The first quarter of the year is over. What a ride it’s been so far!
I did some work this morning, but having to remotely connect using my phone’s hotspot for the internet is proving a costly exercise. I have used more data in two and a half days working than I usually do in a month. Work sponsored a portion, but hell’s bells, there are still sixteen days of this lockdown left. I have been working offline for quite a bit of the day.
Many of you don’t know this, but I collect coffee mugs. Most have been gifts from The Toppie when he was still working, and friends who’ve traveled. I decided to armchair a bit today. I went to London, and time-traveled to Thanksgiving in the USA. For the record, I love pumpkin, but I don’t think I am a fan of pumpkin spice.
Later in the day I decided to clean a bit. I vacuumed the lounge and then decided to rearrange my bookshelves. I have two hobbies: reading books and collecting them. There is still space in my glass cabinet which means The Bean and some of my friends still have books of mine. Once I’ve got them back, I shall reshuffle again so the returns are where they should be. I must admit, I felt a sense of accomplishment afterwards.
I wanted to do a bit of work this afternoon, but when I wanted to boot up my Mac, nothing happened. I figured the battery had died because I’d worked earlier in the day. I plugged it into the charger and it started getting warm so I knew it was doing its thing. Tried to boot up again. Nada. Dead as a doornail. Panic set in because I have work to do and now what…??? I called Nathan. No reply. I called Eliza. No reply (which isn’t unusual). I texted Nathan. No reply. By this time my nerves were quite shattered and my heart was racing. I tried Nathan again. Thank the Pope he answered. Shrill and at the speed of a bullet train, I explained the situation and after a few jiggery-pokery attempts over the phone, I heard the dong that is synonymous with Apple starting up.
I was so relieved, I thought I might burst into tears. I thought seeing the trash collectors yesterday was reason to be happy; being able to work was even better.
I did a bit more work in the afternoon, and then unleashed my Cooking Girl personality.
My idea for a curried something with turmeric noodles flew out the window. I ended up making (as The Toppie calls it) a fuck-up in a dixie. It was a pasta-mincy-veggie-mushroomy-way-too-much-sauce-dish. It didn’t taste bad, but definitely lacked salt. Coming from me that’s saying something, because I hardly eat any salt – even plain salted crisps are too salty for my palate.
About an hour ago, my body started aching, so I had a steamy, candlelit, bubble bath, with some Vivaldi concertos for background music. It was absolute bliss.
As Day five draws to an end, I’m grateful for the opportunities afforded to me to be able to work from home, to have books to read, a hot meal, and hot running water. These are things I so often take for granted. With everything that’s going on, I realise that I am extremely blessed; there are many, many people who have to contend with less – and they quite often do it without complaint.
Until tomorrow… April 1st… the day the fuel price drops with over R1.70 a litre… that petrol price drop is much needed relief, but the timing…
Reflections of a Misfit 
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