Reuben blows out candles & The TV lets me down.

Sunday 23rd August 2015.
Apart from one blip at 1.58 am when I fell over a candle stand and woke both Mike and I think myself, the night was reasonable. I had to sit with a cigarette to prepare myself for going back to bed at that time but in the end I didn’t get up until 5.52 am. That’s getting on for the four hour mark again.After a visit to the loo I fired up the computer and sat while it ….did nothing. For some reason I had to restart and then try three times before the net came up. I started catching up on emails and posts as well as comments on last night’s blog, I accepted I wouldn’t get too far. At 6.30 am I went to take my meds and to have some breakfast. I know what time we’re supposed to arrive at Yvonne’s but no idea what time we’re eating. At 7.00 am I gave my face quite a surprise by taking it for a shave. It’s been so long since I looked at it there were one or two nicks on unrecognised wrinkles. I returned to work after that as it provided the sit down I badly needed.

At 8.30 am I went to the kitchen and made Mike a coffee which I took through. I had a very one sided conversation reminding him he was next to have a shave. When I thought I’d done enough to ensure he was awake I left. A few minutes later I heard him get up and go through to the lounge. I finished a couple more messages and went to join him and to let Joey out of his cage. When Mike was ready to go for a shave I nipped back to work for a few minutes. At 9.30 am we had to get dressed and I got Mike to help me on with my shoes, I was wearing jeans I could barely bend in to keep my legs hidden. We left at about 10.00 am and the journey only took around half an hour. When we arrived there was no answer at the door and I was worried I had the wrong day. My  nieces arrived minutes later to say they were all at the bus station seeing off Ugo’s sister, the lovely Janet. The girls had they key but as Mike and I went to the car to get the gifts, Ugo, Yvonne and Reuben arrived. My legs got a lovely hug from Reuben when he saw me. I was able to give Yvonne her shoes which she said she loved and looked forward to wearing them. In the lounge we all gave Reuben his birthday presents and he was a little overwhelmed.He did seem to love looking through all his new books and he certainly knows some of the stories. we had lunch and Reuben went for a sleep. The girls went for a quick wander round Chester leaving us with the Belgian Grand Prix. When the girls came back Reuben was up so we had birthday cake. He made a great job of blowing out his 2 candles.

Soon it was time for us all to go. With hugs from the girls they left for home and then Mike and I did the same. We could hear Reuben’s displeasure as we walked down the street to the car. It was pouring with rain the whole journey but nothing holds Mike  up so we flew past other traffic. By flew I mean the tyres didn’t connect with the ground. Once home I let him settle in front of the TV ( and face the displeasure of the bird) while I started playing catch-up with my mail. After an hour and a half I was able to join him for two hours then back here for an hour. I joined him towatch part of a film then dedicated the rest of the time to work and the blog. It’s going to be an early night.

Monday 24th.

It was almost 1.00 am when my light went out this morning after a trip to the loo. I noticed Mike still gaming on his pad. It probably wasn’t to long before sleep came as I’d missed my naps yesterday. There were tips to the loo at 1.56 am and at 2.32 am and at 3.38 am which is when I got up after being unable to settle after yet another visit. At 5.30 am after dealing with my gmail I was thinking I was sorry I hadn’t tried harder. At 6.15 am when I brought my talktalk mail under control I did try again. I lay down on the bed and slept until 7.50 am. That brought me almost to the four hour mark.For once I didn’t need a trip to the loo so I was able to go straight through to the kitchen and take my sprays and morning tablets. I decided against breakfast and just made a coffee to bring back where I spent another hour catching up and a little time on ebay where I’d missed another buy last night by forgetting to go through and bid at 8.15 pm. I missed an item that ended up going for £22.00 that was worth more. Rashly I bid on another item that was more expensive for 5.27 pm tomorrow. I expect to lose that one so was searching for an alternative for today. No joy.

Mike got up at 9.30 am so I went through to make him a drink. At 10.00 m we watched Homes Under the Hammer and it was only when it finished he decided to ask what was planned for today. I had no plans but said I’d fall in with most anything he wanted. I know better than to offer carte blanche. As he came up with the suggestion of going to Wrexham I came up with the idea of going to an antique centre outside Wrexham that he’d enjoyed. I wish he’d stay out of my head. We settled on that and as I went off to get my socks and shoes on, Mike went to get dressed. It was 11.30 am before we rolled out of here.  As we were getting close he decided to check out jewellers in the town centre so we parked up. It was great to find that in some places we could park on double yellow lines for 3 hours using my card. We parked outside a cafe and as it was 12.30 pm went in so I could take my tablet and eat. It was quite basic but clean and pleasant. It turned out the food was good too. We tried 4 jewellers but had no luck after lunch. After so much walking around I was glad to get back in the car for the antique centre. There was a little cafe inside where we had a drink to fortify ourselves then we started going round all the sections. Some very interesting stuff but no jewellery of the type Mike wanted. It’s back to the internet I think unless he has more success in jewellers when he goes home on Wednesday. We drove home.

