We arose with great expectations – a good chance we would be able to finish things off today. Another icy morning – it had dropped to minus 4 overnight, + left a sharp frost. It takes a good deal of willpower to force one out of bed on such a morning… + fortunately Val is possessed of sufficient for both of us. There were just a few trees left up in the top corner of the orchard, + between us – Eddie, John the other regular, Val, + I – we soon polished them off. Val + I then treated ourselves to the luxury of a hot lunch, since Mr K wasn’t around to transport our bin down to a few odd trees in another part of the orchard. We heated up the curry that was left over from the night before – very nice it was too. Then down to work again, on a few trees down by the adjoining gravel company – made for a noisy environment. It was now mid-afternoon, so we came back to finish off a couple of scrawny trees… and maybe that was it! Unfortunately, Mr K was able to deal our hopes a pretty savage blow, by telling us there were some more trees to do tomorrow – the wine saps, which usually required from 8 to 12 bins. Rum ti tum.
Anyway, had a cup of tea to revive a couple of flagging spirits, finished off where we were working, + went home, earlier than usual. And this evening it was that we had the cauliflower cheese, an island of cauliflower in an ocean of cheese sauce – Val is rather fond of the stuff, so tends to over-do it. In the evening, we had thought of going into town, to go to a bridge club, but eventually decided against it – we thought it was a bit of a cheek, being just beginners, to attend just one meeting. So instead we organised our own little card tourney. We were able to think of 8 games for 2 people, + in the end it worked out at 4 games each, which I suppose is fair enough. Val won Beat Your Neighbour, Contract Whist, Crib and Piquet – I won Pairs, KO Whist, Hokus Pokus, and Rummy. By which time, as usual, we were knackered, so climbed into bed.
The account of our work is getting a bit “Are we there yet?” since clearly we (and, I am sure, you too) had had enough. You are used, by now, to detailed descriptions of every meal; the same approach to the minutiae of card games is a stretch too far. But, as I never tire of saying, the diary is as it is; all I am doing is transcribing it (and, it must be said) curling up with regular bursts of embarrassment.
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