It has been a day of sleeping.
We slept and slept this morning, because none of us had to go to work, and because I think the old adage that goes ‘early to bed, early to rise…etc’ is guilt inducing untrue drivel designed by a heartless aristocracy to make peasants work harder.
It is lovely to sleep for ages and then sit peacefully in bed afterwards, drinking coffee and ruminating pointlessly but serenely about the mysteries of existence, and feeling smug and satisfied with one’s own little slice of it.
Unfortunately this happy state of affairs did not last as long as it should have done, because a chap turned up at the back door wanting his car fixed and was politely surprised to find that we were still contentedly wrapped in our dressing gowns with our feet up doing nothing in particular: actually nothing whatsoever.
We explained that we were having a day of rest, which is a diplomatic excuse for being idle layabouts, and that under those circumstances it was far too early to start on any kind of manual labour, although once he had gone we agreed that maybe it would be worth getting dressed as it was almost one o’clock.
It turned out that Oliver was already awake, although the dogs and Lucy were not, and had to be rather forcefully encouraged to engage with the day: but by about half past one we were all yawning and rubbing our eyes, but wearing our clothes anyway: and we were in holiday mood by then, so we trotted over the road to the little bistro to have red wine and pizza for breakfast.
This was very pleasant, a sort of outdoor extension of sitting in bed really. It was warm and cheerful and we found a corner table where we could indulge our general inquisitiveness about the world and watch the inhabitants of Windermere ambling past us. The dogs sat under the table and were fed bits of pizza, and we sat in comfortable wicker armchairs and ate huge amounts of pizza but still had to bring the last bits home in a box for later.
Mark went off to the farm then, with the chap and his car to be mended: and I am embarrassed to tell you that I went back to bed.
Even I could hardly believe that I had done it, but it is true. Mark came back from the farm a couple of hours later and I was so soundly asleep that I didn’t hear him coming in, and had to telephone him when I woke up to find out where he was.
I discovered that he had been taking somebody else’s car to leave at the auto-electrician in Kendal and it had broken down at the side of the road, and so he was sitting at the side of the bypass in an immobile car contemplating his next move.
I set off to find him with a tow rope, but once I got there he managed to get it started, and we dropped it off at the auto electrician and then went to Asda, which is very conveniently open almost all the time, and so handy for people who have confused sleeping patterns.
I know I have mentioned this before, but I am going to say it again, because it is a source of great happiness to me at the moment: it is wonderfully gratifying not to be tired.
We went all the way around Asda with hardly any mishap at all because of this indescribable advantage, making sensible choices of things to put in the trolley and remembering the things that we wanted. The only mild adventure was when we got to the checkout: because we disagreed about using the self-service one, which Mark says is ridiculously slow, but I like doing because I am still Oliver’s age in my soul.
We went to the self-service one anyway, and he turned out to be absolutely right, and the whole thing became very slow then, because I absent-mindedly put the notes into the hole where you throw your receipt away instead of into the one for the money, and then we had to wait ages whilst an assistant came and took the whole checkout apart. Mark laughed a lot, and the people behind us in the queue rolled their eyes and were very ostentatiously patient: but she rescued them in the end, and fortunately everything turned out all right.
So we are home now, and about to take the dogs out to empty them before bed, and feeling very happy indeed.
I bought some sunflowers in Asda, so that there would be something lovely to unpack as well as soap powder and cheese.
They make the kitchen feel bright.
We are going to have an early night. Tomorrow we will be completely invincible.
