In Which I Am Mysterious

These people had the same idea I did for decorating their front steps -- but they went whole hog, with big pots of chrysanthemums and too many pumpkins to count! Granted, their steps are more spacious.

Yesterday was almost terminally boring at work. I had a trickle of parents come to check out books or ask how to sign on to our institutional subscription to The New York Times, but otherwise I was pretty much just sitting around. The cafeteria hasn't been serving food, since there are no kids, so lunches were brought in by our parents' association -- falafel on Monday, calzones yesterday. That calzone was as big as an elephant's ear; definitely more lunch than I would normally eat, but good.

And now we are on October break until Monday.

I'm a bit distracted because an opportunity has arisen that may mean big changes for us. It's not something I can write about yet, but it would mean upending our lives in England and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I am very settled where we are now, and I'd hate to give up our garden and all our plants (especially the plants!) and start a new life elsewhere. Nothing is certain, and I hate to be so mysterious, but I just can't say more because we are only in the earliest stages of exploring this possibility. I am simultaneously excited and depressed about it, and I'm kind of hoping it won't happen in which case we can just stay put. (Although in some ways it's perfect timing.)

Do you realize we have lived in this flat longer than I have ever lived in any other residence, save my childhood home? We've been here 11 years, we've transformed the garden and we are definitely settled, but at the same time, it is a rented property and I've always been aware that we will have to move eventually. This opportunity would force our hand on that, and maybe that's not such a bad thing, but I'm not thrilled about it. It would be a bit like taking medicine -- perhaps better in the long run but painful in the short term.

Well, I'm going to pull a Scarlett O'Hara and think about it tomorrow at Tara -- "because tomorrow is another day."

And meanwhile, we are off to Penzance tonight on the overnight train! This is going to be an interesting and somewhat challenging travel experience, I think. The train doesn't leave until just before midnight from Paddington Station, and frankly, I think the hardest part of the whole thing will be keeping ourselves awake until then. We normally go to bed before 10 p.m.!

We have a private cabin on the train with two sleeping berths, so we ought to be able to get fairly comfortable, but I have no idea how deeply we will sleep.

I may be posting later than usual tomorrow, depending on Internet availability. I suppose I can always post from my phone. We'll see what the options are!