I have had quite an unexpectedly happy day.
It was unexpected because its planning, commenced last night post-Indian restaurant, included Going To Kendal To Collect The New Taxi Plate, and Pick Up Lucy’s New Stove.
Neither of those events were sufficiently inspiring to bathe the day in a rapturously rosy glow, and I can’t say I was feeling especially enthusiastic about its commencement.
Hence when I staggered out of bed, remembering the bottle of wine with some regret, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the sun was shining and that the day was already bathed in a warm golden glow.
I took the dogs out over the fell whilst Mark climbed on the conservatory roof to fix a piece of broken guttering. This had collapsed under the weight of the snow last year, and frankly I hadn’t even noticed. He couldn’t fix it in the end, because we needed some new guttering clips and the guttering clip shop in Kendal had sold out, so we will have to look on eBay.
We will have to endure a broken gutter for a little longer.
Anyway, we chugged off to Kendal, in my taxi because stoves are really heavy and my taxi has a wheelchair ramp which goes up to the boot, and first I collected the new plate. Then Mark suggested that we go to Mountain Warehouse to buy me a new raincoat.
I demurred, because I have got a raincoat, and all I have to do is collect it from Bath where I left it in Oliver’s car, and I will be dry and toasty again.
Mark was quite insistent, however, and I have become so sick of being sodden and frozen on my walks that in the end I didn’t really take very much persuasion, so we parked the car in Marks And Spencer’s car park and trotted off.
The car park was full of old people who couldn’t work the ticket machine. I imagine that is my future. Somebody will say to me: Wave Your Credit Card At This Machine, and it will throw me into such a distressed puzzle that I won’t be able to manage it at all, and I will stand there peering and hesitating until there is an enormous queue of grumpy people scowling and hopping about behind me. I am quite looking forward to that moment, because nobody will be able to get cross with me if I am old.
Well, Mountain Warehouse had all sorts of nice raincoats, and I bought one. Then Mark said that perhaps I should have some waterproof trousers as well, so I bought some of those. Then we should have gone home, but our attention was distracted by a rack of beautifully warm-looking, thick, fluffy jerseys.
I have been very cold on the taxi rank lately, even with two jerseys and a vest, so I bought one of those. Then Mark said I should have another one for when the first is in the wash, so I bought another one. Then we saw a pile of things that looked like jerseys but which Mark said were called Base Layers, and you wear them instead of a T-shirt on cold days, so I bought four of those. Then when we got to the checkout there was a whole rack of very warm-looking socks, so we bought some of those as well.
Then he paid for it all with his banking card.
We came home with a very full carrier bag. I am not wearing any of it now. I was going to but I was late for work and there were too many labels to be cut out so I had to abandon the idea.
After Mountain Warehouse we went back to the car at Marks And Spencer, and Mark said we should just have a look, so we did.
I like Marks And Spencer because they are not horrid to lobsters and prawns, so I buy seafood in there. Also they have the best selection of seafood in the whole world, and we came away with smoked trout and wild salmon and prawns for me, and American Fried Chicken for Mark.
I am feeling very happy. I am not going to be cold or wet any more, and I have got so much nice food to eat that I was quite looking forward to coming out to work. It will make my usual diet of porridge and raw carrots co much more thrilling I can hardly tell you.
Just as a nice ending, before I came out to work there was a meeting of students on the computer to talk about everybody’s writing. We had a lovely time and I came away feeling just as pleased with the world as if I was still a student.
It has been a lovely day, and lovelier still because it will lead to a lot of warm dry well-fed lovely days in the future.
Life could not be better.
PS We collected Lucy’s new stove as well. Mark got it out of the taxi in the alley at home. I do not know how he managed it because it weighs about forty tonnes.
I do not know how it did not collapse through the boot of the taxi.
