Friday at last

Pattern on a rug, donated to me by my used-carpet merchant, Gill. Over the years she has lent or donated me a series of fabulous rugs. In the 1990s, when I moved house, she lent me a green rug she had picked up in Bahrain. When my sister Tanya (TMLHereandThere) first visited me in Stroud in 1997, one of the first things she said was, "Oh, you've got the rug I wanted!"

Tanya had moved to Bahrain in 1995, and set about furnishing a house. She'd seen a rug she wanted, in green, but when it came to ordering it, she was told she could only have it in blue. Imagine her surprise when she came to Stroud and saw the same Bahraini rug, in the right colour, in her sister's house!

In other, 21st century news, the WEA short stories course finished today. I was sorry to have missed so much of it, owing to my Friday market stalls, but happy to have started a movement, I hope. We have a new class with same tutor beginning in November, and a new venue, I hope. The tuition has been excellent.

Afterwards, I had a date to meet my friend K
In the nearby leisure centre. I had a feeling that she would cancel, but I had forgotten to bring my phone! So I went to the leisure centre cafe, and sure enough, there she wasn't. I waited three quarters of an hour with my cup of tea, then went home via Tesco's. Found my phone still charging upstairs, and a string of apologies.

I didn't mind, it had given me a chance to focus on reading some of the short stories I'd missed out on. I was very nearly tempted, seeing all the lycra clad people at the leisure centre, to pick up an activities programme, but common sense prevailed. There is a gym much nearer to me, and I haven't been a regular at the climbing wall this year.