New Day, New Decor.

Last week saw the start of the new,vibrantly coloured me. Well, not me personally since even I draw the line at going out in turquoise, but of my  hallway and bathroom. Most of you seemed to agree that despite my early misgivings, the colour was OK. This week the transformation is complete unless my nephew manages to drag me kicking and screaming out of my bedroom office in order to throw some much needed paint on the walls.  Anyhoo, here’s the week so far.

Sunday. With my brotherfriend on his way to Canada for a wedding ( not his since he thinks it’s too soon to hit double figures) I spent the day alone gaining the flattest bum ever from sitting at the computer all day. I did stop long enough to make myself some lunch but in view of ‘certain peoples’ remonstrations over my feeding habits I shall not be saying what I had. Just take my word for it that every mouthful was healthy. The cocoa bean has so many wonderful uses.

Monday. I’d been promised a visit by my daughter, son-in-law and grandson ( his coming wasn’t really optional) but since Reuben had suffered the ‘snip’ yesterday he was not in the best of moods. It seems he was not co-operative at all in the morning so the visit was delayed until the early afternoon. By 1.00pm I was so hungry I was chewing on my own arm and praying to the Gods of the forest that  Sasquatch would appear and run off with me to the nearest Macdonalds. Heck, I must have been hungry. They finally arrived and throwing my crutches to the wind I ran to the car and told Ugo tor reverse out despite not having shut the door yet. They took me to a Pizza parlour where I was able to tuck into some Hawaiian slices and as much SALAD as I wanted.( sorry to shout but I want Australia to hear me). A very sweet young lady put a fresh Hawaiian in the oven so I could have a couple of hot pieces with the remaining greenery, tomatoes and coleslaw on my plate. I was very grateful. Reuben lay in my arms for a good while and as usual was as quiet as a lamb. We visited a couple of shops afterwards ( you knew that was coming didn’t you) where I bought some new cushions and some picture hooks, sweets and wrist bandages for the man in the charity shop.

Tuesday. I was up at 4.00am raring to go on my emails. I turned on the computer ( not savagely though) and waited for the sign in screen. Nothing. I turned off and on again, zip, nada. As the bios came up on the third round I ticked the box for ‘Computer Start Normally’, abso-blinkin-lutely nothing again so on the fourth attempt I told it to ‘heal thyself’ and went to make a cuppa and take my tabs. The fish were in a state of excitement when I turned them on so picking up my latte macchiato I headed back to the disaster zone to see if the computer needed throwing through the window ( open of course, I hate a draught). Still not a sausage so with a huge display of strength I threw my bum into the chair prepared to give it one last chance. Pressing the on switch I told it to start normally and it did. Obviously it was now well past 8.00am and doing the mail took ages. so at half past eleven I had to go and start lunch,take meds, eat, take meds and flake out for an hour before starting back. That was the plan anway but I only lasted half an hour in my chair before I woke myself with a huge snore and then the phone rang. I have to mention at this point how disappointed I am in certain members of my family some of whom know me by the name my close family used of Michael or Mike ( because they called my father David). Certain miscreants whose name is Kar  whose name I shan’t mention have started calling my brotherfriend LUM standing for Little Uncle Mike….yes, you can see where this is going can’t you. Would you want to be called Big Uncle Mike?

Wednesday. Today’s decorating had to be postponed until Thursday. It’s just as well because there is an outstanding appointment at the diabetic clinic to attend. Things started well as my good friend Lis arrived to take me there. She was a little early and so came in and waited while I got my coat on. She stood in the hallway and didn’t notice a thing.. We left and were on our way to the Doctors before I asked her what she thought of the turquoise which is when she told me she hadn’t noticed it and I knew it must be OK. I was ten minutes early at the clinic but no sooner had I registered my arrival on the computer that asks for sex ( not as in ‘Will You’ but in the sense of M or F and then asks for your D.O.B. which I typed in carefully shielding the answer. After all you never know who would want to pretend to be you and go for your colonic irrigation. Sister S is a lovely woman. We went through the usual Q & A session “How are you?” “Fi-i-i-ne ” sez me stuttering. “How’s the smoking?” “Fi-i-i-ne” sez I. She checked my BP to see what effect the increase of drugs had over the last two weeks- absolutely none. Checked my feet with a thin filament of metal and declared them file though still a little swollen. Then she offered to take the bloods for me that I was due to arrange next week. Knowing it would save me a trip I agreed. She has a very gentle touch with a needle and got the blood flowing straight away. What I wasn’t prepared for was quantity. We must have been filling a bloodbank. I swear if someone hadn’t knocked on the door I’d have been just one more inexplicable drained corpse left dumped in a field somewhere.

