Tuesday, July 10

 

 

We woke quite early but lay in bed talking and got up late. We decided to call what we ate at midday lunch, even though it closely resembled what we might have called breakfast if we had eaten it at 10:00.

Irma checked the news while I did some writing. She burst into the sauna house periodically to tell me how many Thai footballers had left the cave. Eventually she told me that all the thai boys had got out safely. Meanwhile on the other side of the world rhe British government started to implode as Theresa May’s “compromise position” on Brexit began to lead to front bench resignations.

I started to vacuum clean with the fifty year old Swedish vacuum cleaner that we inherited from the previous owner here, which I described in more detail than necessary on Friday, June 30, 2017. I have used it partly because it amuses me and partly because the fact that it amuses me amuses me. However it probably stopped working efficiently ten or fifteen years ago.

Irma pointed out that we have another vacuum cleaner that we brought from Helsinki years ago when we bought our Dyson. She dug it out of the shed and I learned what an efficient vacuum cleaner can do. We photographed the Elektro Helios and put it in the back of the car for its final journey to a rubbish dump somewhere in South Finland.

I felt so enthusiastic at my hugely increased vacuum power that I raced over to the sauna house with the “new” Volta Sprite and set about cleaning that.

At about 17:00 Irma left for Helsinki, where she has a list of things she wants to do tomorrow. On Thursday afternoon she will return with Naa, who has a couple of days off work.

Not too long after Irma has gone I decide to go to photograph the ice cream kiosk and fail. I find it in the process of closing for the night. Three teenagers remove the umbrella and fold it up before I can even get my iPad out of my bag. I walk back and stop just before I turn into the farm. I photograph the road signs, the post boxes, and the curve of the road, instead.

Once home I will cook some sausages and make a salad and settle down to read, while waiting for Sunshine to arrive. He will appear at about 22:00, ask for food, and settle down to sleep. I will settle down too.