I have had a busy week on the domestic front. The kitchen has been cleaned, and the oven brought back to ‘as new’ standard. The living areas have been vacuumed, in a serious fashion that involved moving furniture, and deploying attachments to the hoses that have rarely seen the light of day. This was made more difficult by the attentions of Ollie, who rushed around barking and snapping at the machine, to the extent that he even got one of his droopy jowls sucked into the workings! Yesterday, despite high winds that made the job laughable, I tackled the growing mountain of leaves that have fallen from both Oak trees. I had a full arsenal of suitable implements to hand. Rakes, shovels, brooms, and a particularly useful item; a large pair of green plastic ‘hand extensions’, that are really excellent for grabbing up piles of leaves, and assorted plant matter. Plants and shrubs at the end of the growing season were cut back, twigs collected from the lawn, and a general tidy up completed outside the house. Again, I was constantly hampered by Ollie’s antics, as he chased the rakes, and jumped into the carefully arranged leaf piles.

So, I have decided that today will be an official day off.

This normally involves getting up at a reasonable time (today it was 8.40) , having coffee, and considering which film to watch. The choice for today, is Peter Greenaway’s excellent British Film, ‘The Draughtsman’s Contract’. I have seen this film at least twice before, though not for some years since. It is a film that rewards repeat viewings, as twists of the plot, unnoticed previously, become satisfyingly apparent. It is also worth watching for the use of light and colour, which leaves scenes with the quality of Old Master paintings. Breathtakingly good, with a cast of actors at the very top of their game, I really recommend it to any serious film fan who has never seen it.

Film viewing completed, there is time to look at this blog. A good delve into the statistics, a perusal of the followers, and a thorough re-visiting of my previous posts. It is interesting to discover, that those marked as ‘following’ this blog actually rarely read it. Also, despite many requests to publish additional posts in the ‘Ambulance Stories’ category, it is still the same ones being read over and over, and many have not been read at all. Of interest, to me alone of course, is the fact that some posts have never been read, including most of my personal favourites. This is not a whine, or complaint, merely an observation, that tells me as the blogger, that I may be going in the wrong direction, if it is only readership I seek. Happily, this is not the case, though there is some satisfaction in providing interest and entertainment to others, and being able to communicate stories and ideas effectively.

That’s the film watched, blog manicured, so what was next? I watched some news, hoping to keep up with current affairs. It seemed to me that the newsreaders were somewhat disappointed that the storm on America’s East Coast was not as destructive as first hoped. To inflate the figures of those killed and injured, the rolling news even added the total previously killed in The Caribbean countries, when the storm hit there. Despite some film of large gas explosions in New York, and flooded areas of New Jersey, they just did not have a big enough disaster to feed their news greed. A part of the district of Queens, where some houses had been destroyed by fire, was actually compared to the devastation of Europe by bombing, during the Second World War. Then there was more about the Jimmy Savile saga. It seems that his victims are not interested in receiving any money for their alleged sufferings, but have decided to sue his estate anyway. I cannot be the only person saddened by every aspect of this sordid tale, or the only one finding it increasingly difficult to believe that many aspects of these accusations could not have been brought before the Law when Mr Savile was still alive. There can never be any resolution to this story, that will not leave questions unanswered, and an uneasy feeling of Justice badly served. The last story was about Comet Retail going bust. Thousands more jobs to go, and another electrical giant disappearing from our trading estates, all over the U.K. I am as guilty as the next person for using Internet shopping to source those type of goods; nonetheless, it is sad to see another outlet closing, reducing consumer choice even more. If the companies like Amazon and Play can do so well, surely Comet should have followed this model, and they may not have faced disaster in this fashion. As buyers, we now have to face the prospect of rarely being able to actually view goods, lay hands on them, see how they suit us, or look in the metal. We only have ourselves to blame for not going to these shops, so little point shedding crocodile tears.

With the news watched, and frustration mounting, I decided to feed Ollie. He enjoyed a breakfast (yes, a late breakfast) of scrambled eggs and toast, his enthusiasm for the food, and obvious enjoyment, helping to mellow my mood. Later today, I will have to put aside around two hours, when I will take him for his long walk around the meadows. When you decide to share your life with a dog, you can never really expect to take a full day off, can you?