07 April, 2014

Painting

a seemingly never-ending series of spindles (is that what they're called? the things that hold the banisters up) and the lightbulb has gone in the top hall and the light is fading and I can't reach the bulb to change it - so I'm stopping now and taking the poor long-suffering dog for a walk. Listening to music while painting:

(1) Adele: why does she sing as though she were some kind of world weary torch singer who's really been through the mill, when she's only 21? How many devastating relationships can she possibly have had? She's not bloody Billy Holliday
(2) soundtrack to 8 Femmes: love this. Now these ladies really sound as though they've been through the mill in a super-sophisticated French way. Perhaps I should actually try and work out what the lyrics are saying.
(3) Neil Young: After the Gold Rush - bought this cheap from Amazon and listening to it for the first time. Jury still out.

Going to give choir a miss tonight as I don't want to leave poor ill Child #3 on her own.

Afternoon

Tinned stilton and broccoli soup for lunch and tuna mayonnaise and tomato on toast. Dog looks hopeful. No chance, babes. Watching Gogglebox on 4oD.

Well, I was going to make a lemon meringue pie with Child #3 today, but since she has the dreaded lurgy, I'm going to sandpaper the top stairs instead, preparatory to painting it in brilliant white gloss. This is going to take a really really long time. It took me weeks to paint the shutters in the study because after about an hour, I'd lose the will to live and have to go off and do something else instead.

Thank God it's raining - no need to water the garden.

Mass Observation

I'm trying to get back into the habit of doing some writing every day and this seems like a good way to ease into it. So in the spirit of Mass Observation - so far today: Child #3 came into my room this morning to announce that she'd just thrown up and was feeling dodgy. I didn't think it could be food poisoning because I'd eaten everything that she'd eaten and I was fine - although to be fair, it has to be a pretty brutal bacterium to get through my Malaysia-honed digestive system - so I gave her some juice, some bread, some peppermint tea, a basin to throw up in (she hasn't again, so far) and sent her back to the bed. I suspect it's the same bug that Child #2 had a couple of weeks ago.

Toast and Marmite for breakfast, reading Wolf Hall on Kindle.

Had bath. Finished Norman Davies' Europe.

Walked the dog.

Went to Tescos and bought Spam, All Bran, rich tea biscuits, 2 packs of Duracell AA batteries, flour, chicken, salmon, bacon and Cif. Went to halal grocers and bought tomatoes. Went back to Tescos and picked up bag that I'd left behind.

Had a cup of tea with Anne. Bemoaned our uselessness in the face of life's challenges.

Defrosted mince for dinner.

Funded account with solicitors.

Bought some Sainsburys shares.

Played some online Scrabble against Little Sister.

Played some online Killer Sudoku.

Began JJ Norwich's History of Venice.

And now for lunch!