Getting back to normal

I’m somewhat surprised to say that today is a brighter day. I couldn’t quite believe it when I looked across from my bed & I could see something of the painting that hangs on the wall there. It wasn’t even 8am! I got up with a lighter spirit.

Last night we saw the New Year in. We popped some champagne & watched the fireworks going off in London on the TV. They seemed more imaginative than usual this year.

Now we’re looking forward to life getting more normal. It always seems a long haul from Christmas to New Year. It’s a time when the shops, even if they are open, have often not re-stocked. Pubs tend to be heaving as so many people have time off work, often catching up with family & friends.

On Christmas Eve we tried our local pub. We left after only one drink. By then we were feeling the strain of stretched ears as we tried to hear what friends were saying, not to mention sore throats from shouting to be heard over the hubbub. The final thing that irritated me was the number of children climbing over my wheelchair as they tried to squeeze through the crowds. We’ve not been back to the pub since.

No, it will be good to get back to some normality. As we get older we become less tolerant of change, especially when it is forced upon us. Some change we do appreciate – a holiday, often in a different country & culture for example - but it needs to be change of our own choosing. But we want to get back to knowing what day of the week it is, to getting tasks completed like the repair of the venetian blind in the kitchen, to once more do a large food shop, to just be in the rhythm of ordinary life. Maybe now we’re in 2019 we will be able to.