silent day so far.

 Now it is four in the afternoon on the last day of this year. And people are now more concerned over the transit from one year to the next than anything else.  Boil an egg for breakfast, there will be none left for tomorrow. The milk has thickened and gone sour.

Nothing is quite the way it should be, and if the last year was at fault, then good riddance.

A walk about town showed the whole town to be caught in a frost, A short visit to a café, a cup of coffee and a roll. Look at the watches in a jewellers shop. They are quite nice, with overcomplicated dials and elevated prices.

Return home, listen to the radio, take it easy. The back has healed, close contact with a radiator helps.

Listen to jazz from australia, read a book. 

There is to be socialising this evening, that will be reported on next year.

spoonwise

 In the sure knowledge that bedtime had been at one thirty this morning the feeling of wakefulness at seven in the morning was unconvincing. It just could not be. Get  up, pat the fussing cat on the head, go to the bathroom, then feed the cat. It is still far too early to be awake. The cat is complaining again, ignore the animal. Just go back to bed. Two hours later, after some sleep, hear that the cat is complaining again. Go out, open the door to the passageway, The cat does not want to leave. It likes the food, and wants more. Give the spoilt overweight animal some more food, and make a pot of coffee for breakfast. Read the news and do the word puzzle. The word puzzle is more difficult than usual. 

That president of the United States of America has made some tactless remark again. The question is really whether or not that country wants such a representative or not. That is all. Spoke to a migrant from the United States the other day. He wanted to be called an ex-pat, and was angry at being called a migrant. He could not really explain the difference, and it is hard to explain unless it is a matter of religion or something.

Go upstairs and have a shower. Return downstairs to the cat, the cat that will not stay quiet. Give her another spoonful of food. The small animal has no concern over being overweight.

Sort the clothes for the washing machine, and take them upstairs. The bathroom is occupied, wait about five minutes, then it is occupied no more. Fill the washing machine, put washing powder into the proper tray and start the machine. It does not start easily for some reason, perhaps something has jammed in the door. Open the door and close it again. Now everything is in order, the machine is working.

Go out to the yard and select a plank that has been there for at least ten years now. Measure a two metre length and make a mark with a pencil. Take the power lead and plug in the portable circular saw. Cut the wood along the mark. Get a second plank and do the same, Carry the four pieces of wood to the exit, and then return and tidy the circular saw and the cable away.

Tidy up the room, and sort the photographic equipment. Some pieces that had appeared to be missing turn up again. There will be a small job on the third of January, and a few things that need to be photographed in the artist's studio.

Feed the cat another spoonful.

Then go upstairs and transfer the wet clothes to the drying machine.

Spend time researching, and now it is half past four.

plastic boxes, stackable

 The hardware store was full of enthusiastic do-it -yourself  people with glowing eyes busily trying to obtain the latest and best deal on things that should normally be left to artisans. They are using their days off work between Christmas and New year.

Go in to buy eight plastic boxes to keep lenses in. Find them, pay for them and leave the home improvers heaven. Go to the next shop and buy a small bag of concrete.

Then go to the artist's place and leave the concrete there for a job to be done another time. After that go home, and return to sleep. The back pains are exhausting, and there is no understanding the other causes of all this tiredness. 

Awaken in the evening, the son has returned and is asking for his mail.

The day is a waste of time,  except for the plastic boxes.

maybe it was the drugs

 In the night there was a spectacular nightmare, involving car chases and people doing some kind of gymnastics or parkour stuff to escape. It was what might be called a B-rated action film. Really, a very strange thing.

In the morning it was seven, that was no good, forced sleep to come back, and then it was nine. The backache prevented normal walking. Made breakfast and established that there was no internet available. Finished the breakfast unhappy at the thought of having missed the news and the daily word  game. Take the pills and an extra one against the back pains that had been supplied by friends.

Returned to bed because of the general feeling of misery.

At two in the afternoon wake up again, and the back pains have gone. Perhaps it is the drugs or the unusually deep sleep or maybe it is just the painkiller drugs.

Hook the computer up to the router, without the WiFi. The net works. 

Unplug the wireless network machine and then restart it. Now that works as well. This is good news. Dot the washing up of all the breakfast things, turn the radio on and let it play jazz from Australia.

And now the problem is to work out what to do with the ruined day.

