The Meanest Tip & The Drying Cycle Re-Cycle

Sunday 7th June 2015

It’s possible I wasn’t fully compost mental last night. Light’s out at 1.00 am yet 3.00 ish am saw me wandering round the kitchen intending to find something to eat. My hand reached out for the pull cord to turn the light on without me even thinking that the kitchen has a light switch not a pull cord. What I did of course was set off the alarm. Within moments I realised I have the perfect way of getting Mike up straight away as he came galloping out of his room to see what was wrong. Then I got an intercom call from the emergency warden services to make sure I was OK. Considering I’d probably just woken her up from a deep sleep for a false alarm she was remarkably nice about it. Of course Mike was back in bed and snoring before I’d finished saying “Everything is fine.” Needless to say,I didn’t get anything to eat. I went back to bed and eventually got up as usual, fully aware this time, at 5.08 am. After a quick visit to the Jade Palace ( ever since I got a discount on a bulk buy of green paint from the fella painting the local Chinese restaurant), I came back  and powered up the machine and went straight into my first email address.

Heck there were a lot and many of them were comments on last night’s blog which I promised my lawyers I’d read more closely in future, ever since I read the blog had been well executed because I was in a hurry and it actually said I was a bloke who should be executed. Critics eh? I worked my way up the list until  6.00 am when I went through to the kitchen to take my meds and make as coffee to bring back with me. With a coffee and a fag to fortify me I was ready for anything. Actually most of what I had to deal with was easy but required comments or at the very least a like. Like all other authors I get notified of reviews and new books released and I think it’s my duty to tweet these and on rare occasions I’ll even send them into Facebook. Indie authors require every bit of help going to offset some of the advantages an author with a traditional publishing house sometimes has, a bigger budget promotion schedule rather than the odd free tweet from another author. If I ever write another book I’d want to go Indie again because of the tremendous cameraderie there is .

By 8.12 am I was pretty much up to date so I took my empty mug through to the kitchen and then came back to see if I was bidding on anything on ebay today. I played around on there until around 9.00 am then just refreshed my mail box and caught up there. I opened the second email address to see how bad that was and there were 64 so I went into battle there too. Not for long though. I heard a noise. It was 9.26 am. I moved towards the lounge only to be met by what seemed to be Mike in looks just coming out. “OK” I said, “just tell me what you’ve done with him. Then we can see about getting you back to your Starship.”                                                                                                  “Oh, har de har” he replied. I hadn’t realised he spoke French. He’d already got the kettle on for his drink so I left him to it. We sat together while we tried to remember what it was he’d asked me to remind him about yesterday and I’d forgotten, then a discussion on some music or other followed by an internet search on his tablet on the author who wrote the books depicted on the posters I’d bought for Reuben yesterday. Name of Shirley Hughes and she appears to have been quite prolific with children’s books since the 1970’s. We probably wracked up most time trying to decide what to do today until finally we settled on going back to Broughton Park where we went last Sunday, to see if we could find Mike some slim or skinny jeans. We left a few minutes after 11.00 am.

When we got to Broughtom we parked up and entered the Tesco store where I’d been so lucky in the sale last week. Amazingly enough he was able to find two pairs, one reduced to £8 and one pair to £6. Even better, when we got to the counter they had been reduced to £4 and £3 so two pairs for less than half the price of one originally. It was 12.30 pm when we came out of there and I suggested lunch and then carry on. We went to the pub where we’d eaten with Karen on her birthday. We were seated and had the chance to order drinks which came quite quickly. I took my pre-foodie and then we were able to order lunch. We both went for the Sunday roast option but went for the supersized because of extra Yorkshire puddings and what the menu described as lashings of tasty gravy. The meal came and we started. Mike was the first to voice disappointment that the ‘creamed mash potatoes’ were reconstituted and powdery. I wasn’t far behind him in finding that but I was also disappointed that the lashings of gravy wasn’t really enough. Fair play though, the meat was lovely. The stuffing balls were solid and I hoped the grave might soften them but there wasn’t enough. Mike asked the waitress if we could possible have some more gravy in a gravy boat. She said we could but they’d have to charge for it. I agreed so she disappeared. We carried on eating. We were getting towards the end stages of the meal before she re-appeared with the gravy boat. I think a thimble might have held more. This was gravy for two people for heaven’s sake. I wasn’t amused. When we got up to leave I left the meanest tip I’ve ever left in my life.

