Competition for Breakfast & Pension Idiocy.

Sunday 24th Jan.

03.38 am was son up this morning, at least this son. It hardly seemed fair since I’d only turned my light out to sleep at 1.00 am Even by my standards it was a little on the mean side. Still, there was every chance I’d make up for it later.I didn’t realise that I’d start about 5.00 am by falling asleep over my keyboard and my typing fingers would fill my screen with lots of stuff from the deep background of the computer. At least my head didn’t hit either the keyboard or the desk since I was sitting so close my fat stomach wouldn’t let me fold that low. I was awake again and trying to sort the screen out by 5.45 am and I drifted to the kitchen to take the morning meds.                                 Coming back with my coffee afterwards I ploughed into the mail as there were still over 100 pieces left. Some of the mail came from comments put on the blog last night.

There was work enough to keep me going until 10.00 am but I had a quick break at 9.00 am to wash my mug and to let Joey out of his cage. It seemed a big lighter earlier this morning. After 10.00 am I’d had enough and needed a break so sat in the lounge talking to Joey. That can’t have lasted long until I was asleep again. I came to at 10.50 am and wondered where Mike was. The answer it seemed was still in his pit. I mad a coffee and took it through to him. Once I’d woken him I went back to my bedroom to see if there was more mail. I heard Mike go through to the lounge and a “Bloody Hell” when he saw the time. I went through to see he was OK.                                                                By 11.30 am he’s asked about our plans for the day and been told we had none but going through to get dressed I’d said I wouldn’t mind finding a jumper somewhere. He reminded me he’d bought me two for my birthday. They’re nice but not the colour I wanted. However I decided to put one on. The other we found was the wrong size and like so many f us had relied on the coat hanger rather than the ticket. That changed the tone of the day as Mike wanted to get it changed at Marks and Spencer. That would mean Prestatyn which dictated where we’d eat.

By 11.45 am we were on our way and were parking up about 12.10 pm. We went straight for lunch at the CookHouse first and found the beef was just falling apart it was so tender. Mike was sorry he’d had half and half gammon and beef. We finished there and went back to the car to collect the bag with the jumper and then into M & S. It didn’t take long to get permission to change it and Mike said I could find a different one If I wanted but I decided to stick with his choice and just got the appropriate size.                  From there we drove home but Mike stopped at LIDL so I could get a brochure. I picked up some pyjamas for Reuben at the same time.                                                                       Back at home we suffered a telling off for going out from the demented green thing before I stuck on indoor bowling and fell asleep. I don’t know if Mike slept too but he was awake when I woke up and said it was time he left. I helped him carry his bags out and waved him off before coming back in and locking the door. Straight in to start work then.

I worked from 3.30 pm to 5.45 am then went to get some tea. I was late with my antibiotic too so I was glad I’d gone. Somehow I got caught in  what I was watching on TV and missed half of Beowulf. Mike texted to say he was back home safely and suggested I just watch it an hour later on the catch up channel. Doing so would have meant I’d be out of the room until 11.00 pm as Endeavour was on straight afterwards and I wasn’t missing that too as it was the last one of 4. So I came through here at 10.00 pm and started work on the mail and then the blog. I think I might just make midnight in bed.

Monday 25th Jan.

I made the midnight deadline and had a good read until 12.55 am. It took some wriggling to find a position comfortable for sleep. I did drop off and the next thing I knew was waking up at 3.02 am. Not the best time of the night but not the worst either. No doubt I’ll be able to extend the period today sometime. I’ve become quite adept at the power naps. Mike would probably tell you that few people have as much power. Mind you, he’s no slouch in the power stakes either.                                                                                I set to at my gmail account and spent until 5.05 am reading posts or comments and making comments of my own where appropriate. Then I went to the kitchen to take the morning round of meds. I couldn’t be bothered with breakfast so I’ll have to eat at teatime but that’s no problem. I hung around there filling small bottles of Pepsi Max from a big bottle and trying to get them in the fridge. One I took back to the bedroom with me for my nightstand as I ran out last night.

When I got back to my room it was almost 6.00 am so I just completed the post that was there while waiting for the flood. What flood? The 6.10 am lot came through in small easy to cope with parcels so that it never seemed too much. They still took until 9.52 am to clear though. Time to give Joey fresh water and seed as well as a bit of attention. I turned the TV on ready for Homes Under the Hammer and missed half of it asleep. I was woken by the closing music so turned the box off in disgust and came back to work, putting the washing machine on before I left.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Work had accumulated again so I cleared that up in time to see to lunch at 11.55 am, and put the washing on to dry. I was a little distracted as Val hasn’t been this morning. If she calls and gets no answer she usually texts to say she’s been. I had lunch and watched Bargain Hunt. Joey wasn’t interested and just went for a kip in his cage. I showed him what will power is all about when I returned to work at 1.00 pm.