Eggs on Monday

The warmth in the room made for an early awakening, the heating feels as if it has made some kind of decision to warm things up early. It is most likely just a personal sensation, there is no reason for the heating system to change.

Make coffee and breakfast and read the news. Trump seems to want to name the world after himself. Planet Trump, that would be his real estate dream. He is like a dog, making sure all other dogs know that he is around.

Go upstairs to have a shower. For some reason it is necessary, the hot water does the back good. The  back is not as stiff as it was yesterday, walking is possible. Dress downstairs in the shop's back room, which is now a bedroom. Realise that there are no socks in the cupboard, go all the way upstairs and get a few fresh socks. 

Downstairs again realise that getting up at six is just not a good idea at all.

Lie down on the bed and sleep for another hour. This is what is called resting.

Read more news, there appears to be no good news in the world.

At one join the meeting of the artists in the local café. Just drink a cup of coffee, talk shop and leave. Go shopping for the things forgotten. There are no eggs in the shop any more, that is just too bad. Perhaps there will be eggs on Monday.

Rice is nice

 It was difficult to get out of bed today. There was a pain in the lower back and in the right hip, that made walking and balancing upright difficult. It was possible to get to the bathroom with some trouble, and then making breakfast. It was a major decision as to whether it would be possible to poach the eggs. but it turned out to be less of a problem. Carefully place the things on the table.

The pain is great. Walking is difficult. It is the same as the experience in Dublin.

The cause of this was yesterday evening, attempting to adjust a machine in an environment cluttered with tables and chairs and things. Reaching over and attempting to lift the jig of a tool sharpening machine caused a sudden sharp pain, similar to the pain experienced during a lumbar prolapse. The pain went away again, but whatever damage was done came forth at night, and caused the incredible pain and stiffness in the morning.

Remain indoors all day, stay close to the heating radiator, and slowly the pain recedes. Stay quiet and warm and do not walk to much. Attempt to gently move all of the sore parts, and that helps.

Now things are better, but going out for a drink would be a poor idea. 

Hopefully the pain will go away soon.

The day was spent reading and listening to an Australian jazz radio transmitter on the internet. The two small speakers from Bose are very pleasant, they have a pleasant mellow tone, not as shrill as the tiny speakers on the computer.

Make a plate of rice to go with the evening meal.  That is the first time in a long time. Rice is nice.

too boring

 At midnight on Christmas Eve there was a party, the artist and a few friends went on a visit to an elderly couple living in a large farmhouse in the country. It was pleasant,  there was just a strange feeling that the place was overheated. 

Wake in the colder morning, and resolve to do nothing all day.

Do that, clean up the little kitchen a bit, and just think about things that need to be done. It is very cold outside, there is no wish to go out. Neither the son nor the wife want to wish a happy Christmas, or even to say hello. That is disappointing, but what can you do?

It is now evening, and there is little to do, other than perhaps going to the studio. This is a short walk, it might do this old frame good.

There is really nothing to report to this blog. Even the cat left the shop, it was just too boring.

24.12

It is Christmas Eve and there is nobody to talk with. There is a constant feeling of the shivers, the weather has got very cold and it is snowing. It is not snowing much, but at least it will satisfy some demands to a few snowflakes over Christmas.

Stay in the room all day, feeling shaky and shivery. It seems to be a cold, but this is all very hard to understand. There is no reason for a headache, but there is one there. 

Settle down to try and read a book.

Make a dish of ramen noodles, they are so bad that they just get thrown away at once.

This coldness is not doing any good.

Wishing everybody a happy Christmas.

Read a book if there is sufficient concentration.

speedy morning

 The sound of the alarm at six thirty was not welcome. In the night before there had been a conversation at the studio until one in the morning, then a return home and in bed by one thirty. Awakening to the loud calls of the son calling for the cat, being completely disorientated and saying that the cat was on the couch in the shop, and falling back to sleep. At six thirty, disorientated, make coffee. The alarm sounds again, take care to turn it off properly. Get dressed, fresh underwear of course and fresh trousers. and a warm pullover. Look at the news, play Wordle in a few minutes and then walk through the town and pas the courthouses to the dentist's practice.

