Tuesday, July 29

The cat woke me up at 3:30 howling and walking all over me. It carried on making noise until 4:45. I went back to sleep until it woke me again at 6:30.

I got up and started writing. At 9:30 I took a break and cleaned the house. I realised that the cat had been making a fuss because it wanted to go outside to shit. It doesn’t like having to use the cat litter, but last night it eventually had to. I put all the rubbish in one bag, and then took it to Tirmo on the ferry. I managed the old routine of going and returning on the same ferry.

Now I am in the garden taking a writing break. I notice that the old sundial that we have mounted on a tree stump is casting a long shadow. If I put stones in the right place around the stump I could use it as a sun dial.

I will carry on until Irma returns at 15:00. She will be furious because I have emptied the rubbish unnecessarily and spoiled her system.

We will do some washing in the afternoon sun and, in the evening, Irma will decide that another tree needs cutting down. This will be much smaller than Sunday’s, and I will do it by myself. Cutting the tree down will be easy, because the trunk is thinner than some of the branches I have been cutting down recently, but sawing off all the branches and carrying them to the back will take time.

I will spend an hour clearing all the branches away.