The toad tadpoles are getting very large and toad-like. I have been inspecting them carefully every morning and I can practically see the outline of their little toady backs inside the blobby tadpole shape. It is very exciting, but we have got to go off to Scotland quite soon, and so it is only too likely that I will miss the exciting developments as they happen next week.
Oliver called this morning having had a GCSE Trauma. He sat down at one of the exams only to discover that he could not answer a single question. He had not read any of the texts that the questions wanted to know about, and nothing made any sense.
This is the sort of thing you have nightmares about when you are doing exams.
Mercifully it was only a very few minutes before it was discovered that the school had somehow printed out the wrong papers.
A huge fuss followed, the sort where teachers run about swearing under their breath whilst trying to look calm and reassuring, and eventually the correct papers were produced and the exam was restarted.
Oliver was not so traumatised he could not answer the actual questions on the real exam paper, and so a happy ending followed after all.
Lucy called this afternoon. She has finished her dissertation and handed it in, and so is feeling very pleased with herself, although gloomily contemplating the laundry that was neglected in the run-up to the deadline.
I also have an assignment to hand in. I have got to write a play. I have not started yet. I know what I think I would like to write, but somehow life keeps getting in the way and I just have not written anything.
I handed the title in. It is called a Thoroughly Modern Mystery. It will still be called this no matter what I finish up writing about.
Apart from not writing my play, I have had a very busy day. I went to Booths for some ethical shopping, and they had an Indian chap in there with a stall full of Indian things, like onion hajis and pakoras. I did not purchase any because of being on a limited budget, but I was sufficiently inspired to come home and have some Indian culinary adventures of my own.
I made Bombay potatoes. This was because I still had some Jersey Royals left that I have managed to keep hidden from Mark. Mark is very occupied with his garden at the moment, and every time it looks as though a bag of potatoes might be chitting in the bottom of the fridge, they disappear off to the farm.
I hid these under an elderly pineapple in the bottom drawer..
I did not bother to look at any instructions for the correct way to make Bombay potatoes, but I fried these in butter with a grated onion and some interesting spices. I do not know how they will taste, but the kitchen smells enticingly foreign, which is always splendid.
Apart from that, we are expecting my parents to visit at weekend. They are passing close to the Lake District, and thought they would pop in. This is lovely, but when I looked around I thought some extra cleaning might be a good idea. The dogs have enjoyed their bones from the butcher very much, but they have left a disgusting residue of bone fragments and grease all over everywhere, which is off-putting enough if you live here, but would be considerably worse if you were just visiting.
Roger Poopy was even caught trying to take his on to the sofa.
I washed everything. Then I took the covers off the sofa and washed those. Then I washed the dogs. They were horrible. They were especially horrible because Roger Poopy did an interesting wee this morning, and the others were so intrigued that they both stuck their heads under it to find out more. After that Rosie fell in the mud in the tarn and Roger Poopy rolled in some badger poo.
I shoved them in the bath and scrubbed them all. Then I had to scrub the bath. After that I scrubbed my taxi. The dogs had not been in there but lots of equally horrible taxi customers had been. Not everybody has a shower quite as regularly as perhaps they should.
The result of all of this is that I am looking forward to work tonight. I have got a clean house to leave behind me, an interesting picnic and a clean taxi. I have made a huge jug of tea, and very soon I am going to set off.
I have finished writing to you and so I can settle down and read my book.
I might even think about writing a play.