Thursday. I was still working at the computer when Leonardo walked in this morning wearing his long paint splattered shorts. I left him to prepare for a few minutes while I finished along message and then went through. I knew today’s job was the two doors in the lounge that I’d decided I wanted papering much to his surprise. Anyhoo, I left him with the paper for two minutes before we realised I had no paste except for the wall. He ran me up to town to get some and laughed like hell when I came out of the shop with a tower candle stand as well. He made some muffled remark about it being a funny way of getting rid of things in the house but I was feeling a little deaf just then. Back home again I left him to it while I went out to pick up lunch. Honest, there was green stuff on it. When I came back I decided to look at the list of Blogs I follow and change the frequency of mail from some of them from immediate to weekly and follow a few more at the same time. Back to my mail and I had a lovely message from someone wanting to be interviewed which I jumped on before she had time to change her mind. ( Look for it next week) and a nice message from my young friend Sorin whose banter is amazing. He’s so much funnier than me I should hate him.  Time passed, we lunched and then David called m through to have a look. I really like the doors and he made a fine job of them. I won’t tell him though in case his price goes up. Before e left for the day we moved the furniture away from the wall he’d be working on Friday and he prepared the wall for action.

During my session on WordPress I’d come across the blog of a young lady who is from Romania, workng in Dubai but is having treatment for breast cancer in France and whose boyfriend lives in Scotland . She’s an amazing young woman so full of courage I was crying as I read her blog.  http://alexandraivanblog.wordpress.com/2013/09/27/while-chemotherapy-fights-my-cancer-i-fight-my-chemotherapy/   this is most definitely worth a read. She travels as much as possible to be with family or with her boyfriend but has to rely on kindness in France that people will allow her to stay while having her chemo. Complications have also meant her chemo now must be had weekly for the next 5 weeks before an intensive course of radiotherapy. After leaving a comment on her blog her boyfriend wrote to me via linked-in and what a charming  and pleasant young man he is.

Friday. THE Day. The day of the ‘Muriel’ going up on the wall. I don’t suppose it is a mural really, just a very large picture. David arrived at about 9.30 and off he went. Right into battle measuring , marking and starting to lay the first piece. As they cam out of the wrapping I noticed it was in eight pieces, but not strips as I expected but 4 tops and four bottoms. David started on piece number one as I left the house to collect lunch. Yes, more rabbit food wrapped in lots of delicious bread. I came home and put some musi on as David likes the 80’s stuff playing while he works. It suits me since I’m suitably deaf when the swearing starts. And every time a record finished playing on you tube I could hear the swearing. Hell I could see the swearing from the blue fog that had descended through the house. It seems that the sheets being short hasn’t helped as they’re so wide. In fairness though the top four 1,3,5 & 7 were up just as I called lunch at tea time. By 4.00 all eight were up and it was then I saw they were upside down!! They weren’t really but David may be reading this and I’ve just helped stimulate his heart. It looked great. He left with the threat of returning next week to attack my hidey hole.

Saturday. What a day. There’s no-one o take me shopping so I’ll have wasted away before Sunday’s over. Next week will be a Fill in the Blanks to make your own Blog. I was up at 5.15 but still hadn’t touched an email before 7.30 am as my Google Chrome desktop had been take over by another and I was having jell trying to get rid of it as it was having hell trying to get rid of me. Every time I thought I’d managed another strange desktop showed up and I had to start again. It took most of the morning to reach a stage where we might both have been ready to call a truce if not happy. I’ve taken chrome off and put it back on, I’ve been through the uninstall process for this desktop but it’s not there and I’ve been through google settings to try and get google chrome set as the default. It says it is, but this computer is such a devious thing it lies to me. I shall have to admit defeat and call in my nephew Lee.

Righto then, here are the pictures you’ve been waiting for and somehow by accident a couple of my grandson have slipped in there too. Please be kind in the comments…

The Bookshelf effect.

What a Pose.

Happy Chappie.

Where’s my Pops? He hasn’t seen me cry yet.

An Interview with Sorin Suciu

Welcome to an Interview with:

Sorin Suciu        

Author of:

The Scriptlings, a tongue-in-cheek contemporary fantasy aimed at geeks and mortals alike.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A brief synopsis:

The Scriptlings is the unlikely, yet strangely charismatic lovechild you would expect if Magic and Science were to have one too many drinks during a stand-up comedy show in Vegas.

In short, it follows the story of Merkin and Buggeroff, two magician apprentices in a world where magicians are capitalists, computers are quasi-magical, and goats are sometimes invisible – all under the watchful eye of a wandering tribe of monosyllabic demigods.

David: With Such a Canadian sounding name share your bio?

