Doldrums Week
This is a strange week.
The week between Christmas and the New Year always strikes me as a week to get through as quickly as possible. It’s a week where it is difficult to do anything outside the home or to carry on any kind of business.
Daughter messaged me yesterday asking if I knew when Doc was back in business. I don’t know, and that’s the problem with these seven days – you never know who is open and working and who isn’t. We eventually discovered that apparently Doc is open but only for a few hours a day and seeing as we are in the middle of a storm of numerous diseases the chances of an appointment to see Doc are slim. By the sound of it, Daughter has one of the multitude of viruses that are feasting on us at the moment. She has possibly given us a late Christmas gift of a dose but we can only wait and see.
I’m going to nip down to the village later. I know the grocery shop is open but I forgot to check the coffee shop’s plans. I may have to sit on the terrace and pretend I have a mug in front of me. Penny will just have to imagine her feed of chicken too.
I also have to visit Skobieville sometime in the near future to visit the Social Welfare crowd. It’s a right pain in the hole of a visit as it is to merely prove to them that I am who I say I am, as if there could be any doubt. Are they open this week? Haven’t a clue. They can wait.
I’m expecting a parcel any day. Is the post system running or not? Are parcel delivery firms operating? I’m having to make regular trips to the front garden to find out if there is a parcel dumped in the bins.
The problem is of course that workers are taking advantage of the two holidays to take a few day’s leave. I used to do it myself – keep a few days of annual leave to make a long break during Doldrums Week. It wasn’t that pleasant a week though as the thought of the long stretch ahead of working through the gloomy dark days before Spring was always hanging over my head like the Sword of Damocles.
Roll on next week when we can get back to a semblance of normality.
The Doldrums. A range of dull wee hills in Ireland, which seem to stretch to infinity.
I am sure that Daniel O’Donnel sang songs about them that would have you severely diluting your Murphey’s with tears. Bestrewn with Mammies, colleens and faithful collies. And folk who disappeared to Merica.
Excessive exposure to the songs leads to severe depression and suicide.
Not to be confused with Drumlins, [A range of dull wee hills in Ireland, which seem to stretch to infinity] which are a remnant of the last glaciation period.
Or indeed, Dolmens which are prehistoric graves [they surmise].
Still, The “Dark Days of Winter” end Friday (Cambridge at least, I think you’re about the same latitude). After that it starts getting lighter in the morning as well as the evening.
PS: When you go “show your papers” to the social scum, please give them my disrespect too 🙂
The Solstice was only last week but there is already I have noticed a slight brightening of the evenings.
Over here a red sky at night all the way to morning means that the local oil refinery is going full whack with maximum flare off.
After all if The Gubment insists on blocking all cheap sources of power it would be an eejit who did not take advantage of the resultant shortage of even very expensive energy by kindly filling the gap.