The long Sunday

The day was quiet. Steve went out to get some eggs and other items, and reported queues of traffic, up to a quarter of a mile, waiting to get in to Waitrose before it opened!

I stayed at home, made a cooked breakfast, did the washing, had a long bath. Wrapped the Christmas presents. I don't think I've ever in my life done this before Christmas Eve! Maybe I'm not my mother, after all. Moved my jigsaw puzzle to the newly-cleared dining room table, but did not do the puzzle. Just sat staring out of the window at the changing landscape, until it grew dark.

Sat down, then, to watch How the Grinch stole Christmas, from a DVD I'd been lent. How quickly my head began to droop, and sleep overcame me!

Made supper, watched half of Scrooge (1970), did some more cleaning. Watched part two of The Long Song, Andrea Levy's story about the abolition of slavery in Jamaica. Terrific.Today's picture shows a still from the drama. I did not manage a credible shot of anything else. Grey skies and rain have predominated. Steve has retired to bed with a cough and cold. Let's hope he's better by Christmas day.

But now, I'm settling down to watch Far from the Madding Crowd (2015). A rare treat: a tale by Thomas Hardy with a happy ending!

Five minutes in, I realise I've seen it before. But the classics are worth revisiting, especially when featuring scenes of Wessex countryside.