Pros And Cons

Cone headed Dog is on a restricted walking programme. She is on the leash and off the grass, while her belly hosts a row of Frankenweenie stitches. These are not her favourite circumstances, but we take a walk up through Lawhitton which is different and smells different and thus adds interest to the restricted day. We meet a gentleman who extols the virtues of a stiff walk, who tells us that the water has dropped from the moors and the river has come out. Old language converges with new meaning: I picture a river full of gaily proud spangled bikinis, but on looking, the brown fields of flood water lie flat.

Most of the day I make tiny marks with my drawing pens, bringing depth to cute pictures. My shoulder aches and a bath, a hot bath is what I want. When I get to it though, it's run out of heat. Warm enough to wash. Meanwhile, I think of things that people like to write in lists, desirous things to do in a lifetime. If you get to the top of the mountain (literal or metaphorical) and it isn't what you hoped for, I reason, then think what it was you hoped for, and forget the mountain. It was warmth I was wanting, here: I can dress warm instead. What else is on my list, I wonder, I've not thought of it for so long. A night in an Ice Hotel; yes, I should like to try that; speed upstairs shivery damp under a towel; the window has been open all day.