Mostly, at weekends, I like to stamp up and down the Peak District.  Today, that is not going to happen.  A mild virus has changed my blood into lemon squash, the weather is bad and we have some irritating chores to complete in the house.  A proper day hike is out of the question, but perhaps I can make something happen.

I have decided to take time out to look for a small adventure with Stuff.  I am going to visit a ‘Mind, Body and Sprit’ fair half an hour’s drive away.  It is in competition with a ‘Psychic’ fair only fifteen minutes away.  I might manage both, but I think I will start with Mind etc.  I do not know much about mediums, but at the moment, I think I would prefer to avoid them.  I imagine they must be either sleazy or very unhealthy and possibly in some kind of danger.  A psychic fair is probably not for me, right now.  Maybe another day.  I do not really know what a Mind etc fair is, and that seems like an excellent reason to go.

I do not want to go on my own, but nor do I want to invite any of my friends because I do not want them to think I have started believing in loopiness.  I find myself secretive about my new hobby; perhaps I should have chosen another activity after all, if I find it so embarrassing.  I am anxious that it will be wild and wacky, that I will be out of place, or bored with no companions.  Being a lone investigator is an isolating experience.  It is like being Philip Marlow without the hat.  ‘It was a tough psychic fair, off a dirty junction, through a mean one way system’.  I tell myself to get a grip, I study the road map and start worrying about finding a parking place.