Another Saturday Night...

12am Nashelle goes to bed leaving Son2 with friend in living room. Cat1 decides to sleep on Nashelle's head. Nashelle tries to sleep on half inch of pillow.

2am The house is alive with the sound of Son2 and friend interacting like it's the middle of the day. Nashelle's husband gets up to sort it out. 

2.30 Nashelle get up to sort it out. Tells Son2 to go to bed.

2.45 Nashelle hears laptop sounds. Gets up, tells Son1 (who is still on computer) that she is disconnecting BB so Son2 can't use it.

2.50 Nashelle hears nothing. She listens for 'sneaking' sounds. Son2 is very clever. Nashelle finds him hiding in the kitchen. He's getting a drink, he says. 'In the dark?' Nashelle says. Son2 argues that he wants to sleep downstairs with friend but Nashelle isn't having it.

3am Nashelle listens.

Nashelle thinks she might have slept. She might have even had dreams. They were probably not nice ones.

                                                      ***

10.15am Nashelle realises there is no rain and gets up to put washing on.

12.00 Husband says, come to Caerphilly, but Nashelle is up to neck in dirty towels.

1pm Still washing.

2pm Still washing. And also cooking. Husband goes out again, Son2 and friend have turned living room into student accommodation. Son1 is still in bed.

3pm Still washing. Husband still out. Living room is no-go zone. Son1 has pasty for breakfast. Nashelle lets him know she is worried that he is becoming anorexic. Son1 thinks Nashelle is shouting but she thinks she isn't. Nashelle's pumpkin cupcakes are flat and wet. She cooks pizza for Son2 and friend who then go out. Living room looks like the day after the night before.

Sometime after it goes dark husband returns. Son1 reappears and enquires about food. Son2 rings and asks if they are having Chinese. Nashelle has lost track of time. Son1 asks when she is going shopping because he wants food. Nashelle shows him full cupboard and freezer. Son1 says, 'You always say you are cooking something exotic but produce the same old thing.' Nashelle doesn't remember doing this and asks for an example. Son1 doesn't have example and says he doesn't care anyway. Nashelle says she wishes somebody did care because having to decide what people eat is driving her a little crazy. Husband says he's had enough of her going on. Son1 says she's shouting again and that he's going to the chip shop. Husband attempts to cook rice (after Nashelle has found it for him) but doesn't get further than reading the packet. Husband marches off to Tesco for cat food. Comes back with a cake thing with chocolate chips. Says he doesn't want to fight.

Nashelle has no idea of the time. Her back is aching. She manages to get food onto plates for husband and Son1.

7.30 Husband takes Nashelle to watch fireworks from the top of Caerphilly mountain. Lanes are like the M4. Arrive by the snack bar as last rocket fizzes and people are leaving. Drive home via Lisvane to avoid traffic. Stop at vantage point and look at fireworks all over Cardiff. Nashelle realises it is not so spectacular viewed from afar.

8.30 Nashelle has a bath. Watches X Factor and other assorted TV junk. She realises she is becoming the person she used to be before she started writing and wonders how she has regressed to this point. She sees the M5 crash on TV but doesn't think too deeply about it.

11.30 Nashelle retires for the night.

12.15 Son1 sits on bed and asks Nashelle for ideas for his personal uni statement. Nashelle thinks she has entered a different dimension.

Nashelle dreams about men tearing the skin off animals and killing people. Of escaping through a window onto a roof. She dreams about cooking a meal for fifteen people. She is swamped with dishes and food in various stages of preparation. She is hungry. She puts food on a plate for herself but finds it in a cupboard sometime later. No one gets anything to eat. She dreams about her mother's dog. About living in a flat in a strange town. All her cats are there - even the dead ones. Son1 is there. He is cooking with a friend. Nashelle suggests Son1 and friend take over the flat and she lives somewhere else. Nashelle is going to act as solicitor to a guy she's never met. She wonders how she will bluff it.