Sorin: The Suciu’s were among the first European settlers to establish a community in Canada, around the late 15^th century. They were led by my ancestor – Beaver Mapleleaf Suciu, a brave explorer and prolific patriarch. Alright, the last part might be a slight exaggeration.

I was born and raised in Bucharest, Romania; but I went and fixed this about three years ago, when I immigrated to Canada along with my wife and parrot. I bet Beaver Mapleleaf Suciu didn’t have a parrot. In your face, Beaver Mapleleaf!

David: What made you decide to write this book?

Sorin: Ever since I’ve learned English, I’ve devoured an inordinate, and quite possibly unhealthy, quantity of Humorous Fantasy. The fact that I started writing is merely a result of the old adage “what goes in, must come out.”

The Scriptlings was originally written for the second edition of the Terry Pratchett First Novel Award, which, and this here might come as a shock, it didn’t win. The winner hasn’t been announced yet, but I bet it’s going to be an awesome book, as were the two first prize winners of the first edition.

David:Where did the title come from?

Sorin: A Scriptling is a Magician apprentice, and also a completely made up word. It comes from the word “script” as used in computer jargon – meaning computer program, more or less. In this book universe, Magic and Computers have a lot in common, so the concept is not as farfetched as it might seem at a first sight.

David: I understand this is your first book in English, why this genre?

Sorin: Quite simply, I’m not sure I can write anything else. I’ve tried really hard to write something “serious,” but I kept swerving into humor alley at every possible turn. And if there wasn’t a turn, I would just make one. It’s not that I want to mock about, throwing jokes left and right. It is, most likely, a function of the fact that I’ve learned my English from Pratchett, Adams, Monty Python and Blackadder. Humor, just as grammar, seems to be a building block of the English language; and to me, English is a language to be witty in.

David: If you ruled the World what would be the first thing you’d banish? ( You’re not allowed to say nosy interviewers).

Sorin: The Imperial measuring system. But I wouldn’t banish it completely. I would keep it locked in a museum of horrors, for future generations to see and judge.

David: Boo, Hiss, keep Imperial and banish metric, the fact we have 10 fingers and ten toes ( nothing personal Anne Boleyn) is mere coincidence. I like my measurements in old money.

David:What was your destination to publishing? ie are you self published.

Sorin: I started by going the traditional way, which is to say, I went on a search for that elusive creature known as the Agent. I then learned the hard way that the Agent is a finicky critter, whose reaction to the words “I’m a new author” is to hit you with an unsavory template answer, or to ignore you completely. To this day, I’m not sure which is worse.

Luckily, someone mentioned AEC Stellar Publishing to me, and I can’t thank that someone enough for this. They are a relatively new and small publisher, with an author-oriented business model and a heart of gold. I love working with people, as opposed to working with corporations, and this is exactly what I got from them.

David : OK, What’s your fee for an introduction, grovel, grovel.

David:Share with the readers one little known fact about yourself. Not the one about being a retired pole dancer from Bratislava, we all know that.

Sorin: That Bratislava gig was just a phase, alright? But I did break some hearts when I left, if you really must know. I still get fan letters, and it is probably a mercy that I don’t speak Slovak.

What else… Well, before being a wannabe writer I used to be a wannabe musician. However, this plan was somewhat thwarted by the fact that I was tremendously unskilled with musical instruments. You might even say I swerved towards literature because a keyboard is much more forgiving than a piano.

David: You obviously haven’t duse mi kyebroad.

David:Do you have a website to share?

Sorin: Sure, it’s www.sorinsuciu.com and I advise you to enter at your own risk.

David:Any Link to the Book?

Sorin: The Scriptlings is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Goodreads. You can also find plenty of news and updates on my website, and on www.facebook.com/TheScriptlings.

David:Please feel free to share an excerpt.

Sorin: Alright, here is the passage that might explain the mouse-shaped door knocker on the front cover:

“He climbed up the steps to the massive front door and reached for the knocker. He paused, regarding the thing with mild disbelief. It was, at least judging by its placement on the door, very much a knocker. It also had the familiar shape of a computer mouse decorated with an engraved motif resembling an eye. Wonderful craftsmanship, Simon decided with the expert eye of one who had played enough computer games to know art when he saw it.

Despite his best efforts, his attempt at using the knocker in the traditional way proved unsuccessful. The thing was stuck to the wood frame, and although a crowbar might have been useful in these circumstances, Simon had completely neglected to bring one to the interview.

But say what you will about Simon, he was, by no means, a man without problem-solving skills. In fact, Simon was one of those rare people who were naturally unhindered by their own lack of expertise and who also had an uncanny ability to find shortcuts where no shortcut ought to be. Simon did not solve problems, he just shamed them into going away. As he held his palm over the brass mouse, years of muscle memory kicked in, and he double-clicked. His brilliant efforts were rewarded with a ding-dong.”

