Experiment: Boring a Friend

When I was in Facebook yesterday, I came across an article by Michael Thompson (linked to by Gretchen Rubin) about deepening your connections with friends or family. The suggestion was to write ‘2-minute boring emails’ every day to each other about what you’ve been doing. You start to feel you know each other better and can have better conversations. I expect this is a particularly good idea in the middle of a lockdown! I don’t think it works so well if it’s just one person plugging away — probably better if two or more people like this idea and write to each other. Maybe it’s a case of starting somewhere and seeing what happens! I’m giving it a go.

Monday 19 October 2020

Dear Honey

Hope you enjoyed your weekend. I didn’t realize yesterday it was the weekend; I thought it was the middle of the week!

I keep meaning to change the alarm on my watch because it wakes me too early. If I hadn’t been writing this email, I would have forgotten yet again. Of all the alarms I’ve ever tried, this watch is the best because it buzzes on my wrist. It’s quite a gentle way of waking up.

I nearly forgot to put the bin out the front, but remembered when Mum put her wastepaper basket outside her bedroom door when she went for a snooze. I always see it when I’m in the middle of doing other things because of passing the door at the time… vexing. Every week I check which colour of bin the neighbours put on the street, but they are getting later and later (probably waiting to see what *we* put out) and I’ve forgotten to put ANY bin out a couple of times because I waited so long that I forgot. Today I just looked it up on the council site.

Nothing interesting on TV. Supper was chicken pie with mash, Brussels sprouts and chicken gravy. I ran out of potatoes so used frozen mash. I’ve never made it before so didn’t use enough, and told Mum just to eat the lot, as I had roasted a couple of parsnip sticks for myself. I asked if the mash tasted all right, and she said yes.

I got meat balls out of the freezer then put them back in again when I realized we were out of cheddar cheese. I don’t think I’ve been shopping wisely, lately…

The Little Witness isn’t speaking to the old cat. Mum asked why, and I said it’s because he was over there talking to her last night, and she sneezed in his face. Mum laughed heartily, but I don’t think he will forget in a hurry. Old cat was sleeping till I mentioned her name. She lifted her head and blinked blearily at me, as though to say, “What what?” I don’t think she understands that sneezing all over people isn’t quite the thing. Tonight she abruptly rose out of her sleep and sneezed when I was having supper.

It was raining heavily when we went to bed, but I didn’t realize that till I was closing the curtains in my room. It poured down the windows and gleamed on the black tarmac in the lamplight. I love heavy rain, especially at night, but if I’m going somewhere I don’t want to go, heavy rain is a lot less welcome. Fortunately that’s not the case right now.

Mum knows when it’s raining because she can hear it even with the curtains closed, but I never know till I look outside and see it. I usually feel surprised, happy and disgruntled, as though I missed the start of a film I like that I didn’t know was going to be on. I even feel annoyed with Mum for not telling me, though I know that’s ridiculous.

I stopped using so many exclamation marks because of Mineral grumbling about them when we were at university. I never got over it, and now I have Exclamation Mark Phobia. Sometimes I think it makes my writing a bit hard or morose when I don’t mean it that way. He has a lot to answer for.

Time to sleep now.

Love, Delilah xxx