Pleasantly Commonplace ... almost!

For my title this week I'm indebted to a Facebook comment by the man who is almost certainly my oldest friend.  We were at primary school together almost 70 years ago.  He wrote (I won't bore you with the context), "In standard English, 'nice' means pleasantly commonplace.  In American English it seems to mean high quality."

So this has been a nice week - very commonplace, and quite pleasant.  With my WEBBS work on hold just at the moment owing to an imbalance of the data flow higher up the chain, it's been quite relaxing.  Apart from a few exceptions, one day has been very much like another.  I've railed against the irrelevance and introspection of the news on the political scene; I've spent much of the daytimes at my desk; and in the evenings I have delighted in a variety of YouTube offerings ... including, last night, a most apposite episode of 'Yes, Prime Minister'.

The desk time has been divided - somewhat unevenly - between my continued researches into the family history of my cousin's husband's great-uncles and -aunts, and teaching myself how to use an on-line accounting system (and how to overcome the problems created by my misunderstandings thereof).  

By and large, the weather has matched this daily similarity.  Here in South Yorkshire we've been spared this week from the lesser extremes of heat in the south and rain in the north-west.  It's been wet most mornings, but clearer and drier later in the day.  I have an arrangement with my neighbour regarding the regular offerings in my garden by her cats.  I convey them to an suitable container on her side of the fence and she does what's necessary thereafter.  This week I've been quite absorbed by the challenges of the computer screen, and have often missed the opportunities to deal with this, and one afternoon I effected a 'bulk delivery'.

And so to those 'exceptions' to the routine.  One morning I spotted on Freecycle (I still can't get used to calling it 'Trash Nothing', although it's still only three syllables) an unused pair of slippers just my size and took advantage of a sunny afternoon to make the 37-mile round trip to the outskirts of Sheffield to collect them.  On Monday, following medical advice, I left the car where it was and made the journey by bus and on foot to Doncaster Royal Infirmary for a small surgical procedure.  (Driving after anaesthetic wasn't recommended.)  The outcome of this was minor and decreasing discomfort, and I have an appointment at the surgery in the next town to have the stitches removed early next week.

I'm now wondering what the next week will bring to this 'almost common place'.  Watch this space to find out.