A week in shifts

Last week one of the groups I was tutoring finished up, Thursday was their last day. I wasn't expecting any presents, but they surprised me with a few gifts (sweets, flowers and a mug with a fitting inscription that I’m going to use in the office). It was a great group, lovely young people from all walks of life. Hope the future opens wide for them.

The weather didn’t spoil us, Fred felt a bit unwell and it lingered through the weekend. On Saturday, I was wrecked; not sure if it was connected to Fred’s flu rubbing off on me, but I had aches in my joints and could barely keep my eyes open. Still, we had two bigger things on our minds.

First, we'd been looking into adopting a pet from one of the local shelters. We found a perfect kitten on Saturday, a black-and-white tuxedo, brave and full of chat, but we wanted to talk it over. When we went back to the shelter on Sunday, ready to book her, we found out someone had beaten us to it. In a few weeks, the little one will be off to another home. I was gutted. We’re still on the list as a backup, in case the other person changes their mind, but I’m not holding out much hope.

Second, we wanted to take part in an event on Sunday afternoon. Went out to Inchicore, to Biblary, the Polish centre and library in Dublin, for an author event. It was part of the 5th O’Czytani Literary Festival. I also took the chance to buy five books and borrow two more. We were still a bit down about the kitten, but the afternoon turned out to be a real lift for both of us. We had lunch in Loaf, walked over to IMMA, then came back to the library for a brilliant talk with Mariusz Szczygiel, the well-known Polish journalist and writer.

Today we made another attempt to book a kitten, this time from a different place, and a young male, black and white, more of a bicolour type than tuxedo. He seems to get on well with dogs, which could be important, as we still dream of having a small, funny dog around the place. Fingers crossed.