Men are from Mars...

Friday 16th April, 2021

The dawn woke me with a burst of sunshine. The day started as sunny, cloudless and warm as the last seven or so. I had gone to the bubble household yesterday evening to celebrate an 80th birthday with a cake for tea and then a superb steak for supper. Also a bottle of bubbly non alcoholic prosecco and a bottle of non alcoholic red wine accompanied the meal which also featured a local Scottish cream cheese with a pungent smell and very cheesy taste. By 9.30pm I extricated myself and went to bed. The mattress was incredibly comfortable and I slept for nearly ten hours with vivid and lively dreams. I woke refreshed to the sun and looked across the still, sparkling and bird strewn Tay near where the artist McIntosh Patrick lived.

Breakfast was scheduled for 9.45am and a delightful plate of scrambled eggs, chorizo, Spanish ham, Indian sausages and Danish bread plus black strong Lavazzo coffee. I managed to force the food down!! I did feel greedy as yesterday was a day of feasting.

I walked for 45 minutes by the Tay then brought my landlady back home. She was laden with flowers and the house is looking and smelling good.

I then decided I needed to walk more so set off discarding my pullover and bobble hat and gloves but taking my litter grabber. A lovely warm walk but as I progressed so clouds came and by the time I got home, 15.25, the sun had been shrouded. The walk took me passed the lakes in the local park. Six ducklings had hatched and were gorgeous. However two ladies sitting on the bench nearby said they had seen one of the swans ( a couple are nesting on the lake's island) swallow one of the ducklings. A heron was lurking and looking greedy so two of us warned him off. Yet I have been told one should not interfere in nature. The ladies informed me that last year six signets hatched but four were eaten, nine ducklings had hatched and all survived.

On returning home I had a letter from the NHS informing me that my second jab was scheduled for Sunday 25th April at 15.46. I was delighted and amused by the precise time. It recalled my old Head Master who always gave parents an exact time to the odd minute or so. He said they took it seriously. I asked why not add seconds also, such as

14.37, 39 seconds? " I am not eccentric and I am not pedantic but merely an amateur psychologist" was his reply.

There has been one sad note. A friend rang my landlady, a friend I know well. She supposedly said that she had, after 35 years of marriage, realised that her husband is incredibly boring and that she is bored herself. My landlady went on to say the same of other husbands she knew.....and I feared she feels the same about me! Am I allowed to say that men are from Mars and women from Venus?

Now for a supper of left overs...a choice of Arab mezzes, cold chicken or birthday cake!

Not a boring choice but highly exciting.