Mark is still at Lucy’s, and Oliver and Emily have buzzed off to some shooting range somewhere near Liverpool, and I am by myself.
I quite like this.
Obviously I like having all of my family cluttering up the kitchen and filling the hearth with their boots and emptying the sausages out of the fridge, but it is rather happily quiet now that they have all buzzed off.
Rather to my alarm, once they had all disappeared I found that what I wanted to do more than anything was crawl back into bed and sleep for a few hours whilst the house was so wonderfully hushed. Obviously I did not do that, but now that I am out on the taxi rank I am mildly disconcerted to realise that even though it is only eight o’clock, my eyes are closing and I am surprising myself with the occasional yawn.
I might have been a bit busy lately.
Fortunately, it is not raining, and whilst it is not exactly a heatwave, I took my jersey off this afternoon. I have put it on again now, but I am treasuring the moment in my memory, perhaps it is the Beginning. It could be that a real heatwave is on the way. I have got my fingers crossed.
The dogs are not impressed with the heatwave now that they are newly bald, and have dug up the cover on the sofa so that they can coil themselves up underneath it. They have mostly recovered from the shocking trauma of being pinned to the table and forcibly stripped, but they are still a little subdued, and Rosie did not jump in a single beck this morning on our walk.
Since, as mentioned, I was not exactly bursting with energy when we got back, I took the opportunity to loaf about and shirk in front of the computer for half an hour. This was not entirely unjustified, there were some forms to be filled in for the funeral director, which basically wanted my name and address and to know if I still thought I was a girl or if perhaps I might have changed my mind recently, but also it was the day for the Cambridge vote.
I have been disproportionately looking forward to this.
Cambridge is electing a new Chancellor, and now that I am a fully-fledged member of the Senate, I am allowed to vote about it.
The Chancellor is not really the chap who makes the decisions. The Vice Chancellor does all of that. The Chancellor used to be Prince Philip, and basically his job was to dress up in some extravagantly furry garment from Ede and Ravenscroft, nod and shake hands with people, and occasionally smile winningly at wealthy people and encourage them to donate large sums of cash to the university.
This might not sound very demanding, but all the same, it is an important job, and we do not just want any old muppet doing it.
I have taken my newly enfranchised responsibilities very seriously, I can tell you.
I have read all of the candidate statements, and then looked them up on the mighty Internet, just to make sure, because if it was me I would probably try and look better than I actually was in my candidate statements, like writing a CV. You do not mention anybody who sacked you and you go on and on about anything you have managed to achieve that didn’t actually get you in trouble.
My CV is a bit uncomfortably short. It says Taxi Driver.
Anyway, I have read about all of the candidates, and today was the Big Day for decision making.
I chose a chap who did not go on and on about climate change and whom did not even mention equal rights for all people even the ones who unaccountably wish to dye their hair pink and wear stripy leggings without being ridiculed. This chap talked about sensible economics and improving lecturer contracts, and was an astrophysicist in his spare time. I do not know how he would look in a furry robe but feel sure that he would give it a good effort.
After that I went out to get on with the front garden. I have been getting on with the task of making the arches look like trees. They do not look much like trees at the moment. Actually they look like a gigantic spider after a visit to A&E, because I have been wrapping them. I have covered them with bark, and then with a large bandage incorporating some soil. I will do another soily bandage tomorrow and then get to the mossy bit.
I have attached a picture.
