I got up and hit the boiler in the kitchen and turned on the gas fire in the living room for good measure. I microwaved a coffee from last night and took it with me, back to bed for 30 minutes: enough time for my painkillers to kick in.
So, I have two very different events going on today: lunch with Tina at 1230, followed by a tile-cleaning operation at the Delius Centre for late afternoon. That's what my Google diary says at any rate. What to wear? well, reader, after a very hot shower I rummaged for my Alain Mikli (Rony Corbett) spectacles and decided to go for an autumnal preppy effect! I discovered a great knee-length khaki mac and found a black Hugo Boss jacket and very pale Levis trousers. A tan belt and shoes, plus the polka dot tie and matching Liberty handkerchief came in handy I as accessorized and got ready for my foray out onto Great Horton Road. Now, not wanting to appear too much of an arse, I thought , "Do I go for the woolly scarf, or do I not?". I dithered over another coffee, and in the end, I elect go with the scarf, but only a baby one: since it merely mid-September and not midwinter: I don't want to stand out for all the wrong reasons. Remembering my manual tasks, I found a couple of unloved shirts, a hoodie, and a pair of very baggy jeans, stuffed them in a plastic carrier and congratulated my good fortune at having located a cleaning ensemble without further effort.
Now, having safely parked up the SMART at the college, I was in a buoyant mood as I took in the sight of the many hundreds of young people in their vibrant and high summer attire of T-shirts and jeans, nearly all to a man exhibiting various states of chill, hurrying across the road (dangerous and BAD choice), or huddling outside Westbrook having a cigarette (WORSE). I notice, but care not, of the various colleagues from the near past who cut me dead (you know who you are), by looking the other way, and I stroll fashionably on by to the cash machines located just a street up the hill. I cannot wait to see the same location in just a week's time - the University starts Winter Term proper, and the many hundreds of students will swell to many thousands. Good luck to them, and the many businesses that feed off them, and vice versa.
Tina emerged a little after 1230 and we trotted over Great Horton Road to have a look over the Delius Centre, which, I am pleased to say, is looking great, after a new carpet, and further coats of white gloss and emulsion on the staircase. Thanks to Darren. Tina, I believe is impressed. However, we are hungry. Also, Tina is not very well. We decide to go to Floor Six at the college, and check first at Reception, that the kitchen and restaurant is indeed, open for business. We are in luck. We hear in the distance a Subaru Impreza racing up Great Horton Road, glance at each other knowingly, shrug, and move off to the entry barriers. Our feeling is that someday soon, a pedestrian will get killed or very seriously injured, and all we hope for is that it is not one of us nor a loved one.
The restaurant is empty. There are a mass of Catering and Hospitality students in a gaggle at a table in the distance near the windows over Bradford. We are welcomed by the Maitre'd and led to our table in the well lit and comfortably warm eating area. We order, eat, and gossip well until past 1400. We discover loads of local business, do a gossip swap, and find out that the Saltaire festival is on right now. The bill is £20.40 and we both pay eagerly and leave. I am sorry to see our lunch date over. Tina is still worried that she is unwell. I reassure her and promise to be in touch tomorrow.
I go to the Delius Centre at 1430 to find out where the other volunteers are up to. I am not surprised to find that there are NO volunteers in sight. I speak with Darren about chemicals and bugger off for coffee at Spud Murphy's, where I natter with JR for 10 minutes about coming down to the Delius Centre and having a look at the place. We make a date for this Friday at 1430! Now, not wanting to go home and do the domestics, I go over to the YCC and hope to meet with Clare. More gossip and business. The it's 1600 and I am supposed to be meeting Vanja to have a look at her piano. I wait until 1645, and then she rings. She's just coming down, now, would I mind waiting? Of course I wouldn't. So, in the car back to V's house, we gossip in the stationary traffic about all things related to work, life, children, money, travel, happiness, and the rest. V has a lovely Victorian home that has been/ is being restored tastefully. I meet husband and piano and like them both. V's coffee and Baclava are wonderful. I promise to get back soon with a price on the instrument, having first of all checked to make sure that she's alright with selling it. She is.
I cannot but wonder what I did today! I had but lunch and the Delius Centre cleaning thing planned, yet I seem to have done not much. Can I please have more days like this? As long as I get paid!
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