It’s Tuesday and a meeting day for not being an Elder anymore. So, I am faced with what I can usefully do with my additional time to myself today. I think about this after a late breakfast and clearing the kitchen. I open up the green house so my Echinacea colonies can have some sunshine and peruse my garden. I load up the dishwasher and set it going and then embark on my chosen joy project for the morning. I have decided so throw away all the socks and underwear that no longer bring me joy and to empty my store of new “just in case” socks and underwear. It seems my unconscious wants to play “out with the old and in with the new”. I just love it when my unconscious steps in and decides to run my life, its far less anxiety provoking and nearly always fun. So I end up with a bin bag full of old socks and pants which can be junked, and tidy new draws filled with favourite worn garments augmented by brand new, in the packet ones. I also end up with a much depleted but tidier reserve cupboard. The exercise is fun and in doing it a rediscover six brand new shirts, a pair of reserve slippers and a new tracksuit. I am not sure how I feel about a pack of sleeveless vests but retain them against a harsh winter. Feeling suitable happy I start to draft the blog.

I am pleased with my efforts as it means when people ask me what I want for Christmas I can revert back to stereotypical father responses of “pants and socks”, although I will stipulate “Step One” pants due to my liking of the glide panels and comfort pouch. These things are important to a man of a certain age. So, it comes to lunch time, and I have the joys of expectation before me. Will the hog have eaten he/she’s food, will I make it to the gym, will I have time to mend the bathroom light properly if the new fittings arrive and will my single cafetiere arrive in time for a real coffee post evening meal? I am slightly disappointed that there are no further developments in the Blunder Truss saga today, it has degenerated into a media fest of people guessing and fantasising about the future, which is always boring but probably necessary for them to have careers and to tell themselves that they are keeping them informed. I’m sorry to break the news to them that I am perfectly capable of making up my own guesses and fantasies and that they can go and lay down for a while to calm down.

Time to gym. Or so I thought as Mr Amazon trotted up my path with the goodies I was waiting for. So, without any hesitation I set about replacing the dodgy light fitting in the bathroom. It was a straightforward snip off the old one and attach a new one. All went well and now it should be sound for years to come.

So, job well done I decide to indulge in my other new acquisition, my new single cafetiere. I fill the gleaming new pot and pour myself a real coffee to sip as I catch up with the blog. It is all part of working out what gives me joy and fresh coffee, is one of those things. I am hoping that I will drink less coffee but better coffee at the start of the day. As I type I almost get a phone call but for some reason it gets cut out. It’s a shame but life can be hectic and perverse where technology is concerned. Now it really is time to go to the gym, I must get out.

I went to the gym via the garage to check the tyres. Lucky, I did really. The front which should be 36 psi were below 30 and the rear ones that should be 33 psi were hovered in the mid 20s. Once I had got them up to pressure the quality of drive adn handling suddenly got a lot better. Onwards to the gym where I found a cross trainer and did a 50-minute session. I’m not sure how it went beyond the numbers, I wait and see how my body reacts to the effort. As usual Rammstein was loud in my ears but when I had finished and was walking round the gym floor to cool down, I played Bette Midler’s When a Man Loves a Woman. What a performance. I detest the part of going to the gym where I undress and then dress again post shower. I no longer like my body, its fat, misshapen and marked, not something to flaunt or parade in a changing room. At least the shower was hot.

So I go home, update the blog while downing a pint of squash and a packet of mini cheddars. At some point today I ought to eat some protein. Tonight, is a family planning night, (not a euphemism), we are going to sort out our trip to Birmingham on Saturday to see Cirque De Soleil, so there are trains and taxis to sort out plus of course all the other things that go with a family trip, like snacks, emergency clothing and anything else required to deal with the collective anxieties of the day. So, I expect an interesting evening and an early night, but before all of that Fort Hog has to be surveyed and food supplied if necessary.