In case you’ve not noticed, I have had a bit of a hard journey these last couple of weeks – I’ve been working mad long hours, hitting brick walls every where I turn in my professional life and adding to an already complex load is the realisation that all I really want to do is head off down the A303 and my beloved cottage.

After the stresses of Wednesday and the lack of sleep of Thursday, I find myself coming home tonight to a strong need for some quiet time. I have promised DM that Saturday’s only jobs are cutting the grass and cleaning out the hen house that he happily showed to our PBASE world yesterday in its filthy state. Other than that I have agreed to no ‘work’ at all. That’s tough going for a person who is never happier than when busy. Anyway, I feel in my heart he’s right this time so I will do my best to stick to my promise to him.

Tonight though, I need to lift the gloom from my shoulders that chronic overtiredness brings. I need to shed the blanket of weariness and give my body and soul a lift.

So, the little TEAC in the kitchen is switched on for the first time in weeks and I am browsing my stack of kitchen favourites (the CDs that are great to bounce around to while cooking) for something to play to make me smile and forget my cares. I have a short period of time (about an hour while I cook) and I am determined to make my heart soar in that time. It’s not fair to DM for me to walk around with my face as long as a fiddle as my Mum would say. I must get my equilibrium back somehow before I drift away on the sea of tears that have always been my body’s natural accompaniment to stress.

What’s it to be?

The Beat (The English Beat in the USA) – their Greatest Hits album is guaranteed to get me leaping around like a whirling dervish, singing and (best of all) grinning from ear to ear with the thrill of hearing that sublime album again. It is of course ska rather than soul. It matters not a jot that I’ve heard each and every one of these track a million, zillion times already – I simply know that each one’s lyrics are engraved on my heart for all time. I love this record. Whether it’s ‘Mirror in the Bathroom’, ‘Save it for Later’ or ‘Doors of your Heart’ – it makes no odds. As the opening bars of each number come through my speakers, I feel a warm glow of recognition, followed by the thrill of knowing I love the song and then I start to belt out the lyrics while bouncing up and down madly. It works. It lifts me to a better place. It has the power of all good music and all good writing to pull the recipient into the same space as the creators.

My preparation of supper (time for a return to home-made after three days of culinary desert, starting with that bastion of the time-poor – a Domino’s Pizza on Tuesday, the do on Wednesday and a nip down the road for a ruby (ruby murray = curry) on Thursday) was freshly laid eggs made into pasta ‘cans’ to hold home grown spinach and ricotta, a rich tomato sauce poured over and served with potatoes done in the French ‘boulangerie’ style.

While I was digging through my pile of CDs, I saw my Stax collection set of three CDs and, although my mood needed the Beat (some of the Stax stuff is just too sad if you are already blue). I looked at the label with their distinctive, finger-clicking logo and decided that had to be my image for today – a symbol of the restorative, rejuvenating qualities of music of the soul.