… amidst everything that’s happening in my life. To whit:

Wednesday May 20th, Colin & I went to Italy for a week. Rome for 4 nights and Sorrento for 3. It was exceptionally hot for the time of year (low-mid 30s °C Rome was very busy and expensive though Sorrento thankfully a bit less so. And we had a fantastic time. Photos will be forthcoming.

We got back in the early hours of Thursday 28th, and we brought the good weather back with us. Last weekend - and much of this week - the temperature has been in the low-mid 20s, with clear blue skies and nonstop sunshine. I actually got more sunburnt last weekend than during the whole week in Italy - did more sunbathing, probably, including a late afternoon hour on Sunday spent lounging in my paddling pool in the garden.

The heat even caused my PC to go a bit doo-lally on Tuesday, and refuse to boot properly from the hard disk, though I got it back to rights yesterday.

But our enjoyment in the good weather turned sour on Monday. Colin’s cousin Dale, on his day off from his job as a chef at our local hotel, went for a picnic down the river with some friends. He went for a swim in the river - and didn’t come out again. Police divers eventually found him after 5 hours.

I knew nothing until I got home from Belfast about 9 on Monday night; it had taken me nearly 3 hrs to drive home due to a damaged bumper which I finally tied on with string. Colin was up at his mum’s, minding his nieces while the rest of the family was down at the river - he’d worked that day and had to be back in again at midnight and was exhausted by Tuesday morning.

We went up to see Dale’s parents - and the rest of the family - on Tuesday night, but the wake proper began yesterday when his body was brought home. The funeral’s tomorrow, and I don’t think it’s yet sunk in for anyone. He was just 21, had a great career as a chef, had everything going for him. The family’s in pieces, and what seems like the whole village has rallied around. And although he’s not my own immediate family, he’s someone I knew, and whose family I am part of, and I’m understandably not feeling great at the moment.

We weren’t going to go back up to the wake tonight, but since the rest of the family was there, we did. Just back now, after around 2 hrs spent talking quietly to people, and worrying about his parents and granny. We’re both drained. Tomorrow will be hell for everyone.

I was in Belfast again earlier today anyway - my car was at the mechanic’s yesterday and hopefully is all healthy again now - and was struggling to concentrate. I have a hell of a lot of work on, not helped by having had a week off even though my team lead covered for me very well. Everything seems to be piling up - we have visitors arriving in 2 weeks to stay for a few days, and I need to get the study completely cleaned out so they have somewhere to sleep.

I need to make lists. Lots of lists. And stick to them. But first there’s tomorrow morning to get through.

… which is a bit of a nuisance as I still haven’t got my other tyre fixed from when I got a flat three weeks ago. On that occasion, I just swapped out my spare tyre, so the ex-spare is on my car - and is the one that’s now flat - and my ex-decent tyre is in the boot, flat and unrepaired…

And although my parents gave me birthday money to buy myself a jack and toolkit, I still haven’t.

And it wasn’t even me that was driving today - Colin had the car! Fortunately, it’s parked at his mother’s house so I can safely leave it there while I go and buy some tools tomorrow and organise myself a decent tyre…

… which I can get away with for the rest of the week (as long as I keep topping up the air) because it took a whole 700+ miles for it to go back down this last time. But I will need to change the tyre on the weekend. Bah.

Although last Saturday, I reversed out of my drive into the side of my neighbour’s car - her car door got dented and the bumper of mine got cracked. So that’ll be more repairs… My car’s due for a service as well, and the MOT in the New Year. Uck.

… on my right-hand side only.

Why? Well, I took my car through a much-needed car wash… only to discover that there’s a problem with the seal on the driver’s door. Water gushed through; I completely failed to stem the tide with some tissues I had handy; and I ended up with drips all down the inside of the door plus large wet patches on my thigh and elbow.
Bah.

Although at least the car’s now clean, and ready for me to deal with the rust patches which are due to the couple of knocks I’ve had in the last month or so.
Double-bah.

… by the workmen outside. I went to the window to stare at the water while eating a satsuma; they were sat in their van on a tea break, and flashed its headlights at me a couple of times when they spotted me. Bless ‘em. Must be a boring life, digging trenches.

Also today, I am mostly … thinking about cold weather

… and how the forecast is promising it to be even colder by the weekend. The car was frozen this morning, for one of the first times this winter; it’s been mild all over, really. Not much snow on the Alps, for example, and friends in the US & Canada haven’t had much snow up until now. The forecast is hinting at snow for us too this weekend and I’m actually looking forward to the prospect.

And also today, I am mostly … wishing my mechanic would answer the phone

… while also hoping that he hasn’t disappeared off for another hip replacement like last year. There are things wrong with my car that he promised to fix this week, and my MOT is due in a month.

… because it has been making some worrying ‘whomp whomp’ noises for quite some time now, particularly when:
a) the road conditions are bad
b) I drive fast
c) I have passengers and/or cargo (erm, can’t think of a better word there) in the car

Marion suggested I needed to get the wheels rebalanced but the mechanic at the tyre centre didn’t think so, and told me to talk to a mechanic. So I did, and Wilfred shall be looking at my car on Thursday.

Bah. Fingers crossed that it doesn’t break down on my travels tomorrow. At least I’m finally carrying my RAC card again, and I don’t think I’ve called them out yet this (membership) year.