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Odd Jobs

I’ve no idea why, but this morning I was gripped with the urge to sort through the Christmas decorations. They live in the cupboard under the stairs and every time I open the door, the incumbent mess tries to escape. It’s like some sort of creepy, festive cupboard monster living there, and today I decided it needed sorting out. It didn’t take long once I decided to be ruthless, and Nell helped. One full bin bag of Christmas tat = half an empty under stairs cupboard - hurrah! 

Bolstered by my success I decided (and yes, I realise this was a foolhardy decision) to pull out the TV cabinet and clean behind it. It was more of a wrangle than the under stairs cupboard on account of the plugs and leads and tangle of extension cables, and it was less glittery on account of the lack of tinsel. But, armed with dustpan and brush, vacuum cleaner with crevice nozzle attachment, anti-bac wet wipes and a microfibre cloth, the job was done, and I’ve had words with the maid and told her not to let it get like that again. 

After spending some time in recovery mode with a cup of tea and my daily Italian lesson, I took Nell for her daily walk. She needs at least an hour of brisk exercise a day on account of her being a compact ball of barely-contained and often furious energy. I noticed the other day that my legs look thinner, because of all the walking. Hers do not but then she is covered in more fur than I am and who knows what’s going on underneath it all. 

We went to our local village part of the canal which involves a short walk through the country lanes to reach the nearest canal bridge. Nell met a horse. She’s never encountered a horse before and was startled by the sheer size of it, compounded by her being such a short-arse. The canal path is filling up nicely with greenery and wild flowers - campions, cowslips, speedwell, purple vetch, swathes of cow parsley - all the flowers I used to collect as a child and press between pages of the Encyclopaedia Brittanica. Happy days! 

And now it’s almost nine o’clock in the evening. It’s still daylight outside and the fields around us are being mowed for the first time in months, scenting the air with the kind of smell that makes you feel glad to be alive. This also means the grass is now short enough to see the hares! 

May is a great month. Even if it did start off feeling a bit like Christmas.

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