Preparing for hallowe'en

...with my pastried-on smile and skellington hands! Robin B and I met up for coffee today in town. I've known him for nearly 20 years; he was one of the first people I met when I moved to this area. We worked together on the (then) Gloucestershire Friend telephone helpline, which is now called the Gloucestershire Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender helpline: so much easier to say! There were many training sessions at a rundown old building in the heart of Gloucester, affectionately known as BATCRAP. Robin and I shared a sense of humour, which kept us going when things got tedious, as they sometimes did...

Anyway, after our bacon sarnies, we made the devastating discovery that no cakes had been delivered to the cafe that day, so were forced(!) to drive six miles up the valley to Chalford, to the Lavender Bakehouse, which I have raved about before on those pages. I had the gluten free orange and something cake, and Robin had a croissant. He agreed to be photographed, but only wearing the croissant smile, and only if I consented to be snapped, too. Now , if this were facebook, I would probably be swamped with ads for cosmetic surgery and eye-bag removal! Too bad, I have better things to spend my money on.

Robin recently submitted a quote to be added to the wall of another cafe. Most of the existing quotes are quite high-minded. His is "No man is an island Except my friend Barry". (Geddit? Barry Island).

Back home, I was dismayed to find that the three thousand, six hundred and fifty four books I ordered last week for £29.97 had arrived. What was I thinking of? Am I planning to be slightly ill, but well enough to read? Also, that the two pieces of work I had submitted to my online course had not been marked, because the attachments couldn't be opened. The learning environment uses a microsoft platform, and I have only Apple machines. Grrrrr. Now they may not be marked for days. I have resubmitted them as pdfs. I wonder if I should buy a bargain pc laptop from school just for this course? All the 'bargain books' that I keep buying for the course are adding up already. I know a man of 76 who has disconnected the gas supply from his flat and thus has no hot water or central heating. He is eligible for the winter fuel allowance of £200 but spends it all on books. Will he manage to read them all before he dies? Will I?

On a positive note, I've discovered that I may be able to get the charging port on my iPad repaired for not-too-much, but it means sending it off to Newcastle. (I think I damaged it using the apple iPad camera connector kit). While it's away, I might get round to reading some of those books.