Expressions of satisfaction and delight

I'm leaving up to you to decide on what noise or sound you make to express your satisfaction and delight - and what makes you make that sound.

For me, today, it's YEEEHAAAA!  It's WOOOOOOOOOO! It's also yeh!
And for no other reason than I am alone. On my own, with nobody with me.

It's such a rare treat that I am celebrating with a long iced coffee and uninterrupted access to the internet.

I love days like this where there seems to be such a lot to do in a very short space of time - an early start; arrival of small friend of Romy's; departure of husband to Granada; boy kids leaving at fifteen minute intervals to get to school or play football before school starts; girls and me setting off a little bit behind schedule but arriving just in time; quick whizz round the block with Darwin; jump into car to get to doctor's appointment - c h i l l   w i t h  b o o k whilst waiting - whizz back towards home and drive in ever widening circles around cash machine then abandon car with hazard lights flashing and dash back three streets to extract cash; whizz home; run in, drag dog out and into car; drive to next village to man who is going to remove all Darwin's hairy coat and leave him shining and clipped and sweet-smelling.....

...and then, driving home, that wonderful, smug, can't quite believe it feeling hits me

I'M ON MY OWN. 

WOW.

And, fighting the temptation to come home and clean the house, which is what I tend to do whenever I get a moment to myself because there is always something else more important when everyone is here, I have decided that after I have written this entry, I will go up onto my lovely hot roof terrace with my iced coffee and soak up a little sun whilst reading my book. 

So, there you have it. I feel I have it very good right now. 

(Though in precisely two hours, the whole mad dash thing starts all over again in reverse, plus I will have four hungry children to feed...but I'm not going to think about that yet.)

Have a nice day.

Spots of time

When I studied for my 'A' Levels - rather a long time ago now - one of our set texts was William Wordsworth's 'The Prelude'. And oh, how I loved his poetry at that time in my life! It reached out and grabbed me as it moved from lofty sentiment to intimate description and personal observation. I know it's not to everyone's taste - indeed, there are lines in his work that no poet should ever have written - the most famous being from 'The Thorn' where he actually published the following two lines:

"I've measured it from side to side

'Tis three feet long, and two feet wide"

Though apparently he did revise the lines at a later date - too late though, if a schoolboy (or girl) was going to remember anything, it was this!

But not to dwell on some of the lesser stuff from his copious outpourings, what did impress me so much (so long ago) was his description of one of those moments when your world lights up; when an image, idea, occasion or vision presents itself to you when you are feeling rather down - he called them a 'spot of time' - they give our lives a special something; an indefinable improvement; a little moment when the edges of the rest of the world softens to a blur as the thing you feel or perceive is brought to a sudden, sharper focus. And it can be anything that does it - you can't know beforehand what it will be.

And although yesterday I was not feeling in the slightest bit 'down', I had a spot of time myself that I will treasure forever. I was in the apartment, probably trying to tidy up a bit before going off to the English centre to my Spanish group, and I heard a group of children outside in the street below. Out of curiosity, I went onto the balcony to look - and there I saw my Ruy walking up along - looking up and waving at me along with half his classmates. I waved back til they went past then grabbed my camera - and captured the moment that makes me so happy.

My lovely middle son (in red and blue with the beige cap) chatting away and 'at home' with his new classmates here in Spain. I can tell from the back that he is smiling.

A real 'spot of time' for me. We all have them, don't we.