Fitting it in

I wonder how many people find these days that their first waking sense is one of dread? That tightening of the gut that usually accompanies some trial, whether it's having to be somewhere early - an airport, perhaps - or an unpleasant ordeal - since when did that become a permanent fixture of a morning? It's just as well it seems to be quelled by that first cup of tea, that quick browse through the phone - and I have to admit that Blipfoto vies with the BBC for the first app I open to distract and soothe.

Today? Very scrappy sort of day. The Pilates class was halted halfway through the hour by a call from the local school; our teacher was called to remove an ailing son and we wandered out into the industrial estate on the hill beside the municipal cemetery and home for coffee and - in my case - a few planks and other strength exercises on the floor while it brewed. Then a parcel had to be created out of recycled packaging to send six copies of my book to one of the islands - that was good, the thought that someone likes it enough to want to give it for Christmas presents!

That brought me the only outing other than the half-class: I walked up to the Post Office and took the long way home, through the back streets at the boundary between Dunoon and Kirn and back along the front. The rain began shortly after I took this photo - you can see the lights on the East Bay prom shining on the almost-flat water, and the distant lights of the Western Ferries, as well as the lack of people and cars. I think it was early for any sense of a rush hour but very unalluring as a venue for a walk.

Mr PB has been wrestling on and off all day to reconcile our printer to the new Mac system software, managing in the end when my bestie's husband took over his computer remotely in order to assist. I've not downloaded it yet, though I shall have to soon. I hate the way updates leave peripherals dangling - the last time it bothered me was when my new phone was saving my photos as HEIC files which then wouldn't upload to Blipfoto. (You sort this by saving them as Jpegs, by the way).

I think the cheeriest news from today is perhaps that I at last got a mask that I can bear to wear. It's small and doesn't need a wire to keep it in place because it has a shape. Oh - and the sourdough I was mixing last night was spectacularly good...