A routine - of sorts

So last week settled into something like the routine that we are expecting.

Lindsey and later Ian went to Melbourne on Monday and Jim and I went up to Hill House on Monday afternoon to look after the dogs, the house and the garden.  I went to Melbourne on Tuesday morning, went to work on Tuesday and Wednesday and then drove back to Mount Helen on Wednesday afternoon.  I made dinner for Lindsey (left carefully so Rupert couldn't get at it!) and then we went back down to Tani no uchi.  We pottered around on Thursday and went back up the hill for a couple of hours to entertain Rupert and Hugo while Lindsey was at Tai Chi and her piano lesson.  On Friday Lindsey picked me up from our place and we both went to Reservoir, returning later that evening.  Jim took himself up the hill to do useful things in the garden and to play with the dogs.

That is, more or less, how we are expecting most weeks to pan out. Not this coming week, though.  This week has Good Friday at the end of it, plus neither Lindsey nor Ian will be at their place until later on Thursday.  I expect that there will always be weeks when the routine will be upset.  Our place feels a bit like a holiday house at the moment, conveniently located a mere 2km away :-D

I got up very early on Friday morning.  My alarm was set for 5:30 and I woke up at 4:45. I remember as a teenager that that would have been lovely.  A whole 45 minutes more sleeping.  These days I can't see any point in going back to sleep for such a short time.  And in any case, I was properly awake.  So I got up, made cups of tea and prepared a packed lunch for Lindsey and me and a not packed lunch for Jim.  I did some Japanese practice.  I was just considering what to do next when the house went "ping" - and the electricity went off.  As I was getting up to go and check the trip switches, Jim bellowed from the bedroom, where he had been sitting in bed, drinking his tea and using his laptop, "What on earth are you doing????"  I'm not sure quite why the power going off should be my fault, but there you go.  As it happens, it wasn't just us.  The street lights around the roundabout were out.  I had a text message from Lindsey saying that their power was off too.  Nothing to do with me, then :-D

Fortunately, our hot water is gas powered.  I managed a nice shower by torchlight. Lindsey's hot water is oil powered and needs an electric pump to make it work.  A cold shower by torchlight for her!  The power came back on just before it was time to leave for work.

If anyone can explain to me why I made a packed lunch for Lindsey and me, but left Jim's lunch in a bowl in the fridge, I would be very grateful.  He, off course, was also at work.  At the top of the hill!  Fortunately he had the car and could nip home for lunch.  I must remember in future to pack his food in a portable container as well