We had a trog round a few more shops before it was time to leave and come home. Mike hadn’t found the third pair he’d wanted. It was getting on for 4.00 pm when we got home. We had another natter for a while then I closed my eyes for a quarter of an hour though I didn’t sleep as Mike was still talking to me. At 4.30 pm my nerve broke and I needed to come through to work. Mike gathered his bags and I waved him off before locking the door and starting. 183 messages on the first account, I didn’t touch the other then. I worked until 7.00 pm then went through for some tea. I had a little trifle left over from yesterday and -wait for it- an apple. By 7.30 pm I was back hard at it.By 9.30 am I’d cleared most of what was there in both mailboxes and just had a few personal messages to answer.I’d done those by 10.00 pm and went through for a break. I watched half an hour of TV which was a comedy, satire news quiz. Then back in here at 10.30 pm to do the blog.

Monday.

OK. so it’s fairly obvious I’ve upset him unless he just thinks I’m not doing enough on his behalf. I shall have to resign, that’s if you can resign from a god with a contract. I turned the light off for sleep last night at 1.00 am. Next thing I know is I’m awake and ready to go to work. It was 2.26 am. I was left wondering if I knew anyone daft sensible enough to want a job as Promotions Manager for a god and his brothers. It doesn’t pay well but maybe you (may) get a good night’s sleep in exchange for some work. Still, there was no point in complaining, at least I get a head start on the day and the work won’t be in a backlog situation. I have a guest post I need to prepare for tomorrow and this will give me opportunity. MuJo were due this morning too so I was determined to be as up to date as possible before going out. There was absolutely no need to rush though, there was time aplenty.

I concentrated on the guest post first as I wanted to get it as near to a vision I had in my head but that would be easy to change if I didn’t like the end result. I was able to use up a couple of hours easily on it and was fairly satisfied with the end result. What confuses me is that the end result you see changes the minute you press preview. That which is written to the side of a picture is now written underneath. I’m sure if I reduced the size of the picture, the writing might appear where placed but I didn’t mind it the way the preview showed either so I settled for that. As I’ll be with Yvonne tomorrow it’s nice to know I just have to press the publish button now and it’s all done for me. Meanwhile this morning I was happy with the work I’d done and moved over to my main post box, and started there. It was a bit of a surprise how many were left from last night and how many were there, I think I was expecting about a dozen or so. I had to break off at 6.00 am to take my meds and make a coffee and then I carried on until I was clear ( for now) at about 7.15 am. By 8.30 am the other post box was also clear and I had time to get washed and dressed ready to go to Pauline’s and to the chemist/post office. Pauline’s didn’t take long as I got in before the Mother’s Mafia this time. I bought cigarettes not because I needed them but because I needed the change.

I walked up to the chemist and dropped my prescription request in the little slot in the counter and then joined the tail end of the queue of pensioners at the post office end of the shop.  I hadn’t been quick enough to get there first. By the time I’d reached the counter, sent birthday cards abroad and got home again it was 9.30 am. I wasn’t sure what time MuJo would arrive so I came back to my bedroom to clear any more mail that had come in and then went through to tidy the lounge and light an oil burner. No news via the postman about my pension being corrected and then at 10.30 am the warden Bev arrived. She told me she’d called last Monday but there was no answer was I OK? I couldn’t think back as far as last Monday but something was at the back of my brain to say it was wrong. She was here about half an hour and as she left I came through to check. Last Monday I was ill in bed but she couldn’t have called, it was a Bank Holiday. She’d come on the Tuesday and I was out with Yvonne. Normally she doesn’t come any day but a Monday. I wonder if I can remember to tell her next week. It was while I was checking that online that I saw skype flashing with a message from John. Odd, as I’d be seeing them anytime soon, or would I? The answer was No I wouldn’t. Someone was coming to empty the septic tank and they’d been unable to set out so the day was cancelled till Thursday if that was OK. I said it was.