It was 4.30 before we got in and I had to go straight to work. Only until 6.00 pm though when the second lot of quizzes were on. I ended up staying until 8.00 pm when one of Mike’s programmes came on and I was able to come back to work.Even that only lasted until 9.00 pm when Hellboy came on. Mike hadn’t seen or heard of it before. I enjoyed seeing it again though I regretted doing so as it didn’t end until 11.15 am. I came through at the gallop to do the blog and if I have any stamina, the messages after.

Tuesday 25th.

It was 1.15 am when the light went off last night. It was a real fight as I’m getting close to the end of my book and wanted to carry on reading. I know if I so so that it means buying more books though. Maybe I’ll stop being such a neanderthal and try my tablet in bed. There’s just something special to holding a physical book in bed though. I paid one last visit to the loo and found Mike was going to sleep though he did ask if I was OK. This morning I was up at 4.07 am and after the first visit of the day came back to sign into the computer and my gmail. I was up to date just before 6.00 am and went to get some breakfast and take my tablets. After that I returned to work with a coffee until both my email accounts were clear, about 7.00 am, then I went to sit in the lounge to shut my eyes for a while. It worked. I woke at 8.10 am and felt much better though I was reminded I need a pouffe or something to raise my legs…..or I suppose I could just recline the chair? Mike came through at 8.30 am which gave me quite a shock though he also promptly fell asleep in his chair. I turned an episode of Frasier on and Mike slowly came round after I’d made him coffee.

We were expecting a visit from Mike’s daughter, my niece Lisa today so no plans had been made to go out. It was only at 10.30 he found out she wasn’t coming We continued to watch Homes Under the Hammer and Mike saw no need to get dressed. At 11.00 am I came through to see to mail and Mike decided at 11.30 am to have a shower. Then we decided what to do with the day. Mike had a fancy to eat at the CookHouse in Prestatyn and I certainly wasn’t going to turn down a carvery. I suggested walking up town and looking at the jewellers there. We set off at about midday and parked up near M & S then walked over from there. The meal was delicious and I ate till I was fit to burst. Then we walked up the High Street. We found a small jewellers neither of us knew about and we had a look at a few rings though none were what Mike was looking for. Unfortunately, one was just what I was looking for and Mike was not impressed that I’d been lucky AGAIN. He went into three places but had no luck. I think we’re going to try my suggestion of finding the ring he has which the stone went missing from, and buy a London Topaz of the right size to replace it. One of the jewellers actually said they’d do that for him.

We came home. I immediately started catching up so I’d be in time to watch the quizzes with Mike. I made it bar the first minute or so. It was pretty much a repeat of the early viewing of last night. 3 quizzes followed by two MASH episodes before I came back through at 8.00 pm to catch up again. When I did I rejoined Mike for an old episode of Jonathan Creek. After that at just 10.15 pm I called it a night to come and do the blog. I might check any emails later given time though I’m still not happy with TalkTalk who’ve done anything but improve the experience for me with their changes. I’m lucky when I log in if I don’t get a message that they can’t log me in to that server and to check my account settings. It’s also prone to signing you out very quickly and with no warning. Just awful.  I may take to just using gmail.

The drop off centre.

It wasn’t me Lemme out !

Wednesday 26th.

I finished one book and started another last night, finally turning my light off around 1.15 am. I woke up for trips to the loo at 2.55 am and 3.40 am both times finding Mike was still wide awake gaming on his tablet. Sometimes being awake is self fulfilling if the mind is stimulated which is why it’s better to try relaxing instead. I was determined to go back to sleep on both my trips and managed to easily the first time. When I was finally ready to get up it was 5.14 am at which time I didn’t need the loo so don’t know if Mike was asleep by then. I know after a few minutes I was wishing I’d stayed asleep. I powered up the computer and logged into  my talktalk mail. It came up this morning and allowed me to deal with one message but then wouldn’t allow me to delete and move on. It said I’d timed out and so I had to log out again. So frustrating. It worked fine before they decided to improve things. More frustrating is that you can’t email the problem as they have phone lines for problems which of course I can’t use. I am going to change to my gmail account only. The major frustration of having to deal with Indian call centres for problems with the internet and phone lines means I’ll be looking to change my ISP soon too.

