Is it called a dream when you are in bed with your eyes closed but you aren't asleep? I was having one of these things this morning around 4am. It wouldn't stop so I decided to read a book. After a while I decided to have another attempt at sleeping but it didn't work so I got up and started my day with a cup of tea.
In bed I was having the strangest stories going on in my head. At one point I was really upset because my favourite teacher had been transferred - he happened to be my present day doctor. I say to myself, "That's a good story, I'll have to write that one down." I get up and the story's completely forgotten - I can't remember a thing.
I heard something on the radio about an ideal homes exhibition in London. The commentator was saying that houses were getting smaller and so they new homes didn't have a dining room. The commentator said, "Do you remember when we were young, we always had a dining room." I couldn't help laughing. In our younger days in all the homes we lived in, we never had a dining room. In our first home in Elm Road we were all in the kitchen for six days of the week; on Sunday we were allowed into what we called the 'front room'. Often it was frigid because we didn't have enough coal to keep the kitchen and front room fires going. There must have been more than a dozen of us in that kitchen and Mother would be busy doing the ironing or other chore. No electric iron. The irons were placed by the coal fire to heat up and the ironing was done on the kitchen table. I suppose we could have gone upstairs to our bedrooms but they were even colder than the downstairs rooms. There was a short passage leading into the kitchen with an outside toilet leading off it. In the dark days of winter we kids would often come home from school and walk straight into a hanging bird. Dad would wring the neck of some poor hen or cockerel and hang it upside down to drain. Its wing were spread out and it was quite a thing to bump into. Those were the days.
The folks were out this morning at church and then for lunch with friends. This is the time when I can use the phone as no one else wants to use it. I phoned some family members and got updated with family affairs. Barrie's fed up with Jean because she's taking antibiotics for a water infection. Instead of swallowing the pills she's chewing them so Barrie says her tongue is all the colours of the rainbow because of her chewing. Jean's a retired nurse so she knows best and won't listen to anyone else. I told Barrie to go on strike until she starts to swallow them - no cooking done, no cleaning, no pushing her wheelchair etc. He said to her, "If you think I'm bad you should listen to him." Jean said, "I don't want him coming here to look after me." I'm glad she doesn't.
Waris came with a single egg this morning - I think it must have been a duck egg as he'd given us some hen eggs the day before. I decided to turn it into a pancake and I had it with some of the thick lentil soup I made earlier. I was quite pleased with my efforts.
The sky is blue today, which makes everything look more cheerful. It's going down to 1C tonight so it's still on the nippy side. I saw the tulips pushing through so that's a good sign. They are always early as they are against the house wall so they feel the warmth from the bricks. Bill's planted some marigold seeds in a container; I don't know what he plans on doing with them. A few ducks flew over; they'll be looking for loose grain lying in the fields. It won't be long before we hear the honking of the geese as they return from the south.
I tried to find something to watch on YouTube but I was too droopy to be bothered watching anything. I was in bed by 8.30 and I read a while to make sure all the rays from the computer screen had disappeared and I would sleep. To make sure I read a book for half an hour and even took one of my happy pills. It would be a good night!
