I have been to the gym.
Not just any old gym.
I have been to the BeautifulMe Wellness Holistic Loveliness Health Spa.
It was splendid.
We can’t exactly afford it at the moment, being February, but I like it so much that really I don’t care. It is lovely to feel stretched and steamed and scented and clean.
I puffed up and down the gym for forty minutes before going for a swim. They don’t have an Ab Cruncher in this gym, which I was sorry about, now that I have discovered what Abs are, and noticed that mine are structured a bit like wet sponges. They had everything else, though, and I rowed and cycled for miles and miles without ever leaving the comfort of the gym. It is nice to do the sort of rowing that doesn’t involve getting cold and wet. I am sure I will be able to think of another way of getting crunchy abs if I put my mind to it.
It was a rather happy end to a pleasing day, actually, because I spent much of the day painting ivy leaves on the bannisters.
This sounds easy but takes ages and ages, and I have only just got started. Ivy leaves are difficult to paint properly, so I brought one in out of the garden to look at. This had some unconvincing patches of pink in it that I would not have believed in had I seen them in a picture of a leaf instead of a real one, so I had to leave those out.
It was a very peaceful thing to do. It was especially peaceful because Mark had taken the dogs and gone off to the farm to split some firewood.
He took the photograph. It is the road leading along the hillside just before you get to it. Our field where the wood is stacked is just a little way further along.
It is terribly cold at the moment, as you can see in the picture, and firewood is very important. There is not much snow any more, but the skies are a frozen crystal blue, and everything is ice-hard. The temperature tonight is forecast to drop to minus six, and it feels as though it is there already.
We have been supplementing the logs with pallets from the builder and also with lots of chairs being chucked out of a restaurant across the road. Of course it is January, and everybody is fixing things and refurbishing things whilst there are no visitors here. Instead of visitors we have got skips everywhere, and Mark has been plundering them for handy firewood. This might be hard work, not to mention embarrassing at times, but we have not had a heating bill for years now, and so it is jolly well worth doing.
Firewood that has been part of a house burns wonderfully hot, and the house is staying pleasingly warm. This is important when you are painting, because cold fingers make blobby paint all over the place.
I made the very happy discovery that the BBC have been broadcasting a new radio series that I like very much. It is a new series about a detective in Manchester that they have written stories about before. He is a down to earth sort of chappie with a strong Northern accent. This is the BBC way of letting you know that he has a great deal of true integrity camouflaged by a rough exterior.
I have listened to the other ones, and today I found the new series on my computer. I chucked half a chair on to the fire and put the detective story on to keep me company whilst I was painting.
There is no happier life than a cup of tea, and a picture to paint, and a good story to listen to in a warm living room, and I passed a very contented afternoon indeed, until Mark and the dogs bounded in, pink and cheerful from their activities.
We had a sleep before work, which is where I am now.
All the muscles that aren’t my abs are aching.
I won’t be sorry not to go again tomorrow.
