– because I do use this blog as a diary, so that I have some record of when things happened. The day-to-day can get a bit uninteresting though, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.
I’m sitting on the sofa, bowl of strawberry ice cream in front of me and hopeful dog by my side. I’ll give him a spoonful before I finish. And the phone rang at that point and a friend asked me if I’m going to the lunch in Norwich tomorrow – eek! I’d forgotten it, and I’m supposed to be taking the information sheets for everyone, which I’ve yet to print out. Thank goodness she rang. And Ben has had his ice cream, though I did remove the pieces of strawberry and eat them first.
Another visit to London yesterday, this time by car, to pick up the china from our Hampstead friend. I can’t say I really enjoy the journey, but it went smoothly enough. I’ve promised I’ll photograph her china, which I’ll have to fit in somehow, before I leave for Wiltshire. I’ve already realised I’ll have to take my computer – I thought the iPad would be fine, but I don’t know what documents I might want and it’ll be simpler to take the lot. A Mac is just a screen and keyboard, it’s no trouble to load into the car. I’ve got to the stage of making lists, though I’ve a feeling that I’ll be writing the emails on that particular list on the night I arrive. I’ll be with her for a couple of weeks at least and have a list (of course) of things to take for her, starting with a suitably high armchair. For anyone who doesn’t know, my sister is having a new hip this weekend and I had the same operation four years ago, so I know what she’ll want.
I was really tired last night. On the way home, we’d called in on a friend near Saffron Walden, so were pleasantly delayed by a couple of hours. I woke up around 8 and spent a while reading the online newspaper, playing online Scrabble, checking Facebook, while I woke up enough to get out of bed. Then I heard a car, then a knock at the door. I got up and looked and it was someone delivering some papers for me to sign. So I put on a dressing gown and hurried downstairs, let him in and chatted for a few minutes, while really hoping he would go before I fell over.
In my young and thinner days, this was a problem of mine – when I got up too quickly, my blood pressure dropped and I was ready to faint. I managed to get back to bed today, head swimming and ears buzzing, and Russell got up to let Ben out. I had to lie there for a good half hour – but no longer, because I had a haircut booked for 9.15.
Darlings, this was quite embarrassing. I arrived, only a minute late, which was remarkable in the circumstances, and the very young girl at reception assured me I wasn’t booked in. Who was going to cut my hair? I still wasn’t on top form and I’m sure I looked it, and my mind blanked. Was it Sian? I wasn’t sure. I knew it wasn’t Ally or Ginny or Jo. How can a woman forget her hairdresser’s name? I showed her my phone, so that at least she knew I may have had the day down wrong, but I was here the day I thought I should be, and we looked for my appointment. She found it first. Yesterday. I wasn’t just a minute late but 24 hours and a minute. Oh bum. I was very apologetic. The girl was worryingly kind, I must have looked too confused and stricken for anything else.
Later, I went off to visit a friend. I headed for the main road and was confused again when there was a solid line of lorries going in the direction I wanted to, all stationary. I wondered if it was truckers’ convention or maybe a blockade, since the ones in front of me had no one at the driver’s seat. But, looking to the right, in the distance there were people in high-vis jackets, so probably there had been an accident. I turned the car and went back through the village and back on the bypass via the town. A stream of traffic was coming off the main road, which was shut, and I could see that there had been an accident. I was the right side of it though, so headed off.
I hope no one was badly injured, but if an accident had to happen, better today than tomorrow. The only way through the town centre is Trinity Street from north to south or St Mary’s Street from south to north. However, there’s a big roadworks planned in St Mary’s Street, which will be closed for several weeks. Accordingly, Trinity Street, which is one-way, will be altered to one-way-at-a-time, with traffic lights controlling it, for the duration. I suspect it’ll take ages to get anywhere at all. I’ve recommended to Russell that he park our side of the bottleneck and walk, but I suppose everyone will do that so he’ll be lucky to find a space. Once I’m home on Sunday fortnight I’m going to use my bike around town, whatever the weather. But can you imagine the traffic chaos if all those redirected cars had been caught by the lights, even though they weren’t going down the affected road? Blimey.
Darlings, if you think that was complicated and boring, you should have lived here for the past few months. Nothing in Bungay has ever caused more controversy. A few people have even pressed for, and obtained, a referendum – on the grounds that proper consultation wasn’t carried out. Actually, I think it was. You’d have had to have your head buried in the sand for the past year not to know about it.
But there we go, that’s democracy in action, I suppose. I’ve got to print out all these papers for tomorrow. Cheery-pip, sweethearts xxx