Tuesday

Posted by Tania Kindersley.

1100 words today, so as usual brain has gone to mush. All I can offer you is fleeting randomness.

The swifts have definitely arrived. I thought I saw some the other day but was not quite certain. This morning I went down to my sister's house, which is where they congregate, and there they all were, soaring and swooping and generally showing off their astounding aeronautics. Did I mention before that swifts sleep and mate on the wing? It can't be mentioned enough, in my opinion.

A day of admin and logistics. I am useless at getting practical things done, and sometimes actually feel real terror when I know there are vital matters to be arranged. Today, the wagon of procrastination crashed into the brick wall of reality (or impending bailiffs) so I had to sit down and pick up the telephone. And here is the amazing thing, like a sign or a portent: every single person I spoke to could not have been more charming or helpful or non-judgemental. They all accepted my halting apologies, made my various requests appear to be pure pleasure for them, even laughed at my jokes. I wanted to send them all flowers. Everyone, from oil delivery man to credit card company person to car insurance agent acted as if they had been put on earth to meet my every whim. I put down the telephone quite astonished. Do they not know we are mired in recession and there is about to be fighting in the streets? Do they not know that they are British, and supposed to be diffident and mildly unhelpful? I start to wonder if the whole day was a dream.

My mother has a lovely guest from the south. The weather today was grey and flat and doggedly unbeautiful, and I was growing sad, as I always want Scotland to put on her pomp for our southern visitors. Then, just after five, like a magic trick, the clouds vanished and the evening sun came dancing in. The evening light at this time of year is thick yellow ancient light, as if we have been transported to Verona. It was the first thing I noticed when I moved from England, and it never ceases to delight me.

This is to give you some idea of what it looks like:

PS. Very special thanks for the exceptionally lovely comments on yesterday's post. Fingers too crabbed now to reply to each, but they made me smile and blush. And a huge fat Scottish welcome to my enchanting new readers. I can't tell you how happy it makes me when people find their way here and take the time to write something. Thank you, thank you.