transitional time...

I haven't managed to post on here since I began my new job... too busy, or too knackered!
Having Mondays as well as Fridays free of regular employment commitments is already proving extremely useful - particularly as Pen had a 'cleaning slot' free. I can't afford a cleaner, but I so needed help with spring cleaning the flat and clearing loads of clutter - and Pen's more like a whirlwind than a cleaner, motivating me in the process. Together, we get far more done than she would by herself - and she's achieved more in three days than I could in three weeks... After our first session in the flat on Bank Holiday Monday, I had a fair haul to add to the garage goods awaiting another boot sale - which I did with Marina. My takings were disappointing (I was spoiled when Ath and I did one, we made about eighty quid), and far too much crap came back with me (although our two-car loads were, admittedly, reduced to one). Still, it's good to have stuff moving... Good feng shui!
Today we cleared the garden and hefted about twenty bags to the tip. There's a load of wood stored in the garage which maybe Annabelle and Peter can use...

My first week at Barton Hill was hectic, and I was knackered after three consecutive early starts... (no more leaving Frome for Bristol in a leisurely fashion at ten o'clock - I've got to be there at nine). Lyn and I managed a short walk on Tuesday after work (that late night Tuesday won't have helped my fatigue!) and Crysse and I squeezed in an hour and a half's walking on Friday. On Saturday, I got up early enough to get an hour's walking in before Peter's salon - what a lovely way to spend an afternoon! I did feel very Dormouse-at-the-Mad-Hatter's-tea-party once we'd eaten... (chestnut soup, wild salmon and mulberry compote). Perked up enough to read 'Loving Dissection' as my contribution - and then Liquid Jam went to Writhlington Village Hall for their first party performance... (bid for in the Auction of Promises).

It went very well - but being on stage in front of a 'non-poetry/theatre' audience is much more daunting than it might sound... especially when I kept stumbling over words and lines... aaargh!

Sunday spent in recovery from the week in general and Saturday in particular. A chance to catch up with admin and some emails...
Bloody hell - with now only five weeks to go til we're off, I need to be doing more than that with my Sundays...
but, on the other hand, I need to be careful not to exhaust myself so close to the trek... I don't want to get ill at the eleventh hour!

And talking of eleven, it's 9/11 anniversary today. I remember watching the tv footage with an intensified sense of unreality, having been doped up for a colonoscopy (which was unecessary, as my symptoms are almost certainly down to the hep C).

Home from the hospital, reading and half-watching the tv, at first I was puzzled. Once I realised I wasn't watching some bizarre special effect, but live footage replayed again and again, I was stunned, and dazed for the next few weeks - alongside the rest of the world. Ted Simon must have been on his second world bike trip, because I remember reading an excellent email update on the response of the South American people he talked to about the tragedy.

There were candlelight vigils, flurries of letters to add to the proliferating newspaper articles debating why it had happened and what should be done to deter future acts of terrorism... the hunt began for Osama Bin Laden, people circulated millions of emails commemorating those who died and their families... and then, later, the march in London to protest the war in Iraq.

And now we're five years on from the not-so-improbable toppling of the twin towers...