Just one of those days

Yesterday was definitely one of those days, to be endured rather enjoyed, to be got through as quickly as possible, or simply just avoided somehow.

I should have realised when I was rudely awakened by the doorbell suddenly chiming. I was trying to rouse myself anyhow. I hastily did my best to get up, to find nobody at the door. As far as I can see, it just rang itself. It was already late in the day – 8.30am.

As I was up I thought I might as well get up properly. All seemed to be going well. I got on with making a beef & mushroom filling for a pie. I took out the peelings for the accompanying mash to the compost bin. As I did so I noticed the acacia, shrouded in its horticultural fleece standing at a very peculiar angle. I went to investigate. The cane which is supposed to be supporting the young acacia, had been snapped in half by the violent winds we’ve had of late. I’ve not done anything much to rectify the situation yet as so far we’ve had fairly unrelenting rain & wind. I’m beginning to question if the fleece isn’t causing more damage than giving protection to the plant.

I hastily went in. While the beef was plopping I turned to my next task of the day – we’d bought some brisket on Tuesday, a rather bigger piece than we needed. I wanted to divide it ⅓ - ⅔, the smaller piece for the freezer, the larger for Saturday’s dinner. I then tried to weigh the two pieces to see how accurately I’d cut it. I was somewhat surprised when I weighed the smaller piece – 15oz. I tried it in grams – 125g. Even I know they’re not the same. I tried the bigger piece – 5oz. Now that’s ridiculous. No matter what I did the scales reckoned the larger piece weighed less than the smaller, & as for the conversion from imperial to metric measurements ….! I concluded that maybe I needed new batteries & put the meat back in the fridge until I’d had chance to talk to the Fox about it.

Next the Fox got up. His right eyelid was so swollen he was hard put to open it. Instantly I was on the phone. The surgery suggested he came straight in to see a doctor. I drove for once, fearing his vision might be impaired. At the surgery we discovered he has blepharitis. He’s now got some ointment to put on his lashes/lid, & yet another pill to take. Hopefully it should settle within the week.

When we get back the Fox had a look at the scales – his eye has finally managed to open a bit more widely to see them. He concluded like me it was probably batteries & went out to buy some more. As soon as he got back, we inserted the batteries to discover the same results, so clearly that wasn’t the problem. Our next trip was to the shops to buy some new scales. I’m glad to say these showed the larger piece was just over 600g, the smaller just over 400g, which makes sense since the original whole joint was just over 1kg.

So I found the next mishap of the day. I went off to the laundry room to put the smaller joint into the freezer. I switched on the light as it was dark by then. Nothing. I tried a second time. Nothing. We clearly need a new bulb. I suppose we have to admit it is still the bulb that was in when we arrived here 15 years ago so it’s about time. Today, in broad daylight, if this gloomy overcast day can be called broad daylight, the Fox will measure the fluorescent tube & we’ll get off to the shops once more.

It was with a certain sense of relief when I went to bed. Nothing else could go wrong. It was clearly just one of those days.