Go in, say hello and then go to the waiting room for half a minute, then follow the assistant to the treatment room. Wait for a minute, the surgeon comes in with his best bedside manner and without further ado removes the stitches. He asks whether everything is in order, and then wishes a happy Christmas.

Ten minutes after the appointment time walk back to town.

Visit a the small café and enjoy a cup of coffee and a small sandwich for breakfast. 

Return home, feed the cat and lie down for a short while, awaken at eleven in the morning.

Most of the time seems spent asleep.

emergency opposite

 It was dark and the feet were cold at night. It will be a good idea to wear woolly socks in bed, that will prevent that.

It was pleasant to awake early, and breakfast was a nice solitary meal. That was perfect. At eleven went out with the son and had a late cup of coffee in the small café that is also a bakery. Talk for a while and then go on. He wants a pair of headphones to replace the pair that he has. The pair that he has have a broken headband and the batteries are losing their ability to store power. Find a pair with a markdown on the shelf, and the package with a price that is five times as high. Ask the man at the counter which price is right. He makes a short check and say that the lower one is the correct one. Buy some toilet paper as well. This is for the upstairs toilet.

Return home, and the son fixes things on the computer, and makes it possible for the two machines to talk directly with each other rather than having to use a memory stick. It is all very simple when you know how.

There is a strange feeling in the throat, and breathing becomes difficult. Make excuses and lie down on the bed, and cover with a blanket.

Sleep for a couple of hours, and then go out to the shops. Do a small amount of shopping and buy a small electric razor for the son. It had been possible to ascertain that he had wanted something like that. The old razor that he used was a plug in version made over thirty years ago. It looks quaint, but it does not work well any more. Return home and work on the computer for a while, then start a game, and then lie down again. Sleep for a while.

The days are quiet like this.

In the evening, an ambulance team arrived at the house opposite. There was somebody waiting for them at the door, They left their lights flashing, and all went upstairs.

Presumably something had gone wrong, some medical emergency. They stayed around in front of the house, then they came down and tidied away their emergency rucksacks. Parts of the kit were thrown away and replaced from some storage cabinet inside the brightly-lit vehicle.

They hung around chatting for another while, and then they drove away.

It will be necessary to get up early tomorrow to attend the appointment with the oral surgeon who will remove the thread that he had left in the gums. He will also do a check on his work.

tomorrow

 An extremely quiet Sunday, there is no wish to move much. It is not only quiet, but it is cold. It is a day to stay inside, comfortable with the heating system in the old house. There is a sense of frustration, there is nothing important that needs to be done, the studio will be blocked until after Christmas. Perhaps it will be possible to start work again after Christmas Day. Maybe even on Christmas Eve, there are no family things to be done this year, unless it is for the pleasure of the son. So it would be possible to start work on the artists wooden works, the big ones, and to get the job finished. Things have gone on too long now.

In the early afternoon take a walk around the town. It is quiet, even around the Christmas market is quiet. Maybe people are just feeling the cold.

There is also the strange thing that the only people spoken too were in the café, once to place the order, and then to ask whether a seat was free at the table.

That was all before four.

Whatever happens after four this morning will be written about tomorrow.

cat food

 Cat noises in the morning, the cat is awake. She is hungry, or else she needs to go to her cat tray. Get up, and open the door to the passage. The cat looks and then sits down and refuses to exit.

Good, so the cat is hungry. Go back to the kitchen corner, and take a spoonful of cat foot from the small container and put it onto the cat's plate. The cat starts to feed. Since the animal has started to receive smaller portions it eats more slowly. This is not so easy to understand, but it appears to be so.

Have a breakfast, with neither milk nor butter. This complies with the dental surgeons orders.

Go upstairs and have an early shower. The bathroom is a shocking mess. It is now primarily used by the wife, there is no understanding this. But it appears to be too late to teach an old dog new tricks.

Go out and sweep the leaves away from the concrete surface of the back yard. It is unclear whether or not it looks better now. But at least it is tidier. Rearrange the empty flowerpots that have been lying around since summer. Put the leaves into a large plastic rubbish bag, Finally place a small heap of tools that has been lying on a bench since they were last used into the correct drawers of the tool cabinet. There is so much more to be done, but this is a start.

Put the brush away and return to the ground floor shop.  The cat is waiting for more food and is quite vocal about it. Read a book and take a rest. The cat is unhappily wandering about, then it settles on the sofa in the corner.