At a little bit of a loose end now I came back to the computer and started on ebay until lunchtime. One item I was going to bid for was already too high so I found an alternative to keep an eye on. At 11.50 am I went to start lunch. A goulash today with dumplings. It wasn’t bad though the dumplings could have had a little less herb for me. I watched my Bargain Hunt right to the end and then decided to nod in the chair for an hour. It only lasted for half an hour before a taxi drew up close by and sounded it’s horn to tell a neighbour it was here. The sound made me shoot out of my seat like my tail was on fire, which I was glad to see it wasn’t. As I was already on my feet              ( Thanks ACE) I just returned to work. I worked from 1.30 pm to 4.45 pm on incoming then returned for my quizzes and an episode of Big Bang Theory. For tea I had a cheese and raw onion sandwich and then washed the pots before coming back through for what I hoped would be the final phase. I have something coming up on ebay at 10.25 pm which hopefully I’ll get to before doing the blog.By 9.30 pm I was shocked. I’d been going like the clappers to catch up but nothing had been coming in to build up again. I was FREE. I had to start the blog early or read. I chose to start the blog, after all I could break off at any time if more post arrived, and if there wasn’t much I could do it after the blog and then get an early night.

One email came though from Jane as a comment on last week’s blog. She suggested I must be doing OK on the female front with my new slim jeans look. I hope she didn’t look too closely at my female front or she might see I’m not far off needing a bra.( If I was dyslexic I’d only need a bar and that would be better). I had to tell her that so far I haven’t found a woman whose guide dog will allow me to get that close. I’m hoping to get old quickly as at least I’ll get close to the nurse bathing me.

Tuesday.

There were real problems getting to sleep last night with all the coughing. In the end I gave up. At about 2.00 am I went to sit upright in my chair in the lounge and slept until 5.06 am so I was quite pleased. I came through to my room to put a blogpost on that I’d worked on last night and which had been promised for today, then I made a start on the mail which it looks like I haven’t touched for a week at least.At 6.00 am I went to take my meds and get a coffee to rev me up a bit. I returned to my room and got dressed before carrying on with the mail until 7.15 am. I’d made quite a dent in it by then but I needed to get my shoes on ready to go out.

At 7.30 am looking undoubtedly young(er) and swish in my stone coloured skinny jeans I set off for the bus stop. Even at that time the sun was warm and the day bright. It felt good to be out. It’s so nice that the two days of Summer are here. The only trouble is, the other one was yesterday so what’s tomorrow going to be like? The bus came and I got in my usual seat, set my crutches at the right angle, stopped them from moving with my feet, and closed my eyes. I’m pretty sure either I nodded off or the bus has been fitted with jet engines to get us there faster. In fact we were late due to road resurfacing. I glanced in the direction I expected Yvonne to arrive and saw to my surprise she was pushing an empty trolley while Reuben on his reins next to it was running for all he was worth. He galloped up and clasped my legs. Yvonne was in fits of laughter because she says he started running the minute he saw me and she had trouble keeping up. I finished smoking my after journey cigarette before we went into a shop that opens before 9.00 am to pick up a few things. I bought Roobs some chocolate and then forgot to leave it behind when I came home later.

We went into our usual shop then to get a coffee and to give Reuben his Weetabix and let Yvonne have some toast while I had a latte big enough to float a battleship. Not a good thing for one who’s bladder is so small. After that we went into the store proper so I could look  for some skinny jeans in Mike’s size in the colour I’d asked him about on Sunday, stone like mine. Fortunately I was able to find some and also got myself a kind of long sleeves tee-shirt.  Job done we moved on to look for something for Yvonne which typically she wouldn’t let me get. At an H & M shop I found another tee-shirt which will make me look like Homer Simpson in a muu muu. Very bright and Summery. Yvonne was feeling a little dry so we headed off to get another drink, tea for me this time and a wee to make room for it. Then it was time to go and catch my bus home. They walked me to the stop but I wasn’t going to get much from Reuben as he was mid tantrum. I did get a ‘bye’ which was spit out with the speed of a machine gun and contained no warmth but he relented a little as I got aboard the bus and he was looking for where I sat. Only a little though as the driver was laughing at his fake crying in rage while his face was searching for me. I got a small wave as we pulled out. At least for a change I wasn’t watching them having to walk home in the rain.

Though I didn’t need the loo this time I still bypassed Pauline’s having decided to go there tomorrow for what I need. Today I wanted to concentrate on something to eat as I hadn’t eaten breakfast before going out today. Trouble was nothing really appealed . I’d bought sausages and sweet potatoes at the weekend but decided I might have those on Friday. Today I ended up settling for chips in curry sauce with bread and butter. Since I’d missed my antiques show, I watched the weather forecast that seemed to say more to come, before going to my room to start on the mail. I was a little surprised at only 183 fresh item since this morning but I knew more would arrive as I worked. And so it proved. I started at 1.30 pm and only felt I’d made real progress at 5.15 pm when I felt I could take a break. Be fair, I was going to take a break regardless as that’s when my quiz starts. I allowed myself until 7.00 pm when the Big Bang Theory was over and while I was still awake. It took me until 10.20 pm to reach the point where I could declare myself clear, even if for only a minute. I took the chance to work on the blog instead. There will perhaps be time to work on any more mail afterwards with luck though an early night wouldn’t come amiss.

