meanwhile downstairs ...

... Jessie discovers the school jacket.....

wardrobe management ?

Spot the tail ?

Having rearranged the fireplace , Pearl comes upstairs where I am drying my hair and spotting a chink in the chest of drawers squeezes in through the gap and then sits quietly there for ages till I forget she is there . I open the drawer to remind myself not to go out and leave her and occasionally an eye can be seen glinting in the darkness . Another contender for the title of Wardrobe Manager .

5 am

Wake at five am with the sound of the doorbell ringing insistently . I lie there for a bit with that not had enough sleep yet feeling then try to work it out . Last time this happened it was three am , the doorbell was ringing in my dream but when I woke it was still going and with good reason , there was a fire in the street and our neighbours were waking me to warn me to move the car which was situated dangerously close to the flames . Now though , it is strangely silent and though I have a feeling it had been ringing for real , I squish down further . The thought of going down and seeing what's going in is too much . And if there is someone out there , they will ring again . And if I go down , it could be anything ..... before I know it Ive drifted again , no more ringing bells and the alarm is going off at six forty . And now I'm kicking myself for not checking , it could have been anything , and now I dont know anything for sure , except that today is my last day at the Day Job for eighteen whole days and even when I do have to go back I will still only work there three days a week and thats just wonderful . Because I love it really but I love all the other things I can do on the other days and I still cant quite believe how lucky I am . And over the days to come there are enough CatCalls to keep me happy , but first five days away with nothing to do except mess about on holiday . What could be better ?

Pearl " I'm just about to start ...."

Just about to start flicking things onto the floor , waiting for D to come in as she loves to watch him tut and pick up after her .

Kitty , feeling special

Our Kitty , always giving it large .

Hopefully always feeling special .

Feeling Special ....

Very different day to yesterday . Maybe the sunshine and warmth . Late , N and me went to get her a school jacket and then to Borders for cards and a coffee upstairs ( in Starbucks ) . As we were leaving N asked if she could take her coffee away in a cardboard cup and the young man offered to top the coffee up and thus re heat it for her . His comment "it feels like the first day of summer and I want to do something to celebrate and hot coffee for you will be a good start . " N commented on how special a takeaway coffee can make you feel . People hate Starbucks with a passion and I understand the arguments but ... the staff in the two Starbucks I have frequented are amazing . A couple of years ago , I drank a lot of coffee and ate a lot of skinny muffins , and there were days when it was just good to have somewhere in life where everything was always the same . One memorable day when I was carrying too many things , books , magazines , keys , bags , and then on top the tray and right on my back all the cares of the world and the Barista of the Day glanced at me , picked up the tray for me and steered me and half of my belongings to a table in the corner with a sofa attached and indicated I should sit down . Without a word he went back to his coffee making and milk frothing , and though I said Thank you so much , I have no idea if he knew how much that gesture meant .

In 2000 , I became seriously ill over the course of a couple of days and when I finally got through Accident and Emergency and onto a ward , all I knew was the pain in my chest and the difficulty of breathing and the doctor who held my hand when he told me that there was a big shadow on my lung x ray and they didn't know what it was and there were several possibilities some serious but easy to treat and some " more sinister " but he didn't plan on talking through those " yet" . He didn't need to , I had worked out from the line of questioning and overhearing the shorthand " PE" that they were thinking clot ( pulmonary embolism) . I didn't watch Casualty all those years for nothing .
Finally finally finally , a drip was set up and I was lying in a bed and a nurse was standing by me and she asked me if she could try to make me comfortable and she adjusted my pillows and sheets and smoothed my hair and in that moment she was an angel and my fear disintegrated and I felt so completely happy and out of pain and that there was a chance that everything would be ok . Again I thanked her , but her shift ended and I never saw her again and I have no idea whether she had any idea what she did for me .

Scene of Crime...

Scene of crime officer arrived apparently somewhat harassed and not in the mood for conversation and though the large fingerprint which had so excited the officer earlier was too scuffled up to be of any use he was able to capture the big footprint on the side of the door for posterity .
We have been advised that these things rarely happen singly and already number plates have been taken from another car and the windscreen wipers broken off . I open the windows near the bed and contemplate leaping up with the camera should I hear a noise . Alas the camera is downstairs and Toby is too comfortable for me to move so I fall asleep with his paw across my arm .