David : Thank you Sorin for such an entertaining interview though we should impress on the readers that your book is entirely autobiographical but written by someone else about someone else completely. 

Mischief at the Office and a Question of Comfort.

Well it’s been a week since I wrote though I can hardly say ergo it’s been a week since you read as I suppose other bloggers have kept you occupied and you may have read a newspaper or two. I’ve given up newspapers until they find something positive to write about so it’s possible I may never read one again. This week I’m going to repeat the exercise of giving you a blow by blow, or day by day account of the week. If you don’t care for this style of entry do let me know as it’s handy to know if I should be patenting a new sleeping aid or not.

Sunday. It was raining lightly and as Mike was here with his lady friend we decided to take her to see some of the local beauty spots. I have a great fondness for Betws y Coed and since I always have the casting vote we headed in that direction. Along the expressway of the A55 to Glan Conway corner then in to Glan Conway itself. We had the River Conwy running along to our right and still plenty of greenery around to frame it nicely. I forgot to get her to turn round and look for Conway Castle. Still, she had a running commentary, what more could she ask for except maybe a gag. Through Glan Conway and out the other side where we knew there was an Antique Centre we’ve heard of. We couldn’t see it so Mike detoured down a country lane to see if we’d missed it. In truth to call it a lane may have been a slight exaggeration as sheep struggled single file along it. Still, by breathing in we made it to the other end and came out on a piece of road 4 miles later about 100 yards further than where we’d left it. We found the centre and it was closed. I sidled away from the blue air in case I was contaminated. Back in the car we carried on past beautiful Bodnant Gardens famed for it’s laburnum arch and extensive grounds until we reached the small town of Llanrwst…. For all you novices out there may I suggest now you don’t try pronunciation of these place names as I can’t be held medically responsible. Ready? In Llanrwst is the fantastic tearooms called Tu Hwnt i’r Bont which translates as the house over the bridge so over the bridge we went.

Rose loved both exterior and interior which is heavily beamed. Upstairs where to loo is can be found a tiny bath which would have been sat in rather than laid in that’s if anyone could bend themselves low enough in the eaves to get in at all. It’s famed for it’s cream teas but given it was 11.30am and approaching lunch time we didn’t indulge in. Coming out of the cafe to find it still raining we turned the car right and headed for our next point of reference Gwydir Castle ( feel free to pronounce the second word) or Castell Gwydir built circa 1500 by the Wynne family.

We decided to push on rather than stop but for a long way you can hear the odd screams of the famous white peacocks which reside at the castle. Don’t you think the dining room is magnificent?  For a long time the castle was going in a state of disrepair until bought by a young couple who dedicated themselves to restoring it and finding as much of the original furniture as possible. They worked miracles and you can go round the house to view it.

Less than ten minutes later and we were in Betws y Coed where I managed to sate my need for shops and we were served up an excellent lunch. we managed a mooch round a few more shops afterwards.

It was too soon when we had to return home so Mike and Rose could pack to return to the Midlands and their normal lives. I hate that happening.

Monday. I needed my tool roll on Monday. Just now I can’t remember why but at the time I searched every room for it and so did everyone else including the milkman and postman as I dragged them in off the streets to look. Mike and I had used it less than two weeks before and it couldn’t have gone far. The search had to come to an end when my ‘Responsible Adult’ arrived to ensure I went to the doctors. Yvonne escorted me in ( because she doesn’t trust me not to play truant’ but at least didn’t enter the surgery with me.I got the politest bollocking I’ve ever had for being rather late ( 12 months) for my review, a ticking off for not telling her about my swollen legs and feet with bronchitic chest before now and was mildly admonished for my high ( stratospheric?) BP. All in all not too bad then. I left with a new prescription for increased BP tabs and packets for blood tests next month. It would have been nice to go home at that point but we went for a nice cuppa before having to go for that day’s blood tests. I sat there thinking she’d forgotten she’d put a needle in at first but couldn’t run because  Ugo was in the doorway. She took 3 phials in the end or what Tony Hancock would have described as an armful. We went for lunch so I could be seen to be taking my meds without earning a clip round the ear. My grandson was of course present for all this but I think you lot can wait till the end for a picture.

Tuesday. I wasn’t very well and indeed couldn’t even be bothered getting dressed. My nephew came and cracked on with painting doors and ceilings and I told him what I’d decided regarding the lounge wall. Keep up people, I told you about this last week. I’m having the photo mural wallpaper and I’m also having the two inner lounge doors papered to resemble bookcases. David was all in favour of it. When he left that afternoon I really felt alone and bored.