At midday go out to the meeting of the photographers and the artists and all the other self important people. They are friendly enough, they are talking politics now, there is a local election for the town mayor underway. The jazz drummer turns up, he is attempting to be the mayor. He does not have great chances.

Return home, the cat is outside the door, she is making a fuss. Let her in and give her another spoonful of cat food.

the rest of the day

 Listen to the radio and take it easy this morning.

Taking it easy is sometimes hard, it is hard to step back and asses those things that need to be done next. There is no one there to do them for you, still- the things must at least be organised in the mind before anything is undertaken. Just doing things tends to leave things unfinished.

The wife's leaving for her early shift made a bump in the night, it was somehow a feeling of being out on the street wrapped in a sheet and people wandering by looking. The bumping noise is her slamming of doors as she leaves her bedroom. This is unfortunate, it is a thing she has always done. Nobody is perfect, and she spends time demonstrating that she is somebody.

Dress and have breakfast, the one meal that causes happiness. Do the puzzle, and read the New York Times writing about the unspeakable Trump. The man who delegates everything and acts as if he had done it himself. The rest of the world will see if it does good or if it will end the way dictatorships do.

It is time now to get on with the rest of the day.

just unpleasant

 Things went bump in the night once more, it was actually early in the morning around about half past five in the morning. The wife must have hit the floor hard for the early shift wherever she works. Get up and make a milk and butteries breakfast, complying with the doctors orders. The stitches are due to come out on the twenty-third of December.

The morning was spent chasing dust bunnies with the vacuum cleaner. This is no sport really, but it needs to be done. All the woollen things were washed and hung up to dry.                                                                                                                                                    

It is strange how the removal of a tooth leaves a residue of tiredness. Yesterday, took a walk over to the studio and sharpened a few chisels. Sharpening chisels has something meditative about it, they are now as sharp as razors. Test them on the hairs growing on the arm, the hairs are gone. A pimple is removed too, and it bleeds profusely. There are only napkins in the studio, left over from the last party. 

Go home, but once at home realise that the telephone has been left behind. Return to pick it up, and before going home, have a drink in the pub first.

The pub was full of Bavarian youths shouting at each other. The reason for this is not clear, it is as if they do not realise that they are very loud indeed.

Walk down to the shops in the early afternoon, but forget to buy eggs.

At home, take a rest, it is comfortably warm. The depressions have a strong grip on the daily run of things, and the cold of winter is just unpleasant.

cold dry bright

It was still dark at ten to eight, made a pot of coffee, visited the bathroom and then drank the contents of the coffee pot. Two cups of Aldi's mild, that was enough to get the machinery working, the body is booted. Go upstairs and have a shower. Downstairs again, do the Wordle puzzle in the New York times. The solution was not too difficult at all. Read the news, read about all the insane killings in the world. They are not going to solve any problems, people will still find ways to buy drugs despite a few boats being sunk. Religions will not go away just because there is a threat. There is no point.

At a quarter to ten go to the doctors practice. It is a pleasant walk on a cold dry day. At the practice, say hello at the desk and then go to the waiting room, and after a very short wait a young woman with a mask leads the way to the operating room. A few short instructions, then lie down and wait for the doctor. He explains what he is going to do, in no time at all three injections are made. Ten minutes later he returns, explains his procedure and commences work. The crown is removed, the tooth is divided into three parts and each root is extracted one by one. There are few sharp cracking noises, that is all.

Afterwards, there are five parts on the table, the three parts of the root, the crown and a nasty looking blob, a cyst which had destroyed the bone in that part of the jaw. The doctor spends a short time explaining and then hurries off to the next patient.

Walk back home, with a piece of wadding in the space where the tooth used to be. The morning is still cold. dry and bright.

2 lines

 The day was spent at home, there are pains everhywhere. There is omly time for these two lines, maybe more will be added later.

who knows

business dealt with

 Listen to things upstairs go bump in the dark, it is the wife getting up to go on her early shift. Questions were asked yesterday as to why she took such an awful job. There is no answer, nicer jobs suiting her qualifications are available. There is no point in inquiring as to motives.

It is impossible to return to sleep. Hear her leave the house via the passageway. There are loose boards covering the steps leading down to the cellar, they rumble as she wheels her bicycle over them.

