I am feeling very pleased with my world indeed.
I am as pleased as a pleased thing, as pleased as somebody who got up this morning and did not stand in a dog accident.
In fact I was that person, this morning it was Mark’s turn.
We have bought some different dog food. We think they may be having some digestive difficulty with Asda’s Own Brand Cheap Dog Fodder, and have reluctantly, and sulkily, purchased some rather more expensive dog food, intended, we thought, for dogs whose owners can’t tell the difference between dogs and children.
I have given them some, and they wolfed it down, but they wolf down cow poo if I don’t watch them carefully, so that doesn’t really mean anything.
We have got our fingers crossed.
I am feeling pleased because today has been the most magnificent day.
I have not only finished, I have wrapped up and posted the Advent Calendars. They are gone for ever. I do not ever again have to stare at them sleepily, counting the doors and wondering why there is no number fifteen, and glaring at the bits where I messed up the perspective and was in too much of a rush to go back and change it.
We had planned to do all sorts of things this morning. I was going to empty the dogs whilst Mark cleaned his taxi ready for the MOT, after which we were both going to parcel up the Advent calendars. This is a complicated process involving lots of cardboard and brown paper, and so an extra pair of hands helps very much.
After that we were both going to go into Kendal and mooch around the shops whilst the taxi was being inspected, after which we could sail home peacefully and cook some nice taxi dinners before work.
Of course nothing like that happened.
Mark was cleaning his taxi when he discovered that the number plate lights were not working, and when I got back he was far too busy doing electrical things and swearing to help with the wrapping up.
I went up to do it on my own, but by the time we were supposed to set off for the MOT I was nowhere near finished. Indeed, I was surrounded by an apocalyptic mess of crumpled brown paper and parcel tape and sawn-off bits of cardboard, and so Mark had to go without me.
I was in such a tizz by the end of it that I completely forgot to add any explanatory notes, the sort of thing that says Love From Sarah, or Love From Granny, depending on the recipient concerned, so if you get an Advent calendar in the post tomorrow with an out-of-perspective picture and no note explaining where it has come from or why, probably you can blame me.
I was just handing the last one over the counter to Nigel in the Post Office, who glanced at the parcels and said: Oh, Advent calendar time again, is it? when the phone rang and it was Mark telling me that his taxi had passed its MOT.
We were both light-headed with relief. I mean really light-headed. I can hardly explain the feeling. Two enormous things achieved, all in the space of a minute.
We both came home for a celebratory cup of tea, and I sent all of the taxi paperwork in to the council before I forgot.
After that we thought that it wasn’t really too late to go shopping, although it was really, so we went shopping.
We bought all sorts of exciting things, like socks, and underpants for Mark, and we both needed some new slippers so we bought them as well. I bought a dress in TK Maxx whilst I was there, it was a size fourteen and a bit big, but I am planning to eat lots over Christmas so I thought it would do nicely. It appears that I have got thinner than I was, although I can’t say I look much different, still like an upturned bowl of blancmange without my clothes on, but perhaps less blancmange than previously, who would have thought there were so many dress sizes in chocolate buttons.
I am wearing my new slippers now.
They are a very happy moment for my feet.
It has been a Good Day.
