Pulling aside the filthy curtains I espied the day. An occasional workman, you could tell by his outfit and his bag with sandwich lunch, a woman with several bags heading for the supermarket not knowing how she will carry them back when they are full, and a couple of young girls heading to school grumbling about how boys behave yet wearing skirts up round their arse.
So the day begins as the sun shines and the rainclouds gather for their afternoon appearance.
I sit here drinking coffee and staring at Twitter.
Considerable time passes before I stir.
This is not because of knowledge obtained by searching the social media on offer, it is just sloth.
Staring at the boxes, papers, cheap gifts covering the couch I desire to get out and start searching for the missing cards, missing gifts, and missing cash to pay for it all.
So, off to the town.
Browsing the cards in number one shop I fall into conversation with old woman (possibly younger than me). We agree that there is far too many cards and not one suits the person we buy for. Isn't this always the problem? Anyway, I got items that will do the job for most, headed on to three other shops, buying here and there, before travelling around the large B&M shop seeking cheap stuff.
The cheap stuff came to exactly £23.
This included a small frying pan to save me using the large one all the time. Once home I removed the label inside held on by a sticky substance, attempted to remove same from the bottom, and spent an hour struggling to scrape the blasted stuff from the pan. What do they use? Superglue?
The shops were full of mums with prams, the toddlers helping by taking all the shiny things from the shelves. I wandered up and down the aisles seeking something marvellous, other than a small frying pan, little could be found. I continued falling over pushchairs and mums, women going the opposite from me around the aisles, gathered my precious junk, and found an almost empty cash desk.
Interestingly, no shop was playing Christmas music!
The mums impressed me. The kids looked happy, well dressed, and the mums were easy to get on with as we all fought the early morning crowd, who became the early morning crowd to avoid the crowd of mums with pushchairs.
Hobbling home via the park I met only rain. This was disappointing as on my way out I had met a French Boxer who forced herself upon me. The owner and I chatted happily tearing the dog from me and heading for another breakfast.
By the darkening afternoon sky I had completed three boxes for posting. Being a cheap type, they look better than they actually are. Tomorrow I head for the Post Office, hoping the young lass that smiles at me is on. Once that is done only the big box for my sister remains. A box full of variety. They have all they need so they get whatever I find, sometimes useful sometimes rubbish. However, it usually goes down well.
I have solved one card problem. I managed to work out how to make cards on 'WORD.' So this afternoon I practiced and eventually obtained the family cards. This was simple, just find a useful picture, fiddle with it until it fits, and print it off on glossy paper. Not quite professional level but it worked!
Naturally, what I put in the cards has run out, so they still sit here waiting!
Now I am just knackered.