Thursday

There was definitely something strange about this Thursday. Things gravitated towards it, madly magnetised. If something was to happen this week, inevitably it must be Thursday.

I could have fetched the food for the sheep today - they're close to lambing now and need extra delicious calories which have to be fetched from a farm in the hills above darkest Llandysul along precarious roads which wind along next to the Afon Teifi, the poor car lurching on the return journey at its maximum weight limit. Mum arranged the collection without consulting me. Of course she chose Thursday.

I could have gone for a walk with Jo and a cuddle with her new Labrador puppy, Teal. We normally go for a good long walk and a talk on Thursday so that was on the calendar too.

Then I had a call from the school's head teacher. Would I mind driving my daughters and two other pupils to a Buzz Challenge day at Manor House Wildlife Park? Of course I wouldn't mind. When is it? Thursday. Of course it is.

Then there was the much-delayed photography course I'd planned to go on last September, cut down from ten weeks to five, but doubtful because of numbers. That was Thursday evening with registration at an earlier time.

An inconvenient time because I'd already agreed to go and help cook the pancakes at Adran (Welsh youth club) in the evening. Of course Adran's on Thursday. Everything's on Thursday.

A bit of prioritisation was in order. We fetched the feed on Tuesday, after early trips to the dentist for check-ups. I swear I grew yet more grey hairs on the return journey (I don't know why I have this phobia of the car, full of feed sacks, lurching into the Teifi, but I do.)

Wednesday feels like centuries ago but it was only yesterday. We went to Haverfordwest to fetch a gas canister for the camping stove I'd need for the pancakes on Thursday and did the grocery shopping.

I cancelled my participation in the photography course (it was beginning to feel like the straw with me as the camel) but the course had already cancelled itself.

I said yes to the school trip and had a lovely day out at the zoo with four well-mannered, polite and very bright young people.

A hard-as-nails Welsh lemur at Anna's Welsh Zoo. It's hard-as-nails
and Welsh because it's red and it's eating a raw leek.

Jo meanwhile called to move our walk to Friday, which suits us both much better. So I can get my puppy cuddles in tomorrow instead.

Then I did my pancake tossing stint, again marvelling at the fortitude of the adult group leaders who put up with the high-spirited high volume of a large group of children enjoying themselves every week. I get bamboozled by the wall of sound, lose my ability to hear much of what is said to me and tend to assume a look that I can only assume appears to others to be a) blind terror or b) dribblingly simple.

I'm relieved to see the back of this Thursday. Yes it was fun but I wish it hadn't decided to be quite so busy.