The black dog

Yesterday was a bad day. It was bad because

a) It was cold and rainy.
b) Between the hours of 8.15 and 6pm I had a very repetitive, very one-sided conversation along these lines: "Emma, don't hit me", "Emma don't throw that (insert name of heavy, dangerous missile here)"
c) There was no laundry, no shopping, no post office errands to run and I felt suddenly very lonely and very homesick, with an intensity I haven't felt for ages.
d) I really wanted a TV.
e) I had a moment of panic about who will look after E when I go into labour and who might be close enough and friendly enough to do so in the middle of the night
f) then I thought about the whole, painful labour business and that made me panic even more, especially as the Swiss don't believe in gas and air
g) and that made me suddenly realise in less than 10 weeks we will actually have another baby and we haven't even made lists or prepared anything, apart from borrow a cot that is still lying around in pieces because of a lack of screws and buy a 2nd hand chest-of-drawers from a shop called Gloryland.

Anyway: today was a bit better. The sun was out. And Emma had a good day at nursery! When I came to pick her up, she had blue paint on her nose and was wearing a royal-blue princess costume, chirping away in a language all her own.