Massage

I am so relaxed and mellow that I am quite likely to fall asleep whilst I write.

I would like to add for your continued reassurance that I am not at work. I am at home with a glass of wine in front of me on the desk, actually it is half a glass of wine now.

We have had the loveliest of lovely days.

Mark went off to the farm this morning and I went off to Barrow with Number Two Daughter to have yesterday’s postponed shopping trip.

I like Barrow very much, there are lots of magnificent things to see, like the awe-inspiring offshore wind farm, which never ceases to impress me with the sheer wonderfulness of its idea and construction, imagine all of that catching the wind and then magically running my washing machine and my computer. Also there are the massive submarine sheds at BAE, and the brilliant statue of working men in the middle of the town, and the lovely wall round the courts with stone cushions and crowns on the top, it is an ace place to spend a day.

Number Two Daughter had not come to see stone cushions, but to buy curtain material, so we trotted around the indoor market, which smells wonderfully of fruit and fish and nice things. We bought some heavy deep blue fabric for her curtains, and some velvety emerald green for the last bits for our camper van. After that we went to the haberdasher for more pins and apron tape, which all made me feel very contented with my life, my stores are replenished.

When we got home things became a bit fraught, because we had popped in to Asda on the way back. There was unpacking to be done and washing to be hung out, and Mark and I had got an appointment at half past two.

This was for a Couples’ Massage at the PamperMe Loveliness Beautiful Holistic Wellness Spa, which Number Two Daughter had bought for us for our wedding anniversary in March, and which we had just never got round to doing.

Partly this had been because of wanting to have a relaxed and relaxing time with it and not being worried or rushing off to do something else. Recently it occurred to us that this sort of day was quite simply not going to happen to us and so we had better get on with it on some normal sort of day, and Today Was The Day.

We were so fraught that we finished up charging round throwing things into bags and shouting at each other, actually I was shouting at everybody else, as Mark doesn’t do shouting. After all of that I forgot the voucher and had to ring Number Two Daughter in desperation and beg her to follow us down with it.

We dashed in late, and the kindly concierge laughed and offered to park the car for us, and then we were downstairs and all was serenity and soothing music and dim lights.

We wrapped ourselves in enormous white robes and padded into the Relaxation Room in special old-person slippers, where we relaxed anxiously until the massage girls came for us.

We had to lie on towel-draped beds which had a dent in them for your nose, much to my fascination, and which turned out to be astonishingly comfortable. Everywhere was softly lit and scented with eucalyptus and the soothing music was of the sort without a catchy singalong melody, which I rather liked.

We had full body massages, starting with our feet in hot cloths, and then warm oil smoothed into our shoulders, and then being rubbed and pounded until everything hurt. Then after a while I started to feel as if I was unravelling into a sort of sleepy warm glow, and the world became liquid and gentle, it was gorgeous.

When they had finished one of the girls rang a little bell, presumably intended to wake us up without the necessity for anything as crude as speech, and they tiptoed out and left us to stagger off the beds.

We sat around for a while drinking blackcurrant tea, then we ambled peacefully down the little staircase for a swim and a sauna.

Then instead of going to work we curled up in the huge winged armchairs in the lounge and gazed out at the sun setting over the lake, and ordered champagne.

Obviously we couldn’t go to work then. We came home and had a glass of wine in our rocking chairs in front of the fire.

I brought the end of mine up here to write to you.

I have finished it now.

Bed.