Wednesday. Whether I liked it or not I had to get up and get dressed . I needed bread and something to feed David for lunch. I turned my chair sideways and bent low with a shoe horn to get my shoes on when a spot of green caught the corner of my eye. Turning fully round still in the same low position I caught sight of my tool roll. About 6 weeks ago I’d bought an 8 gang plug for my bedroom and not connected it yet. It was on the chest beside my bed. On top of that was some ironing I’d done over the weekend and my toolroll was under it all. Needless to say I’d not used the tools in here and there’s no reason it should end up underneath something that’s been in place for 6 weeks now. Since I’d completely forgotten what I wanted the tools for I can only assume it was a job Ju didn’t want me to do. My brother came for his game of Scrabble in the evening and brought my nephew with him. It was great because I see very little of him but also because with three of us we could play Balderdash which I’m telling you now, just because I won both games does not mean I’m a bigger liar than either of them as they claimed.

Thursday. I went into my computer this morning to check the lottery results. Every time I entered Lottery.co.uk  it brought up the correct site but refused to let me enter. A message came to say I was blocked by my ISP because it was a gambling site. I’m supposed to have set a block on access to sites like this. I haven’t !! I went to the ISP and put the block on and then removed it to see if that did the trick. It didn’t. I had to check the results with the local shop when I went. Ju playing tricks on me again? I really don’t know but when I tried again on Saturday I had no problems. The paper for the lounge doors arrived today. I do so like my Ebay.

Friday. Today MuJo came for a visit. I don’t know whether I’m still under the weather but his conspiracy theories were a bit wearing instead of amusing this time.  Still, we managed to have his favourite chip shop lunch and a trip to my favourite coffee house afterwards. . It’s not our usual way at all , generally there’s lots of humour throughout the day. The strips of picture for the lounge wall arrived ready for David to start next week. It will be Wednesday before he’s here so my impatience will have to be curbed somehow.

Saturday-Today. My niece arrived at about 7.30 this morning to take me shopping. I’d got everything out ready for the dustbin men so was ready and raring to go. Carrie-Anne is a laugh a minute joker and great fun to be with. She had me so relaxed that we shopped quite slowly and I even bumped into someone I used to work with. Instead of the usual freezing and stuttering I think I handled it quite well. Karen didn’t have to jump in and save me which must have been a relief for her. Mind you, she was pushing her luck today, she decided she might as well get some jam while she was there and somehow filled more than half MY trolley with her stuff. I struggled to get my shopping in. What I didn’t understand was how with more than half the contents, her JAM cost £52 and my few staples cost £71.00. She stayed with me until about 12/30 today and then left for work. Sitting at my computer I heard a crash and looking out saw that a new three frame picture of Reuben had jumped off the wall, hit a few things on a chest below and scattered them all over yet the frame had slipped behind the chest undamaged. Tomorrow Ju I’m going to look for Picture wire !!  I had a visit this evening from a young man I used to work with. I’ve mentioned him before but probably about last Christmas. He’s the nicest person you could imagine. This year he’s getting ready for his final presentation at University which is on Schizophrenia. That must be a very hard presentation to make.

I have a question I need to ask. One person has said that my sign off on blog comments of Huge Hugs makes her a little uncomfortable. Since I mean no harm and have been signing that way for a long time because I promote hugs I thought it only right to ask. Do I make you uncomfortable? Do you feel it inappropriate?

Any way. You’ve been very patient so I’m going to shut up now and leave you with a picture sent to me earlier. Yvonne, Ugo and a certain young gentleman are at a wedding in Oxford today. Best dressed baby maybe?

Blink and you’ve missed it. Another week gone,

Sunday last week was quiet. Brotherfriend tells me he’s not sleeping well at the moment which roughly translates as ‘ Wake me in the morning and you’re dead meat’ so needless to say I let him lie in. By the time he eventually got up it was almost time for me to go back to bed again but I’m not one to complain- much. We paid a visit to a shop to have a look at some shelving units. I had a unit in mind from a pick-up catalogue company but it turned out the shop we visited had the same one for £10.00 less which was great for my budget as they also had a second set of shelves for £10 where all other boxes were £20.00. That meant I have a nice new stand to hold towels in the bathroom and one for the airing cupboard to take some bedding. Pleased with myself I bought three towel bales in different colours- OK, maybe I did forget to co-ordinate the colours with the bathroom but a fella can’t be expected to think of everything. Anyway I’m blaming Brotherfriend because he chose two of the three- whaddaya mean which two? The worst two of course!  After a coffee so he could spend ten minutes in banter with the staff, and I could spend twenty minutes begging them not to ban me for taking him there, we headed off to lunch. The Blossoms is a pub with a nice little restaurant inside,  separate from the rowdies watching the Grand Prix, oops sorry, that was Brotherfriend Mike. We had a  nice lunch and head home to start erecting shelving which took most of the afternoon before he had to leave and drive 120 miles home. It’s only 60 miles away but he’s a lousy map-reader.

