…you see I was on annual leave and I thought it was going to be nice and quiet. It wasn’t. It was the busiest week I’ve had in ages. Sigh. Maybe this coming week will be quieter. I just want to be able to put my feet up for a little while…and read a book…and maybe drink some tea…and eat a bit of cake.

Anyway, although the week was busy, it wasn’t particularly interesting. In fact, there is not a huge amount to tell you. Again, there were the usual medical appointments and keeping the house going. I was really pleased I managed to get our downstairs toilet painted. I know…dead boring! But very very necessary. It hadn’t been done for a couple of years and was looking tired and grubby. Armed with my CD player and some paint brushes, I got into it on Thursday or Friday night (I can’t remember which as the days are merging into each other these days!). It took me a couple of hours, but the time flew as I listened to the Music & Lyrics soundtrack (love that film) several times and painted away. Apart from the boy looking in every five minutes until I lost my temper with him, and the dog peeping in a couple of times, it was good to get some peace to complete a task.  The toilet is now looking as clean as a new pin. Unfortunately, it won’t stay that way, but at least it’ll be less embarrassing for guests to use for a good while.

Am now eyeing the upstairs bathroom with a view to doing it. Maybe I’ll do that later today.

What else happened this week? The kids went round to the local library to take part in some activities there. Our library is tiny, but the librarian is fantastic and with the help of a local youth worker spent two mornings making things and doing literary type things with local kids. My two loved it. I loved it to cos I got peace for a couple of mornings. The dog loved it cos she got walked there and back and there were lots of good sniffs along the way.

I started reading two books this week: Agatha Christie’s autobiography and Gerald Durrell’s The Corfu Trilogy (in one book) which includes My Family and Other Animals; Birds, Beasts and Relatives; and The Garden of the Gods. I am preferring the latter as it’s amusing and the descriptions of the scenery and what happens are magical. I’m afraid I find Agatha a bit too upper crust for me. So far her book has been all about her childhood with her nanny – am sure it’ll hot up at some point. I will go back to it though because I enjoy her books and am keen to find out more about her life…once I’ve finished Gerald, whose writing is fantastic. I think if you were to ask me to write a list of fantasy dinner guests, Gerald would be in there. Through his writing, he comes across as being an highly educated, interesting man with a fantastic sense of humour. I just know we would have gotten on!! The Durrell book purchase was inspired by ITV’s The Durrells, which is based on his memoirs of his time on Corfu and, although I’ve only seen the one episode, is fantastic and I love it. It’s just lovely. I can live in its dreamy funny world for the time it’s on the telly (particularly nice if it’s freezing cold and raining outside). Sigh. Can’t wait as episode two is on tonight!

Here’s the tv programme (above and below).

Here’s some pics of the real Gerald Durrell as a boy on Corfu and as an adult.

The other pics in this post were taken on Corfu in celebration of Gerald and his work in conservation and animal welfare. I’ve never been to the island, but it’s beautiful and maybe one day I’ll go.

Right, I am going to stop here as the dog is in desperate need of a good walk. You wouldn’t think it to look at her as she is fast asleep underneath the table on which I’m typing this blog. Her front right paw is twitching – no doubt she is dreaming of chasing the squirrel she was eyeing up through the patio doors earlier. It basically was doing a raid on the bird table and was a bit alarmed to see a bright eyed little dog staring at it. Maybe she’s thinking of the football she loves to chase around the garden, whining for someone to play with her and badgering me to kick it for her in between me pegging up clothes on the washing line (she’s a bloody nuisance when I’m trying to put out the washing! Just as well she’s cute!). No matter what it is, she’ll soon wake up when she realises it’s walkie time! She loves a good walk, although she gets absolutely filthy (being white it really shows up on her) as she’s so low to the ground the mud just clings to her belly and legs.

Anyway, that’s me for just now. Am away to get my old boots (for the mud) on! Til next time!

Dawn xxx