Running like Rocky

I went for a run this morning before breakfast, which is something I thought people only did in films. I dragged my little brother along too and it wasn't as painful as I thought it would be. We ran around one of the fields, so once that becomes far too easy we will start running around the wood, and then the larger field and so on.

So now the rest of the day can be spent feeling virtuous and glowing with good health no matter what I do. The sort of good health that lets a chap really enjoy Second Breakfast. For those who don't enjoy the West Country lifestyle here is the meal plan for a normal day.

Breakfast - Hearty, savoury food.

Second Breakfast AKA 'Crib' - Pointless food, anything that you don't need to survive so chocolates and cakes.

Brunch - Something savoury to keep you going until lunch time

Lunch - Again a large meal, typically featuring fresh bread.

Two o'clock Treat - Chocolate again, possibly a cake or two.

Afternoon Tea - Surprisingly large selection of food served with tea. Mixture of savoury and sweet.

Supper - Informal meal including a pudding.

Then for the extra hungry a midnight snack is allowed based around toast and cheese.

It's a good job I'm doing so much shovelling and running.

Practical Magic

Louche found himself almost rigid with stress on Friday, so he decided to decamp to Devon to visit the ancestral pile. He also decided that he would describe the event in the third person since this trip to Devon as a holiday from everything.

He arrived late on Friday night, so late that there was little time for anything but a light supper and sleep. On Saturday he woke up to the sort of golden dewy sunshine that only exists in Constable paintings and memories.

The day didn't involve much, some lounging around with cats and eating cakes while looking at geese. The sort of things a chap needs to do when London gets a little bit too much.

In the afternoon there was some farm work to be done. A pair of pigs were about to move in to a luxury condo near the orchard so a source of water had to be found for them. No-one could remember the exact location of the pipe that ran across the field so a stout dowsing rod was brought out and used to locate it as simply as a chap bringing out his pocket watch to tell the time.

The West Country isn't that far away really, but sometimes it feels like a different world. A world where bits of stick can tell you where water is, kittens make stress disappear and every tin in the kitchen hides another interesting cake

Louche was glad to be home.

Sunday

Sunday's are a tricky day, do too much and you start the week tired. Do too little and a strange sense of guilt haunts you and ruins your evening of watching light entertainment while eating comfort food.

I'm not sure I got the balance right today. I finally sorted out my room so I feel decidedly more moved in but I have a sort of listless feeling, like I should be doing more. This is surprising because over the last few days I've done a lot, sorting out all sorts of elements of my life. So maybe not more, but at least something else.

This would be an excellent time to do a bit of baking, perhaps some biscuits but I'm awfully low on the specialist ingredients for them. In the time between me leaving my old flat and collecting my stuff all my baking supplies disappeared. I don't think this was malicious, just a mistake. Still there will always be more baking powder and cake cases.

Perhaps a bracing walk is what I need, nothing like a good stroll to sort out the mind and centre the spirit.

I've just noticed that the apparently pointless ornaments in the library have lids you can take off and spaces that are perfect for storing secret notes to be read by someone else in the manner of spies. I wonder who I can use them to communicate with?

Off

I'm off to Devon now, I need a weekend of R&R and Devon is perfect for that. I've had a crippling mirgrane today so I couldn't read the words on my computer earlier because my eyesight was all 'funny'. After an hour or so of being a dark room and taking pills it seemed to get better but I still feel decidedly strange.

I'm sure it call all be cured by a few days of looking at geese (which is amazingly calming and I would recommend it to anyone) and eating cake.

There are very few ills in this world that can't be cured with a lemon drizzle cake or a victora sponge.