Peace

I'm not complaining. I'm a fortunate fellow and I very rarely have a bad day but today was crap, right from the moment the 'out of hours' number came up on my 'phone at two minutes to eight, this morning.

I'll spare you the details - partly because they're boring and partly because I don't want to think about it again - but the day just went from bad to worse. However, mainly thanks to my marvellous colleagues, we started to get things turned around by lunchtime and by 5pm, everything was cool although I was knackered.

I went and picked up the kids, swung by Booths to pick up pizzas and then headed down to the cottage. I poured myself a pint of slimline tonic (here's why) and set about cooking the pizzas and making some roast vegetables for myself, interspersing that with lighting the fire and the candles around the living room, hall and kitchen.

When supper was ready and the kids were at the table eating, I took my drink and sat down in the corner and watched them laughing and gooning around. It was so relaxing and I felt my shoulders ease as the final binds of the day slipped away. Later we all sat around on the floor in front of the fire and played cards. A perfect end to a (thankfully rare) rubbish day.