A relaxing weekend

After breakfast I sorted out an issue with an American supplier and PayPal, so I can look forward to receiving my new 1:300 scale Civil War fort. I bowed to the inevitable and installed WhatsApp on my new iPhone, then off to the stable yard, followed by a trip to the garden centre in search of a weed-puller.

I had one of my WW2 recipes for lunch – cauliflower leaf salad, then took the mower and top-cut the front lawn.

After that I settled down to the Grand National coverage on TV. I laid two £1 bets to win and two for a place. My two “winners” came in 4th and 17th, while one of my two “places” came 7th and the other jockey was unseated at the first fence.

It’s my belief that the number of unseated riders early in the race was partly due to the horses getting wound up by the delay caused by the ignorant idiots who disrupted the start of the race. Fifteen minutes extra walking around when ready to run is unsettling for any athlete.

In the evening I found a potential AA zoom meeting at 8:00 which I joined. The host then immediately muted me, closed my video feed and closed the meeting. Very friendly! So I reverted to my fall-back meeting: “Newcomers Keep Coming”, which is hosted from the USA but has about 100 regulars from around the world.

Sunday

After breakfast I tried in vain to synchronise my podcast list between my iPhone and my iPad. Then for about 30 minutes I began reading the Memsahib’s recent purchase “Asperger’s on the job”, about dealing at work with those on the autistic spectrum. She has this problem and I thought some better insight would be valuable.

While she went to sort out her horse I made a start on weeding the paths and borders, and pruning the plants that are encroaching on our front door. Finding that I don’t actually own a garden fork – or at least cannot find one – I bought a new and interesting tool from Amazon which is a hybrid spade/fork.

Following my first experience of a “sound bath” while in rehab. last week I tried a local one. It was too long, too raucous and in a bright room, whereas my previous experience was less than an hour, gentle and in a darkened room. I will not be returning.

From the sound bath I went directly to the stables to feed and rug-up the horses for the night. I found this far more relaxing.

After a delicious roast lamb dinner, delayed from Easter Sunday because I was away, I joined a zoom meeting with the friends I met in rehab., some of whom are still at Primrose Lodge and others who left before, during and since my stay.

All in all a weekend well spent, and somewhat different to recent weekends.