Having used the decongestant stuff last night before going off to bed, I finally managed to have a good night’s sleep last night, even managing to finish off watching the Flash Gordon film that I started to see the previous evening.
I only woke up once too, for the usual reasons, and promptly forgot everything that related to the little journey that I had been on up to then. But I had more luck when I went back to sleep afterwards. I seem to have cricket on the brain right now because I’d started a new job in an office somewhere and this place had a cricket team. There was some important cricket match taking place quite soon and I’d offered my services, but I’d never heard any more. Word on the grapevine however suggested that I’d been chosen to play but I’d never had any confirmation from anyone. Come the day of the match, I appeared at work without my cricketing gear, reckoning that if they were to tell me of my selection at this late hour they could allow me half an hour to go home and pick it up. But nothing happened so I didn’t bother. The match itself was played against a touring XI, either the Indians or the Sri Lankans and was largely a bad-tempered affair. One of the star touring batsmen was dismissed for a duck and the fielding team performed a little choreographed dance in celebration (which I thought was in extremely poor taste) and even the square leg umpire joined in the celebration, which is unheard-of. Obviously, the batsman was quite upset by this and made some kind of remark or gesture, which was met with a barrage of abuse from the fielding side and the umpire. All of this made me think that I was glad that it was a match in which I wasn’t taking part.
I could have gone on from here too but a rather dramatic noise from the kitchen broke the spell. What was actually happening was that Liz was busily destroying a cardboard box to use as kindling to light the stove. From upstairs, it sounded like an earthquake.
At least I managed an early breakfast out of it and then, in accordance with my usual custom, did absolutely … errr … badger-all for the rest of the day. I was the only one who did nothing however. Terry was out for a good few hours cutting another pile of wood and Liz had another student come round for a lesson. We also had a social visit too.
For lunch, I finished off the leftovers from yesterday’s pizza (which, like most spicy or garnished foods, tastes even better the following day) and for tea it was chips, burger and baked beans – with real Sarson’s malt vinegar.
In fact, the nurse asked me how I was doing and asked if I was eating well. I replied, quite honestly, that I was in the best restaurant in the world here and once I’ve recovered and ready to go home, I’m going to find something else wrong with me.
Now, having watched the England cricket team, and especially Chris Topley, brilliantly snatch defeat from the jaws of victory against the South Africans, I’m off to have yet another early night. I can’t last the hectic pace these days, can I?
