£7.99 not wasted

A frosty morning for JR’s walk to the gym. But the expected snow did not arrive. In fact, it was another glorious cold day.

Robert came to take Archie out, having missed Tuesday’s walk this week. When they came back we had to sit in the kitchen, as the builders in the upstairs flat have been busy hammering and sanding the floors over the last few days. This purposeful noise really doesn’t bother me at all, I can stay in bed with the news and a coffee while someone is hammering upstairs. But it’s not ideal for chatting.

We did have a chinwag about his Christmas holiday, and then we happened to get an online map of France and reminisced about various holidays there over the years.

Once he’d gone, although it was after 2pm, we all went into town. JR needed to get to JL, but Archie and I just went for a dander, as it was such a nice day. But this doesn’t leave much time for photos, as the sun begins to dip below the buildings in the west by about 3pm. However, the castle was looking splendid.

We (Archie and I) just walked through the Gardens, but by the time I got to the other end, hoping I might get a nice sunset photo from the big steps, the sun had dipped too far. We’d had enough, so we got a bus. Not the bus I wanted - bus services are quite sparse these days due to staff shortages. We then had to walk along by the Meadows to get home. (5,637 steps)

Home to get the fire on, coffee brewed, bagel toasted with peanut butter. Archie in my lap, to listen to my audiobook. I started ‘This Much is True’ by Miriam Margolyes yesterday. And today I finished it. No, not finished, but I’ve stopped listening to it. Her ‘potty mouth’ got ‘pottier’ - if you can imagine what a chapter titled ‘The Facts of Life’ might be like… I can’t be bothered listening to any more of her ‘anecdotes’. She’s certainly got a huge ego - she never stops telling the reader how wonderfully funny/brilliant/popular/gorgeous she was/is. It’s a best seller, so I’m obviously in the minority. Luckily it was a freebie, so I didn’t waste £7.99.