Off

Felt I had acres of time today but at the same time a long list of things I both could and had to do, and didn't have much oomph to do anything about any of them. Took myself in hand and decided to go and see some art, but I couldn't get a slot at the Alison Watt exhibition at the Portrait Gallery. Luckily it's open til January so that can wait. Headed instead for the Emeka Ogboh exhibition at the Burns Monument, via a nip into the St James' Centre and a browse around to see if any new shops had opened. By then the rain had started to fall quite heavily and I felt for the stewards sitting outside all day. It was lovely - Auld Lang Syne sung by many voices in different EU languages to mark the sadness of Brexit - very poignant. This photo was taken from inside the monument looking out as I readied myself to walk home in the by now pouring rain. Rather than stopping at one of the many cafes en route I was pleased with myself for abstaining and instead heading for a new place near home, only to find when I got there that it was closed today - grr!  Bought a doughnut from the shop that isn't as good as the one by the station and went home.
The rest of the day passed with: not managing to buy (and therefore not fit) the new brackets to strengthen my hallway shelf; doing some laundry but not getting any of the ironing done; doing the food shopping and stirring myself to make a new chicken satay recipe (I'd like to get more into East Asian cooking I think) but not managing to do any of the tidying, cleaning or work that I had on my to-do list today. By the time of early evening I had to drag myself to the Book Festival even though I was really pleased to be seeing Bernadine Evaristo in conversation with 3 other authors (which was interesting and very well done - she seems such a warm and fascinating person) then home again to eat my tasty satay, but definitely not really feeling great by the evening...perhaps I'm not well rather than just tired??