"because I can ..." .. Or thought I could ....

Drove to town for one or two things and to sort out finances for next week as we are away for a few days , and timed it so I could listen to the Archers ( as the presenter said the other day , our daily helping of nourishing cereal / serial ) . After the Archers a wierd play called " Odd " which I started listening to , then on arrival really wanted to know how it ended ... and thought , I could just sit in the car and listen till its over . I'm on holiday , there 's nothing to stop me .
I even texted my sister to say " Im listening to a play in the car , just because I can ..." ( how smug is that ).

Once over , and I was still no further on in my understanding . Odd it certainly was .

Shopping . Building Society . Cafe Royal ( the usual latte and ricotta and berry muffin ). Some great shower gel in John Lewis and two birthday cards and something for L's birthday ( also John Lewis, but don't tell her ) .


N rings several times and I can't hear her . I ring her back and notice my phone is almost dead .

Back to the car , ready to pick her up from her friend's .

Start car . Car splutters . Car won't start . Battery flat . Argh ... phone almost flat as well .



Phone D ( somewhat snappily) ask him to ring AA which he does , and collect N which he does .

Lie back in car watching scene unfolding across from the multi story car park .
Large man ( very) diagonally across from where I am on level two ( he is in an office on the street opposite ) is at a desk but appears to be lying across desk . I strain to see , wondering if it is a man or a white sofa . It is still for so long I decide its a sofa rather then a shirt and an arm I see. Think how I long to be lying on a sofa , half asleep, and sofa moves . I decide it is a man but at such an odd angle I start to wonder if he has collapsed, across his desk . He is too far away for me to investigate .
AA man arrives , and he pulls up in the space down from me and, Bang ! hits the wall ! Oops !
He smiles cheerily and waves a greeting , acknowledging his little contretemps with the wall which I find laudable . In his shoes I might have stayed quiet and hoped no one would mention it ....anyway his honesty gives me confidence and I admit my own failings , telling him about listening to the end of the play before the shopping trip . He soon has the car going again and the battery charging and I notice that now I cant access the radio at all , as once the battery has been flat a code is needed to input to re start it ... and of course having bought the car not from new I dont have the code . Oh well . No point fretting at this stage .
I drive home in eerie silence thinking my thoughts.

bike ride

Bike ride to St Mary's island taking in the old Spanish City on the way , and a coffee shop ( the Boardwalk ) on the way back . Friendly older man on the Island explaining the birds I was photographing were Eider ducks . Less friendly at the Boardwalk where having seen me wait some time at the window to order coffee she then made me join a new queue inside as the window was just for take out . Perhaps next time I'll come back as a mind reader .....

Now lets see what they've been spending their money on ....

Bridges like this remind me of being eight or nine , playing on the bridge nearGoften , crawling through the pipes under the road . English countryside , happy memories . When N talks about things she remembers when she was younger she often mentions playing on the cattle grid with her cousins outside a pub at the start of the Langdales in the Lake District . We would stop off on our bikes to rest and have a drink and something to eat .
I dreamed last night that Mandy came to visit me . I was living in Stamfordham again and a big classic car pulled up on the drive ( a splendid vintage Rover ). She was the passenger . I had toddlers and was picking toys off the floor and she walked in laughing at me , and the mess and how it used to be . She looked happy and full of life but even in the dream I knew time had gone and she had died .http://www.oldcommunitykit.ik.com/pub/customersites/communitykit/ust-031105110755.nsf/0/eb4420a4ac4cfcc880256e30003ed5f1/$FILE/pdf%20Humshaugh%20and%20Fourstones%20Cycle%20Routes.pdf