Wednesday.

A 3.18 am day. I’m not too disappointed as my light went out at midnight after just a very short read and I consider I got to bed early to relax. So maybe I admit to skiving last night and not going back to the mail after doing the blog. I don’t feel especially guilty.Anyway, after a visit to the Palace of Piddle I came back and booted up the computer (as against putting the boot in the computer which has tempted me more than once). I logged on to check the Eurolottery from last night and wished I hadn’t bothered. Still, it was a rollover so maybe it’s waiting for me. That’s looking on the bright side. I logged onto my main mail address and the glass half full was suddenly half empty.There’s a price to pay for skiving. Then I found that many of them had been dealt with last night from the other mailbox. Phew, it didn’t take as long as I feared to clear that bit. When I really got going on today’s mail I finished at 5.54 am which was perfect timing for breakfast. I went through and popped a few pills and took my sprays. To waste some time I came back through and made my bed then put the washing machine on. I’ll wait until the cycles of washing and drying are over before changing Mike’s.

I took my daily coffee back to the bedroom, cleared the inbox of anything new and then opened the second mail box. That took me until almost 8.00 am when I suddenly remembered the washing cycle would be over so I went through and started the drier later than I should have done. It should be ready about 11.00 am. Odd pieces of post were still coming through so  I stayed here clearing them as they arrived until 9.00 am. I got dressed at that time and walked over to Pauline’s. She was quite busy but I noticed not a single one of the Mother’s Mafia from school, all the customers were male. Mind you, they must have wondered about me as I was wearing the muu muu I bought yesterday. It was a picture of tropical flowers that might have been better on a woman’s dress. Still, getting me out in a tee-shirt at all with no jacket on top is a rarity and the tee-shirt was my recognition of the sunshine so I couldn’t have cared less what others thought. I find sometimes I still have a little rebellious streak in me. When I came back and unpacked the bread etc I returned to work. I’m determined to keep a good hold on the numbers today so maybe it won’t be too bad when Dil and maybe Matt have been tonight.

I’d not had any luck last night with ebay ( thanks to my stupidity in forgetting the time) so I did spend some time there this morning trying to find new things to bid on. It’s still the nieces I have in mind. Between changing beds, washing, ebaying and catching up on mail it didn’t take lunchtime long to approach. I had a cottage pie and an episode of Bargain Hunt to watch, or in the case of the latter nearly watch as I fell asleep moments before the final auctions though I promised myself not to, and then woke up three quarters of an hour later as Doctors was starting. You’ve never seen such speed in turning off the TV. I returned to work. A fair bit had accumulated during my break and some of the new stuff was very interesting. I wasn’t rushing so I took my time to read what I thought was important. The afternoon passed quite quickly and quite interestingly though ebay is still doing it’s best to defeat me and succeeding. People are learning the ten second trick and probably doing it at eight seconds to prove they’re braver. It’s working, they’re winning more than me. Oh what I wouldn’t give for a faster computer.

Because I had breakfast I needn’t have tea now as I don’t need tablets but I went through at 4.30 pm to have an apple. A nice tasty green Granny Smith. I love the tartness that many people dislike. I’d be prepared whatever time they turned up now and I wouldn’t be caught unawares like I was last week. My brother is 6’4″ so it’s hard to miss him approaching so I was able to get in the kitchen and start making a cuppa as soon as I saw him. He was on his own again which was a disappointment though maybe it does get a bit boring for a youngster when he can be online gaming. Dil and I watched the quiz as usual and got some nice obscure answers. At 6.00 pm TV went off so the gaming could start. As usual we started with Yahtzee and for the first three games I didn’t get a look in , the jammy male server of drinks ( bar steward) couldn’t put a foot wrong. He got two Yahtzees, didn’t miss his bonuses and scored well. On the other hand I was struggling to get one of a kind with the dice never mind a Yahtzee. But on game 4 things changed and went my way a little.Such a shame (sarcasm) that the dice weren’t falling for him. I won the fifth game too. Game 6 was a struggle from the off. I didn’t think I’d get my bonus while he had everything he needed to get his. My name calling didn’t seem to faze him either. But all of a sudden things at the lower end ( keep it clean missus) started to work well. I neat him  by a short head. Three all, even Stevens and honour satisfied.

