All scrubbed clean

As the computer boots up, I'm aware my eyes are stinging. Then I remember & rush off to scrub my hands vigorously. I'd just been getting dinner on the go. And yes, I had chopped a whole red chilli. I had not bothered to wash my hands thoroughly. By the time I'd washed through the various knives, spoons, chopping board, saucepan after putting all the food into Big Ears, the slow cooker, I'd just assumed my hands were clean enough. Then I'd blown my nose & wiped my eyes - tearful still from the onion chopping. Clearly still more scrubbing was needed to get rid of the chilli juices before I tried wiping my eyes again.

Thursday we ended up going briefly into Lancaster, not the city centre, rather up to the leisure village near Williamson Park above the city. We'd been told there was a good butcher/farmers' market there as well as a brewery to look round with a nice bar. We were disappointed. The meat didn't look brilliant to us. The pub smelt so much of the malt & hops we couldn't sit comfortably.

We decided instead to have a drive around some of the country villages around. So we set off across the Pennine hills, with their fabulous views over to Morecambe Bay - regretting all the while we hadn't thought to bring our camera. (One of these days we're going have to invest in a mobile phone with camera built in. At least then we would always have it with us.) The morning rain had made the world look all the brighter, fresher, clearer, that just scrubbed clean look, when the afternoon sunshine arrived. We went over to Low Bentham before returning home along the other side of the Lune river.

We stopped at Ricky's for an excellent Cantonese meal. It wasn't a disappointment. As for the evening, that was spent with a bottle of champagne & the sounds of the 50s.

A bit of me was disappointed we didn't get away, but the Fox was feeling weary. That night I had a very bad night & was grateful to be in my own bed, where I could find my way to the bathroom without lights, put the radio on to distract me a bit as I writhed for 4 hours or so, locate pills in the dark to give me some relief, have a lie-in the next morning if need be without worrying about missing breakfast I'd paid for or the room needing to be cleaned. As I said the other day, if you're not feeling well, there's no place like home. 

And regardless we'd did have an enjoyable, if quieter, day.