Early start at the Green

7am, Woodmansterne Green and I was there first – and that's a first!

I didn't go cycling yesterday as Andy wasn't going and I didn't get a call from Jon. I slobbed about at home, getting a little irate about my current state of employment – on the dole if I don't get a job by the end of next month. To be honest, it's all very stressful. It's that nagging thought that, after my next pay cheque, nothing. I won't say too much about it here, for obvious reasons, but suffice it to say that there's a lot of tension in the house and I'm not sleeping that well either.

A host of golden daffodils in Tatsfield Village.

Today, the clocks went forward, meaning I lost an hour's sleep on top of losing sleep anyway. Andy wanted to meet at 7am instead of 7.30am, but I was awake at 0430hrs (meaning it was really 0530hrs). I jumped out of bed at 0554, switched off the alarm on the mobile and headed downstairs to make some tea and a bread and marmalade sandwich. Call me Paddington, I don't care.

This was taken last week in all that fog, but it's a
metaphor, perhaps, for my disappearing career

Half an hour later and I was out of the house, heading towards the green. I got there before Andy, which was a first (or rather, it's rare). We debated where to go and decided upon (ahem) Tatsfield Village. Well, why not? It's a good enough distance so we get the much-needed exercise and it's not as boring as Woodmansterne Green – or rather, it's not as boring as the ride to Woodmansterne Green.

The daffodils were out on the village green at Tatsfield and we sat and drank our tea, as we always do. Next week, if we can motivate ourselves, we're planning a trip to Merstham and a visit to the Hunger's End café, which means, for me, scrambled egg on toast and a mug of tea.