A Good Day

Yesterday was a good day. Quiet but full of satisfying events. Sunshine – the fourth day running. It lifts the spirits. It begins to feel that spring is on the way. The daphne’s in bloom.

My normal caregiver was away ill on Friday. So yesterday a replacement turned up, a lovely young Sri Lankan woman who’s going back there to be married in five week’s time. After showering me she was going off to relieve the parents of an autistic girl for seven hours. We must not forget we still have a caring welfare state.

I explored the blog of Tim Jones, a young Wellington poet. Good stuff.

Helen, my twice-a-month secondary school student gardener, started her seasonal work. She and Anne planted polyanthus, lettuce, rocket, a new thyme and oregano, and generally tidied up the section. Terribly frustrating for me not being able to give them a hand.

I watched the rugby replay. Tasman beat North Harbour in a nail-biting match. The new TV certainly gives a better as well as a larger picture.

After dinner – lentils and bacon hock – Anne and I watched City Lights Chaplin’s most famous film. Slapstick and sentimentality. I found myself with tears in my eyes at the end. I’ve always been a sucker for movie sentimentality. Kubrick and Orson Welles both included this movie in their top ten. I can see why.