I had something of a nuit blanche last night; what with the bells and the clankings, it was like being in a haunted castle only much less fun. The Aged P-in-law (also much less fun than Dickens’ character) wanted the heating on, and the heating in this house never gives over clanking. You wouldn’t mind so much if it only clanked when heating up or cooling down, but it clanks intermittently all the time it’s on – just to remind you that it’s there, I suppose. You don’t notice it so much in the day but at night it’s like creaking floorboards which convince you that someone is stealthily climbing the stairs; besides, it’s a sound I normally associate with waking up so subconsciously my mind was preparing for it to be morning. Eventually I got up and grumpily searched for my earplugs, though not before we’d been woken twice by Aged PiL complaining of being cold. To be fair, it has turned very cold of late and though I’m not generally a fan of frigid weather I am happy to see it. I’ve hated recent autumns where it’s warm and damp or even hot and damp and you don’t feel a nip in the air till November at least. I regard this as a sign that lockdown has had some effect at least on our disastrous warming of the planet.
But enough of that or I’ll start depressing myself.
I’ve started another knitting project (there’s no stopping me at the moment) which is a black roll-neck jumper. I’ve also knitted a hat from the remains of the wool from the first jumper. It’s very satisfying. And the project for Nano is coming along nicely; I’ve planned most of the chapters in very rough outline now.
TV-wise, OH and I are greatly enjoying the Michael Palin retrospectives, both the programmes themselves and the programmes about the making of them. Palin nowadays looks grizzled and elderly but still recognisably Palin, and it’s abundantly clear that the success of the series hinges very much on his affable personality and egalitarian outlook. He’ll try anything and talk to anyone and endures hardships and delays with patience and fortitude – a real role model. Speaking of which, I’m off to endure the white-out fatigue of today with patience and fortitude, pausing only to yell to OH to bring me a shot of tea which can be administered intravenously.
I feel there is more to be said about Palin and his programmes, so I’ll come back to these. In the meantime, have a good Tuesday.
Kirk out
Sarada Gray 