Thursday 10.9.09

Receiving two cards through the post today alerted me to our wedding anniversary. 21 years at 10am. I had forgotten that the date was coming up, and suspected that Nick had too. I decided to forget again and see if he remembered. Quite late in the evening, he was reminded by his mum who asked if we had got the cards. It gave us both a laugh, given the importance we had given it last year when I fell out with B&Q and gave up my job because they wouldn't give me the day off. To be fair to them, I was very important and in fact unique amongst the nation's checkout operators. We will do something nice at the weekend, such as going out for lunch, which we do most weekends anyway.

For the first time in several days, I had an enjoyable day. Darcy and I went for a longish walk around Lakeview. He was in playful spirits, nosing through the freshly cut grass, rolling about and generally being foolish. He did that two jumps side to side things that dogs do to each other to initiate a game of chase, and I did chase him about, him allowing himself to be caught and tussled to the floor. Towards the end of the walk, he ran down the overgrown banks and into the stream. I called, but he seemed to have disappeared until, just as I started to worry, he reappeared, jumping up high to clear the undergrowth in the springer spaniel style on the opposite bank. He then ran off down, crossed the stream via the bridge and came back up to me, satisfied with his excellent trick.

The park was all lovely in the golden light of early autumn, it was warm, dry and sweet scented. The big oak tree is just beginning to shed its acorns, and they were crunchy under foot. I wondered if there is any use for them, there are so many. Having looked it up, they can be used by soaking, drying and grinding to make a kind of flour. It's a nice idea, just a bit too much for me to think I will ever get around to.

After the park, Darcy had to sit in the car for a good while while I sat and drank pop, writing a good bit of romance that is either really excellent, or completely awful, I won't be able to judge until I look back on it in a few weeks time. I finished watching Skins series two. Controversially, I think it's a fine series in the way of Desperate Housewives; more a comedy/surreal drama than any comment on teenage society just as DH is not attempting a true reflection of suburban life. It's inevitably easier to judge someone else's work than to judge our own.