Wednesday 30th December - 6th Day of Christmas

 'How's your day?'

'Oh, just, dull.'

Dull is ok, though; and although the whole day might be dull, there were bright spots every hour or so. 

For example;

Dawn again - it was like a picture book dawn - not fiery reds and so on, but a gradual change through all the colours of the rainbow; even violet if you include the dark purple-blue-black night sky, then indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, red, and then grey, and white sparking frost everywhere once it was fully daylight. Not dull.

We went out in the car, to drop some groceries off to be delivered to my father. As instructed, I knocked on the window of the care assistant's lair to let them know I had arrived. 'Here, I'll open the window, just pass me the bag,' It was, I have to say, mildly entertaining to watch the care assistant trying to make a bunch of bananas and half a dozen eggs go through the inadequate gap, before giving up the idea and walking round to the front door to collect them. Not dull.

When I got back into the car, we discovered one of my Christmas presents still behind the passenger seat. That solved the puzzle of 'what did she give me for Christmas?', and also gave the lie to 'Christmas comes but once a year'; Not dull!   

We had chicken katsu curry for lunch - a new recipe - and rather good, followed by JAM AND CREAM DOUGHNUTS! Oh wow! Not dull.

The sun did come out, and I managed a walk around the block after lunch - 850m - with the cold pinching at my nose and seeping into my fingers in spite of thermal gloves and hands in my pocketses. These walks are making a small difference to my stamina and breathing, even though I have a mental image of 'throwing myself out of the house,' and rush out before I can change my mind.

Now, you may be wondering how a 'walk around the block' can vary so much in length... on our housing estate there are a number of 'roads' and 'drives' and 'avenues' and 'ways' which all intersect, so it is possible to choose how far, and how much of a gradient I am prepared to tackle. Back in the Summer I was doing the longest circuit, taking in the far side of the duck pond, and it is my aim to go back to this distance, and more, if I can persuade myself.

So we walked past the house where they have decorated the tree in the garden with Christmas baubles, paused to let another walker go past by a clump of wild strawberry plants growing in the gutter, one of them in flower!, noticed some daffodils so close to coming into flower, and stopped to chat to someone we know. Not dull.

Bearing in mind the ancient Chinese curse 'may you live in interesting times', I'll settle for 'dull'!