Wednesday was a letter writing, exercise bike and Shed day with a prolonged (3 hours) particle physics, cosmology and astrophysics TV session at the end of the day thanks to BBC4. Two things were highlights, the first was a friend ringing me for a conversation and the second was a squirrel. Having spent the morning writing letters and trotting off to the post box I waited along with my partner for the doctor to ring her with some test results. The doctor did not ring much to the frustration of my partner. I spent the afternoon waiting too but in the end headed for the bike in the Shed and very gingerly pedalled away an hour.
Time 
Kilometres 
Calories
My partner continued to wait for the doctor to ring having planned to go for a swim in the gym, neither of these materialised. What did show up was a squirrel in the garden. It seemed to be busy preparing for winter.
By the time early evening arrived it was clear the doctors was not going to ring and we were not going for a swim.There was a collective slough and a lack of enthusiasm to cook so we order in an Indian meal, and damn good it was. I read for a while and then at 9 o’clock I started my three hours of particle physics and astrophysics. It was great so much more healthy for my brain than NCIS and Silent Witness. At midnight I went to bed with a head full of quarks, dark matter and dark energy quite pleased that as clever as we are humanity is still ignorant about what makes up most of the universe. I slept poorly.
I woke on Thursday morning, late for a meeting after what was a crap night. I occasionally have nights when my hormone depleted state produces hot flushes of such magnitude I cannot sleep and need to try and cool down. In this situation I decamp to the spare room and the bed with the much firmer mattress. For some reason this seems to help especially if I open the window to the cool night air. So for most of the night I sleep fitfully but it seems that once morning arrives I sleep better or in this case late. I dash to my laptop and log in to find my manager is “in the room” so she and I have a long chat. By the time we finish I am very hungry and indulge in a fried egg sandwich and more coffee. It has thrown my day out so I resort to clearing the kitchen and then reading I finish Paul Nurse’s What is life. It is brilliant at making cell biology understandable and a real revelation about just what drives life and living things. I now understand that I am full of “wet chemistry” pushing protons through little molecular turbines to create energy when and where I need it. I am amazing, but apparently the same mechanisms in my cells are the same in all cellular beings, e.g every living thing. Who knew that research on yeast cells could tell us so much about life. Its time for a late lunch and then some conversation with my partner as the doctor finally rang to say all her test results are normal.
I clear the kitchen and as I am emptying the dishwasher I spot not one but two squirrels in the garden using the new feeders. They are not adults but this years young. They appear to be siblings as they co-operate. Adults would chase each other off as they are so territorial. Interestingly one of them worked out how to open the lid on the feeder while the other one seemed not to get it. However the “dim” one figured out two things. Firstly that the “clever ” one dropped food when it opened the lid so there was food to eat. Secondly the “dim” one figured out how to get food from the nearby bird feeder that the “bright” one ignored. Somehow I think these sibs will get through the winter.
The “bright” one figures it out 
The pair share
The “dim” finds an alternative 
And eats the rewards.
I retire to the garage to row for half an hour, it needs to be hard so I grit my teeth and give it a good go.
By the time I get out of the garage the guy who does the garden has arrived and started to gather the fallen leaves. We chat and I make him tea and we discuss what needs to be done. Its a real boon to have someone just once a week do a couple of hours in the garden, especially at this time of year. I drive my eldest daughter to circus skills class. While she learns trapeze I read the novel I am struggling to get through, I really do not care about the characters. Fortunately a friend rings and we chat about work and families until my daughter reappears. We travel home to eat, I catch up on the blog whilst keeping an eye on the film my partner is watching. Hopefully I will sleep better tonight as tomorrow I go for my flu jab, my first. I figure I’ve got so much chemical crap in me more wont hurt, in fact if I can cram in a pneumonia jab I will.
