....like a sleepy lizard

A  little slice of Italy in Bristol yesterday...

a fragrant delicatessen shop and cafe

where we had  lunch, perched on bar stools at the counter.... mozzarella and artichoke paninis.  followed by tiny crisp pastries stuffed with chocolate and pistachio cream. The sort of shop I'd like to live in.

This is Billy my great- nephew's Leopard Gekko lizard....who lives in a vivarium in his room, dozes all day and eats baby crickets and meal worms and doesn't like bright lights.

And this is Tundra, his Snow Tiger who is a long way from home, nibbling crocuses in the park.

At  5 years old, great nephew tells me there is a Pokemon character 

called Crocus...and why not. There are many ways to learn about flowers...

 Later his parents produced a wonderful Indian thali supper - I especially liked the spinach and paneer curry....and the beautiful cloth spread on the table....the colour of crocuses.

Today I feel defeated by form filling  - even with the help of my bright young PA. Robin had a few shares...not worth very much....I need to get them transferred to my name... and the bank needs to countersign the forms.  Who would have thought anything could be so complicated and time consuming. At least I got some exercise in town traipsing between the banks and building societies in an attempt to sort it out ...even though it was fruitless in the end. Still no resolution.

A man comes to clean the plastic roof - the one that leaks into the kitchen - and clear it of all the moss that the pigeons throw onto it from next door's roof. It immediately feels lighter.

I want to take some time out....stop being so busy......and driven...slow down....calm down...relax....like a  sleepy lizard.

Why do I find it so hard then, almost impossible, to read a book, a novel, on the sofa at 4pm in the afternoon.... a wet week day afternoon..... without thinking I'm somehow slacking? 

Still so much to learn in this new looking-after-me lizard habit...