In Parallel Universes I Had An Interesting Saturday Going Out And Doing Things....Not This One

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

What was I going to do Saturday? Well after going out for breakfast as there was a viewing for our house at the unearthly hour of nine thirty I actually had various ideas.

Bore Coffi Porthcawl: On the first Saturday of the month in the local tabernacle church there is a Bore Coffi  (Coffee morning) between ten and twelve where over hot beverages people chat in Welsh. I'd not been there for years. Partly due to when I'd stopped learning Welsh and now because I always seemed to be working on that particular Saturday. Not this Saturday though.

Penarth Heights: Since the sale of the house had fallen through it had been pointless to go and view other houses. This though was an exception as it was a new development (as you can tell by the name - "Heights" - along with "village" names developers like to use) should we like it part exchange was an option.

It was unlikely. What we could see online suggested that the rooms, rather like chocolate bars these days, were going to be too small. Still there would be no harm in having a look.

Visiting a friend in Barry: Regular readers of this blog may remember that I mentioned a friend of my wife who moved from Cardiff to Barry in September following her divorce. I'd not been able to help with the moving as it coincided with my trip to London on the twenty fifth anniversary of my father's death.

Well I've still not visited the house. Mainly because it clashed with work. Not that I was particularly bothered. There may come a moment of I'll have to view many houses but going round one just because somebody's moved there holds no interest for me whatsoever. Even so, though I was disinterested there was no real excuse not to go and also it did link with.....

Football: The house was apparently close to Jenner Park, the home of Barry Town FC. I'd done my research ("research" meaning I went online) "Let's visit W" I'd say to my wife "Just make sure it's before two o'clock so I can watch the game". Can't say she appreciated that.

If that proved impossible I could have gone to watch Penybont FC. Ton Pentre though were playing away. One day I'll be able to become part owner (annual fee of £20) of that club.....just not this Saturday.

There we are. All those things to do. And didn't do any of them.

Let's come back to this universe. Returning to the house after having breakfast. I had to immediately go to the toilet. I will spare you full details, suffice it to say that it was graphic and I needed to take anti diarrhoea pills afterwards.

The point is that I suffer from time to time with vasovagal attacks. The thing I know about these attacks is that they occur if I'm physically weak (not necessarily ill, just weak) because of something else causing me to faint. I'd no idea whether this was going to be just such an attack but I couldn't take the risk of fainting outside of home and all the problems that would cause. So stay in we did.

The wife didn't object. She'd seen me faint often enough to know that discretion was the better part of valour. So the rest of my day was spent propped up on the settee with water and later toast to build me up.

Tried to read. Finished The Cricklewood Tapestry by Alan Coren. Can't say I liked it as much as the first two but then again wasn't really in full reading mode. Similarly tried a few pages of the Vasily Grossman, which I do like, but really wasn't up to it.

Watched about four to five episodes of The Gilmore Girls on Netfllix with the wife. I'm really into the show. Much to my (and wife/daughter's) surprise. Just Netflix you understand. Really was in no mood to chill.

So on a Saturday was the first one that went to bed, even though I would have normally stayed up to watch Match of The Day given that West Ham won. That will wait until the Sunday morning repeat which as I'm writing this is less than half an hour away.

I feel better now. Not one hundred percent but well enough to say with confidence to the wife that she can go out to watch Italy Wales play rugby at a friend's house with the girls later today.

So apologies that readers in parallel universes had a more varied post than you've got today. Let's hope the roles are reversed soon.

Until the next time,

At Home,The Dentist And Work With Vasily And George

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

So it's Monday morning. Still dark out there. We are in that calm moment between daughter having her breakfast and brushing her teeth and the last demands of the old man for her to move to the car and get her stuff so that she can be driven to the school bus stop.

Ten minutes then. Time to light up that Kindle.

So I'm reading Vasily Grossman's An Armenian Sketchbook or if truth be told the introduction. Reading introductions to any book is a risky thing because there is the risk of spoilers. My normal rule is that they're read after I've read everything else unless the writer as in this case is new to me only because it might help me understand what I'm about to read.

Well there is a spoiler in this introduction but an odd one. It's nothing about what's in the main book itself but it reveals a fact about the author that might affect your perception about what you're about to read. I can't explain further without revealing the spoiler myself but you have been warned.

We move the clock forward to a little after nine. The sky is miserable and the air is damp. I know I've used this phrase in the last post but have no problem in repeating it as this time it's literally the dawn of a new grey on a Monday morning.

Perfect time then to go to the dentist.

I am unusually the only patient there but I still have to wait. Don't mind. Could read the magazines or watch the large screen TV (not really an option as it has the sort of daytime programme I'd have switched off if I had control of the remote) but I have come prepared.

To make a quick digression our family has belatedly become fans of the American TV series The Gilmore Girls. We stumbled on this going through Netflix and it's become unique in that it's the only show that myself, the wife and our daughter are prepared to watch together.

Now whilst there are some things I'm not in agreement of. Such as the notion that private schools are automatically better than their state counterparts (something again that I've changed my view of as I've gotten older. What this show has is the ability to remind you that though we might have some irritating quirks most people in the world, whatever their beliefs, are actually nice.

Anyway the reason why I'm mentioning it here is that the youngest "Gilmore Girl" Rory carries a book with her almost everywhere she goes. I am, as regular readers of this blog will know, exactly the same. Today's book is The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot. Despite all the distractions around me I can immerse myself in this novel.

That's what books can do.

I said before that you know you're old when football match officials are older than you. Now add dentists to that list. They also if you're not careful have the power of lecturing you as if you're the younger one. Still I walk out of there with my teeth still attached to the rest of me so I'm happy enough.

Afternoon/evening shift at work. The heating has failed. Good thing this wasn't the last couple of weeks so it is bearable. And in the breaks I continue to read George Eliot's book and forget the cold.

That's what books can do.

Until the next time.