Today was a difficult day.
It was the day for the camper van’s MOT.
Mark did not go to work, and spent all morning tidying up bits and pieces that he thought might be problematic, but it still failed anyway.
Poor camper van. First Lucy, now the camper van, and it isn’t long until Oliver’s scholarship, which is not a cheering thought.
I am gritting my teeth and thinking positively.
I am positive that we can do better than this.
Neither Lucy nor the camper van failed on very much. The camper van needs a new gaiter on the steering rack, whatever that is, and Lucy has got to become aware of hazards. This is a useful skill for anybody who might one day have to drive through Bowness in August.
I got very cross with one particular hazard tonight. This was a Chinese man who stopped right in the middle of the road by the taxi rank, stopping the traffic, and most importantly, stopping me from reversing into a taxi space. He abandoned his van in the middle of the junction, got out of it clutching his map, and wandered off into the Chinese Restaurant to ask for directions.
I was so cross that when he came back and sat in his seat and opened his map again instead of driving off, I went over and banged on his window and said some rude words. He looked a bit confused and vague, because of not speaking English, but I flatter myself that I had managed to get my meaning across, despite the language barrier, and also done my bit for international relations. Donald Trump could not have done better. In fact, it was fairly similar to his style of diplomacy, perhaps he is at That Certain Age as well.
Oliver went off to work again this morning, still full of the simple pleasures of sweeping up hair and making coffee. He came back later on being very excited, because they had had what was obviously Oliver’s first ever difficult customer. This person had torn off his robe halfway through his haircut, shouted abuse at the barber for being too slow, and stormed out.
Oliver was fascinated, and thought that he was clearly an idiot. If you are in Windermere and happen to notice somebody with half a haircut, then you have read the inside story here, on these very pages. Keep your eyes open.
I could not do very much to be helpful about the camper van, and it was raining, so I brought my sewing box downstairs and sat at the kitchen table to do the mending.
How exciting these pages can be.
I mended things and stitched name labels in things and snipped manufacturers labels out of Lucy’s clothes. None of us like these. I had a jersey yesterday whose label managed to irritate me even through the shirt I was wearing underneath it. These days I cut them all out of everything before anybody wears it, which is tiresome if ever I need to remember what size something is, or where we bought it.
I fed the children on pizza and went to work, which is where I am now. I am going to stop writing and read my book for a while. It has been a difficult sort of day, somehow, and I think I might like to be entertained for a while.
LATER NOTE: It turned out that the book I had picked up was one I had taken out of the library in a gloomy Certain Age moment. It is called The Easy Way For Women To Lose Weight.
I did not want to read it.
Some things are just too difficult.
I looked at Facebook instead.
Have another sunset picture.
