the List

I’ve been feeling a bit purposeless.

My younger friends are all out and about, being useful, while I’m stuck here at home.

But at least being a Key Worker does mean that when I wake up in the morning I know what I have to do.

I have to find out what that key is for.

And there are plenty of other things that need to be done.

I’d better make a list for the day.

1) Water the bean.

I always do that first.

It’s doing very well.

But I’ve had to rethink my hypothesis about the number of leaves.

2) Do my yoga.

I’ll choose an easy pose today.

3) Check up on Monkey.

Better get dressed first, even though he won’t be able to see me.

I need a courageous badge today. I mustn’t let myself fall into despondency.

This one will do. Bronze Survival.

Survival is all I’m aiming for at the moment.

Bronze is stronger than silver or gold, and I need to be strong.

And anyway, I never got a silver or gold Survival Award.

Monkey did phone to say he’d arrived safely in outermost Wessex, but I haven’t heard from him since.

(It’s Bunce and Snowy’s farm where Monkey is working.)

4) Practise my triangle.

Bimbo suggested I try using a thicker beater, to get a richer tone.

The egg whisk isn’t exactly thicker, but it is wider than my usual beater.

As well as hoping the triangle won’t twirl round, I have to try to hit it with the same number of wires each time.

(If you’re reading this in an email, you may not be able to hear the rich tones, so you could try the website instead: https://vulnerableteddy.com/my-blog/. But I’m not sure it’s worth bothering, because I really haven’t mastered the rich tone thing yet.)

Hmm. A fairly silvery sound, but perhaps not quite as pure as I’d like.

It will need a lot of practice.

5) Find out what the key is for.

I wonder if it would fit the man on the bicycle.

No, he isn’t interested at all.

He wound himself up with some other key, and he’s cycled away out of sight.

I used to enjoy cycling.

6) Housework.

Nobody’s going to notice whether I do it or not, so I’ll cross that off the list.

I don’t often get as far as crossing six things off my list. I think I’ve done very well.

I know what I want to do now.

I’m going to get out my bicycle.

I’d like to ride off into the distance, like that mechanical man.

Seems to be in good order.

It doesn’t have tyres, which saves a lot of bother.

I’ll ring Ruffy and check that he thinks it’s all right for me to go out cycling.

Now I’ll practise a little indoors.

It’s a long time since I’ve cycled, but they say it’s something you never forget, just like riding a bicycle.

The thing is, you have to look it in the eyes, and get straight back on.

I’ll soon get the knack.

Well, there’s no need for you to watch me.

But I assure you, I’ll soon be ready to cycle off over the horizon.

Though perhaps Ruffy is right that I should wear a helmet.