Filled With Love

By anybody's standards today has been quite a long day. Common sense would say get to bed, get some sleep, you've done enough...

The Write-Fiend within me cannot go along with such sensible suggestions, feeling instead driven to post on here something of today's happenings before retiring to the warmth of the heatpad and comfort of the memory foam.

Today started - or ended - at 1.30am when sleep closed a long day of volunteering for Christian Aid. Judging a bake off that involved the tasting of 14 superb cakes, then hanging out in a pop up shop full of items customised and signed by A Listers made for an interesting day. It could have ended - or at least wound down - with a session of sofa slouching from 6pm onwards. Instead I baked somewhere in the region of 80 cupcakes to be tucked in lock'n'lock boxes for the night, ready for their 6.30am start.

I flat iced, frosted, piped and finished the cakes in time for a collection at 10am, a delivery at 11am and three postal orders this afternoon. All went well until the moment when the post office cashier told me - midway through my transactions - that the card machine wasn't working for my particular card. Expletive deleted but couldn't he perhaps have mentioned that before we started? Especially bearing in mind I am at the post office every other day with my pile of parcels?

He suggested I withdraw cash from the machine outside. I refused - why pay to withdraw money from my own account. He told me to tear off the stamps (presumably aborting the transactions). I refused on the basis these are cakes, they need to go today, and he could have said the machine was out of order. I ask him if he has a phone, no. Lady behind suggests I drive to petrol station, I start to explain why I don't drive and get exasperated - until - hallelujah - I have an idea!

I run to the dental surgery three shops down from post office and yes, my dear friend is there and able to lend me £20. I run back. Lady with advice re petrol station is now posting a trillion engraved badges she's selling via ebay. I wait.

I wait so long that by the time I am walking home it is hailing cats, dogs, snails, rabbits, geese, elephants and probably rhinocerii. I have no key so ring the doorbell, but Ian is in his studio at the end of the garden and Dave has his headphones on. I make my way round the back, into the house, shiver, turn the heating up to a couple of degrees less than it used to be when I had a "proper" job and decide what to do next.

It turns out to be an easy decision - emails in my inbox suggest a couple of phone interviews might be in order, to get ahead for local news magazine this week. After which building a website becomes the priority - so I do that (as you do....)

I finish in time to go for drinks with some very good friends. Four of us, three bottles of red, the world is put to rights and it is finally time for bed. 

There have been some lovely emails asking how I am enjoying being a lady of leisure... #justsaying