Here we are again, happy as can be, except that isn’t actually true since I am entirely certain I could be a great deal happier simply by adding a couple of thousand pounds, some better weather and an assassin for the karaoke singer in the hotel garden next to the taxi rank.
Nobody is even shouting at him to get off, clearly manners have improved since my day, or maybe it is just a more upmarket venue.
I have had a mildly productive day, which is to say it has been a bit productive but has not felt like it. I have done some painting and written a little more of a story which is turning over in my head at the moment. I know how it starts and how it ends but not what happens in the eighty thousand words in the middle. This is a serious omission, especially since I have now written the bit that I already know and am chewing my lips and scowling whilst I wonder what happens next.
I am sure I will think of something. I meant to go on another walk with the dogs today and think it out, but I was distracted by other anxieties and forgot until it was too late.
The anxieties in question are related to our fast-approaching trip to London, actually, to Heathrow, from whence Oliver is going to depart for his Korean adventure. He is equally anxious about this, and I have not improved matters for myself by recollecting a couple of days ago that we know absolutely nothing whatsoever about the people with whom he is staying, apart from their names, some of which I can’t pronounce anyway because they are Korean.
I worried first that they might be international hyper-criminals who were going to abduct Oliver and demand a ransom. Then I wondered if perhaps they were international bankers and masters of finance, in which case they might be stalked by international hyper-criminals who were going to abduct Oliver and demand a ransom. Then I thought that nobody who had done even two minutes’ research would imagine that Oliver might be a good subject for a ransom demand, and so it was probably not going to be a problem. To reassure myself I have warned him to be very careful not to be kidnapped, because if he falls into the clutches of international hyper-criminals, basically he is on his own.
He thought it would probably be all right and promised that he would look after his wallet as well.
I asked him for his girlfriend’s telephone number, so that I could let her know if he was abducted, and he rolled his eyes but gave it to me anyway. We would probably have to get him back a bit at a time if that happened, we would never be able to save up a million pounds all at once.
He has been busy mastering the instructions from the online book of Korean etiquette. It turns out that it is rude to blow your nose in Korea. He has taken some clean handkerchiefs anyway, he will just have to put his head under his jacket. I wonder how people manage if they have hay fever, or even just a nasty cold. It all sounds a bit worrying, no wonder we are all anxious.
Anyway, today I have supervised the careful packing of clean underpants and socks into his rucksack. We have been told not to bring a big bag, nothing bigger than a cabin bag. Oliver travels very lightly, and it is going to be warm, so this is not a problem, virtually every item of summer wear that he possesses could easily be wrapped up in one of his handkerchiefs and carried on the end of a stick.
They have warned us that it will be cold at nights. I looked at the weather chart, and indeed it will be considerably colder at night than it will during the day: but still warmer than it was here yesterday, when we were all sweltering in the sticky hot sunshine. Oliver is wittering about taking a warm jersey so I shall send him with an old one so it doesn’t matter if he gets fed up of it and loses it.
In other news, Lucy is still trying to buy a house. We have seen another exciting one that we like. It is sandwiched between a graveyard and a pub.
I shall keep you posted.
