Impact of change

We're back to more normal weather - rain. I've just been talking to Helen & discovered they've got snow. Admittedly we did see some sleet coming down last night but there's no sign of it today. Instead we've started another lake in our garden. The ground is so frozen solid I suspect it's not absorbing the water well. We had intended to go into Lancaster today to look at kitchens. Ours needs replacing desperately but we've decided to put it off until another day when the weather's better. Instead the Fox is going to have a go at making a chicken casserole for dinner.

One thing about our decision not to go to the Pub so often is that we have time to do things like making casseroles in the afternoon. Admittedly we may still go to our local village pub but that doesn't take so long as it is considerably nearer to go to. We'll certainly have to go to the doctors' this afternoon to collect our prescriptions & that's in the direction of the village pub, not the Pub.

Our decision not to go so often gets baleful looks & moans from Little B. He needs regularity & certainty in life. It gives a stabiliity & shape to his life which he finds reassuring. But as the Fox said in his blog, the time has come to put our needs before other people's.

What Little B doesn't seem to realise is the adherence to such strict routine is the very thing I find so stressful. I find it constraining.

My childhood was regimented. You could tell the time of the day from the time of meals, even cups of tea & toilet visits. The day of the week was told by what was ate. You always had the same food on the same day of the week - no variety. My reaction is to get as far away as possible from such a straight jacket. Yes, we do have some routines. Church is on Sunday, along with the cleaning & bed changing. Meals are roughly the same time of day each day, but that's it. The rest of the time we do what we want when we want. Total flexibility, constrained only by our physical needs & scope of our imagination.