Friday, February 22, 2013

“In the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed”

I don’t like shopping and I don’t like going to town, and because I don’t like it, I save up errands for one big trip, and then I like it even less. Yesterday, for some strange reason, was different. It was chocca with trivial pleasures.

  1. I got some cash from the bank to buy my dollars at the travel agents, and saw my first ever £50 note (rather a lot of them)
  2. I went in Waterstones to buy a Mary Oliver anthology and used my Society of Authors discount card, which always gives me a buzz (“an artist’s life has so few rewards” – M*A*S*H)
  3. I found their copy of Plotting for Beginners on a shelf in the fiction section and put it on their display table for Mother’s Day suggestions (perfectly valid)
  4. I went in John Lewis for vaccuum cleaner bags and decided to treat myself, looked at the clothes, and bought a jumper and a holiday bag, knowing that I would take them home and look at them some more and then take them back (I love John Lewis)
  5. I went to the hairdressers and my current worries swooped in on me; and my hairdresser, who I’ve been going to for twenty years, sat down on the chair next to me and looked me in the eyes and talked me through it (just like the counsellor she wants to be, but will never be, because she doesn’t pursue her dreams; and yet, she can do her counselling where she is, can’t she?) Then she cut my hair and we had a good laugh.
  6. I came home and checked my email and got a rejection from a literary agent and felt genuinely blase about it (as in “It’s her loss”) and then I felt really pleased with myself:

Sue at Midland blog pic

I love this photo, which my sister Jen took, but since I changed my blog header, it doesn’t often get an outing.

And talking of blog headers, mine are always strictly seasonal. For example, I took the current view of Bakewell bridge in February (though not this February.)

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