Sore throat, sneezing and snivelling today and generally feeling sorry for myself. I hate being under the weather, no matter how trivial, and get really bad tempered especially when it means I have had to cancel a day in London tomorrow. I was to meet good friends from my book group, have tea in the London Review Bookshop and then attend the Persephone lecture in the evening. Instead I am sitting here ponging of Vick and wiping my streaming nose. It is only a head cold and will go within the next 24 hours, pretty sure of that, but it is just irritating.
So my plans for posting today up the creek. But I have spent a rather interesting afternoon reading one of Margaret Forster's early books, The Bride of Lowther Fell, which I suddenly decided to have a look at after, well must be twenty years, and sat and read it right through. I love this author, think she is excellent and rather under appreciated in my opinion, so have decided to post all about her and hope to be well enough to do it
tomorrow.
Another reason I am feeling rather melancholy at the moment is that yesterday I went to Mersea Island, here in Colchester, to be with the family of my lovely friend Sue who died earlier this year, as a tree was being planted at her grave. She specified a woodland burial and at the funeral instead of a coffin coming in, which always sends a chill to my soul, she had the most beautiful wicker casket decorated with wreaths of spring flowers. The area where she was laid to rest will gradually revert to woodland and the Trust who run it plant a tree each year at those who have been buried there in the last twelve months. It was a bleak day with scudding clouds and the wind blowing in across the estuary and while I was there, I thought of the opening scene in Great Expectations as it had the same lowering sky and greyness. I felt such sadness while I was there, realising that I will never see Sue again and I really appreciated her daughter, Mary Lou, inviting me to attend. We all had lunch together afterwards, hot soup which was much needed, and I was delighted to see Henry, Sue's grandson and to see what a lovely little boy he is, though I felt sorrow again that Sue was not there to delight in him, she loved him so much.
The combination of the snivel and the sadness have rather knocked me back today and I am glad to be indoors in the warm and to realise that, perhaps, it is a good thing I am not going up to town tomorrow. I find these days that I need all the stamina I have to go to London, much though I love it and if I am not 100% no point in even trying it.
Off to bed in a bit with tea and paracetamol and hope to feel better tomorrow.
Thanks to all who entered for the Trollope give away and I only wish you could all have won a box set. I have another give away coming up soon, but this is purely for Romantic novel lovers as Mills & Boon have sent me a special set to offer up. It won't have Obadiah Slope but sure to have some dashing heroes in it to cheer us all up, so watch this space.
Au reservoir.