By 2.30 pm I’d returned t the lounge and shown Joey the proper time for 40 winks. I was still there at 3.45 pm and had to motivate myself to move by reminding myself I wanted the TV again at 4.30 pm. I got back up to date and then checked Facebook which I rarely do, but some people choose to message me there instead of my email. I caught up there too. I enjoyed my Antiques Road Trip and then made myself some tea, baked beans on toast which I’d fancied all day. I had a bit of trifle afterwards. There was still time to enjoy some of the quiz. Then came Eggheads which was good but between 6.30 pm – 7.00 pm I had to play catch-up again as I intended to be away from the computer until 10.00 pm. First came the Celebrity Road Trip which was followed by an episode of Lewis where he returns from retirement. That means that I’ve had to dash to make sure all the mail is done and the blog tonight. I’m off out in the morning and don’t want to leave anything behind except tomorrow’s mail.

First they tell me about the Big Bad Wolf, then they dress me as dinner.

It’s OK Daddy said I’m a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Tuesday 26th Jan.

Despite pushing my luck a bit last night I still managed to scrape to bed at around midnight. I still managed to read until almost 1.00 am before I turned my light out. I was ready to get up when I woke until I saw the time was 1.38 am. That’s the kind of sick puppy joke of Somnos himself. I just swung myself back into bed and willed myself back to sleep with laughter ringing in my ears. I was ready to get up when I woke at 3.22 am though. I didn’t dare go for another session just in case I ended up missing my bus later.   Anyway, I was due for an antibiotic at 4.00 am. I wandered through to the kitchen, filled a couple of small Pepsi Max bottles then took an empty bottle and an empty milk bottle through to the plastic recycling bag.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Going back to the kitchen I took the antibiotic and the first of the two anti smoking tablets then opening a fresh bottle of milk I took the rest of my meds. Because I intend to have some breakfast with Yvonne this morning I had nothing at this time. That meant I was able to get back to my room much quicker with a cup of coffee.

After signing on it only took me until 5.05 am to clear the gmail box. After that I got dressed and then either did each piece of mail when it came in , checked the live feed on Facebook or checked out Ebay. Nothing too strenuous. When 6.10 am arrived I was put to work on the new post. There was just so much of it. At 7.10 am I had to stop and get my things together ready to go. I’d have to leave the house at 7.20 am as the bus is getting their earlier in competition with the other company. They say the other company has changed it’s timetable to go early to try and put them out of business.                                                                                                                                                                                      I left the house and reached the bus stop in time. The journey was beset by problems, mainly roadworks, and I had to text Yvonne to tell her I’d be late. I suggested she head into Boots the Chemist and find something nice for Amelie that I could pay for when I got there. That caused the first disagreement of the day…… by text.                       When I did eventually get there fifteen minutes late I joined them in the shop and found something for both Amelie and Reuben anyway. We went off to get breakfast. It was just as well as I needed a wee and then a cup of tea.We ordered breakfast and then had argument number 2 about who was paying. I gave in with good grace as it was a battle and I needed to win the war. That came next when I gave her £60 that she’s posted to my bank account to pay for meals on my birthday. I wasn’t having that when everyone else had let me pay. Eventually she took it back.

I has Amelie on my knee and she was as good as gold except she let me know when she was hungry. Frightened she might be competition for my breakfast I foisted her back on her Mum who fed her. Then she came back to me. Breakfast came and  Amelie went in her pram while I ate. It was lovely and filling. After we’d both done, we took a walk out to our favourite shop just like old times. I was able to buy a couple of things for Yvonne as well as things for the children. Arguments ensued but it was good to be back and even the staff raised their eyes when they saw who was coming to the counter arguing as usual. I just ignored the arguing and went my own sweet way as usual.         We were on the way out of the shop when we saw what time it was. The morning had flown by. My bus was drawing in over the road. I kissed them both goodbye and sent a hug back for spotty Muldoon. I got on the bus and waved as it drew away.

The journey back wasn’t too bad but having been without a cigarette the whole time I was out I called into Pauline’s and bought some. After a visit to the loo it was the first thing I did, light a fag. Bliss. Breakfast having been late there was no need to eat so after releasing Joey from his cage I went straight to work. I worked from 1.00 pm to 2.15 pm then from 3.00 pm to 4.30 pm to clear the backlog. Then I stayed in the lounge from 4.30 pm to 9.00 pm before closing Joey’s door and wishing him goodnight. I came through to work for the last stretch.

Oi ! Stop looking up, I’m down here.

It’s such a hard life staying awake.

Wednesday 27th Jan.

