For the past few nights, I’ve encouraged Ben to sleep on my bed. I know his new owners won’t, he simply takes up too much room – he only weighs a stone and a half, or ten kilos if you prefer, less than I do and, except that he doesn’t put his head on the pillow, he takes up about as much room as I do – so it’s not really fair to anyone that I’m doing so. But it’s nice for a while.
Russell and I had to stop sharing a bed some time ago because we kept waking each other up. Neither of us slept well and weren’t in much harmony with each other – that is, I mean that we were restless, it wasn’t that cuddling up helped, it was very much the opposite. To start with, he wasn’t thrilled when I pointed out that we slept better separately, but latterly he acknowledged it too and, even when we started in the same bed, the first to wake up tended to move into another room and that was usually him.
This has the advantage that I’m used to an empty space beside me and it hasn’t been something I’ve had to get used to. So it’s a bit daft to invite a dog on my bed (he really isn’t good at climbing and I have to lift him, half at a time) when it’s for the short term.
Still, never mind. Onwards and upwards, as ever. Shall I end with a few positives?
1 The new Head is so good. I really like him too, even if his mother is younger than I am, which is just such an ageing thought.
2 The fishmonger had smoked eel today, which I adore but hardly ever have the opportunity to buy. I first ate it when I was a child, when a Dutch au pair gave us some. A later, Finnish au pair brought us smoked reindeer meat. I ate that happily too. I was an unsentimental child.
3 I got the agenda for the next governors’ meeting done on time, which was touch and go for a while. I’m scraping the ‘positive’ barrel here.
There’s not been anything wrong with the day but the afternoon was taken up by a spectacularly dull meeting, and the morning by a number of phone calls, meaning I left late and didn’t have time for the very good lunch out that I’d been anticipating. I had a ham sandwich instead and it was pretty uninteresting. It came with some packet salad which I ate, some crisps which I ate and some coleslaw smothered in too much tasteless mayo, which I mostly left. I drank water. Not the oysters and white wine I’d looked forward to.
Ah, that wasn’t ending with positives. I must think of a couple more.
4 Graham phoned from New Zealand, Wink phoned from Dorset (she was at work) and Daphne phoned from Kent. Lovely people.
5 I received a cheque in the post that I hadn’t been expecting.