First Friday in February.

The alarm sounds and I slide into my slippers and open the bedroom curtains and windows onto a clear day, it is still dark and stars are visible. Breakfast is cream cheese and smoked salmon on rye toast, Norman grudgingly makes do with Bakers dry dog food. While I drink my coffee in the Garden Room, day breaks and the wind seems to have subsided, as the bushes and grasses in the field are still. After showering and dressing, Normy and I drive to North Bar to collect Louis, who insists on dashing upstairs to show me a football pitch he has made. He has coloured green a piece of paper and stuck two white goalposts on either end. The football bug has bitten! We walk to school today without too much hurry, as we are in good time this morning, it is pleasant walking along North Bar Without and New Walk, and not too cold. Louis has also had a cold and his nose remains a little red from frequent wiping, as ever, he is full of fun, curiosity and interest. Hull are Playing Millwall at the New Den in South London tomorrow, their nickname is "The Lions", and Louis wants to be assured that Tigers are stronger than Lions. Resisting the temptation to tell him they are the same species, I say that it will be tough as "The Tigers", are playing away, but that we should beat them anyway. After watching him run happily into school to his chums, we turn round and retrace our steps, crossing New Walk as we emerge from Bleach Yard, and then walking past the Police Station and the old Courthouse, which has now been turned into a Spa and restaurant, little yellow celandines are blooming beneath a huge ancient elm. Today is the first of February, a month of mixed emotions, my son, Andrew, will be forty five years old on Tuesday, he was born in Germany, in the depths of winter, it can be a cold month here as well, but the days are now noticeably longer and my garden will welcome the sun in a few short weeks. After returning to the car, we drive to Cherry and collect the terriers, before making our way to Newbald Road. Changing into my Wellies is not such a chore today, as I think I am finally over my bug, although the arthritis in my hip and shoulder is playing up a bit. In the woods, we bump into Pat with her new Labrador puppy, Ivy, who is all lovely shiny black coat and wagging tail. Even Teddy likes her, resisting his usual urge to kick off a game of rough and tumble, we chat for a moment, she is with friends and heading in the opposite direction to us, so we push on into Telly Tubby land. Dolly is let off the lead and Teddy secured, as we emerge onto the common, later, by Black Mill we encounter Angela and her dog, Sophie, she always has dog biscuits in her pockets and my dogs clamour round her begging for food. After giving them each a biscuit, she tells me that her friend, Marion, who I helped after a fall on the ice last week, has sustained a compound fracture of her lower arm. I ask Angela to pass on my condolences and then we continue our walk, returning to the car for ten thirty. Dolly and Teddy are dropped off and Norman and I return to Tickton, where I make tea and take a couple of oaties into the Garden Room. Afterwards I hang up the white underwear from the washing machine, on hangers on radiators, before putting on a load of coloured shirts and socks. I still have a Waterstone's gift voucher from Andrew, and haven't been in to Hull since Xmas, apart from trips to the football with Louis, so decide to go shopping for books. I park on top of Saint Stephens shopping mall, off Ferensway, to the West the KC stadium gleams huge and white in the winter sunshine and the North and West of the city is laid out before me. I walk down three flights of stairs in a glass bound, echoing, hallway that appends the main complex, the acoustics are amazing, the smallest sound amplified and reverberating, as I descend to the Mall. Emerging into the main thoroughfare, I find it packed with shoppers, today is pay day for most people and it is also lunch hour, young women are walking at speed between Next and H&M, possibly trying to source a new dress for Friday night. Waterstone's is also quite busy, but has deteriorated since last I was in, more and more of it given over to best sellers and books of films and TV series, the non fiction section upstairs has been decimated, psychology, sociology and other subjects, replaced by self help and dubious books on spirituality. Suddenly I am overcome by a wave of fatigue, perhaps I am not as fully recovered from my bug as I thought and leave the shop and cross to the Central Library Cafe for lunch, but they have stopped serving food, so I pop into the lending Library and pick up Jan Morrison's book on Lincoln and Christopher Hitchens biography of Jefferson, from the American History section. I have decided to save my book voucher for a visit to the University of Hull bookstore on a different day. On my way back home, I call at the Aldi store on Beverley road, they stock German produce, and buy some Black Forest Ham, and frozen fruits, Bavarian smoked cheese, smoked pork loin and other bits and pieces. I arrive home just before five and let Norman into the garden before making dinner, fish fingers, oven chips and garden peas. Afterwards I return a call to Felicity, arranging to meet her in the Poppy Seed in the morning and then call Leslie's daughter Margaret. Leslie is much better, rational again and more comfortable now they have fitted him with a jacket that braces his back, I confirm my visit for tomorrow evening, before ringing off. It is now seven o'clock and I feel very tired, but read until nine before turning in.