I was in bed before 11.30 pm last night and my light went off when I’d had enough of reading (is this possible?) at 12.15 am. The next thing I knew it was 3.14 am though it didn’t feel like that. Before swinging my legs out I put my glasses on and the time now read 1.34 am. I turned over,plumped up my pillows and waited to go back to sleep. It obviously happened because I next woke ( verified by wearing glasses) at 3.48 am. I paid a visit to the loo and came back to sign on to the computer.                                               I checked last night’s Eurolottery and found I hadn’t won. In fact no-one had again and there was yet another rollover. It’s estimated to be something like £113 m on Friday night. Still dreaming of how far I could spread money like that I went to my gmail and started reducing the bulk.                                                                                                                          At 5.00 am I went for breakfast and to take my meds. I was obviously not concentrating as I took my two post-foodies before I even started my breakfast instead of two painkillers.

Returning to my screen I carried on working and watched the flood at 6.10 am without worry. After all, I had time enough today. That was what I thought right up until I got dressed at 8.00 am and remembered I needed to go to the hospital this morning. I managed to open Joey’s cage before I left at 8.20 am. The bus came at 8.30 am bur when I managed to get on, sat there until almost 8.45 am. When I got to the hospital through the wind and rain I didn’t have long to wait before being seen. It was the same nurse and this time she was much more chatty, talking about her own success using Champix, the same non-smoking drug I’m using. She did say I was doing well but that this week I should have nominated a day to quit and suggested Sunday. She told me to return to the hospital on Saturday to have the leg checked again.                                         I left and walked back to town. It wasn’t especially cold but the wind and the rain were unpleasant. I had half an hour to wait for the bus. I called in at Pauline’s on the way home and bought a chips and curry sauce as well as my bread.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Back at home I had chance to do just twenty minutes work before watching Homes Under the Hammer. Then I intended to return to work but fell asleep until 11.45 am. That meant I had to start thinking about lunch so had a cottage pie. Of course I watched Bargain Hunt but I made sure I didn’t fall asleep after that and returned to my desk. I had to fight all afternoon to get the messages down to a reasonable level and then to finish them completely but I was done by 4.05 pm. I had no idea what time Dil would appear but I wanted to be ready.

I was ready. I’d just started watching the Road Trip when I saw him appear. I got up to make him a drink. When he came in I was able to say the contestants were local in Ruthin and working their way to an auction where he lives in Colwyn Bay. We spent ages looking for people we knew. We caught up on our week since last Wednesday and exchanged news. We watched Pointless as usual before turning the box off and starting the gaming. As far as Yahtzee, Trivia and Cribbage are concerned, we played and I never want them mentioning again. Needless to say it wasn’t my day. When Dil left to my cheers and his crowing like a cockerel, I tidied up, washed the pots, took my meds and locked Joey away for the night. I came through to start on the mail and the blog hoping I’d get an early night. I think I will with a bit of luck.

So what d’you want to talk about Pops?

And who gets the prize for Most Surprised Look?

Thursday 28th Jan

I was in bed by 11.30 pm last night and had finished reading by 12.15 am as I was tired. It didn’t help much by getting me up at 2.13 am this morning even though I fought a valiant fight for more sleep. The small gods probably want me disappointed for longer. That’s because when I’d signed into the computer I went straight to the bank, my Pension Credit payment is £102.80 less than usual based on my new State Retirement Pension award, trouble is, the SRP people haven’t told me yet what my pension is  and it certainly hasn’t gone in the bank today. I’ve heard of other people having to survive on no income for 3 weeks until the SRP people get their act together. I seem to remember that Mike had problems with them. Not the best news to wake up to. That could severely curtail what Mike and I do at the weekends, like eat for instance.

I started work on the inbox of my gmail account and just broke off at 4.00 am to take an antibiotic. I was clear by 4.35 am. I lay on the bed and willed myself to sleep, just as well I’m strong willed. I was out until 5.40 am which was great. There was time to take all the usual meds before the post started pouring in.                                                             When I got back there was just one in my box. I quickly did it hoping that was it until about lunchtime, but no, that one was just the cork holding the flow of others back. It quickly grew to over 60 which even so was quite light by normal standards. I just kept going and going till suddenly there wasn’t one left and it was only 8.45 am. I let Joey out early in celebration.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             I didn’t know what to do as I’d promised myself I wouldn’t go out today (except maybe the chippy at lunch time) and there was no washing to be done. I couldn’t hoover the lounge because I’d let Joey out. He panics if the hoover goes yet in his cage he goes to his little corner and is fine. I was almost grateful when I saw more emails beginning to trickle through. I just sat there dealing with them one by one as they arrived. Anytime there was a pause I turned to Ebay, there were some fantastic bright red grandad collar shirts on there. What a temptation.

