I’m not happy at this time of year.

I don’t know what it is but there always seems to be a list of things that Must Be Done.

I still haven’t fixed the ceiling lights. The problem there is that I need daylight to do the job and by the time I am awake enough it’s getting dark again.

Then there’s the carpet washing. I have already washed the carpets once this week and not long after I saw that Penny had blessed the newly clean carpet not once but thrice. I’m on the lookout for a suitably sized cork to see if I can stem the flow of piss out of the dog. She’s wearing me out but that’s nothing compared to the wear and tear on the carpet and the shampoo machine. That’s another job I have to do – fix the nozzle on the shampooer as it is suffering from nervous exhaustion.

There are several other urgent things that need doing but I can’t remember what they are. A failing memory has its advantages.

Yesterday I escaped down to the village for a quick round of the shops and a slow round of coffee. Very pleasant to be sure.

On the way home I had a repeat of a new problem. The new lane is upsetting me. I’m used to the bumps and the potholes in the lane and they’re gone now. Everything is smooth and the bumps I used to use to judge my spot to start reversing in the gate are gone. As a result I keep getting the reversing wrong. The gate isn’t that wide so it needs careful navigation while going backwards and a mistake can lead to a graceful crunch against the steel gateposts. I could do without that.

Now it’s getting dark again.

Too dark to start on the ceiling lights.

I’ll do the bins instead.

The view from my coffee shop yesterday