Wonders, fatigue and an old favourite - In the name of Thiago - Day 293

 

A mixed day is what it's been. I've been very busy with work - too busy to get the time to focus on a job application that I wanted to make progress on unfortunately. But on a positive note, I have been pulling off wonders today that are exactly the kind of thing that would put me in the frame. 

I am experiencing a sense of agitation though. There are many things that are tantalisingly out of my control and I'm starting to wonder where my place is. Perhaps I'm on the verge of a mid life crisis. What with my little man passing away, I have every good reason to go through one I guess. But that's not the kind of talk for the here and now. As Thiago taught me, focus on the positive. If ever there was a time for doing that, then it is surely now. 

Extraordinarily, this is the bed that Elisa and her mate Bella slept in last night. And no, I'm not going to give you a before and after shot. This is genuinely the after. Naturally, Elisa has had absolutely nothing to do with the immaculate state of the room - she was slopping about on the sofa downstairs while her mate was putting all the effort in. And it's fair to say that she wasn't too impressed when I showed her this photo afterwards. Let's just say that me sharing Bella's hard work doesn't seem to have registered in the slightest. Ah well..

I am tired, which is strange. I really have done so very little this week, which to be fair was always the plan. But why so tired? I think I know the answer. The pure adrenaline of knowing that day after day I was achieving something more and more remarkable with the walk hid the real tiredness, which is only really kicking in now. Looking at that beautifully made up bed as I am now is certainly not helping!

I've mentioned Jim on these pages before. He's a thoroughly decent chap and he absolutely battered me out of sight before darkness set in this evening over at Draycott. Jim is what I'd call a smart all court tennis player. He cajoles the ball into places on the court that a big lumbering idiot like me is less likely to retrieve them from. And it certainly proved to be so this evening. To the tune of 6-2, 6-1. A humbling indeed. 

A kinder view of what happened would be to say that after five weeks of being nowhere near a court, my rustiness played into Jim's hands. I'm too erratic though, giving too much away. There's always next time though, and more importantly after a full week of doing nothing, it was good to be getting a bit of a work out and a working over as it turned out. 

As a reward for barely an hour and a half's exercise I decided that I'd take Elisa to the Dancing Octopus for the old classic Friday night chippy tea. Angelica's buggered off to Bedford to visit her friend Elisangela so she'll never know. Doh! 

It turns out that as if having fish and chips itself isn't unhealthy enough though, I've also discovered another old friend, which is fast turning into an addiction for me..

But hell, it's Friday, a man's got to have a little bit of fun every now and again. And besides tomorrow I'm being punished again as I need to pop round the old man's to facilitate Dan the excellent electrician, who worked on our house. who is now coming round to fix up some security cameras at my Dad's. I'm sure that however brilliantly Dan does his work, the gratitude for it will be minimal. 'Twas ever thus.

Well that's me done for tonight folks but please do keep up the fundraising and sharing. And do also feel free to make your suggestions on what the next fundraising challenge might be. Alex Barnes has already had his say on this (and it did hold some logical reasoning) for which my good lady will probably not thank him. For now, I'm going to try once more belatedly to converse with my daughter albeit I have little energy left to invest. She's all good, she's just 12. Enough said I guess!