I have noticed a slight change in my habits lately. Nothing major, just subtle things. One is I am dining out more frequently, two or sometimes three times a week. Another is I am visiting my local pub less frequently, one visit only so far this year! That will probably change though. I am being more selective in the jobs I take on board and where schedule time is involved a little less accommodating. Whereas before I would make myself available even if it was inconvenient, I no longer do that unless there are extenuating circumstances. I have noticed that I am tending to do more of what I want to do and less of what I don’t like or prefer not doing. If you had seen me on Wednesday you would have thought, ‘What on earth is she doing’? I had arrived home after a morning’s work and it was already past lunchtime. I had a few things to do before I could eat and got those out-of-the-way. I began to prepare something to eat, a simple dish of bacon, eggs and tomatoes. I had been cutting away the fat from some rashers of bacon and I opened the kitchen door to throw the fat out for the birds. I glanced down the steps to my right and saw what could only be described as a small lake! The grid to the drain had been blocked with fallen leaves. It would take but a couple of minutes to clear, or so I thought. I decided to delay cooking my lunch and clear the drain. The water drained away in a few seconds but it took ten minutes to place all the leaves in the garden waste bin. I checked the other two grids to see if they were blocked. One was blocked but the other wasn’t. By this time I was thinking, ‘Oh well, I’m not that hungry’. I started to clear out the second grid. Well that wasn’t easy. This grid is where the kitchen waste is piped and it had become blocked by solidified grease and dishwashing liquid or soap. This meant I had to roll up my sleeves, get down on my knees and handball it out of the grid. The smell was atrocious but it had to be done. I removed a bucket full of solid matter and flushed out the system. By the time I had finished more than an hour had passed and I’d still not eaten. I had to get washed and changed before I could cook my lunch and sit down to eat it. This is nothing new to me. I guess I am too much of a ‘handywoman’! I am only glad the weather was fine or it could have been worse. I suppose that when you have time on your hands you can get up to all kinds of mischief!

Shirley Anne