along came a…
And a peaceful week as ever to follow the jetsetting – I have spent the majority of the past few days enjoying the calm and catching up on the usual tasks that the stamp-paying self-employed look forward to most of all; hours of unpaid admin, catching up on bills/correspondence and in my case, organising transport, accommodation and advertising for the last leg of my 2011 awaydays schedule – yay!
As some may have already noticed, I will be back in Edinburgh next month and following my few days in the capital with a first visit to another – Belfast is next on the list, and I am extraordinarily excited to be getting the chance to explore such a fascinating place! Time allowing of course, which sadly, it often does not. Before all this, I ought to point out not only that my availability on Guernsey is waning fast, but that I will be back in Jersey in mid-November, for all those who have asked. And whilst there are still appointments free in both London and Cambridge in three weeks’ time, London in particular is filling up seriously quick, and at least two of the four days (Thursday 6th and Friday 7th) are almost completely booked up.
Travelogues-to-come out of the way, I have been soldiering bravely on against this years unexpectedly vigorous invasion of many-legged houseguests; the cooler weather and welcome first signs of some lovely autumn days have brought with them a larger than usual number of visiting spider folk, and I will not be the first to speculate that the particularly plump and contented-looking beasties currently setting up home all around the apartment (and distributing sticky bits of cobweb everywhere – in an uncharacteristically anthropomorphic moment I found myself examining skirting cracks and corners for groups of sniggering arachnids watching me trying to pick the icky, clumped-up gauzey strands out of my vacuum’s brush attachment whilst passing round the Marlboro Lights and bickering about the crapness of the Strictly line up) may have been stuffing themselves to bursting point for weeks with the profusion of ladybirds that also appeared seemingly out of nowhere towards the latter half of last month. Being (just) old enough to remember the 1976 ‘Summer of Ladybird’ (brought about no doubt by the preceding but far less popular ‘Late Spring of Greenfly’), I have learned from more than one friend and client that the gardens, particularly the greenhouses, have been extremely fruitful endeavours this year and in the spirit of this was very happy to accept a bag of late-cropping tomatoes earlier in the week.
As a tolerant, live-and-let-live type and certainly not one to run shrieking from the room at the merest sight of eight beady eyes and a bristly cephalothorax, I was nonetheless perturbed in the extreme to wake up in the small hours and discover that I was keeping company with a middling-sized specimen which had made itself comfortable under the neighbouring pillows when I reached to turn the (still on, the shame of it) television off. I am only too aware that I have shared my bed with some dubious specimens over the last twenty or so years, but like everyone else I have standards and at least I can say that my other guests were a/ invited and b/of the same species as myself (or at least the same order; there may have been grounds for argument in a few cases) and poor Spidey was unceremoniously evicted to skitter about underneath with the dust bunnies. I tried to get back to sleep thinking of the kind and gentle heroine of Charlotte’s Web, and have resolved to conduct full and comprehensive searches of the bedroom and linen each evening before turning in time (until the real cold sets in and they all get packed, head down the plugholes and swim off to Mauritius. Or whatever).
The week has also brought good news from overseas – my lost wallet has reappeared in the Isle of Man where I left it, and will be heading home shortly so not only are my Boots Advantage points safe but I no longer have to look for a new one (which given my upcoming travels to places with far more expensive shops than Scarborough, is most definitely a plus). It also suggests that my hotel could really do with cleaning it’s rooms thoroughly a bit more often than once a week, but that would be a little unkind – in my haste to pack, dress, wake up properly and leave at six in the morning there would seem to be every chance that it was accidentally dropped and kicked well underneath the bed, and since the room was bereft of spiders throughout my stay as far as I could ascertain, there was probably no-one to help.
To the coming week, and a little availability left amongst the ongoing DIY, tour preparations, gym classes and appointments already arranged and secured; not a lot though and as ever, same-day appointments will not be accepted. Any more gluts of home grown produce will be eagerly received however – the tomatoes in particular will go nicely with my exploratory first order from my new favourite online shop – Pong (you can read it and weep or just purchase a well-ripened wedge of Munster, since it will have very much the same effect). Some pears wouldn’t hurt, if anybody’s offering. Just saying.
Anyway, bedtime, and let’s hope the food chain dramatics currently playing out in the mini-ecosystem next door have hit a wall for now, as I don’t particularly want to meet whatever might be coming for the spiders. Update in the week!
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