Daily life

For those who wonder what kind of things Richard does every day, he wrote a great post describing last Friday - if you read it, he'd appreciate a comment.

As for me, life is not quite so busy or full of interruptions, but it does seem to be full. Today, for instance, I woke a little before 6am with Sophia walking over me and talking. I think she was telling me it was time to get up, but I'm not really clever enough to understand every nuance of cat language. Anyway, I got up and she let me know I was doing the right thing. Quick visit to the bathroom, then down to the kitchen to make some instant coffee, and point out to Sophia that there's still some dried food in the bowl. I did give her some fresh water, and a spoonful of yogurt.

Then to my study for half an hour of peace to drink my coffee, and have what might be called an approximation to a quiet time. I read, and think, and pray as I wake up. Then to the kitchen to unload the dishwasher (which I still thoroughly appreciate), followed by some dusting and sweeping.

By then it was 7am and starting to get light. I ate an apple, opened a few windows and doors, spoke to the cats, and then greeted my mother (who is staying) who came to get some coffee. I did a quick clean of the downstairs 'cloakroom', then upstairs to have a shower and a quick clean of the bathroom. It felt cool enough that I put on jeans rather than shorts for the first time in several months. Then I gathered up some dirty laundry from the basket and went back down to put the washing machine on. After that I mopped the entire floor - I don't know how it manages to get so dirty every day, but Cyprus is a dusty country and the only way to keep the floor tiles looking good is a quick mop with plain water every day.

Then I had breakfast (muesli with a little pineapple juice on it, a chopped nectarine and some home-made yogurt), and took Richard his coffee a bit earlier than usual as I was going out. I planned to leave the house at 8am but it was ten past by the time I actually left.

I walked straight into the town - a twenty-minute walk for me at this time of year, though it's not much more than a mile - and checked the PO Box. A book had arrived for Tim's theology course, a few bills, and one or two other things. Then into the town where I popped into a bookshop for a few minutes, and checked vitamin prices in a pharmacy.

Then on to the hairdresser, who works just around the corner from where we used to live. It was nearly 9am by the time I got there, and she was ready for me. A wash, careful cut and blow-dry only costs £4 which seems very good value to me, and was finished shortly after 9.30. Then I walked directly home, which took about 15 minutes. Our house, the PO Box and the hairdresser form an approximate triangle.

I arrived back to good news and bad. The good news was that builders had arrived to look at the door frame in the main bedroom in our guest flat. The bad news was that one of the local dogs was lying dead between our house and our neighbour's. It had evidently been run over in the night. There are lots of dogs locally, most of whom seem to run around freely and have no car sense at all, so it's not surprising but still sad. I had no idea what (if anything) one was supposed to do when discovering a dead dog, but hoped someone else would know.

I went in and had a cold drink. Then folded yesterday's laundry straight from the line, and hung out today's. I took yesterday's upstairs to put away, and a friend called round with some books she's getting rid of, to add to our collection. She didn't stay long, and after that my mother and I set out to walk to the Thrift Store. On the way out I saw one of our neighbours looking at the dead dog; she said she would phone the police. So that's what one is supposed to do...

The Thrift Store is much closer than it was from our old house, and took us not much more than 15 minutes to walk there. There we found what I was looking for - a few inexpensive single blankets to put in the guest flat. We have plenty for ourselves, but with six guests staying for the next few days and weather getting a little chillier I thought we should have a few blankets for downstairs.

We looked at books, furniture and other miscellaneous items but the only other thing I bought was a large towel in good condition. We came home, and I put the blankets straight in the washing machine on a cool wash.

By then it was 12.00 midday. I put some eggs on to boil and went to talk to Tim who was downstairs in the studio working on some music editing. Then I came upstairs to switch on the computer and check my email. Several messages, as ever, though nothing needing urgent attention.

Richard didn't come home for lunch today: the bookkeeper was in, and there was a lot to catch up on, so he took in a sandwich and planned to work through his lunch-break. So three of us sat down to bread, salads, cheese etc around 1pm, and afterwards Tim made me a frappé. Just before lunch I hung out the blankets downstairs on the line, hoping they'll be dry before our visitors arrive this evening.

Now it's nearly 4pm. Tim has been working on a friend's computer and just came to take a network cable to finish it. He has a guitar student arriving in a few minutes. I've been going more slowly through email, replying to a few; I've also been looking at other people's blogs, checking a forum I'm on, glancing at the news, making our accounts up-to-date, and playing a word game I like, as relaxation. Soon I'll go and start making preparations for our evening meal. I'm a morning person so by now I'm already starting to wind down. I may do a bit of knitting later on, or some more of my tapestry picture. Or I might just read. Since we have a rare evening when we're all in (assuming Richard doesn't have to return to the office) we might play a board game, or watch a DVD together after we've eaten and tidied up.

Thrilling, huh?