At 9.00 am I went through to chat to Joey, he really likes company. I stayed to watch Homes Under the Hammer then I returned to work for a while. It was daft, I’d been away 2 hours and only 12 messages in all that time and the ones I expected weren’t there. So at 11.15 am I went to the kitchen and peeled my sweet potatoes and an onion. After laying my sausages out to cook I had a cigarette before taking my pre-foodies and starting to cook the sausages. A quarter brown I turned the sausages and put the potatoes on. When they were done I mashed them while the onion cooked. I plated up the potatoes and then the sausages , added the onion to some gravy and poured it over the meal. I really enjoyed it. There are even sausages left in case Mike wants a sandwich tonight. Provided he’s coming tonight, I haven’t heard yet.                                        At 1.00 pm after Bargain Hunt I returned to work again. There was plenty in but still not some I expected. I hoped everything was OK.                                                                          There was a message from Yvonne though who’d had some success with the Pensions Service this morning having found out how much they’re paying me. They’re supposed to be writing to me. The only problem I can foresee , and I think this is ridiculous, is that they’re going to pay me 4 weeks in arrears. Why don’t they prepare you for that after having paid weekly before. How do they expect many people to survive without money for 4 weeks?

At 2.00 pm I was free again my mail box empty. I was just wandering back towards the lounge when I heard my mobile beep a message had been received. It was Mike to say he was on the way. I could expect him around 4.30 pm then. I watched The Father Brown Mystery then had a short catch up period before watching a bit of the new antiques programme. I spent another half an hour or so clearing mail then went through to wait for Mike. Unfortunately I fell asleep for a few minutes and when I woke up he was in his chair next to me. Luckily the kettle was still hot so I knew I hadn’t been gone long. I made him a coffee and we were able to see Road Trip together.                        We chatted through our programmes and I was there until 10.00 pm after Murder in Paradise.                                                                                                                                                             I took my meds and came through to catch up on any new mail. I was glad to see that which I’d missed during the day was there. Then blog time. Bed by midnight I’m sure.

It’s boring doing nothing at all.Maybe I’ll just……

Hang on, did someone mention a party?

Friday 29th Jan.

In bed at 11.44 pm and lights out at 12.45 am. Sleep must have come reasonably soon since I remember just a short period of annoying, repetitive thoughts.                               The lark was up and bade me follow at 2.43 am even though I tried to make my way back to sleep instead. Sometimes the small gods are truculent beings because further sleep was not on the menu despite an hour after moving I was yawning my head off. At 4.0 am I took my antibiotic which meant I couldn’t have breakfast and take my other meds for an hour. In fact cross breakfast off the menu altogether (pun intended) as today is the day for doing my drug tray for the next week. That takes so long to do I can’t afford time to eat as well. I had my surgery appointment at 8.30 am again and I needed to clear as much work as possible before leaving. I decided to take my other meds at 4.00 am as well and go straight into doing the replacement tray.

When I returned at 4.40 am with my coffee I was amazed to find no more mail waiting for me. I was tempted to try for sleep but was afraid if it happened it might make me late for the surgery. Mike wouldn’t get up of his own accord even with an alarm to remind him.                                                                                                                                                            Instead I looked for and found a free crossword site and sat doing those until I saw any new messages enter the box. At 5.30 am I got dressed just to give my bum a break from the chair. I was wearing one of the jumpers Mike got me for my birthday. I think they call this a cowl neck.                                                                                                                          At 6.10 am the mail started coming through and unlike yesterday it came virtually all at once. Whoosh 80 short pause 94 then trickles. I had almost an hour so I started and just kept going. When 6.25 am arrived and I had to make a coffee to take through to Mike I was still on 73 outstanding. His alarm went off to coincide with the arrival of the coffee, I still announced it in stentorian voice of course. After the third ignored alarm I was going to go through but he stirred and went through to the lounge. I was down to 61 by then but I had to leave it to be sure we’d get out on time for the appointment. Thanks to him shaking a leg we did.

I’d only just confirmed I was there and sat down when S. called me. I didn’t check my watch. Really there were only a few questions to answer,How was the leg? How is the non-smoking going? Any change in mood noted? All my answers were positive, well I was positive they weren’t exactly lies anyway. She was pleased and happy to leave me on the drugs for another week, and I needn’t see her next week but the week after. (Now that’s a shame). I said goodbye and left. At the reception desk I noted I was leaving before I was even due in this week. I cancelled one appointment and made another. Then battling the strong winds I made my way slowly into town. I decided to call into the supermarket rather than freeze in the bus shelter so I picked up some strawberries for Mike’s supper. Later I didn’t have long to wait at the bus stop and was able to call into Pauline’s for my lottery tickets when I got off the bus.  Then I bought a bacon bap from the sandwich shop.                                                                                                                           I reached home and checked Joey was OK. Having half an hour to spare before Homes Under the Hammer I restarted work and ate my bacon bap as I did. That way I’d only be a little late with my antibiotic and I could take my time over my second meal of the day now breakfast was done. At 10.00 am the number was at 58 which accounted for more having come through and not that I’d only done 3 messages.