Monday. Yvonne, Ugo and Reuben were coming in the evening so I aired the rooms because of my smoking, Febreezed the place within an inch of it’s life and hoovered.  I’d  set the washing machine going and was just finishing folding  some bedding for the ironing basket when they arrived early at about 4.30 . Naturally it seemed as though I’d not been busy by then so I had to make drinks. They brought me a pizza for my tea which I struggled to finish. I help Reuben and as usual he fell straight to sleep in my arms. NOTE TO SELF– buy some deodorant . We had a discussion about Doctor’s appointments. Yvonne said I should go, I said I wasn’t keen so she rang up and said I was going. It looks like I’m going.

Tuesday. My nephew arrived to re-start the decoration. I removed everything from the bathroom again and took the curtains down to be washed. The state of them convinced me I needed a new pair. While he got on with the easy job of painting the ceiling, I got on with the hard job of finding and ordering a new pair from Ebay and answering my mail. The bathroom ceiling done he painted one wall the same turquoise as the hall and then started to finish painting some of the hallway ceiling and some doors. Late afternoon David left and I ironed the now dry curtains and rehung them. The bathroom is really looking quite nice now. Back in with the new shelving and the towels which are of course for show only. I expect people to shake themselves vigorously to get dry.

Wednesday. Another day of painting doors and skirting boards. I even watched him doing it sometimes. It’s tiring work but someone has to do it. At the end of the day he’s done a great job and nearly worked as hard as me. I had to give him a tip so I told him not to back the favourite in the Grand National and gave him a postdated cheque for next century. He’s fairly determined that he wants to do my bedroom next but I loathe to start that as there’s nowhere to put anything while it’s done. Instead I’m putting a lot of thought into the fourth wall of the lounge. I think, maybe,  perhaps, possibly, I DO want to have that wall re-papered.

Thursday. Visitors today and tonight. I need to change the bed but in the end decide to keep it and just apply fresh bedding. The room needs a good hoovering and some stuff moving off the floor. A bit of judicious shuffling enables me to remove a laundry basket and re-position it in the airing cupboard and voila you can now get round the end of the bed. I strip the bed and place the bedding in the washing machine. Heavens, it’s seeing some action. That’s twice now since March. MuJo arrive and after exchanging news we head off for lunch. It’s Holywell market on a Thursday and though not large is nonetheless quite good. After eating we had a look round the stalls and I bought some new bedding and a small runner in blue. After stops for shops and refreshment ( I hadn’t been banned) we went home where Mu helped me put the new bedding on and they left. NOTE TO SELF. Stop forgetting deodorant! It was now 5.00pm and I needed to hoover and lay the new runner. Can anyone please explain to me why I bought a blue runner since the walls are cream, bar the papered one which is gold and coffee brown, the main carpet is brown and the furniture was brown. Do you suddenly become tasteless at age 60+ or have I always been this bad? I had a little tea and settled down with my mail. I had 213 and a very sour expression. My phone beeped and a message told me Brotherfriend Mike and his companion Rose were setting off at 8.00pm intending to arrive at mine about 10.30 pm. What’s the point of rushing when the shops are shut? They arrived at 10.33  having thoughtlessly kept me waiting all that much time longer.

Friday the 13th.  Well it sounds like a horror movie and it almost was. Brotherfriend Mike, Rose and myself went into Chester having arranged to meet Yvonne at about 10.45 am for a drink. We parked by the river since cars with disabled stickers park free . Don’t worry, he won’t run into you as it’s not a physical problem he has but a definite mental one- he keeps associating with me. Unfortunately my rude remarks about him saving fuel by using that dispensed with by the cars he tailgates, meant he’d parked far enough away from the meeting point so he could make me walk. He’s evil. It meant we didn’t arrive till 11.00am and one angina attack later. But still we beat Yvonne who didn’t manage it until 11.20am. We had a nice cuppa while I fed Reuben who promptly fell asleep in my arms. We had a little mooch round the shops before going to lunch. It wasn’t where we intended so Yvonne had to call Ugo who was joining us before he realised we were trying to avoid him. As he arrived I asked what lunch he wanted and he refused my offer saying he’d get it himself after a trip to the loo. He returned from the loo and went to order a meal only to find he’d lost his wallet. Up everyone got to help him look for it without success. If he’d accepted my offer this wouldn’t have happened but I don’t think I can actually claim credit for the mishap. No-one could find it.A real Friday 13th it was proving to be. Mike, Rose and I bade them goodbye and headed off to some more shops. Yvonne , Ugo and Reuben headed for home only to find someone had found and posted his wallet through the front door.

