Sunday 18^th April, 2021 1315

As you may have surmised, life has been pretty quiet of late. Besides my brutal timetable there's nothing to report from school other than Jody being a Godsend on Tuesdays when she comes in with me and carries my laptop and lunch up to the third floor for me. This week I did almost fall backwards down the stairs. The bannister is worse than useless as a steadying agent (too smooth and plank-shaped to get a decent purchase) and so thankfully I have taken to gripping the balusters, which saved me.

The other “excitement” was home lighting. One of the fluorescent bulbs in my office packed up so it was arranged for the men with a stepladder to come on Friday afternoon. A couple of years ago I used to drag the desk underneath and climb up to replace them myself but as my balance has deteriorated, these days I think I would contrive to kill myself falling off.

As it turned out I couldn't have done it anyway because inside the fitting there are two boxes, one for each strip. It was the box which had failed and not the bulb, so they went and got a replacement. I can now see to type at night.

While they were here I asked them to swap the bulb in the kitchen. Some months ago the lamp packed up, a fluorescent affair, and they removed the fitting completely, replacing it with a single bulb. The problem was, I'd have had more light from my cigarette lighter. I gave them a spare I keep for when the bathroom light goes and now I do see. I know the world is embracing low energy LED lights but the one they took out for me was 5W!!!!!! I mean, five watts? I was supposed to cook in the dim glow from that?

That episode necessitated a trip underground to replenish my spares. The school would provide them but for what they cost, I just buy them myself so I always have them. The office and bathroom lights fail on a regular basis and if they were to bring me more 5W replacements I would need to develop an echo location ability just to take a shower!

I actually stayed up last night to watch The Funeral. Nobody does pomp and splendour as well as our armed forces and until Phil was taken into the church it was a treat to watch. Then, the sight of our diminutive Queen, clad not only in black but with a black face mask, isolated and lonely on a pew was enough to jerk anyone's heartstrings. One of today's papers made the comment that the Queen had to be isolated when saying goodbye to her husband of 73 years, yet not far away people were flocking to shops and pub beer gardens. It doesn't seem right.

Oh, and now my shower head is dripping!