My entire life feels like it’s going sideways at the moment.
Today I thought I might stay in the warm, in the hope that my body would turn a corner in it’s month-long fight with the various viruses it has been battling. Shortly before leaving to stand on the touchline of a rugby match, my other half suggested that I might pick up the Santa Fun-Run costumes from a nearby cafe. So not staying in the warm after all.
I probably need to explain myself.
You know how my other half registered our eldest daughter - the one with anxiety issues - onto the “Couch to 5K” programme at the local running club? The programme I had to run with her, to have any chance of her even leaving the house? Well not only did we get registered for that - we were also registered for the “Santa Fun-Run” around town at the start of December - a 5K event where all participants dress in full Santa costume.
Notice my other half has booked herself into none of it - none of the training, none of the events - nothing. And yet she’s more than willing to dispense advice about what we should be doing all the time. I better shut up.
It turns out a cafe on the edge of the industrial estate in town had taken delivery of all the Santa costumes for the runners - we just needed to go fetch them. In the cold. Thankfully the cafe serves all manner of nice food and drinks, so I slowly wandered down this morning with Miss 19 (after waiting half an hour for her to get ready), and turned it into a “lunch out” of sorts.
While sipping a very expensive cup of cappuccino, I spotted somebody I know on an adjacent table - a fellow web developer - sitting with his Macbook Pro, trying to look busy. Quite why you would choose to sit in a cacophonous cafe, surrounded by loud conversation, crashing cutlery, laughter, and general mahem is something of a mystery. I did wonder if it was a deliberate attempt to “look” clever.
After eating until we could eat no more, we inquired about the Santa costumes at the counter, and were lead to a pile of cardboard boxes in the entrance-way - this lead to an immediate “trying on” session at home, where Miss 19 transformed herself from a typical teenager into the most depressing/comical/unimpressed Santa you could possibly imagine. I think perhaps the hat pointing strait up like a garden gnome, rather than flopping to one side had something to do with the hilarity.
Anyway. I set out to sit quitely and read a book today - and so far I have not done that. It’s already 3:30pm. The rugby gang will be back in an hour, and fill the house with mayhem once more. And then reading will be out of the question.
It comes to something when you have to play for two days to read a book for an hour.