The House Husband

My wife ordered me to stay home today rather than stress my foot going into town for lunch. I didn’t argue. Consequently, my foot feels a lot better tonight. This means I had a very slow day. not that there’s much wrong with that but I did get a bit bored.

But Mirinda to the rescue! She asked me to create a ginormous spreadsheet for her (for work, not just for the sake of it). I might be a bit sad, but I love spreadsheets and had a ball for the second half of the day. Though it’s still quite a way from finished.

I did test my foot out with a walk in the park after lunch. It was such a lovely day, people were out and about, sunbathing, playing bat and ball games, running round with a whipper snipper, walking dogs…it was just like summer. Without the heat. Which suits me just fine.

We met another lovely dog which Day-z could run away from but who Carmen took a bit of a shine to. They spent ages sniffing noses and various other body parts. Carmen can be as sociable as Day-z is not, when she wants.

We call this breed, a Drontal dog

Anyway, just a short post as I must get on with my terribly exciting spreadsheet.

Today we had lunch on the ferry. I met Mirinda at the flat and we went for a stroll along the Thames Path before heading for the wharf.

I’ve really wanted to get a photo of a cormorant facing me, while hanging its wings out to dry. This one is the best I could get. Not exactly the best angle but a good start.

A cormorant flasher showing it all to a block of flats

We also saw a very strange woman with a fluff ball of a white dog. She seemed to be a bit concerned that we would see her dog. I saw her approaching and mentioned it to Mirinda seeing as we both enjoy the sight of big balls of fluff. The woman disappeared behind a couple of pylons. I assumed she’d reappear as we drew nearer but she didn’t.

Suddenly a little head poked out, wanting to let us know they were still there but the woman tugged it back out of sight. And then, another glimpse as we moved beyond the pylons. The woman frantically tried to hide the dog behind her shopping bag.

What was the story, I wonder. Was she concerned we were landlords who would tumble onto her owning of a pet while living in a no-pets flat? Did she think we would get so jealous, we’d run over and steal her dog? Had she stolen the dog herself? I fear we shall never know. Whatever the reason, it was very strange behaviour.

Given Mirinda had a meeting to get to, we decided to buy sandwiches on the ferry and slowly digest them as we passed the many London landmarks along the Thames. Which reminds me…yesterday a barge floated down the Thames with an 11 metre high, illuminated representation of the five Olympic rings. It was to mark the fact that there is only 150 days to go before the opening ceremony. On the news report where I heard this, the reporter stated that it was to show the rings the many landmarks along the Thames. Very, very odd. The rings will now go back into storage until the actual opening.

There is a story about them here with a picture. On the news report is was dark so they just looked white. Though, having read a report, they were coloured on one side and white on the other.

And now for a couple of caravans. I spotted both of these round the back of the South bank centre and thought them well worth posting.

You wouldn't lose this in a hurry

OK, this one isn’t, strictly speaking, a caravan but it’s very cute, nonetheless.

Looking very 1950s

And, in sad news, I just read that Davy Jones of The Monkees died today, aged 65 (or 66, depending on which report you read). I used to love the TV show back in the day and probably have all their songs. At least he’ll always be remembered.

A long time ago, way back near the end of 2009, I realised how wise it is to write down anything you are likely to want to say before saying it in the Talking Newspaper studio. While rather good at the old ad lib another life ago, the words refuse to come quite as seamlessly as I age. I know what I want to say but the words fall about in my head like a bag full of Scrabble tiles. My reasoning was borne out today though, fortunately, not by me.

I’ve probably mentioned June and John before. They’ve been reading at FATN for over 13 years and are by far the best readers (in my opinion). They have the amazing knack of making everything sound like they are just sitting chatting to you. I always love when I get to work with them, as I did today.

Everything was going along fine with John cracking me up every chance he had. Then June started reading a story about some sort of environmentally friendly village hall (or other). The story went fine and at the end she started describing the photograph. She struggled for quite some time before calling a halt to it all. We were all in fits (as was she). She said she just couldn’t think of the words she wanted because her brain went blank.

It was then highly relevant when someone read a piece about forgetting things as you get older.

The other reader today was a lady called Anne who I’ve not worked with before. She explained, afterwards, that she can’t be as clever as the rest of us and has to write everything down. I showed my copious notes and told her I write EVERYTHING down, leaving nothing to chance. (Actually, when I do go ‘off script’ I tend to “um” and “ah” a lot, so best I don’t.) Anne was very relieved.

Meanwhile I think John was quietly pleased he hadn’t slipped up (he never writes anything down…show off) and his wife had, because she’s usually very, very good.

Walking back afterwards, the sky quite pleasantly decided to turn blue (it was grey the rest of the day) and I thought the Jolly Sailor pub looked quite appealing. I had a swift pint before continuing on to Waitrose.

Everytime I see this sign, I think of grandad

Earlier in the day I spotted a squirrel eating an apple. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a squirrel eating an apple. Unfortunately I didn’t have my good camera with me so the photo below is not that great (the squirrel was hiding behind the branches and, in fact, when I moved around for a clearer shot, he darted up the tree away from my prying lens) but it was such an odd thing to see that I couldn’t help but include it.

No dentist for this fella

Much earlier in the day, I took the poodles for an early walk where we met Rex, a puppy who just wants to play. He was with his owner who had a second dog on a lead. She spent all the time I saw her yelling for Rex to come back…which is how I know his name.

Of course Rex just wanted to play with the poodles but they were having none of it. Carmen squealed, Day-z ran away and Rex just went and found a much friendlier piece of wood instead.

Stuff you two...look what I've found!

Our neighbours are weird. I think I’ve said something similar before. I think they’re getting weirder.

Mirinda has noticed that the father often takes the dogs for a walk late at night. In the park. Unless there’s a good, bright moon, the park is pitch black.

So, tonight I’m in the bedroom, folding up the clean clothes, Carmen and Day-z helping in the way that only they can, by sleeping and suddenly there’s this god-awful screaming. Naturally the poodles went crazy and started barking then dashed off the bed and out the back where they proceeded to yell at the fence down the end of the garden. being a human and therefore having the ability to out think a poodle, I looked out the front window.

Next door’s porch light was on and the new rescue dog was sitting there emitting the screechy noise. I think it was trying to sing. Meanwhile I could hear our two right down the back of the garden barking at nothing.

The front door was open and the dog was bathed in the hall light. And then the father came out, lead in hand and led the dog up to the park. Interestingly, it was just the new rescue dog and not Otis, the scaredy-cat whippet they own.

It took ages for the poodles to come back but come back they did. They leapt onto the bed, collapsed and were instantly asleep. Wish I was a poodle sometimes.