Purpose in life

It was a short day, largely because of the very long night that came before it.

I imagine that most people were washing up after their lunch by the time we had finished our morning coffee in bed. 

We did not rush this part of today. 

We sat peacefully and contemplated our newly prison-free future.

I know that we do not exactly know for sure that my days at HMP Slade are finally over, but I think that it is now a reasonable assumption. 

Mark reminded me that I had only applied for the job in the first place because of being cross with him, and bored with being at home on my own. At the time Mark and Ted were working lots of hours creating a rural broadband network, and not making any cash.

The consequence of this was that I was left cooking dinners and emptying dogs and hoovering, and then driving a taxi by myself at night. Mark was too busy to mend my taxi or help with anything or even bring in firewood.

This turned out not to be an exciting existence.

I thought I might find a proper job because I wanted a Purpose In Life and some extra cash and something to do that was more interesting than wiping dust off the grandfather clock.

Things are very different this year.

The rural broadband is not so demanding and when Mark works at it, he is earning some cash, which I like. We are not quite so terribly broke, and we are slowly creating an exciting new room in the garden. There are agricultural projects starting to take shape on our field, and I have got plans for some wall-paintings in the house. 

I do not really want to go and live in the camper van and have to be worried in case I accidentally upset the prison Governor. I like staying in the camper van to do nice things, like going to Blackpool or visiting my family. 

Anyway, prison life seems to start very early in the mornings. Sometimes I would not have time to go to bed before I had to get up. 

We contemplated our future, and thought that it looked rather cheerful, all things considered. There were lots of interesting things that needed doing. They might not exactly be described as purposeful, not like abolishing child poverty or achieving world peace or stopping dogs from pooing on beaches, but all the same I thought that on the whole I was looking forward to all of it.

We took the dogs to the Library Gardens to be emptied in the last of the watery December sunshine, and ambled about feeling extraordinarily happy. I can’t speak for anybody else, but I can tell you for absolutely certain that for me, today, not being about to go to prison is a lovely feeling. 

In a few weeks I will be able to make these pages public again.

I can’t wait.

When we got back Mark went outside to continue with his garden excavations, as you can see from the picture. 

He is digging a trench in which we can lay water pipes and electricity cables for our new garden reconstruction. We will need these for all sorts of things, not least for the new Thinking Shed.

The trench on either side of the path to the back door is making coming home from work in the middle of the night very exciting indeed, like tightrope walking in the dark.

I lit a candle to the kindly Gods and made extra sure that it was safely on the windowsill away from the curtains.

I cooked a chicken, and made some bread. This is a new sort of bread that I have been trying lately with the help of the magnificent breadmaking machine. It is the sort of swirly stuff called Tear And Share. You make it like a swiss roll, only filled with mustard and tomato purée and cheese, then you cut it into slices  and stuff them in a cake tin to bake. It is brilliant, every bit as good as anything you might purchase whilst ethically shopping in Booths.

We took some to work this evening.

What’s a jolly good life we are having.