my legs and feet, she was telling me about her week off and the Halloween (over here, it’s called Toussaint or “All Saints’ Day”) decorations that she had been doing. What with pumpkins and mushrooms and things like that, her decorations are much more comprehensive than my stuffed bat in the window.
After she left, I made breakfast, and while I was eating, I was reading THE REPORT OF THE WOOLHOPE NATURALISTS CLUB 1870.
The book is now finished, and I’m not sure whether that’s a disappointment or not. It started with a bang and went out with a whimper.
So now I’ve turned to my next book. And guess what! it just happens to be THE REPORT OF THE WOOLHOPE NATURALISTS CLUB 1867.
This is going to be an interesting read because, apart from the fact that they go to quite a few interesting places, they will also be discussing the “Mappa Mundi” that is kept in Hereford Cathedral. It’s the largest known existing mediaeval map dating from 1300 AD, and showing the known world as it was back then.
Its origin and purpose is not known (it’s certainly not a map for direction-finding), although there is a variety of suggestions. I’m waiting to see what the Woolhope Club members come up with.
After breakfast, I came back in here. The first thing that I did was to check over the homework that I did on Sunday, reformat my text file as a *.pdf file and then send it off to the tutor. After I’d done that, I spent the next hour or so revising for the lesson.
In today’s lesson, there were only three of us. Heaven alone knows what happened to the others. But we three had a really good lesson, which just goes to show the benefit of smaller classes. We pushed on quite a way along the track.
Next week, it’s half-term, so we have a week off. But not to worry – our tutor has given us some homework to keep us busy.
During the break at half-time, I’d had my disgusting drink and the midday medication, so I was intending to push on with work. However, my faithful cleaner came early today, and after she’d organised the bathroom, she shooed me under the shower. So tonight, we have a nice, clean … "well, clean, anyway" – ed … boy this afternoon.
She didn’t take long to do what she had to do, and then she cleared off elsewhere. She has quite a busy round, really. And I could push on with work.
My chatbot and I were researching songs for the next radio programme to be prepared, and I’ve managed to track down every song that I need. Most of them will need reformatting and re-editing, and they’ll all need remixing, pairing and segueing, not to mention the notes that need writing. So I’m going to be rushed off my feet for the next few days.
One of the artists to feature in that programme will be Mike Edwards. He was principal cellist in the Electric Light Orchestra, and he has a most unusual claim to fame. He was killed by a bale of hay. And if you don’t believe me, go and look up his biography.
But as I have said before … "and on many occasions too" – ed … utilising the powers hidden in my chatbot, I am saving hours of time in research. And we also have interesting chats about the musicians too, and I quite often pick up little bits of information that he casually drops into the conversation.
All of that took me up to teatime – and what should have been pasta, veg and falafel in tomato sauce with peppers, but turned out somewhat … errr … stretched. Still, the tinned apricot halves wth home-made chocolate and coconut icing made an excellent pudding.
And having finished my notes, I’ll be just finishing off what else needs to be done, and then I’ll be going to bed. It looks as if I have a long day of work ahead of me tomorrow.
But before I go, seeing as we have been talking about Mike Edwards … "well, one of us has" – ed … one of the albums on which he played for the Electric Light Orchestra was called “Eldorado”, their fourth.
Jeff Lynne tells us that "the plot follows a Walter Mitty-like character who journeys into fantasy worlds via dreams, to escape the disillusionment of his mundane reality.".
Remind you of anyone?