Saturday.  Today just for a change we went shopping. We decided to take Rose for a run in the country and then end up in Rhyl. It’s a bit of a disaster town these days as some of the better stores have upped sticks and gone elsewhere. There were still enough to keep us happy though as we looked at various gift shops and Mike found to fire breathing ( via joss sticks) dragons he’d been looking for, for ages. We looked at and got samples of some wallpaper for the lounge though I’m waiting to see how my other option goes first and I also found a set of bedding. I had bought a set of bedding for Ju not long before she passed away. Yvonne recently asked iif she could have it and I readily agreed except I couldn’t find it anywhere. I’d got in in an ASDA sale and only paid £8.00 for it. The bedding today was a mortgage away from that but almost the same pattern and colour. It’s driving me batty wondering where the original one has got to. What’s funny was that I picked one up today and announced “This is like it” and a cushion promptly jumped off the shelf above. “Perhaps not” said Mike, “Ju doesn’t agree.” I put it back and found this other set instead which I bought since this time the cushions stayed still.

One thing that’s been consistent throughout this week is the shops themselves. I’ve seen Christmas cards , Christmas gifts and even tinned Christmas sweets and biscuits. Do they always start doing this to the shelves in June? What ! It’s September! Who the heck has stolen the intervening months? I swear Christmases are getting closer, it’s only five minutes since the last one. If anyone can account for the whereabouts of the missing months, hey’ll earn my undying gratitude and possibly a reward. OK, forget the reward, I know you’d only be offended if I insisted and I don’t want to offend you.

This is my idea for the lounge wall. I know this is a dining room but just use a bit of imagination please. David, please don’t read this or look at the picture since I don’t want to scare you off.

Have a nice week all. Hugs Galore.

Sunglasses Please.

I’m not very good at accepting favours. I hate to put people out. There are times though that it’s necessary to be a little flexible and agree no matter how much it goes against the grain. One of my nephews has been going on at me for a while about decorating. He’s been quite poorly and having had to leave work as a result of the illness is ofttimes at a bit of a loose end. Last months he went and helped decorate Yvonne’s in time for the birth of my grandson, I made sure he didn’t lose out on his petrol- and before my bright spark brotherfriend makes any suggestions it wasn’t through siphoning anyone else’s tank.

This time he was adamant he wanted to help me and didn’t want ANYTHING for helping. He had paint and all the brushes and pads he could need and on Wednesday morning rolled up to my door in a pair of shorts and laden down with equipment. I may have mentioned before that my place cannot be described as palatial and is rather full. First job of the day a coffee for me and a chocolate for David followed by a little chin scratching festival while we decided where to start. I’d had a bad night and a nasty angina attack first thing but no way could I let him tackle things alone, partly because I was embarrassed at what he might find. No Michael, not porno magazines, I returned those to you unread.

If you imagine my lounge as a box with the door at the front right On the right hand wall is a large leather settee which is opposite the large window and the TV. On the facing wall are two merchants chests of drawers with a small table between them where Ju resides and presides . Opposite them, on the wall to the left when you enter the doorway is a large cabinet with cupboards below and shelves above, there is also a glass display cabinet. In front of these are two armchairs and in front of those a coffee table. I mention these only because they are of an Indian wood that weighs a ton. Behind my chair sat / lay the biggest pile of paperwork, games, cards, giftwrap. future gifts you could ever imagine which was the bane of Ju’s life.

We decided to start on the wall behind the settee. There were just three walls to paint as the fourth is papered and I haven’t decided what to do about it yet. We pulled the settee forward and my red face lit up the room. Underneath was an assortment of peanuts and sweets left by the degu’s . Even better (?) there was an extension cable for one of my lamps which contained two plugs with little wire attached. They belonged to a CD radio and some earphones. We swept up and removed pictures etc from the walls. I took a load of Ju’s old paperwork from under the butler’s tray table and departed the room. Giving most of the papers to the binman in case he wanted a hernia I nipped back to take down the net curtains for a wash. I decided to do them all at the same time  being of  a frugal mind and followed some good instructions from a friend to put them on a wool wash and to use the same cleaner as in a normal wash and the same conditioner. I refuse to call it softener as I accidentally put some in a bath once and I’ve never been the same since.

The wall was soon done and David decided to start on the left hand one, leaving the window wall till last. With hernias popping up everywhere, I retired again to my room after moving the tonnage known as ‘The Furniture’ and started on my emails. I was writing and trying to think of a way to get Michael to do my ironing at the weekend when one email caught my eye. A friend was suggesting a Thai bride. She’s young, likes older, kinder men ( well , he got kinder right) and with the iron dangling in front of my face the idea had some appeal. Then I remembered I was never into bondage and gave up on the idea.( Tie bride Michael, keep up please). By the time the second wall was done the first was dry. So were my nets. We moved the settee back into position and had lunch. ( For the sake of a certain Australian friend I’ll just mention I had a ham salad roll).

