Hurrah, I'm feeling very nearly back to normal! Well, about 95%. And that is good enough for me.
And it cheered me up a lot to go for a walk with K. We decided to go to the little private nature reserve near us. It is an abandoned communal garden, and a few houses do back onto it, but hardly anyone takes any notice of it. Still, the lawn is mown now and then, huge bushes are occasionally cut back a bit, and rubbish is cleared sometimes, and this creates a situation in which wild creatures and plants can spread themselves out. I really love it.
I was thrilled to see some drifts of snowdrops. Here's one.
And crouching down to look at some seeds, I came face to face with a local cat, which had settled there to look at the many birds.
My main mental exercise while ill has been re-reading as many of Jacqueline Wilson's old teenage novels as I could find. Wilson is a big name in British children's fiction, both for the "Tracy Beaker" TV series and also for scores of junior-age books about girls in challenging situations. But I was specially interested in reading the teenage ones, which are long out of print. I did remember how these particular ones swept my daughters (and me) along in the most remarkable way, and had intended for a while to look them out. And I'm glad to say that, although they are now dated in parts, they were every bit as readable and compelling as I remembered.
So far I've re-read "Dream Palace" about a girl who helps her mum and well-meaning step-dad to run a dingy hotel in a seaside resort. She is enchanted by a superficially glamorous but very disturbing character squatting in an abandoned hotel, who seems to be everything she has ever wanted....and is so very kind to her. The book was so full of menacing possibilities that I simply couldn't put it down, specially when poor old stepdad got involved - it was surprisingly shocking.
In "The Power of the Shade", a girl living a drab life with her grandmother has a cruel and insecure "best" friend who convinces her she is a witch with power to cast a spell on the teacher she has a crush on. As an adult, you could ask yourself how a sensible girl could get into that situation, but Wilson pulls her readers totally inside that teenage world and showed exactly how it could happen.
And in "Deep Blue" which I am reading now, the main character is trying to assuage her guilt at defying her devoted but domineering father. She finds herself with a hopelessly unsatisfactory boyfriend, there's nobody at school she really wants to be friends with, and she has lost the competitive diving which has occupied all her spare time for years. So she decides that her body is the real problem, and one which she certainly can deal with, by simply not eating. I haven't finished it yet and am wondering how she'll turn the situation around. I'm sure she will find a way, though. One of the nice things about books for teenagers is that they are generally end well and leave you feeling that difficult situations can usually be coped with.
Talking of which, here's a catch up on the bathroom situation for you. WELL, the replacement bath is not available after all even though it was said to be in stock! Managed to find another bath that is said to be in stock and able to be delivered in five days. WOW! Except that it costs twice as much as the one we bought in October. Better bath, mind you. So we are buying. Inflation is set to rise to 7% by April, so if we wait too long we won't just have an unfinished bathroom, but it will cost us more too. Most of all, a bath in the hand is definitely worth two on a container ship stuck for the next few months outside Felixstowe!
T. has been continuing with his painting and it is very heartening to see all that beautiful white gloss going on. He has taken to buying paint for professional decorators. It is a bit harder to use, but he does prepare the surfaces well and it looks a treat when it finally does dry.
I did my bit by clearing out some cupboards - including some of those that he is painting. I found this mug which I really should use. I love the way it looks, but the dog's head serves as the handle and I don't feel secure holding a large mug of hot liquid by a dog's nose. I keep imagining my fingers slipping and the mug tipping sideways.....
But I can't keep it in the cupboard forever, so I've decided I'm going to use it as a vase. Next time I buy some daffodils I'll see how they look. And, if remember, I will take a photo and post it here.