Get up, wash the dishes and make breakfast. The strange feeling of coldness will not go away, neither will the dizziness. Lie down again. There is the sound of the telephone outside, go and answer. It is the dental surgeons practice, they have had a cancellation, and they are asking whether it would be possible to have the appointment today instead of in four weeks. It would be possible, of course. Brush the teeth and walk to the surgery. It is about a fifteen minute walk.

The people working there are very friendly, wait in the waiting room for a short while. There is some confusion with the files that had been sent on by the dentist, but after a while everything was cleared up. After a short examination the dentist established that there was an infection that had destroyed the bone in the jaw, and would need to be addressed as soon as possible. He made a few more telephone calls.

The decision was made to remove the tooth, anything else would be very complicated, very expensive, and not be guaranteed to last very long. It will mean having a gap in the teeth, but at seventy that is a thing that can be lived with. There is no real choice. Also, the infection must be currently affecting the whole body, the sooner the cause is removed the better. An early appointment is found for Wednesday.

Return home, and feel ill. Whatever is wrong, it will not go away. A message arrives expressing  satisfaction with and thanks for the photographs from Fridays party. That  business is therefore now dealt with.

quiet glass

 The spontaneous party last night proceeded until four this morning. There was a lot of activity in the streets of Landshut at four this morning. Once at home, just went to bed and woke again at ten. Made a cup of coffee, and went upstairs and released the cat from the upstairs flat. The wife must have locked her in, for whatever reason. Perhaps the wife is jealous that the cat comes downstairs to get food. Perhaps she is concerned that the cat will get fat. There is no knowing.

Lay down and slept for another two hours, and then went upstairs to take a shower.

Spent the next three hours working on the pictures taken at the party the day before yesterday. Take a break for a plate of spaghetti with tomato sauce.

Feed the cat, the cat eats too quickly and makes a mess on the floor.

Now it is half past ten at night, the washing is in the dryer, the dishes are done, the pictures are all edited and the link to the pictures has been passed on. All is done.

Not quite, the clothes are still in the drying machine.

Never mind, go out to the pub for a quiet glass of beer.

Verdana Large

 Session in the studio this evening, the fay started half rough with rhe complaining cat. aFed the animal, let it go out to the yard.

Go to the shops, buy some cheese and a bottle of wine because of its shapely bottle.

At home, the cat requirees more attention. More food. Realise that more will be needed, out to the Műller shop to buy some more.. Spend the rest of the day editing last nights pictures, there are just too maNy.

The son rings to say that he has fallen ill.

There will be no visiting him.

A message comes from thr studio.

Leave, forgetting the glasses

hence: Verdana large

l

return of the food supplier

 A disorientated wakening in a very comfortable bed. Still in the house in Burghausen, an early leaving yesterday was not possible, the evening was just interesting. A short trip to the Christmas market in Alötting was a pleasant diversion, the market was very pleasant and quite traditional. The friend with the dog was looking for a particular kind of waxen figure, there are many shops around the market selling items for the faithful devoted. Admire a clock with an extremely long case and a figure on the top wielding a scythe at intervals. The clock case could be four metres high, at a guess.

The evening was spent watching some of the fathers of the friend with the dog's films of his granddaughters last day at school in the summer. He is an old man now, and infirm. He is also bright and friendly. 

The disorientated awakening, a pleasant breakfast, and then slight confusion as the pedicure woman comes to treat the father and daughter. Go back upstairs and finish the Wordle puzzle for today.

Go out with the friend and her dog, use a special stick to sling a ball for the dog to fetch. The dog seems delighted to be able to run. After the tenth throw and fetch routine the dog does not run quite as quickly.

Soon after take the car back home. There is a utility bill waiting. And the cat seems to be glad to have this food supplier return. It is strange, but this constant tiredness will not go away.

There will be a party this evening, must remember to bring the camera.

too early

 The drive down to Burghausen last night was tiring but uneventful. The daughter of the house is caring dor her two elderly parents.

The dog barks, recognizing his driver from September. The house is all set up for Christmas,  Go for a walk, chat about things, and take an early night in the small attic room reserved for guests.

This morning has not begun yet, not really.

After an afternoon nap take a drive to the Altoetting

Christmas market.

