An example of a day (except for one hour) spent not doing what should have been done

22. Monday 26 January 2026

Today did not go at all to plan. I reread class 3 with a view to getting back in the zone to then start editing/rewriting the chapter that is later in time connected to class 3. However, that is where my edit ended today. I am not impressed with myself, in the slightest.

                I had to go to Innerleithen and Peebles today on errands (including a food shop, having not been to shops since last Monday). I finished reading class 3 of Crime Writing for Beginners, shut my laptop down, had breakfast and by 10:15 I was on my way. I could have been quicker but I wanted a walk and then to sit in a café to write a birthday card. I got home around four hours later. I know, I know, ample time to get on with things. But then there was lunch, sorting out the shopping … and then, hey presto, it’s now almost 21:00 and I’m not about to have a second wind I assumed would be forthcoming.

In other news, I don’t think it was entirely my fault, but I had some auction purchases to collect in Peebles. I had bought a vintage Scandinavian woollen wall hanging. I had bought a few things, which I put into my bag, not really registering (my stuff had been put in a pile ready for me to collect) that I had two woollen wall hangings. When I got home, I realised I also had possession of a wall hanging from Lesotho that I hadn’t bought. Turns out it’s a very beautiful handmade piece of art. I then discovered that it’s in tonight’s eBay-auction. I have no plans to  go to Peebles imminently; indeed part of the reason I went today was because of snow and a storm forecast for this week. So I did the, er, obvious thing and bid for the wall hanging. Probably a good thing, but no one else bid so the wall hanging is now officially mine. I expect they’ll have a laugh at the auction house at my expense. It would have cost me less in diesel or postage to have sent it back to them, though I reiterate that it must have been in my pile of things for me to have picked it up so it wasn't entirely my fault.

                Tomorrow, although with Friday’s unexpected progress spurt I’m ahead of myself for this week (I’ve completed up to chapter 24 of version 2 and today I should have finished chapter 22), I plan to overachieve … I suppose I should aim for four chapters to keep up my ten per five-day-week goal. At least I don’t need to drive almost an hour each way to Peebles to collect the wall hanging … that I otherwise wouldn’t have bought, but hey ho. The photo is of Peebles high street minus the cars and shop fronts below (not that there are many). It’s a shame there wasn’t a blue sky, it looks amazing with blue sky and the hills behind. Oh, and I've started another sourdough loaf, having managed to perk up one of my poorly sourdough starters.