Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Dinner Stress with a Happy End
I was gonna go shopping after work tonight, but the Irish weather had other plans. Shortly before I left the office, the skies opened and I knew that even wrapped in my bright yellow full-body rain suit I was going to get home absolutely soaked. I don't know why that still
bothers me. You would think that after a year in this country I would be used to being wet and dirty. But I'm not. I have still not accepted that being a cyclist means not only putting your life on the line every day, but also going through piles and piles of clothing every week.Don't get me wrong, I was happy enough to be cycling again. Again? Yes, I forgot to mention that, on Friday, I had cycled over a drawing pin and punctured my rear tyre. We didn't notice until Sunday afternoon when Lofty went down to fix a different problem with that tyre. He could have just fixed it, we have a repair kit. But after we let the air out, we realised we'd lost the pump. It was just gone (and has still not reappeared). So I had to ride the bus to work on Monday while Lofty went and got a new pump. And believe me, after one day of having to rely on Dublin's public transport system, I was more than happy to get soaked on my bike.
The crisis only started when I got home and realised that I had nothing to cook for dinner. So, - yes, you guessed it - I panicked, I cursed, I nearly burst into tears and then I got on with it: Defrost some sausages, boil some of the old spuds that are growing shoots in the bottom of the cupboard, chop some garlic onion and herbs and get a gravy going. And a mere half-hour later the stress was gone and we were sitting down to a plate of beautiful buttery mash with bangers and garlic and herb gravy.
Christine at 10:27 pm
