Really I do not seem to be achieving very much at the moment.
I had thought that once Christmas was over, my world would erupt with the doing of all sorts of fascinating things that I have been absolutely longing to do for simply ages. I have got a book to write and a camper van to design, and I have not even thought about either.
I haven’t even managed to change the sheets now that all of our visitors have gone. In fact I have barely done anything. I have come upstairs to the computer twice now, thinking that I would start thinking about my story, and both times I have just stared into space, as if the buttons on the keyboard were just too heavy to be compressed.
I think I might still be wagged out.
It is not all quite over. Jack and Mark have been faffing about with my taxi all day today. I could not work last night because it was not going properly. I had to stay at home, staring at my computer and feeling blank, whilst Mark went off to the taxi rank, where in between customers he tried to find out what the mighty Internet had got to say about fixing clapped out taxis with electrical faults.
They fixed it about an hour ago. They have explained in detail what the problem was but I am still no wiser. It is related to something on the top of the engine that had a corroded wire but was not where it was supposed to be, rendering it difficult to diagnose.
I said Goodness, and nodded politely.
I have managed to wash the dishes, sweep the kitchen, hang up the washing and take the dogs out for a chilly bluster over the fell. Number One Daughter dropped in this morning at the beginning of her long journey south, to say her farewells and collect the things they had forgotten. Number One Son-In-Law and Ritalin Boy popped in an hour later tosay their farewells and to collect the things that she had forgotten. I do wish they didn’t live so very far away. We shall miss them. It has been so lovely to see them all.
My grandson is taller than me and is growing a moustache. I am really that old.
I like being that old. There are not nearly as many nasty surprises in life.
Jack is heading back south this afternoon as well, although he might be coming back tomorrow. He is bringing Lucy’s car and he and Mark are going to fix that and the leaky oil seal on my taxi. This has not stopped it from going but leaves an embarrassingly incontinent puddle behind it on the taxi rank. Also the sort of oil that it needs costs sixty quid a gallon. This is even more expensive than printer ink, and hence it is galling to see it sloshing merrily out on to the pavement, usually after it has dripped on to the exhaust and made a nasty smell.
They are going to get it fixed next week.
I am looking forward to that, not because I am emotionally attached to having a functional taxi. This is useful but hardly exciting. I am hoping that they will get it done soon because then we can start on the camper van, which is the thing that I am really, really longing to do, with my whole soul.
I have planned it and planned it. Mark is talking about storing batteries and putting in pipes for waste water, but I have been looking at exciting designs for wallpaper. I do not usually like wallpaper, but I have found some on the mighty Internet that is absolutely stunning, and it does not matter that it costs a very lot for every roll, because the camper van is not very big.
As soon as my taxi has been fixed then we will be able to make a start.
I have been looking forward to that day for a long time.
It is almost here.
Very soon now.
