A perfect day

First: golf lesson. Which was really instructive. I wouldn’t say I’m getting better but that I understand better why I’m not getting better.

Second: happy hunting. I’ve probably been to six auctions in the past two months looking for a desk for my office and maybe three antique stores. Today I went to three more antique stores. I’ve looked at Victorian Davenport desks. Georgian library table. Edwardian sofa table. Victorian drop-leaf. Partners desks. Always with one shortcoming or another (sometimes price, sometimes lack of storage, sometimes nowhere to put my legs). My final stop today was a furniture outlet in Ballynahinch for a store based in Manchester founded by two brothers from Bangor who source materials in New Zealand and have them turned into furniture in Indonesia. Thomas Friedman eat your heart out. I bought two bookcases at the furniture outlet last year and today I bought a new desk made from old materials to match the book cases. It wasn’t what I had in mind--I love my antiques--but it is attractive and functional.

Third: horses! On the way home, I called in at the stables where a former Foyle student (two years younger than me) spends her weekends with her daughter. She’d invited me a while ago and, because I was passing by, I decided to call in. We had a lovely walk around the “pony palace” and the other stables, where the horses are kept, and the indoor ring, and the outdoor field with the jumps. It was deja vu for me, given my intensely horsey adolescence. I told Ruth to tell her daughter to avoid my mistake: giving up horses for boys around the age of 16. Being crazy about riding is such a great way to spend your adolescence because it leaves no time or energy for anything else.

Four: dancing! After some time at home to recover from the day, I talked myself out of and then into going to a swing dance at a place I’ve never been before. As with the last dance I attended, there were a lot of familiar faces. With each successive dance, I get to know people better and I dance more. Tonight was a birthday for one of the guys, Gary, and there were cakes and cheers and dancing. It was so much fun I don’t think I got home until midnight--so unlike me!
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