a perfectly ordinary Saturday

Saturdays are probably my favourite days. Let me tell you about a perfectly ordinary one.

My Saturdays are busy in a good way. I like to get up early as not to waste any of my work free time but I am not on a clock and usually spend a bit longer in bed with my coffee and the Guardian and I bit of IG scrolling. I often do a small chore or two once I am up, maybe clean a loo or tidy some laundry. Most Saturdays I walk the dogs with my friend Angeline. Between us we have four dogs, Jack and Rudie (both ~12) and Frankie and Missy (both 9 months). 

Sometimes I pickup morning rolls and milk to make lunch boxes for volunteering. I am a McGee morning roll person so get mine at Spar. Morton’s are sold at Londis. If I were ever to leave Scotland, morning rolls would be right at the top of things I’d miss. We like our rolls with an omelette filling. I add a scoop of seed mix for crunch and flavour. On this particular Saturday however, I made a salami sandwich for Iris and a tabbouleh salad for myself (using up more parsley). If I feel generous, I add a bag of Niks Naks and a carton of multivitamin juice for Iris. While getting lunch ready I nagged Iris to get out of bed… Iris usually rolls out of bed and gets dressed about 3 minutes before we get in the car to go volunteering. 

I also nagged James to get out of bed and give him a list of chores to do before he goes out. Hanging out the laundry and hoover the stairs and hallway, and take out the recycling, stuff like that. 

Iris and I joined our volunteering group in Dawsholm park for a final Himalayan Balsam sweep. We are at the secateur stage now, which means to carefully cut the seed heads off into a bucket so they explode in the bucket and not on the soil. The rest of the plant we pull by hand. Sadly, this is the end of scything for a few weeks but soon, we’ll get them back out for meadow maintenance. Our team leader Craig peened all the scythes, ready for meadows later in the season. We sat in the sun for lunch. We have a special biscuit case that is passed around, a repurposed toolbox. There is always coffee or tea. Plenty of chat. After lunch Iris usually leaves but the rest of us, we work for another 90 minutes or so, then we tidy and clean tools and that’s that. By 3 pm, I am usually pleasantly tired after working outside. Time for coffee and a dog cuddle. 

I sat with both dogs on my outstretched legs for more than an hour, watching an episode of Emergency Medicine (docu-drama) and my next dog training video on the iPad. Eventually a shower, and then my mind often turns to dinner, which I leave to my man on Saturdays. Alas, Richard was not back from his road bike ride until 6:10 pm and he left again within 30 minutes to meet his bike pals at the pub. Sadly,  I had to cook dinner. I made a simple tomato sauce and pasta. Table clearing is Iris’ job. Iris always has two dinners, one with us, the other later, feasting on leftovers and if there is anything left at all by bed time, I do the final tidy. 

Most evenings I take Frankie for a walk but he looked tired. Jack also looked done in. We also skipped training. Instead I settled-in for a evening of telly watching and sock knitting. I also ordered two bedside tables during a commercial break. This has only taken 24 years, the purchase of bedside tables but some decisions can’t be rushed. I like to do a few chores before bed, too. I ironed two shirts and sorted through my hanging wardrobe to free up two hangers. The radio kept me company. There were no leftovers to deal with, as predicted. And that was that, another enjoyable Saturday. I fell asleep quickly. Richard didn't get back from the pub until 1:40 am. I know because the pups woke me up. 

And that’s pretty much how all my Saturdays roll, with minor variations. 

The photos by the way are of dead man’s fingers fungi. I have never seen these before out in nature, just on photos.