Hotel breakfasts are never quite the same as you can do for yourselves at home imho. Ok some at the very high end can come close and of course you are often presented with a much wider range of options than you would typically have at home.
Nevertheless I stand by my statement. This morning I have finished off the tinned grapefruit and had some toast and marmalade. The toast, made on granary bread, came out right first time with no need to put it through a machine a second time. Bonne Maman marmalade and Normandie butter. Yanow the form.
The other thing about hotel breakfasts is that I am compelled by a value for money gene to have the full English (when in England) even though I don’t typically have to pay for breakfast, at least at Hiltons. Usually the full English at your bog standard Hilton is not particularly appetising and is pretty much identical across many of their brands. Ah well.
Breakfast is complete and I am now slowly getting my brain around the day ahead. Nothing too onerous but I do want to put in some phone calls and my expenses are somewhat overdue. December was quite hectic innit.
For us today is the first day of relative normality after Christmas. There is more “holidaying” to come but not today. We don’t have to worry about keeping the kids from being bored and being stuck in the house.
When I used to hold down a fulltime job I often worked between Christmas and New Year. There was never anything going on in the business and it seemed a waste of holiday allowance to spend it at home moping. Now with no particular set holidays I work when it suits me regardless of the day of the week/season.
One of my jobs today is to refill the recycling bins that were emptied early this morning. I was able to avoid that job on Boxing Day because both brown bins were rammed.
…
Today is actually a nice day. Bit of a breeze making it quite refreshing and not cold. The fact that I am writing this however does indicate a certain reluctance on my part to sort my expenses. There is a big pile of receipts on the desk in front of me as well as some in my email inbox. Once I get going I will be fine. Sigh 🙂
Found this poem on philosopherontap last night. It’s called A Golfer’s Eulogy.
When his game is up,
And prompts no more debate,
And life’s unerring drive,
Ascends the green of fate,
It will I’m sure be said,
By crowds that filled the gallery,
That upright was his stance,
Whilst stood upon the final tee,
And when the last put drops,
Stewards will murmur from afar,
In marking of his card,
He played his round in level par.
I wrote it in 2009. At the time my dad was alive but I suspect that deep down it was intended for him. When my parents died I didn’t particularly go public although others did which is fine. It is at Christmas that you really think about your parents. On a day like today I’d have called dad for a chat. I used to call most days. We wouldn’t talk about anything in particular.
During covid lockdowns I’d just leave a video session running where we wouldn’t necessarily say much or anything. Dad got weaker over time and it was difficult to hear him. He was a victim of covid although the disease itself didn’t kill him. He wasn’t allowed visitors in the care home. A terrible thing at his time of life. We shouldn’t forget but let’s move on.
2023 is already looking action packed. Not sure we can squeeze that much more into it. That isn’t to say every day is accounted for but as many days as we want to plan ahead for are. You need downtime. Ordinary days.
Ordinary days mean days where you go to the shops/gym/do jobs round the house/gardening/watch TV/build that model aeroplane/do your knitting/cook a nice meal. That kind of thing.
I still haven’t got around to writing a hit West End stage musical though that remains on the list. To do that I need a lot of ordinary days, without travel and without work getting in the way. No sign of that as yet.
Travel starts again mid January with a fairly intensive month of it from that time. I guess if I didn’t enjoy it I wouldn’t do it. Ah well. Time to get on with my expenses…