That was nice.

things go wrong

 The purchase of the ring light strobe yesterday went without a problem. Not quite without a problem, but only with a very minor one.

Upon arriving at the station near Darmstadt left the train and wrote a message to the seller. He replied with a mystifying message that it would be necessary to walk to the road as he would not be able to drive in to the station. Since the station had a large bus and taxi park before it the message was surprising. But no matter, walked across the bus park and the taxi rank and stand before an Aldi shop. Write again to say what is happening. There is a reply that there is no such thing as an Aldi near the station.
This is surprising. Write that there is a Agip petrol station there too.  Look through the messages and see that there is a phone number there with some warning about security leaks. Try the number, and reach the seller. He says that he has just looked for the nearest Agip petrol station, and he will drive there. Ten minutes later he arrives. After the introductions are over, he drives back to the place where he had been waiting, discover that this is the wrong station. He had mixed up the station names. This may have had to do with his never using trains.

The man has a nice studio in a historic industrial complex that is listed. He specialises in making pictures to advertise hair products. The ring flash is not longer fashionable in that genre.

The flash has some light damage, but it is functionally in order.

As the man drives back to the station he explains that the castle on the top of the hill is the original Frankenstein castle that had inspired the author Shelley back in the day. There is no being entirely sure of this, but if he says so.

The return train journey was uneventful as fas as Nuremberg Just as the train was passing Fürth a message came through that one of the connections in Nuremberg had been cancelled. Upon leaving the train in Nuremberg a steadily more chaotic situation ensues. After a while all of the trains going to Munich or to Regensburg or anywhere else in that direction are cancelled, or suddenly face delays of some hours. There has been a blockage due to a medical emergency on the route. This is usually a euphemism for a suicide. 

One and a half hours later board a train with a diesel engine. It will drive as far as Landshut. Just before Landshut there is an announcement that the track is blocked due to a broken down goods train. 

Arrive in Landshut at just before midnight, and as there are no busses walk home. It is only one and a half kilometres.

Woke up this morning after a sound sleep. Spend a lot of time just doing small things. The day on the trains yesterday had left its mark today. There will be a trip to Burghausen this evening, perhaps to spend the night there. It will be nice to see the owner of the dog again, she is in Burghausen to take care of her parents who have become rather elderly.

smell of deodorant

 Just today, get up at half-past five in the morning , turn off the alarm,  and make a pot of coffee. Check up on the bag prepared yesterday, and start todays Wordle game. Leave the house at five past six and go to the bus stop near the theatre. Take the bus to the train station, and board the train to Regensburg

This is the start of a long journey to a village near Darmstadt. There is an item there that has yet to be paid for, and the idea of a long train journey seemed pleasant.

The train is pleasant enough, change in Regensburg, and change again in Nuremberg. The last change was in Würzburg. There is a crowd traveling in this train that have clothes that stink of some deodorant rinse. It makes the eyes burn. The next stop will be Aschaffenburg. Hopefully there will be no hyper clean people on that train.

taste will tell

 The national collapses are turning into a problem, this morning the day only started at eleven after an early awakening. Hopefully it is not a sign of some illness, one that  would choose a typically bad time to manifest itself.  The long chat with the son yesterday was really very pleasant, it will be necessary to get used to his new name of choice. It is an imposition, but then perhaps everyone may choose to change their name when they feel like it.

There is a strobe flash to be paid for, and a long journey to be made to pay for it. It depends on whether the seller answers today or not.

The day is dead and dreary, there is nobody to talk to, The wife appears to no longer living here, the cat is wandering about the house disconsolate. She has taken up residence in the shop, for the cat the heart is where the food is.

Two visits to the shops today, one to the usual shop and the other to a supermarket in another direction. The other supermarket was twice as expensive for half the quantity, but with a loud claim as to the quality. 

That will show when the food is eaten, the taste will tell.

hundredth

A shower at eight in the morning, very pleasant, this was after breakfast, this somehow kept body and soul together, 

It was a mistake to take those pills that the doctor ordered, for sleep came to the standing person here and made him lie down.

It was midday and got up and put on outdoor clothes and angrily went out for a short walk. Anger because so much of the day was wasted. See that all of the cars parked in the street outside have been decorated with parking tickets. All for people who need to park as close to the market in the town centre and are too lazy to walk, and too careless to read the signposts. Maybe they have a car full of distracting spouse and children.

