A Rainy Day with the Bathynomi and a Few Tabbys

My dear readers, today there is a light rain though I long for the days of sunshine and warmth that pervade with the encroaching song of summer. My cats have longed for this day as much as I. Not only Georgie, for his arthritic limbs cause him much distress, but also Alice and Alfred (my twins) who have a great dislike for the spring rains and yowl such pain I do not know how I can stand it.

There is, however, one advantage to this dreary weather. The noodle owners downstairs go on extended vacations around this time, and for a few brief weeks I do not have to continually wash my sheets of eau du soy sauce or continually chastise Mrs. Yamaguchi for failing, yet again, to resist throwing out my mail. It is also at this time that I enjoy unlimited phone privileges.

You might wonder why a woman of my age does not have a phone line of her very own. Though, come to think of it, you wouldn't know my age at all, only my sign (Libra) and birthday. Well, I am steadily encroaching a fourtieth and some birthday with no husband or children to speak of. I could lie and say this does not cause me some pain in the later hours of the evening, but in truth I am quite happy and, compared with my married friends, I feel positively carefree and unfettered.

But back to the phone line. The Yamaguchis were not keen on offering me an addtional line as it would require them to phone up the phone company and change their current plans, something Londoners all the world over are loathe to do. So, for a reduced rent, I share their phone. It was rather inconvenient at first, what with the running down the stairs and having my messages mixed with orders for pounds of noodles and dried seaweed, but we have found something of a balance. Though I say that now, while they are away and our building is blissfully quiet.

I have joined the digital age, though not without some trepidation. My dear niece in America has taught me this lovely contraption called Skype and I have even considered buying one of those digital book things, though I can't quite bring myself to take the plunge.

I have also taken advantage of this, my new avenue for self-expression and passionate discourse, to practice my writing style. I have been reading Mary, Queen of Scotland and the Isles by Margaret George and I heartily recommend it. Unlike the rather airy historical fiction trumpeting around booklists these days, George seamlessly melds the historic and the fictional. It's truly a triumph, an epic, if you will.