Pulling together

It is bird nesting time, and I can barely stick my head out of the back door without some jackdaw or crow eyeing it up speculatively, wondering if my hair might make efficient egg-insulation. They are all over the place, emptying the bins and dragging twigs out of the hedges, and yelling abuse at one another.

To my astonishment, I could absolutely have sworn this morning that I saw a couple of swifts, which would be a surprise because we are still three weeks before their usual arrival time. They were too high in the sky for me to hear them, but I was fairly certain that they were indeed swifts, perhaps on their way to Gordonstoun.

This was an encouraging  moment. The winter might be beginning to be over.

It has been a very long one this year.

Since it is not yet over, I loaded the over-excited dogs into the car to bring back firewood from the farm this morning, This was a happy excursion, because Roger Poopy almost found the rabbit that was in the wood pile a little while ago. That is to say, he snuffled about a great deal. At one point he even barked excitedly, as if to encourage it to appear, and wagged his tail furiously, but no actual rabbit came out, much to his disappointment. Also the sun shone. Indeed, it has not rained all day, not even once. I hung two lots of washing out, and it all dried. Really dried, even the pockets and the seams. Spring may be springing.

We have had some howling gales over the last few days. I dragged the plastic coverings back over the log heaps and tidied up the debris, then hurled some wood into the car, and dashed back. Well, it was a fairly slow dash, because the dogs were pounding along behind the taxi, and if I vanish into the distance they get bored and stop running in favour of ambling about sniffing things and pooing in the long grass. All the same I had to put a move on, because I had a class at twelve, and was frantically trying not to be late.

It is wonderful to have a lecture in the middle of the day. It means I can sit drinking tea with my feet up for two whole hours. I do not need to write anything or indeed, do anything at all, except occasionally expound my opinions. Nobody wants to hear my opinions, but it doesn’t stop me expounding them anyway, usually in some detail. I can’t think of a better way to spend an afternoon.

I did not get time to saw the wood up. I charged about pegging washing on the line and remembering to feed the dogs before belting upstairs with my cup of tea ready for an afternoon’s entertainment, which instantly went wrong about five minutes into the class when the plug accidentally popped out of the back of the computer and everybody was plunged into darkness. It took me some faffing about to repair it and reload everything, because my geriatric Apple Mac is not the most laser-sharp responsive item of technological equipment, indeed, it is about as co-operative as any other teenager might be expected to be when faced with a red-faced bellowing person having a disaster.

Obviously I had worked myself into a huge anxious flap before I finally resolved things, and spent a very upsetting few minutes frantically pushing ineffective buttons and bouncing the mouse up and down to try and get rid of the little picture of it on the screen which said: There Is No Mouse Connected Do You Wish To Connect One? and which was ignoring my increasingly desperate howls of Yes! Yes! Connect it!

I had just managed to reappear on my own screen when somebody helpfully said: Oh, Sarah is back with us, let’s hear what she thinks, and I had to look studiously unperturbed whilst pretending to have an opinion, which I hadn’t, except that I am looking forward to Mark earning enough money to buy me a new computer.

Eventually, of course, the class was over, and I had to turn my attention, rather reluctantly, to my other activities. This afternoon I was making curtains for Lucy’s house.

I was not exactly making them. I was cutting two long narrow curtains in half and joining them together in the middle to make two short wide curtains. This involved a lot of tongue-sticking-out, I can tell you, because they were lined and also had a pattern which had to be matched.

I was pleased, not to mention surprised, when in the end they came together perfectly, note the curtain-related witticism, and much to my astonishment, by the end of the afternoon I had got some functional-looking short, wide blackout curtains which will be just the thing for a law-enforcing night shift worker. I have got several more sets to do yet, but a Start Has Been Made.

Mark can take them to Lucy’s house next week whilst I am in Cambridge.

I am going on Sunday.

I haven’t done all of my homework yet.

I am going to have a busy weekend.