Today I have had a day of decadence.  Having had a busy week working towards a deadline yesterday, with the prospect of a busy few weeks of work ahead, I’ve decided to make the most of bit of a lull and have today and tomorrow off. 

I’ve often found myself getting frustrated when I have random days off, as I can never achieve in that one day all of things that I would like to do.  As a result, I’ve started to think a bit more carefully about each day off that I have: what do I really want to do?  What kind of day do I want?  Is it about relaxing, getting chores done, catching up with someone, going somewhere?  This doesn’t really work as well with weekends, when I tend to have stuff planned or things happen spontaneously, but it seems to be effective when I have an odd day, particularly when most other people are at work.

So today was my decadent day.  By decadent, what I suppose I really mean is to please myself & not even bother pretending that I’m going to do anything productive or useful.  And it has been immensely satisfying!  By simply deciding that this is what my goal was, I have felt no guilt or qualms about whether I should be doing other stuff.  Nor have I got to the end of the day feeling that I’ve somehow wasted my day or not achieved what I wanted.  I wanted self-indulgence, pure and simple, and that is what I got.

I didn’t have an intinerary, but this is how it worked out:

A lie-in.  Stayed in bed til 11am!  I can’t remember the last time I got up that late.  I don’t actually like lying-in too long on a weekend, but today it felt good.  Have to admit I was awake for much of that time, daydreaming & listening to the radio. 

A long, hot shower.  Not the usual hair – wash – out.  Used my Chanel No5 shower gel, a regular feature in my decadent days. 

Afternoon spent tatting.  To tat: verb, to look for tat – ie old stuff, some which may class as ‘collectables’, much of which no-one else seems to want. It’s not an expensive hobby – my personal limit for any one items tends to be a fiver, anything higher and it has to be something really special – but it requires a certain discipline to not just buy everything and an eye for wading through lots of stuff.  I love to go tatting.  There are certain places which are my regular haunts for tatting.  My favourite tatting, though, is a family affair: my dad (who seems to know everywhere in Britain) will name a random place that has suitable tatting venues (markets, antique emporiums, charity shops, junk shops – all can be hidden gems for tat) and him, my mum and I will head off there.  Today was one of those days, so off we went to Weedon, a small place near Daventry in Northamptonshire.  I came back with eight pieces of treasure for less than fifteen pounds.  The decadence lies not in the financial outlay but the indulgence of being able to go & do something like this on a random Tuesday afternoon.  It’s a luxury that I’m lucky to have. 

Chicken and chips for tea.  From the twenty-first best chip shop in the UK.  What more can I say?!

Badminton with some lovely friends this evening, then went back to theirs for a coffee (actually we all had tea, but it sounds weird saying ‘Do you want to come back for a tea?’).  We’ve been playing doubles badminton regularly for a little while now, which is fun in itself, but we don’t always socialise after – the working week can get so busy.  It’s funny really that I decided to have a decadent day & the others seemed to be sharing that vibe, with us just sitting round chatting & laughing.  A lovely way to end a lovely day!

So, nothing hugely wild or hedonistic, but my idea of blissful decadence – pleasing myself, adding bits to some of my collections, time with friends and family.  Tomorrow is my ‘good jobs done’ day, where I try to do some of those little tasks & chores that life requires in order to run smoothly – but am sure I will try to mix in a bit more decadence too.  As someone who finds joy in sticking stamps onto envelopes, this won’t be hard.