Heavenly Beverley : One Day In The Life Of The Beverley Hillbillies...

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's "One Day In the Life of Ivan Denisovich" is not a happy story. Based on his own experiences in a Soviet labour camp, the novel focuses on a squad of workers and in particular, the character of Ivan and how his day proceeds in the midst of his ten-year sentence. Solzhenitsyn lived until his ninetieth year, in the then-called Soviet Union, Europe, the United States and back again to Russia in 1994. The KGB lost interest in silencing him permanently when he began to criticise the West and its way of life. His three sons remained in the United States after his return to Russia where he lived in Moscow until his death. Very much an intellectual thinker, I doubt he was ever really happy during his long life.

Which, given my previous post as well, I decided I needed an injection of vim, vigour and vitality. I hope to live an equally long life as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, but not in his mood of misery and dissatisfaction. Sometimes, I choose to abandon the logical and the sensible so I can embrace the funny side of life.

Laughter is an essential component of good health - mentally and physically. A burst of helpless giggling or the roar of a belly laugh uses less facial muscles than frowning. Laughter is contagious so anyone close may find themselves laughing as well, without even knowing the original causative action. And group laughing is a joy to behold.

So, in need of a happiness shot, this post is an upbeat and updated version of "One Day In The Life Of..."

Wednesday was actually quite a productive day and worthy of the subject. Ten degrees cooler than today - a suitably temperate thirty-four degrees Centigrade (only ninety-three degrees Fahrenheit) - our first port of call was attending Pilates with our resident slavedriver Janet at Nourishabley. Janet is working on my balance - somebody has to - so I remain attached to a big balancing ball, rather than falling off. Twice, I inelegantly ended up on the floor. Janet was laughing too hard to take photographic evidence. However, I successfully managed to stay on board during one of our exercises and Janet shot the appropriate picture. Great start to the day.

Michael's stomach demanded attention after Pilates. Duly filled, he took his place in front of his laptop, attempting to comply with Western Power's request for the Forbes Building's meter photos. As a meter self-reader, Michael is doing the work that Western Power staff used to include in their routine.

The computer, the request and the entire scenario were all giving Michael the whoops. Unable to gain compliance of his e-mail, he retired to our bedroom in disgust for a Bex and a decent lie-down. I motored on, tidying the house, hanging up windchimes, watering and beginning a major rejig of our yard in order to give the caravan and trailer better parking spots.

Late afternoon, Michael was up and we headed for the swimming pool. Jan and Vanessa joined us. I fulfilled a lifelong dream by clambering onto the pool's blow-up caterpillar. We carried on for an hour of unrestrained fun. Gold.

Evening drinks were followed by dinner and television. All in all, a far better day than Ivan's. Except for Michael's continued frustration with Western Power. He believes he has been blacklisted by Western Power as every attempt to e-mail them with the meters' photos ended in epic failure with their address changing into forboding red lettering. Perhaps, Western Power had borrowed techniques from the KGB...I eventually completed the task for him forty-eight hours later.

He was not amused...