Stargazing

Today was so dreary for much of the time that I've chosen a photo from the best weather we'd had all day - a step further than the sunrise photos, this one has Orion at its heart and was taken when I was on my way home from choir. Actually, that's not quite accurate: I was struggling to do anything while carrying my music case and the big heavy bag with my stand in it, so I came in, dumped them in the hall, and went back outside to wonder at the sky. I've deliberately not taken the moon, despite the presence of Jupiter nearby, because it's too bright and I didn't have the patience to hold still and reduce the exposure to avoid dazzle - not at that time of the evening.

We were all primed first thing to have a new washing-machine delivered - all the gubbins from the cupboards round about has been lying in boxes in the hall since the flood last week, and we were clothed and decent and I was halfway through my breakfast when the shop told us the machine "wasn't put on the van." I'd cancelled my art class to be there when it was all happening, so to say I was fed up would be the understatement of the year. Instead, I tidied up, did some extra Italian, and wrote a packing list on which I now realise I've omitted one or two vital items. Tomorrow.

I did a little cleaning of the random sort that creeps up on me when I've neglected bits - in this case the bathroom. I set up a week's European roaming for our phones for next week. I looked for - and found - several helpful videos for a French academic who's organising a course for learning to understand Scots English in its various manifestations, even finding a fascinating one for aspiring actors to learn the accent, and mailed her the links. We went out, briefly, walked a mile and a half and just got in ahead of a dire shower. And then I made rather fabulous pasta with prawns and shredded Brussels sprouts, onion, smoked garlic, some sliced red pepper and tomato pesto. 

I felt I was dragging myself out to choir this evening - going out at 7pm seems to get harder with every passing year, though it's definitely easier on a summer evening - but once there it was great; we sang an old favourite and a new one to familiar Latin words and three of my friends offered the use of their washing machines if I need help with the holiday necessities. And then home, to toast and marmalade and Silent Witness and the happy ending that I feared might be lost because of last week's plane episode. 

Has anyone ever watched a late night programme showing a trial - or at least, the one that was on tonight after 11pm? I'm fascinated by its apparent authenticity - it kept me downstairs far too late, and it's now 12.40am and here I am ...

Stargazing.