life – Page 42 – Louisa Parry

3BT – back to brown, shyness is nice, static

1. I have breakfast in the newly re-emerged garden – the first time it’s been snow-free in nearly a month. I count up how many of my garlic bulbs avoided being stolen by squirrels and watch the cats as they refamiliarise themselves with all the smells of the neighbourhood. The pond is still mostly frozen but the beck is flowing quickly, filled with melted snow from the hills.

2. We go out to the Dogs Trust and meet a beautiful but very shy dog called Scooby. The trainer explains Scooby’s social problems and we laugh because they match mine almost perfectly. The trainer admits they match his too.

3. We slide the mints from their packets at the end of the meal and the wrapper sticks to our fingers with static electricity. We walk them between our digits for a few minutes then store the wrappers in our pockets for future enjoyment.

3BT – purring, suits you, changes, soup, window

16/1/2010 / louisa / 0 Comments

1. Boron has inserted himself between us while we slept so when I wake up, he’s under the duvet, with his head resting on my pillow next to mine. We stay there for at least an hour until John wakes up and he purrs a deep, satisfied purr the whole time.

2. We decide to finally implement something we’ve been talking about for a couple of months – we go to the RSPCA to see about adopting a dog. We meet two boys who have lived with cats before and we’re encouraged to play with them and walk with them. As John walks away with the second dog, I tell the handler that I think John looks good with a dog at his side.

3. We head into Bradford city centre for lunch and some charity shopping. It’s been a while since we’ve been there on foot – certainly the first time since we moved to a BD postcode, but probably a couple of years before that even. On the way up to Oxfam, we notice that the nature of the city starts to change after Duke St: the big-name chains gives way to smaller, independent shops, and it feels like a first time visit to a small town instead of a familiar city.

4. The sound check runs late so we have to eat quickly – it’s a shame to gobble such lovely food. The soup starts out neat and orderly, all the additional ingredients in their own part of the bowl and enjoyed individually, but as I eat, it all gets mixed together and a fuller flavour is revealed.

5. Kev writes my name in the condensation on the window and as the evening proceeds, the letters streak until all that is left are vertical drip lines down the pane. Above, the red light turns the dull gold window frame into a surreal ruby.

3BT – racing, productive, post office, cheese, wowed by WoW

15/1/2010 / louisa / 0 Comments

1. A few people have suggested we have a second bathroom installed on our lower ground floor – near the area which will be our office – but if we did, we’d have no reason to race up the stairs, pushing past each other, pulling back on jeans’ waistbands, when we both realise we need to wee at the same time.

2. I work hard all day – nothing from my to-do list and hardly any billable hours – but I tick off a range of things that have been nagging at me for weeks, perhaps months. For the first time in a while, I feel like I’m making progress on my life rather than just treading water.

3. The walk to the post office is delightful – until the very end, it feels like a walk through a country village and it’s just far enough to warm me up without being an over-exertion or taking all day.

4. We eat enchiladas for dinner, the second helping of a batch from earlier in the week. “Is there anything better than baked cheese?” I ask John as I chew on a perfectly browned piece. He replies: “Twice as much baked cheese.”

5. I have a fantastic evening’s play on World of Warcraft – I complete some quests that had been bugging me (because they’d been too hard before) and successfully sell some items at auction so I won’t have to worry about game-money for a while. The interface overlays my dreams though, so possibly played it a little too much…

3BT – do-doo-do do-doo-do, to-did

15/1/2010 / louisa / 0 Comments

Just two today.

1. The hold music is ‘Five Years Time’ by Noah and the Whale. I’m almost disappointed when the person answers. I tell him I liked their hold music and he laughs.

2. I solve one of the things that has been giving me low level (but increasing) stress over the last few months and it spurs me on to address the other things in that category too.

3BT – reds, shower, Carbon’s achievement

12/1/2010 / louisa / 0 Comments

1. Three reds in the pan – both the vermilion peppers and dark maroon kidney beans stand out against the rich tomato sauce.

2. Even though I’m scared of the semi-dark (thanks to a lifetime of why-won’t-the-light-switch-work nightmares), showers without the light on are strangely soothing.

3. Carbon meows excitedly after he returns from a brief, rare excursion to the outside world. He runs between us showing off how cold he is, before settling on a blanket to warm up again.

3BT – pate, cats, plunk-plink!, delights

11/1/2010 / louisa / 0 Comments

1. The toast is evenly brown and perfectly crisp. The pate is strongly flavoured but delicious, and stirs in me the desire to make my own. I add it onto my “things to make” list.

2. Throughout the day, all the cats visit me at my desk. They sit on my knee between my body and the table, and purr as I stroke their soft-soft chests while I work.

3. The water plunks when it hits the growing body of water in the cup but plinks! (with an exclamation mark) when it hits the edge.

4. Katherine and I watch dogs parading (in Best in Show) and eat Jaffa cakes, while Joe murmurs over the baby monitor.

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