After HUtH I came back to work ready to concentrate only to be frustrated as they took so long to load and messages came up to say no internet connection. The little arrow at the top of the screen was going anticlockwise and refused to budge. Each one was excruciatingly slow but I persevered. Finally just before 1.00 pm I cleared the box. I went through to watch the news which included  tales of this latest bout of inherited weather sending atrocious winds to batter us. I was going to watch Father Brown bu found my eyelids were in the way. I was awake before the end and found I’d seen it before anyway so I watched the antiques show instead. I cam back to work from 3.45 pm to 4.30 pm just to  be sure  I’d cleared what I could then went to watch my Road Trip. No text from Mike so he was going to miss it. Perhaps he’ll stay out as Man. Utd. are on TV tonight and he’d have to watch it in his bedroom.

I was cross at 7.00 pm when I turned over for my Celebrity Road Trip only to find it wasn’t on.  It’s annoying when the TV companies make changes after they’ve given the programme details to magazines . We sit there like lemons waiting for something to come on. Mike sent a text about 7.15 am to say he was on his way. I was surprised as he’d miss the start of his game. I’d nodded off before he arrived back and only woke to see him leaving the room to go ant turn the TV on in his bedroom. I went to do him a coffee. There was a programme at 8.30 pm putting certain products to test which I watched then at 9.00 pm told Mike he could watch the main TV while I went for a shower.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Following the shower I came through to start work on the accumulated mail and the blog. Nice clean mail from me now. It’s currently 11.20 pm and I expect to be in bed no later than 11.45 pm.

Is this a raspberry on my head?

Oh wait, I’m a fashion icon not a fruit bowl.

Saturday 30th Jan.

I made it to bed by 11.45 pm and started to read. I was going to put the book down at 12.30 am but found I wasn’t tired. Moments later Mike came in to say he couldn’t get to sleep. He’d heard a short time ago his Dad was at the hospital again after another fall and he’s hurt his head this time. Mike’s sister has gone to the hospital and will be keeping him up to date.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  I finally put my book down a few minutes after 1.00 am. Sleep didn’t come easily but come it did. I woke exactly at 3.30 am no question but it was time to get up. A quick visit to the Piddle Palace and I was ready to start work. First of all I checked Skype to see if there was a new message from MuJo. I haven’t seen them since before Christmas and their gifts are still here waiting for them. John has been quite poorly though it took him a long time to admit it.  Judging by the frequency and type of his recent replies he’s well on the road to recovery. There was a new response which said ‘See you soon’ which is great, maybe they can open these gifts before the next ones are due.

I went onto my gmail next and started work there. It only took until 5.10 am to finish that lot and it seemed a good time for a break so I wandered through to the kitchen and took my meds and had breakfast. At 5.30 am I returned with  coffee to see what else was in until it was time to start taking bins out and getting a coffee to Mike to kick off the process of him getting up. At .15 am the alarm went and I was running to get the kettle on. The coffee was delivered with the second alarm. Amazingly he got up with the third. More amazingly we were out of the house at 7.15 am playing dustbin men and dragging the bins t the end of the path. The winds were so bad this morning I’m not putting any recycling out, they can have it next week instead. Otherwise I could end up looking for the bags the next County over.                                                                                     We were almost pulling into the store car park when I remembered I was in a different coat and hadn’t transferred my Blue Badge disabled parking permit over.Still, at this time we weren’t exactly fighting for space. We ended up very close to where we normally are.                                                                                                                                                                 Going round the store was quite quick which I put down to my organised list but I was horrified to have spent £70.00 bar pennies and of course Mike was delighted. I did get the kiddies some clothes.

We had our usual drink before setting off again, this time in the direction of Flint. Mike detoured to ALDI so I could get the latest brochure. We parked outside Temptations as usual and headed for Homies to get a couple of things I needed. Instead of carrying on round the shops we decided to go for our drinks and see Ceri. Plus it was warmer in there than outside. After teasing her as much as possible we left in search of a bag Mike wanted to take to his sister in Canada when he goes in March. We could get everything except what he wanted.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    We upped sticks and headed off to the hospital in Holywell where a lovely nurse removed the dressing and said how well it was doing. We decided to leave it open to the air now. I’ll just have to keep my fingernails to myself.

We drove over to Kinmel Bay to get fish food for Mike ( for his fish really) as it’s the only place we know that stocks the brand he wants. Then as it was lunch time we headed back towards home and stopped for a meal at the Bells of St Mary’s. Not up to scratch today but worth the visit to see the new meals they’re doing now.                          At last we came home and after unpacking and putting away the shopping I was allowed to come to work. I started just before 2.00 pm and finished at 5.50 pm. It turns out that was handy as the Road Trip I was deprived of last night was on tonight. I managed to stay awake through that and turned over afterwards for a detective show. I seemed to sleep through most of that just waking once in a while to try and convince Mike I’d been following the plot all the way through. It didn’t work.                                       At 9.00 pm I came through to catch up but that didn’t take as long as expected for some reason so at 10.15 pm I was able to rejoin Mike for a while. Then I had no choice but to return to battle and do the blog.It’s been a good day.