At about 6.00 am I went to take my meds and saw that Mike was still awake. I asked if he wanted a coffee in the hopes that the warmth might encourage some sleep. Since he was travelling home today I didn’t want him driving while tired. Once I’d taken my meds I took a coffee back to my room to carry on with mail. That carried me through until 8.10 am. When I went to take my mug back to the kitchen Mike was at last asleep. It was going to be a peaceful morning and my best excuse yet to tell the housework to take a hike! The peace only lasted until 10.15 am for two reasons. my set top box suddenly decided to stop working thus taking the TV off during Homes Under the Hammer meaning I was left cursing, and also Mike got up despite having had so little sleep. In some ways his arrival was fortuitous as he was able to disconnect the box and set the TV to work back on my old Sky box, unfortunately not until after my programme was over. I was still huffing and puffing a bit when lunchtime approached. I took a pre-foodie and set about making sausages with sweet potato mash, baked beans and onion gravy for lunch. Mike and I watched the Bargain Hunt while we ate and since he was with me I didn’t dare fall asleep before the end.

I did however nod off for a few minutes only not long afterwards. On waking I came through to do some catching up on the post as I don’t want a big backlog when Dil is here. I rejoined Mike in the lounge about 2.45 pm just before he chose to get dressed and pack his case. He left about 3.20 pm and I was quite worried about him driving that distance on just a couple of hours sleep. Last thing he said when he left was “Text you later when I’m home bro.” I came back to the computer and stayed here until 4.00 pm dealing with mail and having sneaky looks on ebay. Being of a very well behaved nature (ahem) I didn’t buy anything….but only because I was outbid. Dil arrived at 4.30 pm and it just happened I was in the kitchen so his cuppa was almost ready before he got to say hello. We nattered a bit about our week and also watched an antique programme before our quiz started. At 6.00 pm prompt I managed to find a way of turning the TV off using the correct remote and we got the games table out. The first 6 games of Yahtzee it was 3 all so we had to go again. I ran through to my room to print off some more sheets.The second six games went to me 4-2, one of them even upsetting him when I got 3 Yahtzees in the same game. Out came the Trivia. He was four pieces in before I got my first though we arrived at the sixth not far apart. He reached the middle and answered a question correctly to win the game though. It would have been honours even had it not been we had some time in hand. We chanced a game of Cribbage and I was lucky enough to win that. He didn’t even slam the door on the way out. It’s a great night for me when he comes.

At 9.45 pm I decided I needed something to eat and my second set of diabetic tabs so I had a curry sauce and chips. It went down well. I washed up, took my evening meds and came through to work.It was 10.10 pm . I did mail to half past then turned to the blog. I ca catch up  on the mail in the morning if needs be. Mike won’t be here until late evening probably.

Playing with water.

Out for a drive.

Thursday 27th.

A surprisingly restful night with no unexpected trips to the loo. I was up at 4.09 am and quickly ready to make up for that lack. On return I signed into my bank to make sure the DWP had no more surprises for me, they didn’t but nor have they yet returned to me the money they owe me. Next I started on my gmail which proved to be quite easy going. As I had sent out an email telling some people of my new email address I also checked there were no important messages on talktalk before deleting them all. Naturally, doing that, everything worked OK today. The first set of mail  took until 6.10 am and I chose that point to go and have breakfast and to take my morning meds. When I returned I found the mail had been busy while I was away. There was also an excellent post about a true hero. A black American who fought in France in WWI and was wounded and yet carried on and trained as a pilot in the French air force as the U.S. Air Force wold not accept black people. In WWII he was a spy in Paris and yet he remains largely unknown. This was a definite reblog. The new batch of post kept me occupied until 8.05 am. I went through to feed and release Joey.

