I “snoozed” my alarm twice yesterday morning, possibly trying subconsciously to recapture the hour’s sleep I lost Saturday to Sunday. Consequently my Fitbit tells me I had 8 hours and 1 minute of sleep and gave me a score of 88 and a star! I am not sure - no, I have no idea - what the maximum score is that it could give me but I take a sneaky delight in making it think I have slept longer when all I have done is smack the snooze button!
In the bathroom I have discovered a small green toy car, a “monster truck”. This can only have been left behind by the smallest grandchild when he had a bath on Sunday evening before going home. This makes up for the fact that he stuffed into the pocket of his dressing gown the whole collection of finger puppets which usually stays here for him to play with. The concentration involved in doing this was something to admire! The last time this happened was a few weeks ago. When he next came to spend Thursday morning with me he wandered over to the toy collection and then looked at me, puzzled; “Where is Sharkey?” he asked. Concentration - full marks! Memory - less so!
On reflection, I think it may be the particular placing of the pockets on his dressing gown - of which he is ridiculously fond and proud, sometimes opting to wear this bright green garment, adorned with stegosaurus bumps down the hood and back - that encourages the desire to fill them with small toys. Unlike the pockets on his coat, these are easily accessible to small hands. And the finger puppets are just the right size for stuffing in one after the other until the pocket bulges.
I can appreciate his delight in pockets. One of the problems with women’s clothing is the lack of pockets. Hence the need for handbags! Of course, overstuffed pockets can spoil the line of an outfit but it is really good to have a pocket to slip your essentials into when you go for a walk, for example - house keys, mobIle phone, lipbalm, tissues! While I don’t go into quite the paroxysms of joy that a friend of mine experiences, I do like a dress with good-sized handy pockets!
I have been known to moan and complain a lot about the rain. Not in the last week to ten days, I have to say! We have been blessed with some fine, sunny, even very warm weather, which has been delightful. As is usual at this time of the year, I have rediscovered the joy of hanging the washing out to dry in the garden, neatly pegged according to an obsession that a good friend and I share, instead of draping it around the house or over radiators. The radiators are currently switched off anyway! But I confess to moaning perhaps too much about rainfall, especially when I read about Italy.
In some northern Italian towns they face fines for wasting water as their mayors ration supplies amid a severe drought. Italy as a whole has had one of its driest winters in the last 65 years, with rainfall 80% lower than the seasonal average. The north has suffered worst, in some cases going without significant rainfall for three months or more. The river Po, the country’s longest river, is at its lowest level recorded in winter since 1972. Fountains have been switched off, using water for gardens and allotments has been banned, also for washing cars and filling swimming pools. And it’s still only March! Mind you, do those swimming pools need filling at the moment? Who uses a swimming pool in March, even in Italy.
And finally, a last word (possibly) on changing the clocks. This from the Guardian letters page:
“Mike Parker (Letters! 21st march) writes in support of the UK moving the clocks forward an hour permanently. It appears to be a reasoned argument, but I am less sure. There are so many hours in the day and no legislation by any government can change this.
The challenge is to use the hours more efficiently. Our habits have allowed us to get out of bed some hours after sunrise, and then go to bed some hours after sunset. This wastes a lot of electricity to light our homes when we should be letting the sun do it for free. We just need to go to bed earlier and get up earlier. Dolly Parton may have worked 9 to 5, but if she wanted to get more daylight she needs to work 8 to 4. Midday should be just that, and midnight the same.
In short, it’s not the clocks that need to change, but us. Ten o’clock for the main news of the day is too late – we should all be in bed then. And get up at daybreak. It’s what we human animals have evolved to do.
Steve Seddon”
All well and good, but the days would still be very short in the winter months!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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