A Mouse outside of the Rat Race...

My days used to have a routine to them.  They still have a routine to them.  But I have to tell you this: this routine is nicer.

I never quite know how I will settle in to 'doing nothing' as I'm usually such a busy Mouse, but they way to properly deal with it is not to 'do nothing'.  On the contrary.  I have been a very busy Mouse indeed doing... nice things.  Although I'm no longer a travelling Mouse, I still have my small boss, Edie, who of course gives me rather a lot of jobs to do.  One of those jobs has been to meet Edie at her school every day and walk home with her.  Instead of complaining at me, like the Farmers and the Cheese Manufacturers did, Edie throws herself at me for a hug, which I have to say is a joy.  I've been clearing out cupboards, making a wood pile for the many, many cosy log fires I've had, scribbling in my diary and painting pictures.  And I've also been meeting some of the 'day creatures' - the creatures who are not in the Rat Race and who do different things during the day. 

One of the things these day creatures like to do is to meet up for coffee, which I brew in my special little Swedish coffee pot on top of the stove.  But how odd they are.  Very different from the Rat Race creatures.  For a start, they don't seem to hear very well.  A typical conversation will be:-

Me: 'Oh hello, Owl, thank you for coming round. Would you like some coffee?'
Owl: 'Oh yes please, Mouse. How are you enjoying your time off?'
Me: 'Oh, it's lovely thank you, Owl.  I've been...'
Owl: 'Yes, well, let me tell you about Squirrel. You don't know Squirrel but he caused a lot of trouble last year, you see, he moved into this area of the forest and built himself a nut store, but you see he didn't ask Donkey, and you know Donkey has lived here for many years.'
Me: 'Oh - who is Donkey?'
Owl: 'And then I didn't tell you, did I? I went away at the weekend with Mr. Owl.  We went to the seaside. We had some chips.  We love chips...'

And so it goes on.  After about 3 hours, Owl, realising that there is no more coffee, decides to get up and go home.  I am utterly perplexed.  My head is now full of information about all sorts of creatures who I do not know and I have spoken approximately three sentences, one of which was to excuse myself for a wee.  Please excuse me telling you this but that is the other thing about these 'coffee meetings', you know, liquid in can only be liquid in for so long. I still do not know who Donkey is and why Squirrel building a nut store is such a problem but an odd thing happens.  I start to think about this Squirrel and what he has done to poor Owl (even though I do not properly understand it) and I start to form opinions, based only on Owl's opinion.  I pinch myself hard when I catch myself doing this, I can tell you!  You can't base an opinion on what somebody else tells you?  can you?

Anyway, I can tell you, because you are lovely and you never interrupt, or make me drink too much coffee, so, I've been nesting in my nest, taking care of my small boss, Edie, I've been swimming lots - very relaxing, and thinking about what I might do next.  But I'm not thinking about that TOO hard just yet.

Oh - and I find I'm already losing my work skills.  Like the skill of drinking wine.  When you are a Travelling Mouse you find yourself in all sorts of situations where you have to eat out with work friends and colleagues, and of course it is only polite to drink wine with dinner.  I have never had a problem with this and was as professional a wine drinker as a Cheese negotiator.  Anyway, I went out recently for no other reason than fun, and discovered by my wobbly paws that I need to practice my wine drinking.  My fur was quite fuzzy the next day I can tell you.  

And the oddest thing - I've gone off cheese...

Happily yours,
Mouse xx