Walk around opposite to the police station, check the residents parking there. Two free places are currently available there. Decide that it would be sensible to move the car away from where it currently is, so walk around the corner to the green where the Christmas market used to be. There is the car. Get in and unpack it. It has been almost locked in by another car. As soon as the car starts to move another car is waiting to take the space. Take time moving out, being flustered by somebody else's assumed desires would be inappropriate here, especially if damage was caused to a third party's property.

Drive the car around the block and find the first free space in the resident's parking.

Walk through town, and then up along the river. Turn left under the arch by the theatre, and go up through the pedestrian zone. A police car with flashing lights speeds by, forcing pedestrians to the side. Then a mock train passes, going at walking pace, a dressed -up tractor with two carriages in tow and Santa Claus at the wheel, all in his best coca cola red. Hopefully this stupid, tasteless costume will die soon. But bad taste has a way of lingering on, much like that aforementioned beverage.

Go home, and listen to an Australian radio station playing Oscar Petersen to commemorate his hundredth birthday.

say goodbye

 All fit in the morning, things are better than they were. Things are not functioning as well as they could, but what matter.

Reading the news, note with horror that the American government is now supporting fascists in Europe. This does not seem a sensible idea, but perhaps they have not learnt their lessons properly. Those who are not well off in America will suffer in the end, those with money to burn will always find a safe place for it. Wherever they are.

Pay a visit to the shops, and return. The town is full up with Christmas shoppers and people visiting the entertainments in the streets. It is all very Christmassy, it is all most commercial, it is all frenetic. At least American Christmas melodies are not to be heard. 

Return home, pack the shopping away. There is a message from the gallery circle indicating that they will hold their regular meeting at one. Send them an excuse, the real reason is just a worry that their stupidity will lead to direct words.

The artist comes by, collect the photographs from the upstairs room and let him drive his car to the studio. There are sixty pictures to put on the table, it is all on account of Christmas. They are having some kind of Christmas sale, and they have been busy setting this up. There is no wish to be part of this,  apart from the artists tiny figures all of the others are visibly amateurs. There is no wish to display stuff alongside them, but in order to maintain the peace go along with the nonsense. The other people arrive at the studio and the atmosphere turns into that of a charity jumble sale.

Say goodbye and leave.

At home read the news, and wonder.

stomach

 It is a quarter to eleven this evening, and it was eight this morning when the day started.   A shave in the downstairs bathroom and a shower in the upstairs bathroom. The cat remained unseen today. The wife is feeding her upstairs.

There was a hope that the son would turn up today, but that did not happen. That is too bad, he is still missed even though he has gained his independence. Parents must let go. 

The day spent wandering about, wondering.

It will be necessary to make an appointment with the doctor at some stage, to find out if there is anything wrong with the stomach.

tension

This is a solitary deal now, the daily loneliness is harder to deal with than suspected. Getting up alone is not so bad, the preparations for the day dealt with in a state close to sleep. Reading the news realise that everything is seen through the eyes of a person who does not talk much, who only has few contacts with others. The problems of the world seem distant, even though things there are dreadful now. The assumption that one is on the winning side has always been fallacious for the one side or the other.

After washing the floor in the little kitchen cuddle for a while with the cat. She is very affectionate today. Read the news and take a short nap. The cat purrs loudly all the while. The wife has left the house to go to her work, as the doors crash loudly in the passageway informs. The cat starts to complain almost at once. Let her in, she is happy. Give her a spoonful of food, she is happier still. She digs her claws into the Levi's -clad legs and causes pain, then she jumps up onto the human lap, purring all the while. She is oblivious of any discomfort she may have caused.

Leave the house, the cat looks out of the window with eyes wide open. She may be concerned. Take a walk around the town, stopping of at a café. Play a game of world as the coffee gets cold.

Return home, the cat hears the clink of the keys and appears in the window again. Inside she is all purrs and rubbing her back against the legs. She appears to be happy to have company again.

