A Day in the Life (Beatles, 1967)

5am. Am woken by Cassie (cat) who wants to go out. Discreetly roll over and accidentally nudge Rog, so he that knows Cassie is awake, but not that I am! Having successfully accomplished that objective, I go back to sleep while he gets up to let Cassie out.

6am. Am woken again, this time by Rog, with a cuppa. Go through bathroom, then sit up in bed reading for a while. Downstairs at 6.30, feed Cassie, switch on PC, read emails (one from the lovely Clare, entitled Your Daily Sunshine), read updates on the blogs I follow, catch up on Facebook and then visit
www.susanjeffers.com for my daily quotation "You are only given a little spark of madness, make sure you dont lose it" by Robin Williams and daily affirmation "I trust I shall say whatever needs to be said".

7am. Breakfast - cereal and toast. Load dishwasher, load washing machine (Alex arrived home late last night after finishing work at 8pm, bringing 2 bags full of dirty washing - his new digs lacks the essential tumble dryer! How can one person own so many dirty clothes, thats what I want to know?). Write to-do list.

8am. Water houseplants, change hand towels, empty and reload washing machine, ring Mum, who seems quite bright and chirpy today, exchange texts with friend I've been trying to catch at home to speak to for a couple of weeks now - think we've found we'll both be around at 9am on Wednesday, hope to speak to her then.

9am. Load tumble tryer with Alex's socks and pants, all of which seem to have turned a delicate shade of pale blue/grey, I guess from having been washed along with denim jeans! Hang various T shirts (some in matching pale blue/grey) on washing line. Empty and reload washing machine again, hey I'm now washing stuff that obviously came back from his holiday in Greece at the beginning of June, and stuff I've never even seen before, so probably isn't even his (now I'm starting to understand why there is so much!). Made our bed, cleaned huge mirror in bathroom.

10am. Coffee break, except I dont drink coffee, so have glass of water and apple, before cleaning the rest of the bathroom. Over the weekend we reduced the price of our house in the hope of attracting more viewers (and possibly a buyer) which means I must keep it really clean, especially kitchen and bathroom. Empty washing machine (is that a non-grey T shirt I spy?) and reload for fourth and final time.

11am. Sweep kitchen floor, play about on Facebook for a few minutes, mop kitchen floor. Empty washing machine for fourth and final time, my washing line is now completely full. Oli appears at 11.40 and fixes himself some breakfast. Rog and I enjoy a pleasant walk along the towpath into town.

12noon. Allow Rog to wander off to the pub, via the bakers shop to pick up some bread, while I go into Morrisons for some necessary provisions, and as its too early for the bus when I come out, I drag the trolley back up the hill, feeling quite virtuous - also hot and sweaty, its about 24C out there. Alex is up and breakfasted and very impressed that all his clothes are washed and drying. Put shopping away.

1pm. Fix myself a chicken, lettuce and mayo roll and allow myself the luxury of sitting down for half an hour, more or less the first time since breakfast. Rog comes in while I'm eating, fixes himself a sandwich and we get to sit together and chat for a while. Wash dishes, the ones that dont go in the dishwasher - decent cutlery, grill pan, some of our better glasses.

2pm. A quick five minutes of playing games on the PC then clean the hob and kitchen worktop.

3pm. Just on the verge of cutting up some stewing steak for tonight's tea, beef curry, when Oli offers to do it, thanks Oli, yes please. Emptied the tumble dryer and paired Alex's socks. Made a start on ironing some of his stuff, no way is there time for me to do it all, but a short hour, listening to BBC Radio 6 - Oli's choice of tea prepping music - (instead of my usual Classic FM) saw 4 shirts, 3 T shirts, a hoody and a pair of jeans nicely folded in his overnight bag.

4pm. Ironing bored. Ironing board put away. Glass of Murphys poured, sitting at breakfast bar with Rog and Alex (glasses of lager in hands), indulging in intelligent conversation (ooh, get me!) Stewing steak bubbling away nicely, courtesy of Oli, onions and peppers chopped, likewise. Wind down time, methinks.

5pm. Transfer yesterday's and today's photos onto my PC and do some editing. Take the remainder of Alex's non-ironed clothes from the washing line, fold them neatly ready to pack in his other bag - he owes me big time! Give Oli some logistical support with cooking the rice, the rest of the curry he has sorted out by himself, and it smells wonderful.

6pm. Fabulous beef jalfrezi with saffron rice for tea, thanks, Oli. Watched Points West on TV.

7pm. Well, thats been my day today, not a typical day by any means, but then in another sense its a very typical day because since Rog and I both retired no two days are ever the same. It hasn't been any more or less busy than any other day, and on days like this I often wonder how I ever had the time to raise a family and hold down a part-time job. I have a couple of things left to do before I sit down in front of the TV with my crocheting, I need to pack Alex's unironed clothes into his bag, and make him some breakfast sarnies - he's off back to Bristol at 6am tomorrow to start his early shift at 8am. - then at sometime between 9 and 10pm I shall be off to bed, goodnight all, thanks for listening.