2024 Week 4: WE HAVE KOTATSU

It has been freezing this week, so we made a kotatsu by putting 2 blankets on top of the table and adding a heater:

That's been the highlight of the week.

I also worked on 4 days this week, according to my new schedule (2 to 6pm in the afternoons). It's a bit of an adjustment, because now I have to say goodbye to this romantic idea that I am fake-retired or unemployed. Practicality has won out. Now I have to make "after-work plans" like a normal person. 

I am not complaining, though. The whole point of working afternoons instead of evenings is to cook and eat well, which I have been doing quite a lot of. See below. 

(This is the first time I bought and cooked salmon since I became unemployed, i.e. more than a year. The cost used to deter me, but I am finding it unreasonable to care about saving money now that I am not getting any younger. Anyway, it is extremely hard to remain in a bad mood when your belly is full of seared salmon and a tangle of steamed greens, so it's certainly "cheaper than therapy".)

We said goodbye to our boarders, Hoshi and Bibi & Wally, last night, after taking care of them over CNY break. 

We did a few "interviews" and confirmed a couple of housesits in the UK trip. Our itinerary is starting to take shape! 

I am still unsure what to do in the UK. So far, the only tourist-y items on my list are the statue of David Hume in Edinburgh, attending a Stewart Lee show, and watching a Shakespeare play. Jon is the same. I highly suspect we will spend 2 months going to pubs, doing cryptic crosswords, eating fish and chips, experiencing the wonder of Gregg's, and sampling every grocery chain's caterpillar cake. Worst tourists ever.

Let's talk about books now. This week I finished Virginia Woolf - A Room of One's Own and Travis Baldree - Legends & Lattes. 

I am deviating from my reading curriculum. I should be reading Evelyn Waugh's Scoop next, but I just started Julia Whelan's Thank You for Listening and I borrowed Leigh Bardugo's Ninth House, Paul Theroux's The Great Railway Bazaar, and Julian Baggini's David Hume biography. Lolz. Sorry, Evelyn Waugh...