Next up was the Trivial Pursuit. I won’t lie, he got his 6 pieces of pie while I only had 5. No matter how I tried to get the mnumber I wanted to land on the last colour I needed, I kept going just past it. Dil achieved his and worked his way back to the middle.It was my choice as to what question he would answer but they all seemed simple so I just chose one at random. The beggar knew it but didn’t know my second choice. Arrrrgh, he beat me! First blood. We went for cribbage next and despite cheating being unlucky he beat me 2-1. I was crushed. I was glad he was going home so he wouldn’t see me have a tantrum and cry bitterly. He went home and I swear there was a swagger in his walk just to rub it in and he was so quick to say “Thanks, see you next week” in such a way that I knew it was a threat. I waved him off and hoped my neighbours hadn’t noticed I was four fingers missing on that hand.

After Dil had left I just tidied up a bit, took my evening spray and meds, washed the pot (there was only his mug) and then went through to start work. It wasn’t as bad as I feared but it still took me up to 10.50 am to get clear (without refreshing). It was time to start the blog so I can get to bed.

Determined face?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday.

Some days the light can quite fool me. When I got up this morning at 3.28 am you’d swear it was much later like 3.30 am or something. As I made my way to the Palace of Piddle I pondered the reasons why I should be awake at this time. Granted I skived off early last night and after a very short read was turning the light out at midnight but even so, I wondered how many others find themselves thinking three and a half hours sleep is adequate. When I returned to the bedroom I booted up and logged on. I went straight to the bank but my money is still down and next week they will start recovery of the non-existent debt. I shall be going round with a begging bowl at this rate. I left the bank and went to start my emails. I was halfway through answering a long one when the computer decided to shut down. The people in Flint thought a high speed train had gone past when they heard my scream. No bloody warning !! Usually when microsoft are doing updates I can delay it a couple of hours but not this time. I put myself in a calmer place ( with the help of a bottle of galliano) and waited. When the update was on and the screen came back to the sign on, I did so calmly. It was only when it brought up my last page and showed it was timed out I got aggranoid. All that writing for nought.

I started again but only until 5.00 am when I decided I’d have breakfast today. I put two pieces of bread in the toaster on took all my meds. While waiting I put Mike’s bedding in the washer and set it going . Cigarette finished I buttered my toast, made a coffee and enjoyed my breakfast. I came back to work afterwards but the emails took forever to load and I was getting frustrated. I closed one address and opened the other which is usually superfast. Even that was sluggish today.  At 6.30 am I went through to check the washer and found the cycle finished. I put everything om to day as cotton for 3 hours. I went out at 9.00 a to get my lottery tickets from Pauline and when I came back the drier said Cycle finished. I opened it up because it hadn’t had 3 hours yet and the stuff was still wet. I reset it for 3 hours calling it synthetics and left it. Back I went an hour later and it was ended again. The damned machine isn’t working by my watch that’s for sure. One more time I tried back to cotton again and gave it another chance to behave while I worked. I was up to date at 10.15 am and went back to visit the kitchen. One minute the machine said 1 hr 57 mins to go, a few minutes later it said 8 minutes.

MuJo arrived just before the time was up so as soon as I’d furnished them with drinks I turned to the machine and unloaded and folded each piece as it came out. I put it on an airer by the kitchen radiator. Obviously I was still holding a conversation with them while I worked and found out they’d had a bit of a rough week. By 1.30 am we were ready to go to town. It was market day but we still managed to find a spot in the first car park where it’s all disabled parking. Very handy. A bit further to walk but worth it for the room. We walked up the High Street and straight into one of John’s favourite charity shops. I actually saw a really nice oil burner but I didn’t get it then saying I’d call on the way back. Next stop the Chippie. I had liver and onions today but couldn’t eat it all. Muriel swiped the bill before I got to it and wouldn’t relinquish it. Next time is definitely mine. After lunch Mu went to the post office while I lit a cigarette and followed John up to the next two charity shops. There didn’t seem to be anything he wanted today. Walking back down the street afterwards they picked up a hydrangea from a stall and then Muriel went in and bought the oil burner from the first charity shop and presented me with it.

