On Friday morning Mel went to Naples. Twinny trip. I’m not a twin so I wasn’t invited. But… a whole weekend! Time off!!! What shall I do??? Leisure time. All to myself! And FA Cup final weekend too! I’m ’livin the dream’.

This is what happened when I stopped dreaming.

7.55 am. Left house to got to Tai Chi. Punched some people. Kicked a few others.
10.05 am. Arrived home, cup of tea, banana and out for…
10.30 am. Tennis with Spurs Paul. Finished promptly because…
11.50 am. Arrived home, shower, dress, out for
12.20 pm. To pick up younger daughter and go to Lila’s end of year ‘RAZ’ show at
1.00 pm. Adorable. Shame about all the other groups of non-Lila kids.
3.00 pm. Return Rachie home, go straight off to Henley. (Henley???)
10.05 pm. Arrived home.

I went to Henley because I could. Ok, I could have gone anywhere, that’s true, England’s full of fabulous little towns. But the BoatMan is currently moored in Henley-upon-Thames and I had some new glasses for him. Because he regularly destroys them or loses them overboard. And though I don’t normally offer a delivery service, the sun was shining, the sky was blue, Mel was wandering around Capri, and the top down was on the car. If the specs were ready in February, he’d have had to get a train into London. But I wanted to go somewhere. I needed to drive. And as this one ended in a curry house, I don’t think I could have chosen a finer spot in the entire land. Henley is surprisingly beautiful. I’m always surprised when I leave London and arrive somewhere that’s not an industrial new-town shit-hole. But I do live a very sheltered life.

I opted to drive home with the top still down. Because: in order: it wasn’t raining; it feels nice; I’m fucking stupid. Because it was quite chilly. But I’M A MAN!! Alright, a fairly stupid one.

So today I took it easy. I played tennis. Cos that’s easy. Then I spent 3 hours power-hosing the patio. I thought it would be easy. It’s not Buckingham Palace with a 100 metre terrace ‘out the back’. But, when you’re washing it, inch by inch, it’s big enough.

Then I collapsed on the couch with a cup of tea, to watch Newcastle play Arsenal, because I’m a big Geordie and fan, and ooh-ayyy the lads and stuff and it was so good I only slept for about 40 minutes of it. And ‘we’ lost anyway.

Happy relaxing Sunday

A xxxx