Wednesday and I wake after a sluggish night and drink the hot water my partner brings me before she goes with her brother to see their mother. I take my vitals that seem to have settled so I am hoping for a good day. I check messages and do some admin before getting up and into my training kit. I message my son and wish him Happy Birthday, poor bloke is working earlies this week so has to wait to open his presents, which miraculously have all arrived in time this year. There is a fried egg sandwich and orange juice to accompany my morning meds. There are some things to be ordered before I can finally get into the garage and prepare myself for a 45 minute row. I am not feeling so bright but I go through my rituals which means once I have pressed the button on my Fitbit I have to start. So off I go listening to a training podcast from the BBC. By the 30 minute mark I am just behind my standard by about a minute so I start to put in a bit more effort. The extra effort pays off and I end the session beyond my required standard with a good calorie burn.

I record the session in my journal and then shower. By the time I’ve sorted myself out I am feeling fatigued and find we have runout of tomatoes, my current favourite at the moment. I keep checking my emails to see if the updated anthology manuscript is available, but it isn’t. I know I grow inpatient and that it is my stuff but I am looking forward to that moment when I can hold the completed anthology in my hands. It will feel like a proper book, less a pamphlet. I take the walk across the road to the post office and send the letter I wrote yesterday on its way before retuning home clutching jelly babies and ready to draft the blog. However before I can get going I ring Green Flag to get the car on my contract changed. All goes well until the “agent” askes me to wait and put me on hold, twenty minutes later my phone screen goes askew and I have to reset my phone. I return to the App and do what I can and then leave it knowing that I will get an email wanting me to go round the same ridiculous circular ritual.

I draft the blog while the it continues to rain and my partner knits with a Maggie Smith film on in the background. As the light fails and the evening begins I start to make a mental list of what I need to do to get ready for the jaunt at the weekend. It is the tricky part of the day, there is food to think about and then an appropriate activity to fill the evening. As the weather changes the challenge of the first winter for both I and my partner being retired becomes apparent. For the moment we have plenty to occupy ourselves and I suspect that as the weeks progress there will be an increasing amount to do.