Forgot my light!

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Yesterday the theatre where I volunteer asked for last-minute help for the evening performance. I didn’t have any fixed plans so I said yes. The catch was that the rest of the family had various plans. My partner had picked up Little One from her music lesson and taken her swimming, and they wouldn’t be back until after I needed to go out. Big One had gone to a friend’s house after school and then later her music teacher would be coming to our house to give a lesson to Big One and a friend, but that would also be after I went out, and I didn’t know exactly when Big One would get home. And they all needed food of course. I was making a pie with some of our freezer stores, and since that needed to go in the oven I also started some roast vegetables, because we all love roast potatoes! But the cooking wouldn’t be finished before I had to go out, and I didn’t know if anyone would be back in time before things got burnt. So I had to take extreme measures – I read the instruction book that came with the oven! I found that you can set a timer to stop cooking, so I set it for half an hour. At the first attempt I managed to turn everything off and then wondered why they didn’t seem to be cooking, but I got it right at the next try. Then I jumped on my bike and rushed off to town. Half way there I remembered I had forgotten to grab a light for my bicycle, which I would need for my ride home at 10 pm. In the winter I had to remember to take lights every time I went out, as days are so short, but now that the days are longer I have mostly been out in the daytime so I have got out of the habit. Well to cut a long story short, another volunteer kindly lent me a torch. I tried looping the strap around my fingers as I held the handlebars, but it flopped about every time I rode over a bump, so I had to stop and rummage in my bag to see what I could find. Among the many potentially useful items in there I found a hair scrunchie, and that was just the thing to twist around the torch and the lamp-holder on the handlebars. It worked like a charm so I was able to cycle home as usual and didn’t have to walk as I was afraid I might. All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2023.