A little deflated

Wake at 5:30 and give Norman his breakfast and then open the Garden Room door so he can get out for a pee. I still feel a little tired from yesterday, so go back to bed and sleep until ten to eight. When I wake up, the sun is shining and Normy is rolling on his back and wriggling, a certain sign of a happy dachshund. I make bacon sandwiches and tea for breakfast and eat them in the Garden Room, the broadband has collapsed again, it always goes down on Saturday mornings, so I am bereft of newspapers and mail. After breakfast I shower and then take Norman down the lane to the little wooden bridge for his morning walk. The weather is warm and sunny, there are a few clouds to the west and showers are forecast for this afternoon. As we walk back a text comes in from Sarah to say she has gone to the cinema with Louis to see "Alvin and the Chipmunks", I had arranged for her to have coffee with me and some elderly friends, who would have made an ideal initial client base for her nascent podiatry business. Keeping Louis amused has to be a priority, I guess. When we get back, I leave Norman plenty of water and the garden door open, before cycling into Beverley. I pedal through Swinemoor estate, it is a little longer, but less heavily trafficked than the main road down Norwood. When I get to the level crossing, the gates close and I have to wait five minutes for two diesels to pass before they open again. The sun is quite hot and it is interesting to note the differing reaction to the delay by the combination of pedestrians, cyclists and motorists on either side of the crossing. The women, wave to friends and chat happily, but for the most part the men are impatient and wanting to be off. Eventually the gates open and I pedal to the Poppy Seed and park my bike outside. Gill is already there, she is a retired architect, who must be almost eighty, but we share an interest in the writing of W.G. Sebold, who wrote the "Rings of Saturn" and "Austerlitz", he is an anglicised German, who I believe, is based at the University of East Anglia. Shortly afterwards Barbara English arrives and then Hannah, Rosemary, Julia and Annie. Only Felicity is missing but Hannah has spoken to her and says her son is visiting from Chorley in Lancashire and that she won't be joining us this morning. I have a coffee and somehow find myself agreeing to go on a trip to see a mystery play in York on Tuesday. I take my leave about half past eleven and head off to do some shopping. Before I depart I drop into the conversation how impressed I am with Sarah for managing to get a 2:1 in her podiatry degree, despite being a single woman with three children who faced a hundred and twenty mile commute. These are all strong, smart women and the positive publicity might help Sarah get started. I cycle to Butcher Row and park outside "The Angel" pub before walking to the library to get Louis some books on the weather and thunderstorms. The forecast today said we might get some thunderstorms and hail late this afternoon. Intellectual curiosity in the world around them is best fed and nurtured in the young. I know all the librarians and ask one, who used to work at the Telephone company with me, to help find some books. She finds two, one a very simple overview of the weather and the second, more complex with a cloud atlas and an explanation of the physics of thunderstorms. I thank her and we chat for a few minutes before I head back to my bike. On arrival I decide to put some more air in my tyres, as they have become a little soft after sitting in the garage for months. It turns out to be a big mistake, the tyres deflate as I try to pump them up, and after a while I realise that it is my old bicycle pump that is at fault. Fortunately I am able to buy a new one from Boyes shop and re inflate them, but I have wasted time and energy in the hot sun. As I cycle away down Walkergate the back tyre goes flat and i find that the valve has retreated into the rim. In desperation I push it to Minster cycles down Norwood and a young guy manages to get it out and then blow the tyre up for me. When I ask to pay he won't take anything for the help. Most people, I find, are nice. Whether it is the hassle with the bike, over exertion yesterday, or the aftermath of the illness, I suddenly feel very tired. So I cycle to Tesco and restock on bacon and black pudding and bag a bargain, a pound of frying steak for less than £4, I also buy some aubergines to make a "La Parmigiana" later. I cycle home without further incident, but notice that my chest is wheezy, and when I cough I am bringing up green phlegm. Back home, I decide that it would be prudent to go back on my very low glycemic index diet. It is the one I used to great effect last year and that put an end to six months of continuous chest infections and antibiotics. Of late I have fallen off the wagon and taken to eating honey and white baguettes. I can't face months of illness and tiredness again, so start the diet immediately by frying an onion and then some frying steak which I serve with a tossed salad. Essentially the diet is atkins with vegetables but no fruit. After lunch I feel exhausted and sleep for a couple of hours. When I wake up I feel better, it is six o'clock and Norman is ready for his dinner, so I feed him and then make a tomato and mozarella salad, with fresh basil and put it in the fridge for tomorrow. Before taking Normy for his evening walk, I fry the Aubergine slices, that I had salted and pressed before going to bed. I cook them in olive oil until they start to brown on both sides and then drain and dry them on kitchen roll. This done. Norman and I head off down Carr Lane, and when we get to the bridge, we push on through "almost straight wood", before making our way back along the path down the Northern side. It's a lovely evening and starting to cool down, which makes it better for Norman. Swallows are hunting high in the sky and, as we pass the farm, a dozen more are perched on the telephone wires twittering to each other. It is half past eight when we get in and I leave Norman indoors whilst I drive to the car wash to clean off the seagull blessings accumulated whilst parked in Scarborough yesterday. When I get back I construct the "La Parmigiana", in a casserole dish with layers of Bolognese mince, fresh basil, aubergine slices, and grated mozarella. Topped off with thin slices of Parmesan cheese. I will cook this in the oven tomorrow after the dish has had time for the basil to infuse the other ingredients with its flavour. I take some oatcakes, chorizo, Parma ham and smoked cheese into the lounge in time to see Jessica Ennis celebrate her gold medal in the heptathlon and Mo Farrah win the 10,000m. After washing up I turn in at about eleven. I do hope I can head off a relapse into illness and infection.