Disconcerting ...

I wanted to convey the sense of disorientation brought about by my having to do the weekly shopping today rather than first thing tomorrow - hence the title of this blip. I have an all-day meeting tomorrow, and if I did the shopping run I'd still be finishing breakfast as the meeting gets underway, but on the other hand I simply couldn't face going out this morning before breakfast and ... didn't. Instead I drank tea, did my Italian, even did a little doom-scrolling, then got up. Coffee followed hard on the heels of washing up after breakfast, and then Himself offered to come and help and, weakly, I accepted. I can't bear the supermarket car park when it's busy, and had this idea that if it came to waiting for someone to move out I could abandon the car and get started.

In the event, the car park was horrendous but there was a space in the first lane. The shop itself was less busy than all the cars would suggest, but the shelves had clearly been raided by the Harpies. However, I managed to spend over £90 - how on earth do two smallish people of pretty moderate appetites manage to get through all that? 

At least this gave us fresh salad and some Italian cold meats for lunch, after which I finished reading the Observer from Sunday - I'm rather liking its new incarnation under new ownership. Then, despite our having had an earnest conversation earlier about how we really didn't have to go out and march around every day in life, I became desperate to do just that and we headed off into what had become a rather lovely afternoon to walk up Glen Massan.

Two things stick in my mind about that walk. One is that I thought I might die before I got past the first bit of hill on the road because I felt so stiff and sore (I think it must be the residual effects of Pilates, rather than suddenly intensified decrepitude); the second is that it was so beautiful. We actually walked further than usual, right up to the bridge that is still sagging over the water since last year's floods, covering more than 14,000 steps according to my watch - and this brought us to the two delightful Highland cattle right beside the fence whose photos I've put into an extra as a collage. And on the way back down the vivid purple of the rhododendron overhanging the burn caught my eye as symbolising the sheer beauty of it all - even if the rhoddies are a non-native pest that at other times of the year present no attractive features at all. 

We managed despite all this to have our dinner and get in time to Online Compline, which I love. I was noting that the email that I still use to get the link for the service was first sent to me in early January 2021 - 185 weeks ago. It began as a means of keeping us worshipping together during the pandemic, and I can still feel the strangeness of the world outside clapping the NHS while we began the service. 

Right. Time for bed. I may have to think tomorrow ...