On my first day of leave I went to work. But for the morning only. I had to do a handover and sweep everything on my desk into my top drawer, leaving my station neat and tidy. At 12:26 I abandoned work and went to have lunch with a friend. We both made healthy choices and enjoyed our meal, so we said. However, we both drooled over the hamburger and chips that was served at the next table.
N told me about the new bake shop so I popped in there on the way home. I just wanted some sprinkles for the Christmas cookies. Okay, so being there I realised I like to bake but I don't like to decorate. Lots of things to decorate cakes with, mostly made with sugar. At home, when we were children, cakes were plain and delicious, no icing and stuff like that. A fancy cake would be layered with whipped cream and cherries or strawberries or my mom's baked cheesecake.
N told me about the new bake shop so I popped in there on the way home. I just wanted some sprinkles for the Christmas cookies. Okay, so being there I realised I like to bake but I don't like to decorate. Lots of things to decorate cakes with, mostly made with sugar. At home, when we were children, cakes were plain and delicious, no icing and stuff like that. A fancy cake would be layered with whipped cream and cherries or strawberries or my mom's baked cheesecake.
On the second day of my leave I worked in the garden early morning, transplanting and trimming. We had wonderful rain with a storm the previous evening. Then I started to put up the decorations on the patio which I had to stop because the sun was so hot. I was sweating, yes we had gone past perspiring, sweating like a hot water tap left running and reaching boiling point. I lay exhausted on the day bed and discarded all my plans for the day. Let's watch a movie. The Martian. While in the kitchen my washing machine does it's own space-station-impersonation and puts the bedding in orbit on the spin cycle, freshening it up for our guest who arrive later in the week.
As soon as there is shade on the patio I continue putting up the decorations but it makes no difference, it's just too hot to work. I carry on because stopping will mean I have to take down what I have already done and would really take the same amount of effort.
The bats come out as soon as the evening star is visible. I watch them dart across the garden while I float on my back in the pool. I stay in the water until I am cold, until my body is chilled and I forget the day was hot.
I eat badly all day - cornflakes, oven chips and 2-minute noodles. To eat something good I would have to go to the shop but as I said before; it's too hot to do anything. I also had sliced apple with pecan nut and some special chocolate I have been saving the past two months for Christmas but found I could wait another four days.
On my third day of leave I wake up just after midnight. Actually it was 17 minutes past midnight. I used to hate the way John Robbie told the time. I always wanted to phone in and yell: get a digital clock if you can't work it out yourself. He'd say it's just after seven twenty nine. So is it 7:30 then? Or he'd say it's almost eight twenty. So is it 8:19? Argh. Anyway at 00:17 I wake to the sound of a storm building kilometres away, but the wind is already here. I fear it will tear my decorations off the patio and drag them into the pool. The lightening is flashing against the curtains like a faulty torch, on again, off again and the thunder rumbles with the same rhythm and keeps it's distance. It starts to rain softly and I decide to go back to sleep.
Up early as always, 4:36. What I really want to do is get a cup of tea, sleep another hour or two, then get more tea, toast with honey and lounge about all day reading a book. Meanwhile in the real world I have to clean the house and do the shopping because my family arrives tomorrow.
A lemon tree that I had moved from a pot to the garden died during the drought we had. Procrastination prevented me from digging it up and throwing it out. I see now with all the rain we have had that the dead sticks have sprouted new leaves. I can't believe it, nature is truly awesome and resilient.
On my 14th day of leave I woke up and it was 2017. Happy New Year.
You ask what happened to day 4 to 13? Sloth. That's how I would describe it. Lazy, lazing days, one after the other. Granted my family was here day 4 to 7, so that was wonderfully nice but not hectic, not too much energy expended.
You ask what happened to day 4 to 13? Sloth. That's how I would describe it. Lazy, lazing days, one after the other. Granted my family was here day 4 to 7, so that was wonderfully nice but not hectic, not too much energy expended.
Day 4 made up all the different doughs for the Christmas biscuits, the one day 5 we baked them, day 6 the kids decorated them and we packed them into boxes. One for them, one for granny, one for Trish, one for me and then one extra one, for just in case. By day 9 I had eaten my allocation.
We slept, we ate, we swam, we ate some more, we watched kiddies DVDs, we ate. We had a lovely Christmas eve with a very simple meal and bags full of presents, German Christmas carols and stollen. My sister-in-law bakes the Stollen ever year and I look forward to it every year. I mean we ate again.
Anyway, we are already back at work now and it seems pointless to try and capture days that have slipped away, all over too soon. But I am sure you got the idea - eat, swim, TV, books, naps, family.
(I have established that you cannot get slim if you watch series and snack all day). It was a fabulous few days.
(I have established that you cannot get slim if you watch series and snack all day). It was a fabulous few days.
