Silence is golden

I’m in the middle of spending a week alone. What bliss! Chris’s daughter is home from University and they’ve gone to the boat until Thursday. Now Chris is a lovely guy and I wouldn’t swap him for anyone else, but after spending 7 years living alone as a single woman, I really grew to appreciate the advantages and benefits of single living and it’s nice to be able to recreate that occasionally.

The thing that I appreciate most is the peace and quiet. Chris and I both work from home and although we have separate offices, I often use one of the computers in his office because it contains many more programs than my own little laptop – which means that I have to endure the sound of his phones ringing almost constantly. This is not so bad if he’s out for the day – this means that only 2 of his phones have the potential to ring. But on the days that he’s working from home, you can add his two mobile phones into the mix and you end up with a whole cacophony of different ring tones, often in sequence as his customers and clients try to reach him on his various numbers.

Even worse than that is the shouting. No, I don’t mean the two of us arguing. He’s an electronics engineer and I’m talking about the customers who are calling him from their factories and the fact that he has to compete with their various machines, radios and personnel to be heard... Fortunately the internal walls in the house are quite thick or I’d have to speak to my coaching clients from the garden shed!

So, today I’m revelling in the silence. His phones haven’t rung once yet. And, of course, another huge advantage of his absence is that I’m able to eat what I want to eat when I want to eat it, without bothering about making a ‘proper’ meal.

Ice cream, chocolate sauce and a re-run of American Idol for dinner anyone? (But switch your mobile phone off first, won't you?)