Once done I sat down for a while to talk to Joey. I’m determined he’ll land on me one day. But, it didn’t take long before I nodded off even though it was for less than 15 minutes. At 9.00 am I came through to get dressed. I couldn’t bear socks though and even put my shoes on without which did actually make it less of a struggle to get them on. I took a walk over to Pauline’s for my new lottery tickets and some fresh bread. Somehow some jelly beans also slipped into my bag and Pauline had charged me before I could put them back. Never mind, I’ll force myself. On return I did a few more emails then went to watch Homes Under the Hammer which of course I missed yesterday when the TV went Kaput. I talked to Joey continually and I got the occasional reply but said in a voice that made me quake. I wasn’t in favour. I saw the problem, his millet had fallen out of the clip and Joey was too idle to climb down his ladder to eat it.  I slowly put my hand in the cave and was nearly shaved as he shot past me. I clipped the millet back up and hoped I’d be in favour again. At 11.00 am I left to come back to my messages and hopefully to catch up by lunchtime. I finished at 11.55 am.

Lunch was an easy affair with just a corned beef hash being thrown in to the ‘Bing machine’. I watched Bargain Hunt while I ate and once the washing up  was done I settled in the chair and Bingo, the programme was over and I’d missed the last auction. I didn’t sleep for more than ten minutes and woke to Joey doing a war dance and giving his little mirror hell. The millet was down again. I think he’s doing it on purpose now. I came back to work at 1.00 pm and stayed until 4.30 pm when there was an antiques programme on. I stayed there straight through until 7.00 pm. Mike sent a text to say he was on his way back so I knew to expect him about 9.00 pm unless of course the flight paths were clear. I even left the room with Joey chunnering at me because the millet was down below again. It would have to stay there for now as he was back in the cage and showing no signs of budging. I’ll see if he’s out a little later on. At 8.45 I left to go and put the kettle on ready for Mike’s arrival, and to prepare his mug. It was 9.15 when he walked in. Having seen him coming I was ready for him. We talked about the latest threat from his doctor over his smoking and it made me so grateful I rarely see mine. We watched a fascinating programme on some mass burials found in the catacombs of Rome, discovered after a water main had burst and brought down the roof of one tunnel. They were from the period 1st to 3rd C  AD. Not victims of violence it was a puzzle why there were so many interred in an unusual way. It seems they were probably hit by plagues. There were also women there and tests showed they came from all over, not just Rome. In the end it showed that they were the special Cavalry who protected the Emperors who held high status because of their skills and were buried with their wives. Constantine wiped them out in the 3rd C so there were no burials after that date. After watching Law and Order  (Special Crimes Unit) I came through at 11.00 pm to do the blog and any mail I could manage.

Little boy lost.

Conwy quay looking towards Deganwy

Friday 28th.

Because I started late last night I didn’t get to open my book until 12.15 am. I still closed it at 1.00 am to get some sleep. It took a while to drop off with my legs itching. I woke again at 2.57 am and this time with a raging toothache which the clove gel fought a losing battle against. Still, being up at that time meant I had a heads up on my emails after a trip to the loo. At 5.20 am when the first batch had been dealt with I was able to go through and take my morning meds and prepare my meds for the next week. That took until 5.55 am. No way was I going to have breakfast today though. For a change I sat with my coffee in a darkened lounge watching the outline of Joey sleeping on his swing.Naturally enough I nodded off until 7.10 am at which time it was light enough to follow Joey’s hints and let him out. The moment he left the cage I was able to retrieve the millet again and hang it back up. It was funny watching Joey circle the room but not have the courage to land anywhere unfamiliar. Instead he returned to the mirror and his argumentative companion.

At 8.30 am I took a coffee through to Mike. I wanted to give him the chance to move earlier. He came through to the lounge about 8.50 am and we talked for a while about his meds and what the doctor had said. We watched a couple of episodes of Frasier and I was about to turn the TV off and miss Homes Through the Hammer when he said “I suppose I’d better make a move”. I agreed and carried on watching. When he was dressed and ready to go I told him to drive carefully. I didn’t want him rushing because he was late to pick up his sister. I did another hour on messages before making my lunch at midday. When I say make, I mean bung in the microwave . I watched Bargain Hunt while I ate and managed to see the auction part without falling asleep. However, that happened withing 5 minutes of turning off. Joey woke me at 2.05 pm and I came back through to work. I stayed until 4.30 pm when I was almost clear.I stayed away until 7.00 pm then after Mike had texted to say he was on his way back, I had a catch up on the computer. I was really cross with myself for not coming back through to bid on a ring that was due at 5.27 pm. It would have made a great Christmas present . My memory is awful, I’d swear I have one of the elderly diseases if I could remember any of them……..and if I were elderly.

