TTFN

Okay, folks, this is it: the last day of this latest challenge to write something every day for six weeks. The original challenge, begun in the winter of 2016 when I was in a tough fight with the old black dog, ended with rather more introspection than this one will.

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know that on some of the past forty-one days I’ve struggled to string more than a couple of sentences together, but happily not many days.

You’ve had your daily snapshot into my little world, made smaller in a number of ways by a global pandemic.

As I said to a friend in Wales the other day, I should now be in the final stages of directing rehearsals for a play to be performed next weekend. Instead, the only thing I’ve been rehearsing for the past six weeks is dog walking, which has proven to be the highlight of lockdown. (That and, of course, the ninety minute or longer conversation with an actual human being.) Strange that in the nearly two months of lockdown I have, thanks to these dog walks, exponentially expanded my knowledge of the trails on this island. If I ever welcome a canine into my life, which I am feeling I might like to do (don’t worry, Stella, not while you’re still with me), I’ll certainly know a lot of places where I can take him or her for lovely walks.

Thank goodness for the garden. I’m looking forward to getting up in the coming days, getting dressed and heading straight down there (instead of straight to the computer) to finish off the job of tidying up. There is a lot of other outdoor work to keep me busy in the coming days and weeks. The car could do with a wash, for one thing. Mind you, that’s been true for months now. (Once a year, whether it needs it or not.)

The Mac saga continues. Most of the initial annoyances have been resolved (once again, thank you, John), but the major frustrations continue. In order to have any photos in recent posts, I’ve had to take pictures with my tablet (not ideal as a camera), then email them to myself. Tiresome, but it works. Now that I know I’m not going to have to replace the cappuccino maker, I am really going to have to pursue acquiring a used iPhone6 to use as a camera. I can pretty much afford it, as I’ve had bugger all else to spend my money on since the middle of March. Who knows? Maybe I’ll actually get a contract with the cheap provider one of my mates told me about (basics for $15 a month) and have an actual mobile phone. Not that it will work as a phone in my dead zone house, but maybe the text feature will run on wi-fi. Maybe. Then there’s the fuck-this-is-really-fucking-annoying problem of transferring material from the clapped out Toshiba to the Mac, given that the hoity toity bloody Mac won’t let me open and download from my backup drive. Am I really going to have to spend days manually transferring stuff on memory sticks? Not that I don’t have plenty of time on my hands, but, seriously, that is bloody aggravating.

Right, that’s it. There will be news now and then from the constantly frustrated gardener. On any given day Bojo the Clown or the Tangerine Wankmaggot will probably do something to prompt a rant. That said, I am becoming alarmingly inured. (The charges have just been dropped against Michael Flynn who twice pleaded guilty? How the hell didn’t that merit a rant?)

Watch this space and ta ta for now.