Sun setting

Preparations continue for tomorrow's GP lunch. All this talk makes it sound like a really big thing, whereas there'll only be five people here. Still, I enjoy entertaining, and it's good now and again to pull out the stops. I was up before 8.30, had a bite of brekky, and did a quick round of the local drive-in vegetable shop by 9.30. Then it was on to The Evil T-place for the few outstanding bits and pieces. Back home, it was roll up the sleeves time, with lots of vegetable preparation for the starter. That was all sorted by 12.15, and I headed to the Music Group session without a care in the world. I was the only one who turned up, so there were only three of us there in total. We had a terrific time despite the small numbers, finishing off with Vaughan Williams's magnificent 6th Symphony in its entirety to mark last week's 50th anniversary of his death.

A stop for booze at the local offie still gave me time for a refreshing pint of cider before rolling up the sleeves again and getting stuck in to tomorrow's main course. Once again I was struck by how much longer things take to prepare than recipes suggest they will. I'd got home shortly after 5.00, but it was 7.15 by the time the Rich Beef Casserole was in the oven. So there I was, checking email, feet up metaphorically speaking, glass of well-deserved wine at hand, when I spotted a strange golden luminance breaking through the slats of the venetian blinds. Could this possibly be SUNshine!? It was. Still, it is September, so this turned out to be the last rays of the sun before it dipped behind the rooftops across the road. So here we are: no summer, rain, rain rain; wind, wind, wind; the seasons shifting; and it's already beginning to get dark ridiculously early.

Time to go away, perhaps? A short break in a sunnier climate to fill in the time before we go to Gozo at the end of October? Hmmmm ... sounds good.