David couldn’t access the window wall until the second wall had dried so he left the room and made a start on my hallway. I forgot to mention he sugar soaps all the walls before he paints which means extra time because it needs to dry first. He managed to do that to all the walls in the hallway. As they dried he laid to. Soon one wall, two walls and three walls were done. It was almost time to finish for the day but before he left we had time to move the furniture back from the second wall of the lounge. In walked my brother for his Wednesday game of scrabble. I hadn’t realised it was so late. It was, and Dil sent me away with a flea in my ear to make his cuppa. David left with my thanks.

Thursday morning arrived, we’ll just gloss over last night’s score for now I think. I had a problem that was really frustrating me. Two weeks ago I’d wanted to buy something from Amazon.com. I have a $5.99 gift voucher there and it’s hard to access because for books I always have to use Amazon.co.uk. Anyway, I thought I’d succeeded with the item I wanted. A few days later  an email from Amazon.com said they were having problems getting funding from my bank using my card. I checked I’d done everything right- I had, and tried again. It seemed OK but again a few days later the message came back the same. At the same time a letter came from my benk fraud team to say they’d suspended use and needed to talk to me. Difficult since I don’t speak on the telephone. It turned out they were questioning the use of my card for a £2 purchase which was in fact a charity donation. £2 measy quid !!  I thought it was straightened out when the man from India said he’s release the card straight away. Happliy I went back to the transaction. This week on Thursday the purchase hadn’t gone through again. I was convinced it was because I was buying from.com instead of .co.uk and cancelled the order. I made to buy it from Amazon.co.uk instead. All seemed OK………………………………….To be resumed.

We moved the crap my stuff from behind my chair, moved the chair and the TV and David painted the last wall of the lounge. He went out to his car and came back with a set of metal drawers on wheels which he claimed to have been given by a stallholder at the market he visited on the way to me. I wonder if he thinks I’m really as green as I’m cabbage looking. They don’t look inexpensive and here’s a man who isn’t working. I can’t allow this. I know the roughly what colour the last wall of the hall is to be and I ask if he’d be prepared to take me to the shops for a new table runner for the console table and voile for the door ( see, I know all the technical terms). Off we go to the shops where I get what I need and as always a lot more too. I give David an envelope and tell him it’s to cover the cost of petrol for coming to me over the two days. He argues but can’t fight me covering that bill at least. He’s a trusting soul.

With no furniture to be moved in the hall David gets started and I head off to the emails again and more promotion for Memoirs of a Superior. It’s approaching lunchtime and I leave the room and OMG it’s really, REALLY, Turquoise. ( For my Australian friend, let me remind you I had salad again). I lunched in silence, the glare having given me a headache. I wash the pots in shocked silence and go to hang the net curtains ( I need something to peep round at the neighbours). The wall starts to dry and I’m glad to see it’s a much more muted colour than before. It goes perfectly with the voile and runner. David leaves with my thanks but not before telling me he’ll be back next Tuesday and Wednesday to do the pit ( where I have the freezer) and my bathroom. He wants to do my bedroom too but that’s a job for hero’s since it’s tiny and there’s nowhere to move the furniture to. We’ll have to see what next week brings and maybe I can get away with just the bathroom for now.

……Resumed…… Michael came Friday and has now stopped laughing at the colour. At least he knows it was Ju’s choice and not mine. Saturday morning brought an email from .co.uk to say payment refused. It’s very embarrassing. Then I went to Virgin to top my phone up and the same thing happened. We were out before 8am shopping and then paid a visit to MuJo because John was ill yesterday. We returned this afternoon to try and sort this out which necessitated another very annoying telephone call to New Delhi or it’s environs. They are very nice people and very helpful but regretfully my inexperience with the accent means I have lots of problems understanding what’s being said. In the end it turns out the helpful young man from two weeks ago had done nothing to restart the card. I was asked to create a new telephone banking code without letters as alpha numerical ones are no longer accepted and then told I could go ahead. I went straight to Amazon.co.uk to kick start the order again and then to Virgin to top up the phone. They asked for the first, second and seventh numbers from my code….refused, they asked for the first , third and eigth number of my code, brilliant, it only has seven. Than a light shone in my brain and I tried my old security number …it worked. I’m back on track I think.

 

 

I’ve added this photograph but it really gives no indication of the impact this colour had  when wet, or even  how it looks now when you’re seeing it in full daylight.

Hope you’ve all had a good week and have a better one coming.  xxx Hugs Galore xxx