Death by degrees

It's colder today - temperature hasn't risen above freezing at all, and it's now -2ºC; I know that we're by the sea and it's much colder a little bit inland and seriously colder in the East, but this is quite something for us. I went to Pilates as usual, meeting my friend in her car at the end of our lane. I timed it carefully, as did she, but even the minute standing by the roadside in my leggings had me thinking hypothermia, and it was some time before I took my fleece off in the class. I found it tiring and challenging today - I think the cold goes for the muscles. Meanwhile Himself, forbidden by the medics to do exercises post-minor-surgery until Christmas, was up in the freezing church practising the organ, though he says it's nearly impossible to play the correct pedals when your legs freeze. We were both ready for our coffee when I got home.

We spent some time phoning an old friend in hospital, having learned that he was no longer under sedation - we ended up singing Happy Birthday to him, with him joining in very loudly: heavy duty drugs do amazing things to people! It was a huge relief to hear him and not have to rely on hearsay. 

Then we had to galvanise ourselves to go out again - not for a walk this time, but doing Useful Things. For Himself that meant another sojourn in church (it's always like this towards the end of Advent) while I went shopping for more charity cards and some bits and pieces in the Health Store. Then, instead of staying on our hill and going home, I went down to the main street just because ... and found myself in Mackay's, now known as M & Co and newly in receivership, where I bought a fitted sheet (Kingsize, deep, cotton) for less than half price and took the above photo of the giant poster lying among the glittery frocks. Two women were manhandling (womanhandling?) it into the window to put it on the glass. They were grim, and I was sad - this is possibly the last shop in Dunoon where I ever buy clothes, and I was reflecting that when I was here first, when my children were small, I used to be able to buy different kinds of clothes in several shops in the town. Even when they all closed, we knew that our Mackay's was superior to the branches we saw elsewhere - like in Glasgow - because it had a much better range, having less competition. Now it's over the water for us, or online - and though I do both these days, it's a tad grim to have no alternative.

We had an extraordinary dinner tonight, as the lamb casserole we had yesterday hadn't quite stretched to two dinners and had to be supplemented by a whole cauliflower, cooked in oil and spices and steam, and a mash of two white potatoes and two sweet potatoes. I'm not suffering yet ...