A happy, sunny, Monday

We wake to a glorious sunny morning, I make kippers for breakfast and we eat them in the garden, they are Norman's favourite, vying with a full English for his affection. He likes to eat his fish broken up into pieces and mixed with morsels of rye toast. Something must be agreeing with him since he has been living with me, as he seems in robust good health, Sarah didn't expect him to last beyond a few months, but he is defying the odds. After breakfast and a shower, I play some more catch up on my blog, I don't know why, I never have time to read old posts, but may do so at some future date, when I am less healthy and active than I am now. We collect the terriers for ten fifteen and are on the Westwood by half past, once we emerge from the woods and the meadows, I put Norman on his lead because of his poor eyesight in the bright sun. Although his conjunctivitis is receding again, with twice daily eye baths and drops. Dolly and Teddy enjoy their run, after being cooped up in the garden or on the lead, when Andrew and the girls take them out at the weekend. We drop them back at Two Riggs for a quarter to twelve and then drive home, where I feed and water Normy, before picking up my swimming things and driving to the leisure centre. The fine weather has lead to a quiet lunchtime in the pool and I have the luxury of a lane to myself, so after warming up on easy 4 x 100m medleys, I swim 4 x 400m on each stroke, breaking the butterfly down into a series of 50m repeats again. I am swimming and feeling well, the holiday to Austria was a real tonic and I am already planning my next excursion to the mountains. Such activity is beyond Norman and it would be nice to have a companion to explore places with. My wife and I are complete polar opposites, with regards to exercise and the outdoors and to be fair just about everything else, unfortunately there wasn't enough tolerance of difference in the marriage and so the final result was inevitable, if a long time coming. It is almost three years since we separated now. After my swim I have just time for a toasted teacake and a pot of tea in the cafe, before it is time to collect Louis from Saint Mary's Primary School. I arrive a little early and sit on a bench in the warm sunshine in the playground, waiting for him to emerge. When he does, his teacher, Mrs. Wildbore, is there, she hands me a bag of story books and tells me Louis was intending to give them to Oscar and in view of the fact that Louis had to be separated into a different class from Oscar for fighting, she thought it a bit strange. Oscar is slightly smaller than Louis, but with several tough older brothers and he is head of a small gang that used to pick on my grandson, so I suspect some coercion is going on. I tell her I will speak to Sarah about it, although Louis insists that she knows. We stop at the swing park in Tickton and Louis plays on the swings and roundabouts until it is time for tea and then we drive home. He has decided he wants lamb pittas, chips and salad again, so I put the oven on to heat up the chips and then cook the lamb and make the salad, while Louis plays on my iPad. We eat in the garden, feeding Norman his tin of dog food, at the same time as we sit down to our dinner, Louis has a lovely tan after his week of football and eats every last scrap of his food. I have bought some Morello cherries and yogurt for dessert and he has two helpings of that as well. After dinner, we walk Norman down to the bridge and then play "praise and pat" on our way back to the bungalow, where we lock Normy indoors and then drive Louis home for seven. Sarah has some late patients, so Alice takes charge of Louis, I ask her how her history exam has gone today and she tells me she thinks she has done OK. She has certainly revised assiduously, so I tell her not to worry and that by a week on Friday, they will all be over and she will have the whole summer before commencing sixth form college. When I arrive home I wash up and clear away the dishes, intending to start a new book by Patrick Gale, as I managed to return my library books en route to Louis' school this afternoon, but the swimming, Louis and a busy day, catch up with me and so I have an early night.