Simple Pleasures

Friday 2 September 2011 – I wake up in agony today, my back really aches, and It hurts getting out of bed. Now this isn’t an affliction I normally suffer from, so I assume I’ve slept in a funny position. I hobble into the living room, switch on the iPod, press shuffle and first song of the day is the 1978 top ten Johnny Mathis, Deniece Williams duet, ‘Too Much, Too Little, Too Late’.

I check my e-mails, and my tutor has returned my latest assignment with an ‘A’ and superb comments, I just wish I could get more magazine editors to take notice, but hey, perseverance they say will pay off.

I turn off the iPod, stopping Meatloaf telling anyone who’ll listen that Cher’s a ‘Dead Ringer For love’. I start work on another module of my course, completion of this one will mean I’m halfway through. I have to come up with a non-fiction book idea, and put together all the components for a sales pitch; synopsis, chapters, proposed length etc. I think a bottle of fizz is in the offing when I cross that halfway point.

In the evening, it’s beers at the Borgo with Chris, I ask her if she’s seen her silver surfer today, and as the words are let loose he appears around the corner. No one else in the bar can understand why the two English folks have burst into spontaneous laughter. We’ve started to be accepted by the locals, more and more say hello, especially those in their early twenties. Maria drops by and we chat, she’s becoming more tactile each time we see her, and Chris laughs, saying she’s got a new dress on just for me.

It’s very atmospheric later in the evening, as darkness covers the town, the streets are lit by ancient looking streetlights, I take a couple of photographs, sadly they cannot truly catch the mood.

At the end of the evening I walk back to my car slowly, just absorbing everything around me, A family passing on their way home bid me good night, I return the greeting, before driving home. After parking the car, I take a slow stroll down the lane in the darkness, listening to the sounds of nature all around; a thought pops into my head, and it’s – I love my life.