At 8.00 pm I locked the front door and went for a shower. I’d only been in the bathroom for two minutes when I heard Mike come back. He came straight into the bathroom as he was desperate for the loo. Then he obligingly washed my hair and half drowned himself in the process. I finished my shower and went through to make him a coffee all the time asking how his day had been with his Dad and his sisters, the youngest being over from Canada today. Then we sat  and watched Would I Lie To You and the latest episode of Ripper Street before I came through to catch up and do the blog. I left Mike laughing his head off at some comedy/news show.

Saturday 29th.

Loaded with painkillers I put my light out at 12.30 am last night. I managed to sleep until 3.54 am when I woke up needing my early morning trek and also some more painkillers. As well as some co-codamol after an hour I’m topping up with Disprin Direct which having seen them on the shelves of the local £ Shops for a period I’m guessing have stopped being made. I’m devastated if that’s the case as I think they’re not just a great painkiller but are fantastic in that they’re chewable and need no water. So it doesn’t matter where you are, you can always clear a headache. Another bonus is the taste which is a little like lemon so no disgusting aftertaste. Anyway, the adverts are now over, I signed into my emails online and started clearing them. I’d finished the first lot by 5.30 am and moved to my other mail account which only took 40 minutes. So, at 6.10 am I went through to the kitchen to take my meds for the day and to make myself a coffee. I also prepared Mike’s mug ready for the 6.30 am wake up call.

When his alarm went off I took the coffee through and woke him. After that I forgot about him while I concentrated on the bons, the big one for household rubbish and the smaller for food waste. When I came back in the house I was drinking my coffee and by 6.50 am realised Mike had disabled his alarm. I went to give him another call. He was disorientated when he woke but recognised the words cold coffee easily. He got up. I suppose it’s 1 A 2 C today though really I feel cheated as there should have been another ignored alarm in there somewhere. He sat with his drink while I went to get dressed and to catch up with any post (8) that had come in since I’d gone to wake him. It was definitely a slow start this morning but we were actually on our way out at 7.30 am with all the rubbish bins and bags out ready for collection.

When we got to ASDA Mike went for the trolley while I raided the cash machine. When the sledgehammer didn’t work, I used my card. We made a start. Mike went to get my pop from a display nrar the door while I went to get sweet potatoes. We arranged to meet by the flowers. We found 3 bunches of flowers that should go together well and make a nice display for Ju. Next I splashed out £2 on a teeshirt in the sale. I’m now a Tonka man. For some reason at that point we both decided we were dry. That meant flying round the foodstuffs and then heading for the cafe . While Mike ordered the coffee I went to get my cigarettes. When we’d finished the drink, Mike went for his cigarettes. We loaded up the car and headed for Flint. After parking up outside Temptations we walked over to Homie’s so I could get a LooBloo and a couple of other things. Then we went to the pet shop so Mike could get some fish food and I got Joey a seed bell in reserve. He’s nearly done with his current one. We moved on to B&M where I can’t remember what I bought and then onto Temptations for a drink and Mike’s teasted toecake breakfast.

After bidding the girls and Kyle goodbye, we searched a couple of shops for some tablets I needed. Though I’m taking the painkillers I also wanted some Disprin Direct as a top up about an hour behind the main tablets. It seemed to work yesterday. Not so much today as the pain is constant. I’m pretty sure there’s an abscess there. As Mike is still in search of his ring, we decided to make a trip to Rhos on Sea today. The drive there was quite nice using back roads and having the windows open. I wasn’t ready to trust the weather and have the top down. We had lunch at a well established place on the sea front and from there wandered round 2 antique shops that deal in jewellery  and 2 jewelers. No joy still but he was advised to buy an old solid ring with something like a garnet in and then have a jeweler replace the garnet with his London Blue Garnet. I reminded him while we were looking that there are two other choices of stone he can have………just in case he really gets desperate.

It was about 4.00 pm we moseyed home again and unpacked the shopping to put away. I was able to excuse myself then to come and catch up on the mail. I found it very hard to concentrate and there were far fewer comments made than usual for which I hope to be forgiven. I went back through to keep him company at 7.00 pm. We watched the celebrity edition of a quiz towards the end of which despite the pain from my face I nodded off. When I woke, it  was towards the end of an episode of ‘Lewis’ and my face had swollen considerably. I even told Mike he could have my two  chocolate eclairs if he wanted. I left him at 10.00 pm so he could watch football and I could concentrate on catching up before doing the blog.

Llandudno beach.

The Family. Reuben, Ugo and Yvonne.

 

Have a Wonderful New Week filled with Hugs, luck, love and Happiness.