The C Word

Thursday 12 November 2009

Yesterday came and went. I observed the two-minutes silence in the gym before doing my resistance workout. Being Wednesday it was Daddy Cabs between 4.30pm and 7pm.

After putting together a radio show for 22 November - my last “normal” one of the year - I plonked myself in front of the telly and watched “High Anxiety”, which I had saved on Sky+. It was fun looking out for the Hitchcock references. After “Never Mind The Buzzcocks” I retired for the evening only to be woken up at 4.10 am by a little person who’d had a bad dream about a cat who had bitten her nose, after she failed to find a shark! Bless.

I put her back to bed but couldn’t sleep myself so I lay awake wondering what I would I would’ve done if I’d won £45m. I know that it’s an ultimately pointless exercise that only encourages disenchantment but it killed some time. (I had actually given a brief thought to getting up and going to the gym before work but I dismissed that idea just as quickly because (a) the gym hasn’t been so busy at 11 anymore and (b) I just couldn’t be arsed). I decided that I would like my own little venue, which would host gigs by, well, whoever I wanted. I’d have Jackie Leven and Roddy Frame playing, Teenage Fanclub together with The Orchids and any strings would be provided by my pals in the Cairn String Quartet (“very nice girls, very clean”).

On the way to work the petrol light came on in the car and I wondered where I’d get fuel. I headed for Craigleith Retail Park only to find a poorly lit car park (I ignored the road markings because I couldn’t see them) and a closed petrol station. As I leave the Park I see the Shell logo ahead and chastise myself for forgetting about this petrol station, which I pass twice every day. I’m in and out the petrol station very efficiently and back on the road to work.

I need to get to work sharp because the car park, which is only for those and such as those, is being used for an event over a number of days and, coupled with local roadworks, means spaces are at a premium. I also need some cash but I decide to park the car first and then walk back around the corner to the bank. Spending my lunch in the gym means I don’t really get much fresh air during the day so I don’t mind the walk. Not that there are many people about. I do like the serenity of the early hours – the calm before the storm, if you like.

It’s official! Christmas is upon us as I’ve dug out the Christmas Card address spreadsheet. We all have one, right? RIGHT? I used to keep a note of who sent us one and who didn’t. If we didn’t get one for two years in a row they were chopped off the list - I'm brutal that way. Over the last two years we’ve received cards from people we don’t know or at least can’t work out who they are. I think one is from a distant cousin but the others, Karen and Andy, I’ve no idea. Even she-who-must-be-obeyed can’t work out who they are and she remembers everyone and everything. (Well, almost everything – her tendency to forget to charge her mobile and /or switch it on infuriates me but that’s another rant for another day!)

Fell asleep on the settee tonight. Watched a "Modern Family" double bill while suffering heartburn (I knew that second ginger cake was a bad idea) and then wasted the rest of the evening watching nothing in particular.