Ivor’s Daily Gallivant Monday October 23, 2023 The alarm sounded, at first I didn’t realise it was morning and when I did, I stayed in bed – where I was warm, and cosy compared with the cold room. Finally, my conscience (such as it is got the best of me and I got up, about an hour later) I had a piping hot shower and a change of clothes and felt amazing and put the television on for a while. My usual Monday routine is to go for lunch at October Books and I ran to the bus stop and reached it about two minutes before the bus was due. At the stop was a lady wheelchair user and her carer, a few moments later another carer arrived and the wheelchair user who she was looking after had to go down the pavement and come back on himself because of the uneven pavement. The two carers and the lady wheelchair user had a chat, and I had a few words with the lad in his wheelchair. He told me he was a contestant in the Paralympics, in the butcher contest. Which apparently is like bowls. The bus arrived about 40 minutes late, and I kept myself busy sketching some of the passengers while it made its way to Southampton. Lunch at October Books was uneventful and, on the way, home I stopped at Dibden Purlieu and photographed St Andrews. And had an ice cream. Once home I had a cup of tea and during Bootleg Art Club did some work on my forest pool picture. And had a tin of chicken and vegetable soup. In the evening I wrote a speculative email to St Andrews in Dibden Purlieu which tried to get commissions for my local church paintings.