Doing Nothing

Him indoors has a week off from his part-time job and of course, it is blowing a gale, pouring down with rain and so dark we have the lights on!!!!!  We have even lit the fire.  Alas, we do not have a coal fire but the next best thing  - an open living flame gas fire. Just looking at it makes me feel warm and cosy. In a recent entry I mentioned the nature table at school. Well, in those days we had real coal fires in the classrooms, no such thing as central heating or radiators.  The children at the back of the class froze so, of course, everyone wanted to be at the front.  As we all had regular seats, this was not possible but............ if we did something against the rules, like flicking ink soaked pellets of blotting paper across the room at someone, giggling or chatting, we were called to the front to stand there until we were "sorry".  I was always a chatterbox so I relished those times standing with my back to the class but delighting in the warmth of the fire!!!!! It also takes me back to home, during the few good times, when I would come home with a book from the library, and at supper time would sit in front of the fire, wrapped in a cosy dressing gown, with a big mug of either Cocoa or Ovaltine. There I would be in a world of my own, snuggled in the chair and, in the warmth of the firelight, would be transported through the pages of my book to other places and other times. Those were the occasions when I felt safe and secure.

So, today, I am going to do just that again.  Sit by the fire and read a book whilst my beloved continues building his model ship, glad that he does not have to give the lawn a final mow or do any work in the garden.  This is a day just to indulge ourselves!!!!

My book will be "Death At The Priory" by James Ruddick. which attempts to finally solve the riddle of the Priory murder, one of the great mysteries of crime. Just my cup of tea.   The inside blurb says :-

"In 1875, the beautiful and vivacious widow Florence Ricardo wedded Charles Bravo, a dashing barrister.  The marriage seemed a happy one, although society gossips whispered that Bravo had married Florence for her fortune. Yet behind his charming public persona, Charles Bravo was a brutal and vindictive man, who dismissed Florence's steadfast companion, Mrs. Cox,  and who regularly subjected his wife to violent abuse.  Four months after the wedding Bravo collapsed and suffered a slow and agonizing death. Charles Bravo had been poisoned. Suspicion fell upon everyone in the Priory, the house in South London in which he and Florence had lived. James Ruddick's meticulous recreation of the Bravo case brings its main characters and their times to vivid life. He has created a gripping historical thriller and an intimate and often startling portrait of a woman, a marriage and a society. The brilliant conclusion uses new evidence discovered by the author to demonstrate conclusively who really murdered Charles Bravo."

So, I cannot wait to get started, just a couple of little jobs to do and I am off, dear readers, to spoil myself, to take some time out -  time away from the computer for a couple of hours, to ignore the inclement weather and to just do nothing but laze and enjoy myself and be transported back to another age. Oh joy!

It Is Sweet To Do Nothing ~ by John William Godward.