Another year older

I’m celebrating my birthday in E Yorkshire, where we are staying for a few nights not far from our friend Annie’s.  Martyn treated me to a trip on the Settle-Carlisle railway line yesterday: wonderful scenery, but the train being a special charter, we had to do a lot of hanging about to let regular traffic through.  The spectacular part is between Appleby and Settle, and another time we’d do it on scheduled trains.  We spent a couple of hour in Carlisle, where we were made to feel rather unwelcome at the cathedral, and we were proselytised at by people with guitars and an amplifier in the market square.  The city itself is pleasant enough, but it’s not somewhere I’d visit specially.

The catering on the train was pretty good, though, and I hate to think what the scales will tell me when we get home tomorrow.  Annie is not on her best form at the moment, and decided not to come with us.  As it turned out, this was a wise move: we were out for about 15 hours in all, and are feeling pretty tired today.

The drive north was also rather long: we shall break it up a bit more on the way home.  We find ourselves tiring more quickly than we used to, which is of course normal as the years add up.  So a lazy day today: we’re off to lunch at a café nearby while the car gathers up a few kilowatts nearby.

Bachelor life

Sandra is still in a lot of pain, so Martyn is staying in Rochester until the care arrangements kick in next Monday.  A stair lift is being installed in the coming days, so that will give Sandra a bit more independence.  I’ve been going across every other day, sometimes bringing a meal with me.  I’m a rather timid driver these days, so find it rather tiring.  The good thing about it is that it gets me into air-conditioned comfort for the duration of the journeys.

It is stiflingly hot again, and we’re expecting it to continue well into next week.  I’ve been skulking indoors behind closed curtains, with a fan blowing through a wet matrix.  Not terribly effective, but better than nothing.  Once the sun had come round today to shade the area by the back door, I set to and overhauled the wheelbarrow.  Not exactly major engineering, but I soon realised that it’s well over thirty years since I last changed an inner tube, and had to remind myself by trial and error how it’s done.  Fortunately I now have an electric compressor, so I was spared the effort of pumping the damn’ thing up.  Sweaty business nonetheless, so I’m back in the shade in my trusty cotton djellaba, and wondering whether I really want a hot supper tonight!