Baking

In contrast to the traumas of yesterday, today has been mild and tranquil by comparison.

In fact it has been a very pleasant day, enlivened by a couple of visitors, made satisfying by some successful baking, and not at all inconvenienced by the hangover I expected I would have after drinking an excessive quantity of wine and Elspeth’s damson gin before I went to bed last night.

After the adventures of the day and then working until midnight, when we got home to discover Number Two Daughter still up and about, the obviously irresponsible thing to do next was to pour some glasses of wine.

We all told stories about our day’s adventures, and then it was the damson gin, then before we knew it it was almost three, and we were all being a bit loud and giggly and so we thought we had better go to bed, which was lovely, because it had been a scary sort of day, and by the time I had drunk the damson gin I didn’t feel upset in the least.

We woke up very late this morning, which we told ourselves was all right because we have got to stay at work tonight almost until everybody else is getting up again.

It wasn’t really all right, because there were all sorts of things that we wanted to do with our day, but instead of getting up and doing them we dawdled about and had coffee in bed, and Number Two Daughter came staggering down to join us.

We sat there for ages, talking and feeling happy to have her at home to tell us first-hand stories about interesting foreign things, because she is living in the Middle East and knows lots about why foreign people do things differently.

We sat up in bed marvelling at the curious interestingness of the world and drinking coffee, which was a lovely safe thing to do, like having an adventure by proxy: instead of baking biscuits and mending the camper van.

This was not exactly a self-disciplined admirable thing to do, but it didn’t matter because she doesn’t come home very often and sometimes it is all right to be idle spectators of somebody else’s life instead of getting on with our own, especially if it is only for a very short while and you know that you have got to make the most of it.

In the end it was almost twelve o ‘clock before we were all dressed, and not in bed any more, and had nicely filled ourselves with breakfast and emptied the dogs. Mark went off to the farm to carry on glueing the camper van back together, and I pressed the hems for the curtains I am making, and then Number Two Daughter and I did some baking.

She is helpful to have around when I am baking, except she has lived abroad for ages and I have got to keep reminding her to wash her hands.

Then one of our nice friends from the other end of the road came round, and so we all had some more coffee, and after that Number Two Daughter went out and my friend Kate came over, which was ace, because there is absolutely nothing in the world nicer than pottering gently about the kitchen baking pies and having somebody sitting cosily at the table to talk to.

I had a lovely time, and cooked another tray of sausages, and four cheese and onion pies, and some bacon-stuffed potatoes and some shortbread and some mayonnaise and some buns. Kate sat at the table and told me about her children and her job and her adventures. I haven’t got a real job or any adventures to talk about, and I haven’t heard from either of the children for ages, so I didn’t have very much to say, but it was the nicest way to spend an afternoon, and I was sorry when she remembered that she had got to go home.

Mark and Number Two Daughter came back home then. They were both absolutely starving, and ate a whole cheese and onion pie and some stuffed potatoes and some of the sausages between them. I quietly wrapped up some of the rest and put them in the freezer so that we will have them to take on holiday in a couple of weeks, as long as I don’t forget about them.

It is not long now until we go. I am very excited and Mark is groaning and talking about fitting a water heater into the camper, because our old one doesn’t work properly. He has got to do that, and stick the sides back together, and fit a new split charger, and do something to his hydrogen bomb thing, which got a bit over excited and blew the fuse and cracked. He said that this does not matter, because it is a prototype, and he knows some new things now and will make a new one which is much better.

I hope we get time. We have got so many things to do before we have got to set off.

The most important thing is to earn some money.

It is a wonderful thing that we can go and do that in the middle of the night when it is too dark and late to do anything else.

I can’t imagine what a nuisance it would be to have to waste a day doing it.

Baking has been much nicer.