Roobs celebrates his recovery at the beach.

My wunnerful niece Karen with Amelie.

I wish you all a wonderful new week full of dreams come true and with Hugs Galore.

The Sly and Sneaky Gene & The Great Postal Robbery.

Sunday 8th Nov.

Well, after a great night I managed to get the blog out on time and I even managed some mail. When I got to bed finally I read until just 1.00 am then turned the light off. At 2.00 am I gave up trying to sleep here and went to the loo. I spotted Mike still playing with himself ( come on girls- I mean on his tablet) then went to the lounge and sat in the magic chair.
I had my usual smoke then felt relaxed enough to try for sleep.At some point I succeeded and my eyes stayed shut until 6.04 am this morning. That was great and I came back to my room to turn the computer on. A huge disappointment (as usual now) with Talktalk letting me down. Their system is really pants since they did ‘improvements.’ Luckily gmail had plenty to keep me going.

It was 8.10 am before I went to take my meds and I decided against breakfast at that time. I’ll eat lunch and tea today instead. I opened Joey’s cage to give him freedom and hoped he’d come out so I could clean the cage later, then came back to a few more from gmail and then tried re-signing into Talktalk. This time it came on with 102 messages waiting. Some were duplicates and I managed to zip through those. It was 10.08 am before I finished there but didn’t refresh as I needed to get to Joey and his cage.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Just as I went through, so did Mike. I made him a coffee then nudged him awake to drink it and to help me get Joey’s cage of the base so the base could be cleaned properly.It took a while to be thorough with all parts of the base, it’s drawer and the grill that stopped Joey walking in the grit on the base. Eventually I went back through and nudged Noddy again to help me get the base back on. While he drank his coffee  I put fresh seed and water in the cage and a new piece of millet. That was Joey done and dusted. My turn next. I went to my room to get dressed and to check on mail while there. Nothing up on ebay today. Mike got himself dressed and we eventually left the house to find food at about 12.30 pm.

When we got to Prestatyn it was approaching 1.00 pm but fortunately the lousy weather must have kept some people in, there was room in the CookHouse. As always the food was nice but I cut my portion down a little as I’d eaten last night. We did a couple of shops in Prestatyn and I got a few items for Christmas stockings. Then we came home and I sat chatting with Mike in the lounge until it was time for him to go home at about 4.00 pm. His granson is in hospital with pneumonia at the moment and Mike’s son is staying there with him. Mike needs to pick his granddaughter up from a friends and look after her, making sure she gets to school tomorrow. Everyone hopes his grandson will be out of hospital tomorrow.

Once Mike had gone I attacked the mail again until almost 7.00 pm when I went through to watch a couple of programmes I enjoy. I was ready to come back through at 9.00 pm when Joey decided to come out of his cage. While waiting for him to go back again I got involved in a programme about psychopaths because it was a bout a serial killer that my brother in law John knew from childhood. Peter Moore was gay but targeted homosexuals while presenting a very different image to the public as a businessman bringing cinemas back to North Wales. The man has been behind bars for about twenty years now but MuJo still get birthday and Christmas cards from him with news about appeals he’s going to make.

Monday 9th Nov.

I read in bed last night as usual.The antics of Terry Pratchett’s witches kept me smiling but I was tired too. Lights out at 1.00 am. I tried and tried to sleep to no avail. At 2.37 am I got up and went through to the lounge. Sleep eventually arrived in my chair, I think it had missed the last bus and walked to get to me. I was up again at 5.24 am. After paying a visit so I knew my bladder was happy I went to take my meds and make some breakfast. Yes it was cold toast and butter again.                                                                I put the washing machine on before I started eating though everyone says it doesn’t suit me. I used fastwash at 15 minutes so I only had to wait a minute or so for the cycle to finish before putting the drier on. Ax that takes 3 hours there was plenty of time to come through to my room and power up.

Talktalk was still not at it’s best. Having done one page of messages I attempted to delete them only for Talktalk to log me out. Feeling a bit peeved I logges in again but it was taking so long to load I turned to gmail instead. I dealt with everything they had to throw at me though I had to throw some back and then turned to Talktalk again. It had loaded properly and I was able to work my way through the list. That took me till 9.10 am at  which time I needed to dress and get my prescription request to the chemist.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               I called in at Pauline’s on the way back to pick up a chips in curry sauce, just in case, you understand. I didn’t want to be out too long as the new postie is a bit erratic time wise and I’m hoping for a delivery today. When I got back the postie hadn’t been. I worked on mil until 10.00 am then joined Joey for Homes Under the Hammer, me to watch it, him to chunner through it. At 11.00 am I returned to work disappointed not to have seen the postie.

