A mañana sort of day.

Unusually we both sleep in until eight and wake to another fine, sunny morning. I let Norman into the garden and hang out a line of shirts, before loading some greyish white towels into the washer, along with a generous dose of whitening agent. I hope it works, they are the ones I rescued from triage yesterday. We eat kippers for breakfast, on Ryvita crisp bread, as I ran out of rye bread yesterday and was more or less housebound by the gridlock on the coast road due to Bank Holiday traffic. I make tea this morning, somehow it seems to go better with smoked fish than coffee and listen to "the life scientific", on radio four, before dressing and loading my gardening tools into the car and driving to Cherry Burton to collect the terriers for their morning walk. It is almost ten thirty when we park up and make our way across Newbald Road and into the woods, the sun is shining brightly and it feels quite hot on my exposed skin, but in the shade of the trees it is cool and pleasant. It takes a long while to progress through the woods and the meadow onto the common, because old Normy is taking an inordinate time, sniffing every tree trunk and blade of grass along the way, like a wine taster savouring a particularly fine vintage. Eventually I clip him back on his lead in order to make progress and also because the bright sunlight scatters from his cataracts and makes it difficult for him to see. Back in the open, the heat also gets to him, as he is so low down, and he is trotting along with his tongue lolling to one side. We stop and sit on a bench when it is time to swap over Dolly for Teddy off the lead and I decide it is time to strip off Norman's winter coat. Wire haired dachshunds have a two layered coat and the outer layer can and should be, stripped off by hand on a regular basis. I have desisted in doing this for Norman since the Autumn, as it has been so cold, but it is an easy enough task, I simply tug small tufts of dead hair against the grain of its growth and it comes out readily, revealing the glossy coat underneath. It takes half an hour to remove the bulk of it, by which time he has had enough, the titivation can wait for later and be done piecemeal. He seems to feel the benefit of losing his overcoat, as there is a definite spring in his step as we make our way to Black Mill, which seems to have become Herd HQ, for the cows grazing on the common, probably because there is a water tank next to it. We make our way through the herd and Teddy has a quick bark at a couple of bullocks, who are head to head trying to push each other out of the way in a trial of strength, but he seems to have accommodated himself to the presence of the cattle. Although I haven't yet risked him off the lead near them again, Dolly just trots through the cows unconcerned. We arrive back at Two Riggs for noon and suddenly I feel quite tired, and not at all in the mood for gardening, the lawns and weeds will just have to last for another day or so, but will need a second clip before I go on holiday next Wednesday. This morning, before I left, I made a Caprese, (Mozarella and Tomato Salad), and left it to cook in the fridge, so on my way home, I buy a baguette and a bottle of Shiraz, along with some rye bread from Morrison's. When we arrive in Tickton, the shirts on the line have dried, so I take them in and hang out the. towels, which, I am relieved to find, have been restored to some sort of respectability by the whitening agent and the washing. Norman is impatient for lunch, but I make him wait until I have set out my salad and a glass of wine on the garden table. It is one o'clock when we eat and the sun is so hot that I have to put up the umbrella in order to provide some shade. It is a simple pleasure, but eating outdoors in the summer, takes a lot of beating. The food and a glass of wine, add to my feelings of lethargy, so around two thirty I succumb and lie down for an hour on the sun lounger. When I awake, it is cold, the sky has clouded over and without the sun, it is an early spring day again, so Normy and I retreat indoors and continue our siesta there, eventually getting up around five. I had planned to garden and swim today, but my body is telling me to rest, so I am paying attention. After a pot of tea and the rest of the baguette, sliced, buttered and served with strawberry conserve, I recover the dry white towels from the line and store them in the airing cupboard, before checking my email. My brother Graham has replied, confirming that the rearranged dates for my visit to Lippstadt are OK, so I thank him and then book my return flight from Leeds Bradford airport to Schiphol in Amsterdam. The train tickets and accommodation in Germany, can be booked later. This done, I address myself to some paperwork, which I have never been fond of, there are still some outstanding sponsorships to collect, but all being well, I should be able to collect these tomorrow, failing that I will just make up the difference myself and collect the money when I see people. After an hour of admin, I set up the ironing board and finish off the last of my shirts, while listening to the radio, before reading my new book, Patrick Gale's "Notes from an exhibition", until bed time.