This is one thing I love about my notepads (and they go back eleven and a half years now!) – the record of what happened remains (and remains much more detailed than anyone can actually remember)… so this was on this day in 2022:

I’d been awake for about 10 minutes – in the pitched black – before 6.30am when my door was opened and I got sat on by Soot the 20 year old cat. Magpies were the birds on the visible roof tops when I was seated and not sat on at 7.30am – on my bed, while Soot snored next to me; and I spent some time clutching my mug, the weather vane on the 750 year old church at the end of the road was only moving slightly…

…and no church bell ringing occurred (it usually does on a Sunday – prior to a service there); and Holly the hen was visible in the hen house at the end of our garden and Boris the Dachshund (who can howl at unbelievably loud volumes) could be seen next door at 8.30am. I was about to press the play button for the Sunday news program I like to hear when my Mum said she was going to get a Sunday paper – so I grabbed the camera and we headed off to Tescos at 8.45am in very cold temperatures (and I had my fur hat on – which came from Poland, during a slightly odd trip in 2015).

A nearby house had something I forgot outside it; and in the store, I photographed the papers, and saw false eyelashes, a lot of makeup, Christmas crackers, wrapping paper, nuts, and umbrellas, and back outside – a Tesco’s lorry that said ‘baby carrots on board’ on the side. After that, we returned, I fell over while walking, which caused me to go rather cross eyed; Soot didn’t want to get off my bed, I managed to stab myself with my insulin pen, Broadcasting House on Radio 4 was discussing Matt Hancock being on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, and then I ate my fried egg while trying to see straight. Those issues seemed to be blood sugar related rather than falling over related, because after my breakfast I was alright, brushed my teeth, and re-joined the cat to stay out of the way of kitchen goings on.

Stonedness and dizziness began again then, I was sat upon and purred upon, and ate a biscuit and tried to write more of Tuesdays entry, Mum was trying to unjam the bathroom door, didn’t manage it, and said if we got stuck in there we’d have to tie some towels together, climb out of the window and slide down the roof. I spent some more time on my bed – and so did Soot, and as he hadn’t moved all morning…

…I decided we should both get a grip, and gave him a stair lift just before 12pm, when Mum was on the computer doing online shopping. Once in my chair being purred upon – I realised I hadn’t heard this mornings headlines, and got the 10 minute program up on my phone: the main one was that the Online Safety Bill would be updated to make online content encouraging self harm illegal (following a 14 year old girl’s suicide), followed by cases of diphtheria amongst asylum seekers arriving in Britain, a massive landslide on the island of Ischia, that the Queen Consort will not appoint any ladies in waiting, but will have 6 ‘Queens Companions’ (all long term friends – accompanying Camilla on official and state duties), and the late Queen’s ladies in waiting will now be known as ‘ladies of the household’. Soot wedged his head firmly in my stomach and started snoring; at 1pm – when the grumpy blood sugar reader that hadn’t wanted to work decided it did want to, and read a sensor I’d stuck in my left arm 1 hour earlier for experimental purposes; Costa Rica was the top Twitter trend then – as they’d shocked people by beating Japan 1-0 (scoring in the 81st minute) in the Football World Cup (still in its group stages), and I heard the 1pm headlines via my phone with the furry hot water bottle snoring on top of me; the only new one being that protests in China against the governments COVID restrictions had included some in Beijing and Shanghai (and in Shanghai some people had said they want Xi Jing Ping to step down). Then I turned my phone off, and was writing more of Tuesdays entry when Soot headed over to his bowl and Mum had something playing in her ears (she’s a bit deaf – and enjoys using the bluetooth her hearing aids are equipped with). It was very cloudy outside at 2pm, I kept writing (with very cold hands), he got back on, and she sat on the sofa (with Edward the woolly elephant)…

…reading today’s paper – until a chill in the air persuaded her to light the fire just before 2.30pm. I finished the entry 25 minutes later and had to move the snoring cat, and he was in his litter tray having a loo break when we left at 3.08pm – and Mum was holding her litter picker.

2 cans were found in 60 seconds at the top of the next Avenue , followed by part of somebody’s tie, another 3 cans, I noticed house number 62 had wine glasses in a box on the garden wall, and the bag was emptied into the bin at the bottom at 3.34pm (when a small plastic bottle of a drink called Brain Licker had been found – and 14 drinks cans); then L********* Road had bits of disintegrating coat hangers and a small glass bottle of The Famous Grouse, and an ‘ice buster’ (a car window scraping implement) on it. When the bag was emptied on P*** Road at 3.53pm, we were up to 21 bottles/cans; going down that road,a sachet of ‘Lume Care eyelid wipes’ was amongst the soggy leaves, as well as multiple wrappers of stuff (including sweets called milk bottles); then B****** Drive and A***** Avenue didn’t have much on them, I saw some mushrooms growing outside of house number 57, and it was getting dark very fast by 4.12pm – when we got to C******* Crofts; street lamps were on on C***** Lane, the bag was emptied, and the thirtieth can was found as we re-entered the Close. Our fire was glowing through the front window…

…Soot was spherical on the rug, and the 2 chickens at the end of the garden were in bed; then the kettle was boiled, the towel and brush came out, and by 4.40pm he was having his spa treatment on the sofa, and I’d disinfected my pen grip (because of how much I write it really helps my fingers; and I thought that was a good idea given the litter I’d been intermittently holding as well as my pen)….

…and got my mug. I had my tiffin (which I can’t live without – despite being diabetic), the fire crackled a bit and I got sat on, read out a diary entry, Soot got off and sat by the fire for 5 minutes, then got back on top of me, and I wrote up my daily list for tomorrow (my daily to do list – so I know what’s going to be happening when I wake up in the morning) before supper.