At 11.35 am my warden Bev came. Last week she’d been on holiday so I was able to ask her what the weather had been like hoping to brighten my day,  but it had poured down for her just like here. To be fair she did get some sunshine so it wasn’t all bad. We talked about my legs so I got them out and waved them about a bit. I have no idea why as she’s not a nurse. I hope I didn’t put her off her dinner.While she was here the postie arrived and he did have a package for me.                                                                             Bev left at noon and I took my pre-foodie tab and put my lunch in the micro. Yes, it was curry sauce and chips. Just as well Bev didn’t hang around. I watched Bargain Hunt while eating and my nemesis was on again. I think they chose him as an expert not because he’s any good but because it would get up my nose. ( No comments please about how roomy this particular schnozzle is).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              At 1.00 am I turned the box off and settled down for what I’d been wanting all morning, 40 winks. Joey wasn’t having any of that though. The moment all was quiet he set up such a racket. I had to start telling the vain little beggar what a pretty boy he is. Just to frustrate me further there was a knock at the door and another parcel was being delivered by courier. I was so pleased to  see this one as I can now pack my Christmas watches away for Temptations staff. The boxes I’d bought previously wouldn’t close with a watch inside them. Annoying as they’re far superior boxes but I’m sure they’ll do for something someday.                                                                                                                          I came back to work again until 3.00 pm even though there was a temptation to slide onto the bed and close my eyes for a minute. I went back through to Joey and watched Escape To the Country. I don’t want you to listen to him if he starts spreading rumours that I dropped off.

After the programme I went through to Mike’s room and started putting the watches in boxes ready for wrapping sometime. There were also a couple of gents watches needed boxing ( and they only just fit ) ready to go in bags which I did. After that I came back to check the mail again and started work on it . I caught up at 5.35 pm and was able to watch my quizzes. Joey came out of the cage and I noticed he’d dropped the millet again so I recovered it and put it back up for him. It reminded me I was peckish so I had a couple of mince pies.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                I had MASH on for a while but wasn’t really concentrating as I had a magazine. I was going to watch a film but noticed at 8.00 am there were two episodes of DIY SOS which I really enjoy ( despite the lump in the throat) so I watched those instead. When 10.00 p,m came I said goodnight to Joey, took my meds and came through. I worked on mail first and then the blog. I’ll make the midnight bed deadline but I’m going straight to my chair tonight.

The distance between feet and pedals is all wrong.

You never said it was electrified.

Tuesday 10th Nov.

After reading till almost 1.00 am I turned my light off and made my way to my chair. Sleep didn’t come easy as I was listening to the latest hit from Stormy Gale and the Flying Slates. I woke at 4.04 am and the damn record was still playing. I headed in the direction of my bedroom  and detoured to prove I’m no male witch as I was able to pass water. It felt I was there a long time but I was in the bedroom logging on at ten minutes past.                                                                                                                                              Talktalk more or less behaved first thing and I was soon into the swing of answering emails. I broke off at 5.00 am for breakfast and my meds. I wasn’t sure at that time if I’d be going to Chester. Even if I was prepared to venture out in it I wasn’t sure I wanted Yvonne to, if she went down in this wind we’d never get her up again. And if I rolled her home the new baby would get very dizzy. It’s just a month and a half away before there’s another new baby in my world. Things are getting scary at the moment as I realise that in just two short months I’ll be 65. Officially too old for everything. To be honest I’m surprised I made it this far and plenty of times I wished I hadn’t.

By 7.30 am the wind was still howling a bit but the rain had stopped. I started out. Unfortunately the wind was coming downhill as I was trying to get uphill. Fortunately,Howard pulled up alongside me before I’d completely run out of breath. I settled in my seat and nodded off. Though I was awake every time we pulled up at a stop the journey still went quickly. Yvonne had let me know she was determined to come so I wasn’t worried she wasn’t there waiting. I walked up the street and met them. Reuben showed enthusiasm when he saw me but Yvonne had a good grip on his reins. I got my hugs and we had a waltz round a shop while waiting for our usual cafe to open.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Once it did we took the lift up to the cafe and ordered drinks. I thought I struck a deal with Yvonne that I would eat a mince pie if she let me pay this morning. I seemed to get her agreement but she seems to have inherited a sly and sneaky gene from somewhere. She waited until I ate it before telling mt she’d transferred the money direct to my account from her phone while standing at the counter. Can you believe such deviousness, why can’t I do that? I got Reuben a jumper from that store but apart from tealight candles wasn’t successful with anything else. I’ve lost my superpowers. Yvonne even stopped me getting her a long shirt she liked.