Back in the car we headed for Flint. Aldi first so they could do some shopping and where I bought some chocolates, then straight to the retail park and a drink in Temptations. I passed the chocolates over and said Hi to the girls then carried the drinks over. Once done I went out for a cigarette while MuJo relaxed a bit. When they joined me, John went to sit in the car while Mu and I looked round another shop to see if she could find, I think they’re called Palazzo pants. They’re very colourful anyway as she’s wearing a pair today. We didn’t have any luck for her though. We all had an ice lolly sitting in the sunshine and then started the journey home. Mike was on his way by then. I expected him about 5.30 pm. MuJo stayed with me a while and then left about 4.30 pm. I was able to get a little work done before going through a little late for the quiz.Mike arrived virtually on time about 5 minutes later at 5.25 pm so I made a drink and we enjoyed the rest of that quiz together. Then of course we had Eggheads and one of the Big Bang Theories. I said at 7.00 pm I’d have to leave Mike and do some work but I’d be back through at 8.30 pm for the new BBT. He let me go without moaning.

I remembered I hadn’t asked whether Mike had eaten so went back through at 8.00 pm. He was hungry so I did sausage, sweet potato mash, beans and curry sauce and had a little bit myself. I timed it beautifully for the start of the programme and then at part one adverts Mike washed the pots for me. I stayed with him until 10.00 pm then had no excuse to stay away from work for longer. I did half an hour on the mail and then started the blog.

I thought maybe some of you would like to meet Dil and Matt from my Wednesday sanity school.

Dilwyn

Matthew

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday.

My light was off by 12.30 am last night. I’d gone for a wee around 11.45 pm and found Mike asleep in his room so turned his TV off. Maybe it was early nights all round.I don’t think it took me long to get to sleep as yesterday lunchtime’s sleep hadn’t gained me much. I was up at 3.56 am this morning bright eyes and bushy tailed, raring to get into action. Unfortunately  when I reached the Piddle Palace someone was playing with the stop-cock ( bad pun sorry) and it was stop-start for ages. Oh the joys of age. Eventually I was able to go to the bedroom and power up, then sign in. Once there I went immediately for mail and found  lots from last night. I knew I shouldn’t have skived after the blog. Anyway, it got done and I got a good start on today’s post until 6.05 am when I needed to take my drugs. Once that was done, being Friday the trays were now empty and needed filling. I got the drug drawer out and also the goodies I’d had delivered on Tuesday and replenished the trays fully. It will be two weeks now before I need anything else. The drawer went back in place and I made myself a coffee to take back to work.Oh wait, I’m not going to call it work this morning since it was a pleasure to read most of the posts which were Summery. Oz is different of course as they head for Winter but it seems the sun is still shining.

I had one con letter this morning but it just made me laugh despite the sad story it related of the woman who has cancer and not long to live. It seems she’s chosen me specially after reading my blog to give her fortune to so it can be donated to charities of my choice that involve children. Anyone with half a brain knows that if you gave me a couple of million pounds I’d be off looking for skinny jeans in all the colours under the sun. It’s possible I’d need matching tee–shirts and maybe a few casual jackets in bright colours too. It’s also possible that I might need a new home to house all the new stuff too. I’ve no doubt some would reach a charity but not necessarily all children related. Oops, bang goes my hope of a windfall then. I worked on both email addresses and by 8.50 am was pretty much up to date. I felt ready to nod off. Instead I headed for the kitchen to wash up some glasses Mike forgot, and my mug from this morning. I also filled the kettle and put it on.It was a couple of minutes to nine when I took Mike a coffee. He doesn’t set an alarm on Fridays so it’s all down to call. I just said ” Mornin’ Bro, coffee’s up, time to rise and shine.” The beggar did. Straight away, no arguments. He’d only grunted in response to me so I was sure it was a 3 C day at least.

