Hi peeps,
I survived the weekend but it was a bit of an endurance test.

On Saturday there was nowhere to go after 4pm, no church open, nothing, and it was torrential rain and galeforce winds.

I spent most of the time in the bus station or in the train station, reading and trying to stay warm and fairly dry.

It was a long long evening, I got enough stickers for one cuppa early on, and later I used my last 40p for a pack of crackers from the cheapo supermarket and had those for supper.
Eventually 11pm came round and I was able to go back to my sleeping place.
The rain and galeforce winds meant that my top blanket was very wet and kept nearly blowing away but I stayed dry and woke early on Sunday morning and got up, I looked for stickers, I needed one more but couldn't find any.

I went to church and went through the usual demoralising rubbish from the usual silly old grey people about how I should go in a hostel and then everything would be alright. They haven't a clue! The hostel in this town, according to the police, is full to the brim with troublemakers and dangerous people, so how does she think it would help me, if there was even a place there?
Anyway, I was annoyed and upset to be greeted with such rubbish and so were a few other people who knew me and overheard.

Anyway, people who knew me helped me to settle down and calm down and mass was ok, what should I be doing? avoiding church, what am I doing? going to church and being aggravated.

Anyway, after mass I got my first cup of tea of the day, and second and third.

Several people were talking to me about the problem when I came into church and asked how I was progressing and I told them. One lady came and said she thought there might be a sunday lunch programme running today because some of her litterpick volunteers may be away doing that, I told her that I didn't think the Sunday lunch programme was running yet, but I could come and help litterpick if she would like.

So she asked if I would like to come home with her and her husband for lunch before litterpicking.
Her husband was the one leading the group the other day.

So I went to their house, they like tennis, and Andy Murray was playing gamely but losing to a better player.
For some reason they kept showing pictures of Andy Murray's feet being tended to, yuk, why would we want to see that? yuk!
Anyway, the cure for blisters is, burst them with a disinfected pin, disinfect them and forget them. I know that from experience.

Anyway, we had a nice lunch, roast vegetables and rice, and upside down cake for pudding, oh yum! And my stomach said thank you as it was my first proper meal for 24 hours.

After that we went litterpicking and did a good two and a half hours of that. Keeping the neighbourhood tidy.
Then we went back and drank tea and watched television and then we went to evening mass.

Then I was back out in the wild, at least it was 7pm and I found a sticker so I had enough for a cuppa and stayed in McD's until 8.30pm, and it was cold but not raining, so I sat on the station and did a crossword puzzle until 11pm, still a long cold wait but not as bad as saturday. I had tried to set up my stove and sit in my blanket but I couldn't find a lighter in all my things.

I bedded down but my top blanket was too wet to use, so i had to leave it and make the blanket pile without it, and I wasn't really warm enough, the top blanket is specially selected to trap heat from the whole blanket pile and keep it in.
So I dozed and slept lightly and rearranged my blankets, it was a cold night with a hard frost.

I woke and miserably scrambled and packed up my bedding.
I looked for stickers in the bin and couldn't find any.

I went to the cafe and read my books, my friend came along and other people came along, but at the end when they were leaving I overheard my so-called friend and one of the old grey church women gossiping about me, shame on them! If you can't say it to my face then don't say it at all! pathetic!

Here I am, the forecast is bad and I have my course at MIND to go to. And I will go to the bookshop and see my friends there.