There are things that need doing, but write these notes instead. Loneliness is a difficult thing to deal with, it is hard to spend much time with people without there being tension.

what to do with the rest of the day

 This morning was strange, it was in some ways awful. Lying awake in bed at six, wondering if a visit to the bathroom would bring relief to the sleeplessness. It brought no real relief, one way or another. Sleep was not there, and stayed looking at the wooden cieling until seven. Got up then, there was no point in staying abed for longer. That was the idea, anyway. Went to the bathroom, and then made breakfast. A cup of coffee and eggs on toast.

After breakfast, read the news. America is abandoning Europe to Russia, and Ukraine  just a symbol on the way. There are loud noises from all manner of countries, but all they seem to do is to look in their national pockets for spare change. Nobody seems to realise that it is not a matter of luxury, but of necessity.

Do the Wordle puzzle belonging to the New York Times, solve it badly, it is nearly the first failure in a long time. Pass with a certain amount of luck.

Telephone the doctor to ask her to adjust the prescription in the data base to include the usual pills. This did not take long, the prescription works online now.

After that take the pills, and wash up and read the newspapers. All only for half an hour, then collapse into the bed fully dressed. The next few hours are spent with delirious dreams of many strange things. Wake and return to sleep, all the time getting up is not an option. There is a strange pain in the sternum, and a nasty acid feeling in the throat. The mind is dominated by feelings of ageing, fear of incapacity and thoughts of the worthlessness of life. This is all neither pleasant nor entertaining.

At midday, these feelings pass. Make another pot of coffee, sit down, get up to let the cat in, and feed her, go upstairs and fill the washing machine. The madnesss seems over now. After an hour the machine has finished, transfer the clothes to the dryer.

Leave the house and visit the apothecary. Get the correct pills and then go on to the artist's studio. Leave the new prints there, and chat with the people in the pub. The pub is not yet open, but the owner is busy working to get the place into order for the day.

Then return home, and now it is time to wonder what to do with the rest of the day.

people do as they please

It was another late starting day today, but not as late as yesterday. Make a pot of coffee and go upstairs to have a shower. Notice that the upstairs box of cat litter needs changing. After the shower bring the fresh bag of cat litter up and empty the used smelly stuff into a plastic bag. Fill the tray and take the plastic bag down and place it into the bin. Water the plants that are upstairs as well.

Make a few prints of the two sample pictures from that collection made last Friday. Take them across town to the studio. Whilst there see that someone has spread the rough prints all over the tables. This is strange, and more than a little bit annoying. The prints were made for the evaluation of the compositions, and not for display. There is a strange lack of discipline in the studio. People just seem to do as they please, altering things and moving stuff about as if they were at home.

Leave the place after noting some change to be made to one of the prints. Go shopping for a few small items that had been forgotten the last time.

At home, correct the edit on the one photo and print it out again. It is much better now.

Not much has been done today, other than the regular feeding of the cat. The cat has become rather affectionate, it must be all the attention and the food.

There is the sound of a dog barking outside. It is evening now, it is half past seven.

a good while

 The cat is systematic, it would eat first and then go to its box full of cat litter. In the morning, at seven, open the door for the cat. She refuses to leave. Open one of the small containers of cat food and put a portion of it on a plate.
The cat eats.
Go to the door, hold it open.
The cat leaves in a hurry.
She will be back later, rather sooner than later.

Make the breakfast for this human.

Go out to the shops and buy two bags of cat litter.

Later.

The cold is everywhere, there is no real protection from it. The body is weakened with some infection, and the cold is even worse. Lean against a radiator, claiming as much of its heat for the old body as possible.

Go out to the car and drive to the doctors practice. It takes the assistant there five minutes to update the card with the prescription. Return home, start to feel uncomfortably cold again. Let the cat into the shop, she jumps onto the human knees and purrs loudly. Stroke her gently, the sound of her purring changes.

Start to feel really unwell. Decide to go out to get the prescription. There is the thought then that an oriental soup from Thailand would be pleasant. The Thai shop has moved, but it still has the same people running it. The new place is very much smarter than the old one, but it has less charm.

After the soup feel much better. Perhaps it was just a feeling of hunger, misinterpreted. Afterwards, go to the cafe, and after the cake is finished, and the coffee in the cup has cooled, the librarian turns up.

Chat with him for a while, and then empty the ice cold coffee cup with a final sip.

At home, the cat is waiting. Let her in, and give her another corner of the her food.
She jumps up and lets herself be stroked.

After all of that sit down and think about things for a good while.