He carried his coffee to the lounge and I sat with him talking about the problem with the seals on the car. It’s a young car and the makers say there should be no problem with the seals at this stage. They’ve offered as a goodwill gesture to cover 50% of the cost. They approached the garage who sold this very expensive model and who gave a 12 month warranty to cover the other half but the garage after a long delay say they’ll cover 10% of the remaining half, or in other words just 5% of the whole. Mike seems to have no choice but to go to litigation now. I’m pretty sure the wig and gown won’t   suit him though. I managed a short snooze in the chair but felt aware of what was going on around me still  At about 10.20 am he left to post a couple of letters and then to carry on and see his Dad in Manchester. I took the opportunity to come back through to work.The postman seems to hate me at the moment as he hasn’t called in 3 days. I carried on working to keep up to date until 11.40 am then broke off to see to lunch. It’s the day of the corned beef hash but I don’t in the least feel like eating.The chest has broken and I’m breathing like old bellows and constantly coughing. It’s just as well Mike is out or he’s be whinging. I did eat my lunch and yes, I did fall asleep during Bargain Hunt.( again). I didn’t wake until 2.15 pm but at least Doctors was over.

I half heartedly returned to my battle with the post and tried to keep up but it was running away today and all I wanted to do was sleep. It seemed I could do that anywhere. I proved it by folding up over the keyboard for a few seconds. I stayed at it until 5.45 pm to whittle it down even though I was missing my quiz. A text from Mike told me he’d be late due to an accident on the motorway. I watched the last bit of the main quiz then Eggheads, before at 6.30 pm going for a shower. I didn’t come out feeling better but at least I was cleaner. I went back through to watch a programme on the island of Honshu in Japan which was fascinating. Mike arrived home as it was going to start. I made him a coffee and we watched it even though Mike had seen the same one last week. It was only needed until 7.30 pm when Question of Sport came on.  I was going to stick to BBC1 as there are no adverts where Mike can threaten me with calling Yvonne. Unfortunately at 8.00 pm there was a documentary on another channel about the conspiracy theories surrounding the death- or escape of Adolf Hitler.By the time it was over I was almost ready to ridicule the beliefs that he’d escaped to a secret place in Antarctica to train a new core of men. The fact that Russia had the bodies until the 60’s without admitting it obfuscated the landscape. Their tests say the body was Hitler but DNA tests carried out say not and they refuse anyone access to the bodies after that. What I did find myself believing with no trouble was that the OSS retrieved a huge cache of German gold that seemed to disappear. I imagine it funded the OSS/ CIA for a long time.

At 9.00 pm I came back through to see to as much mail as possible and then at 10.00 pm to do the blog in the hope of an early night. I want to go shopping tomorrow.

Director of Traffic

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday.

Mike warned me last night he’d never get up at 6.30 am today If I kept him awake coughing all night. How do you stifle a cough? I suppose the tooth marks in the pillow give you an idea. I got to bed at 11.30 pm and read only until 12.15 am. I think Mike had turned his TV off at that point. Suitably propped up I eventually fell asleep but disturbed myself a lot with coughing. I wondered if I’d be up for the 6.30 am deadline. As it happens in was 3.22 am. Enough light coming through the windows that I could get to the Palace of Piddle without turning lights on. It was only when I came back I had to turn my light on as no light comes through the window. If I open the curtains I can’t see the computer screen. I was coughing a lot, trying to keep it down by keeping my mouth shut but it can’t be done for long. Having said that, he hasn’t moved once when I’ve coughed so I worried about nothing. I cleared the rest of last night’s post first then started on today’s. Just the one address at the moment. At 4.55 am I decided to go have breakfast and put two slices of bread in the toaster. I checked the milk and found there was enough for my tablets and coffee so I made the tablets the next thing and followed up with the sprays.

I was done in the kitchen at 5.20 am and took my coffee through. I refreshed the post and did the ten or so that came up. Then I logged into my second address and started again. I was clear by 5.56 am and went to get dressed. That didn’t take too long. I went through to the kitchen to prepare Mike’s mug and write down my Saturday morning prediction of how long getting him up would take. I’m thinking a minimum of 2 A AND 2 C. As it happened it was 2A and IC because he like spoiling things.

The day has been good with shopping and then looking at fish when Mike had been looking for a specific food. It’s as well I’ve spent much of the day either here or sitting in the car. The bellows are not good today and Mike is giving me a headache fretting. I’m really drained though so am going to apologise for breaking Saturday up and am heading for my bed. Maybe hospital tomorrow if he doesn’t think things are any better, we’ll see about that. I suppose I don’t want another bout of pneumonia.

It’s possible I won’t be up to dealing with mail in the morning so don’t worry if I don’t respond. Thanks to you all for being my friends. I give you full permission to let your imaginations run wild at Mike’s antics today.

Have a Great New Week full of Hugs.