Monday and I wake groggily. I sort my social media and emails out till my partner brings me a coffee. Feeling more charged I get up and do breakfast and morning meds before starting on the pre Christmas tidy up. There is all the recycling of packaging to do and the returning of the Christmas decoration storage boxes to the loft before the house tidying can happen. There are bins to empty and rooms to be hoovered. Along the way I put washing away and also return to the loft to store some old duvets so that our last duvet can be stored in a bedroom cupboard. All of this takes me to lunchtime when I share soup with my partner.
Post lunch I wrap more presents and redo my to do list as I am still waiting for some things to arrive. The post arrives and to my surprise I get a card from a friend without a stamp on it. No one asks for money or points it out so I just assume that the disenchanted postal workers just let it go. Apparently it was sent quite a while ago so maybe the posties were being kind. There are some quick discussions about coffee, which leads to some research and a bulk buy, followed by an impulse buy as a surprise Christmas present. Finally it feels as if things are shipshape enough for the run into the festive season.
I clear some tools and odd bits of household stuff into he garage and notice a plastic bag with the broken bits of Minnie and Micky Mouse. These trinkets were brought back from Disneyland when we visited Florida a few years ago, unfortunately they did not survive the fall they took from the dresser some months ago. So in a the same festive spirit that saw me hang up the advent calendar and put the wreath on the door, gluing some loose fir cones back in place as I did it, I decided it was time to return Minnie and Mickey to wholeness. I’ve watched the Repair Shop, so I feel well able to undertake the task of gluing Mr and Mrs Mouse back onto their feet and reattaching Mrs Mouse’s hand. I gather together the required tools and set to work, starting by taping their feet to a board. The ceramics woman in the Repair Shop would be proud of me. I glue, hold, glue again; should have been more patient, but eventually get Mr and Mrs standing again.
I set about touching the couple up and deploy my artistic skills with a bit of acrylic paint and my pallet. It seems to go reasonably well. I am impressed by the way the acrylic paint pallet has kept the paint soft over such a long period of time. It was a good investment.
The happy couple will spend a night in recovery and then, providing they are fully dry and recovered they will be rehoused on the dresser, where hopefully, they will remain safely for many years to come. So a happy end is in sight. I clear away the tools and return them to the Shed. By now my partner has finished work for the day and the evening looms. I have a coffee and start to draft the blog. The evening could be tricky, no more football, no more Strictly, no more Happy Valley (what a misnomer that was), no more Strike, so he hunt for entertainment is on. I may peruse my book shelves and see what has eluded me or we might scroll through Netflix, i-player, ITVx, Prime video or even the radio times. I’ve already had a look at Christmas on TV, no Dr Who special, that’s it then Christmas is going to rely on someone giving someone else a jigsaw of fiendish difficulty or we all go mad and play a marathon game of Monopoly. However tonight goes I will not have trained but the house is relatively tidy.
During the day a friend tried to call, (the one who forgot the stamp), which I missed but she did message me to remind me that my screen saver at work was “Under No Circumstances Buckle”. My partner has also nudged me towards considering new options in my diet (Hairy Bikers cook books are strategically left with me) and to also consider putting more variation into my training by reintroducing some weights work. This is probably a good idea as it means that I may venture the gym more often. I shall give this serious consideration and might even visit the gym tomorrow morning. The free shower in a warm club might just be the incentive I need right now.
