Being idle

After an early start yesterday and a sleepless night I was surprised not to feel tired until mid evening. I think this indicates my idle life at the moment. This morning we received a welcome email from Anna to say she had arrived in Istanbul and met her friend. She will be leaving Istanbul this evening for the archaeological site. Last time they travelled by train on a sleeper which was a wonderfully old-fashioned way to travel, meet people and see the country. Once they get to the dig they will be out of reach of mobile or internet communication so we won’t hear from them until they journey back to Istanbul some time next week.

Unfortunately, I had another setback in that I was quite sick during the night. I think I just have to be prepared for this. I did get back to sleep and slept very well so Raymond let me sleep in. This was kind but the only trouble is that it takes me about two hours to go through all the preparations in the morning so that I am ready for the day, so the morning has now gone. If I had some significant work to do, I suppose this would be very difficult.

I am feeling better today although my skin isn’t. I have looked on the web at all the advice but it isn’t really very helpful basically because it can’t be cured, only relieved. I try to find things to do to distract myself from it but it is a 24 hours a day problem. In the literature from the hospital they describe possible skin rashes on hands and feet but not all over. But enough of moaning.

The wild creatures in the garden are still a source of real joy and interest. The long dusks and dawns have meant regular visits and they seem totally unaware of our existence. The back lawn which is mown is there so that the fawns can run around, the apple fallers are a source of food for the deer and playthings for the fox cubs, the woodland provides shelter and the flowers (what is left of them) in the flower beds are a source of food. Fortunately, because we are at home and not always busy, we see them during the day as well. It is a source of real wonder that this world exists in parallel to us but we were always so busy that we were not aware of it nearly so much. Perhaps being more idle is not so bad after all if it means being able to share in this pleasure.