Settling back into the old routine

I wake for seven, after a disturbed night, my head still full of travel and my body readjusting to my own bed. Outside it is cloudy and a light rain is falling, and Norman's right eye is running again, the conjunctivitis that I had almost cleared, back with a vengeance. After breakfast and a shower, I drive to Sarah's house to collect Louis for football and make sure Alice provides a clean change of clothes for after his bath. Before I leave, I recover Norman's eye drops from the refrigerator, where they have lain unused for the last two weeks, still I can't expect too much, my daughter is a working single mum with enough on her plate as it is. The rain has just about stopped when I drop Louis at the Grammar School, after a quick hug, he is eager to run off to join a kick about, that is already underway on the playing field. Norman and I drive to Cherry and pick up Dolly and Teddy for our walk on the Westwood. Despite the overnight rain, the ground underfoot is still firm, as we have had very little precipitation since the New Year, this has been a cold dry winter and spring. In the woods all the trees are now in full leaf and the rain has made the air fresh and cool, the smell of last years leaves providing a scent of slightly sweet, slightly tannic, decay. In the meadow the buttercups are a blaze of yellow and daisies are also showing in clusters, birdsong pervades the air, as nesting season is now in full flight and there are countless bunnies and squirrels for Teddy to chase. He is reluctant to come back for the changeover at our usual spot, past Barbara's house, and Dolly is becoming impatient for her turn off the lead. But come back he does, eventually and the changeover is made, and Dolly dashes across the common to say hello to Claire Traynor and Baby George, in his push chair, her dachshund, Poppy trotting along behind them. George is almost a year old now and has real hair, fine and blonde like mine, Claire and I chat about running, she is a latecomer to the sport and joined the local running club on my advice. She is also a natural and quickly rose to become one of the fastest women in the veterans class, i.e. over thirty five. After Norman and Poppy have had a proper dachshund chat, we continue on our way, Dolly dashing off towards Black Mill, where a large herd of cows have settled to sit on the grass. Unlike Teddy, she doesn't bother them and comes back to the lead when we arrive at the benches underneath the the trees before the mill. It is cool rather than cold this morning and fortunately there is no wind. On our way back to Cherry, I stop at Walkington Manor farm and buy a dozen giant eggs and then take Dolly and Teddy home, before dropping Norman at Tickton and collecting my swimming gear. Because it is half term, the pool closes at one thirty, so that inflatables can be put in the water for the children's fun sessions, and Ladies aqua aerobics runs from half past twelve, so I get there for eleven thirty. The pool is moderately busy, but I am able to share the fast lane with only one other swimmer and with judicious timing, I am able to keep out of his way, while I warm up on 400m freestyle. By the time I have completed the warm up he has left and I have the lane to myself, while I knock out three more four hundreds on the other strokes, obviously breaking the butterfly into eight fifty metre repeats, before swimming a 4 x 100m series of medleys and then warming down. After the pleasures of Erlangen's 50m open air pool, this pool seems small and incredibly hot, I get through my usual litre of water, which I drink between repeats. Nevertheless it feels like home, the staff and the surroundings comfortingly familiar. After changing, I make my way to the cafe and eat a toasted teacake with a pot of tea, chatting to John, the centre manager, who is on his lunch break. There is just time to call in to see Felicity, who didn't feel up to the Poppy Seed Cafe this morning and I was pushed for time in any case. She is still feeling down about the loss of her dogs, her family arranged new homes for them, as the old girl was no longer up to looking after two large canines. They are both now settled and happy, but Felicity misses them and there is a strain of resentment in her voice towards Melissa and Richard, who had to persuade her of the necessity. They have been gone a month now and she needs to move on, so whilst I am sympathetic, I refuse to indulge her, as she is in danger of sinking into a depression and I know how catastrophic that can be for the elderly, after my experiences with Leslie. I leave at a quarter to three and drive the short distance from Albert Terrace to the Grammar School, where the football squad are finishing their training for the day. Louis is wearing a red tabard and in goal again, his team score and then they all high five each other. When the whistle blows he runs to me, his face red and shiny with exertion and covered in mud. I notice that he is playing with the bigger boys, not bigger than him, but perhaps a year or two older and probably happy to accommodate a younger kid, who wants to play in goal. When we gather his things together, his track suit bottoms are missing and he feigns ignorance, but I find them in the changing rooms, torn across the seam down the gusset and left leg. He tells me they split when he made a save and I tell him, "that these things happen". They are beyond repair, another expense for his mum, which is presumably why he tried to hide them. As soon as we return to Tickton, I run his bath, strip off his dirty clothes and leave him to soak a while, as I unpack my swimming gear and then lay his clean clothes on the bed. Louis has a tendency towards dry skin on the backs of his arms and I always make him "extra lovely", by rubbing baby lotion on them after he is shampooed, conditioned and dried. Once dressed he plays happily on the iPad on "Temple Run", again, while I make dinner. Running in occasionaly to show me his latest high score. He wants the same dinner as yesterday, but I substitute beef burgers for lamb in the pitta breads and serve it with salad and oven chips again, for dessert he has chocolate ice cream. Outside the weather has started to fine up, so after clearing the table and putting the dirty pots in the sink to soak, we take Norman down as far as the farm, for his evening walk, and when we return it is time to take Louis home. I learn to my dismay that I have miscalculated the school holidays and that Sarah and Richard are leaving for Portugal with the children on the Saturday before I return from Holland, so I will have to make alternative arrangements for Norman whilst I am on holiday. When I get home, I start the process of catching up on my blog, which has fallen behind, mainly because I forgot the charger for my iPad while I was away. It will take me about a fortnight to catch up, writing up two blogs a day, I have kept written notes in a pocket book, recording the highlights of each day. After bathing Normy's eyes and starting the treatment with antibiotic drops again, we turn in around ten o'clock.