Tuesday 12th May - monthlydiaryday entry
monthlydiaryday last month was such a washout that I didn't bother to post. At least today I had a little more going on in my life.
Awake a little later than usual, as my husband brought me coffee just before leaving the house, and I stayed lazily in bed listening to a couple of very good programmes on Radio 4 - Things Fall Apart about WB Yeats and the Book of the Week about the development of meteorological science. (Yes I'm a nerd and a geek.)
Out of bed, showered, breakfast, a bowl of cereals as usual, and a quick scan of my usual places on the computer. AO3 is surprising me currently, as a number of stories I recently uploaded seem to be getting widely different numbers of hits, and I don't quite get why there are differences. Still, people appear to be reading, which is of the good.
Into my little local town centre for an appointment with an optician. The practice I used to attend has been swallowed up by a big company, so I decided to try a new chain. I was fairly impressed by the thoroughness of the optician and the optometrist, who between them had a lot of machinery too. The bill was lower than I expected, too - the gas-permeable lenses were a hundred pounds; back in 1974, my first pair of hard lenses cost me £70!
There was just time then to walk down to the other end of the main shopping street to the hairdressers. Rather nicely, the hairdresser recognised me and asked how the wedding went - he had been part of the team who did F, her four bridesmaids and me back in January. Pleasant chit-chat about holidays and the like, and no mention of the election, a blessed relief.
On the way back to the car-park I stopped in the greengrocer's and bought a couple of bunches of local asparagus - I am a glutton for the stuff - and popped into the sewing/craft shop to buy a teensy embroidery hoop, which will be perfect for taking on holiday. Then I met my friend R near the car-park. We couldn't resist the little second-hand bookshop/coffee shop across the road, but we managed to get away with only three books between us and we drove back home, via the little independent bakery, because R is very fond of their doughnuts. (She's also petite and rake-thin. Disgusting.)
We chatted and drank tea for a while, then fired up the computer. R has to give a paper at an academic conference in a couple of weeks and her supervisor told her to make it "more accessible", so we talked our way through it: R is virtually bilingual, but not really accustomed to such precise nuances. We managed to rough out something a little shorter and easier for a listener to follow, and then emailed it to her to finish polishing. We chatted a little more - about the depressing election result and the horrors that may now be expected, and about the open afternoon I am going to in Stratford later in the week, as I am considering doing a second MA.
I drove R back to the campus, then back home, only a little while before Dave got back. On days when he works in Solihull they won't let him work after 6.00, so he's home before seven. We had arancini, roast potatoes and asparagus for supper, and relatively early for us at that. Then Dave watched a programme about refuse treatment in Newcastle - not my choice, but relevant to his job and surprisingly interesting. Then No Offence, a crime show with Joanna Scanlon which is both entertaining and hard-hitting. Since the programme after that was Benefits Street and we are not into poverty porn, we switched off. Half an hour of music while I do a little writing, and then it will be time for bed.
Awake a little later than usual, as my husband brought me coffee just before leaving the house, and I stayed lazily in bed listening to a couple of very good programmes on Radio 4 - Things Fall Apart about WB Yeats and the Book of the Week about the development of meteorological science. (Yes I'm a nerd and a geek.)
Out of bed, showered, breakfast, a bowl of cereals as usual, and a quick scan of my usual places on the computer. AO3 is surprising me currently, as a number of stories I recently uploaded seem to be getting widely different numbers of hits, and I don't quite get why there are differences. Still, people appear to be reading, which is of the good.
Into my little local town centre for an appointment with an optician. The practice I used to attend has been swallowed up by a big company, so I decided to try a new chain. I was fairly impressed by the thoroughness of the optician and the optometrist, who between them had a lot of machinery too. The bill was lower than I expected, too - the gas-permeable lenses were a hundred pounds; back in 1974, my first pair of hard lenses cost me £70!
There was just time then to walk down to the other end of the main shopping street to the hairdressers. Rather nicely, the hairdresser recognised me and asked how the wedding went - he had been part of the team who did F, her four bridesmaids and me back in January. Pleasant chit-chat about holidays and the like, and no mention of the election, a blessed relief.
On the way back to the car-park I stopped in the greengrocer's and bought a couple of bunches of local asparagus - I am a glutton for the stuff - and popped into the sewing/craft shop to buy a teensy embroidery hoop, which will be perfect for taking on holiday. Then I met my friend R near the car-park. We couldn't resist the little second-hand bookshop/coffee shop across the road, but we managed to get away with only three books between us and we drove back home, via the little independent bakery, because R is very fond of their doughnuts. (She's also petite and rake-thin. Disgusting.)
We chatted and drank tea for a while, then fired up the computer. R has to give a paper at an academic conference in a couple of weeks and her supervisor told her to make it "more accessible", so we talked our way through it: R is virtually bilingual, but not really accustomed to such precise nuances. We managed to rough out something a little shorter and easier for a listener to follow, and then emailed it to her to finish polishing. We chatted a little more - about the depressing election result and the horrors that may now be expected, and about the open afternoon I am going to in Stratford later in the week, as I am considering doing a second MA.
I drove R back to the campus, then back home, only a little while before Dave got back. On days when he works in Solihull they won't let him work after 6.00, so he's home before seven. We had arancini, roast potatoes and asparagus for supper, and relatively early for us at that. Then Dave watched a programme about refuse treatment in Newcastle - not my choice, but relevant to his job and surprisingly interesting. Then No Offence, a crime show with Joanna Scanlon which is both entertaining and hard-hitting. Since the programme after that was Benefits Street and we are not into poverty porn, we switched off. Half an hour of music while I do a little writing, and then it will be time for bed.