Mrs Bennet’s “New Year Tries”

Sunday, January 4 09

“This present comes with a special message,” Miss Emily Bennet boldly informed her mother, who was ripping off its wrapping.
“That’s lovely Emily,” replied Mrs Bennet, thinking her daughter meant a message of love and warmth.
“Mummy, what I mean is when the alarm goes off, you have to get up and not stay in bed which you normally do,” notified Miss Emily, with a grin.
The mini wind-up smiley-faced clock lasted 36 hours if properly wound up and had such a powerful tick which Mr and Mrs Bennet later discovered wouldn’t let them sleep in the first place. She did think about stuffing it under her pillow, but ended up putting it under the bed. She was yet to try out the alarm, but as the early morning school run was looming fast, she knew she’d have to use it. Getting up earlier was therefore was one of her New Year Tries. Resolutions implied commitment, and she couldn’t guarantee she would adhere to Miss Bennet’s very clear message.
“Well, she has got a point,” Mr Bennet announced. “You were leaving it a bit fine in the weeks leading up to Christmas. I mean getting up at ten past eight on a school morning is a bit much!”
“Alright you, who pretends “I didn’t really hear a twin crying on Saturday and Sunday mornings!” Mrs Bennet softly punched her husband.
“Well, you have no excuses now!” replied Mr Bennet, who had just reminded her that he was flying off to Milan on Tuesday morning and Mr Smiley Clock might be the ideal sleeping partner while he was away.
Mrs Bennet tried not to think about January too much. The Darcys in the Dirt were back first thing on Monday and in the next few weeks; they would be knocking through, removing windows and dismantling her kitchen in order to move what units they could to the back of the house.
So her New Year Try number two was this: “try not to get stressed and don’t worry about the dust on your head - it doesn’t really mean you or the babies have gone grey.”
Coupled with this “try,” was a quest to “get out of the house as much as possible.” Mr Bennet had told his wife that in rugby, every time you scored a try, you had chance to score a conversion. Trying as this New Year may be, at least she’d get the Bennet Conversion at the end of it.