You don’t want a blow by blow account of the morning but needless to say it was spent in and out of shops.I managed to get something ready for the new baby though. We made our way back towards the bus stop in plenty of time for me to nip to the loo first. I’d be able to call in at Pauline’s.  After hugs and waving to them I settle in my seat and dozed all the way home. I picked up a few things in Pauline’s and came home. After taking my coat off I opened Joey’s cage ( he wasn’t talking to me) and made some lunch. Once that was done I left the TV on for Joey and went to work. Ouch, Ouch, Ouch. It was 5.30 pm before I saw the light of day again ( metaphorically speaking ). I went through to find Joey flying round and round the room as though being chased but probably just trying to overlap his mirror image if I know him. he went back to his mirror perch when I sat down and started watching half my quiz.                                                                                                                                                                                                                            There was an interesting programme on the last hours of Anne Boleyn that followed and then instead of watching one on the period of Henry VIII I settled for another DIY SOS. It’s lovely to see humanity at it’s best. At 9.00 pm I came back through to play catch up and to do the blog afterwards. It’s going to be a reasonable night timewise I think.

Competition?

Quiet, artist at work.

My name is Joey, you probably won’t know me but I’m being held prisoner. It’s a small cage, which OK I admit opens into a bigger cage that I can visit to stretch my wings, but even so it’s a small world. My jailer has two legs like me (though fatter) and much of the time seems to be in the same cage. He’s OK I guess with supplying me with food and water but that’s not much of a diet is it. He jabbers at me too, saying things like Joey,Joey, Joey, best, best boy as though I can’t hold a decent conversation in linguabudgie. What astonishes me is how I see him change his feathers daily and sometimes leave the big cage often coming back hours later of his own accord.  Who is this jailer that he has that doesn’t allow me the same leeway? Well, he might have more feathers than me but they’re not as pretty and he can’t use them to fly as I can. I demand a retrial or at least time off for good behaviour. Please write to the Governor and demand my release.

Wedsnesday 11th Nov.

I was in bed for 11.30 pm last night. My Dad always said is I wasn’t in bed by midnight I was to come home. Still, I did have my book to read, I’m so looking forward to the Terry Pratchett one at Christmas. I read until just before 1.00 am, paid a visit to the loo then turned my light out. I was determined to sleep  in bed last night but it was quite a wait, I know I saw 1.30 am pass by before it happened. Anyway, I slept.                                                                                                                                                                                               This morning I was up at 3.52 am and just powered up the computer and logged on. The first batches of mail on both providers was easy peasy and I finished at 5.31 am. That seemed a good time to go take my meds and have breakfast. My stomach reckons I’m addicted to the cold toast routine now and is swelling in opposition, however some of the local schoolchildren are starting to look  at both my beard and my girth with some wonder. Last night I’m sure I saw a red nosed reindeer at the window checking me out.

After breakfast I came back to my room but decided to create a washload of jeans before working again. 6 pairs went in, not dirty but creased. I came back to work and found the daily reports of the blogs I follow have loaded. Ah well, Into battle. That took until 9.10 am when I got up and creakingly stretched, then went to let Joey out. I could hear his plaintive cries from the lounge. As I went in there silence reigned. I talked to him but the left shoulder hunched up and he pointedly ignored me. Nor would he come out. I left and came back to work. No sooner had the lounge door shut than I heard him come out and fly circuits of the room tweeting.I guessed I was in the bad books again.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       I returned to the lounge at 10.00 am for Homes Under the Hammer. Naturally there was no silence from Joey then. He’s a rascal. I missed a good bit of the programme because someone delivered the new collection dates for the household rubbish but I found it to be gibberish. I spent an age trying to work out what they meant before sticking it up inside the pantry so I never forget which dare the collection of the big bin is due.

I worked again from 11.00 am to 11.45 am then decided to make my lunch. I’d just turned the microwave on when I saw the postie approaching. I was expecting a wallet and that’s what arrived. Very quickly too. I’m just waiting for a couple of hats now that might come anytime after Friday up to the end of the month. Deliveries from China are very erratic, as erratic as India it seems.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    After lunch and Bargain Hunt I headed back to work. I was just passing the front door when someone knocked. It was my drug courier again bringing the fortnightly supplies. I passed over the chocolates and put the meds on the side to check later. I worked till 4.20 pm which is when the door opened and in walked Dil very quietly probably expecting to find me asleep in the lounge. I made him a cup of tea and we settled to watch Flog It and Pointless. At 6.00 pm the TV went off and out came the games table.

Yahtzee was a  DISASTER. The first game was 3-3, the second 4-2 against me. I lost trivia though it could have gone either way as we both had all the segments. By now Dil’s grin was like the Cheshire Cat only before he disappeared altogether he had time for a game of Cribbage. Hallelujah !!! I won one. Only slightly diminished the grin disappeared and went home. I had a quick tidy up, had a few minutes persuading Joey it was time to go in the cage so I could turn the light off and then came through to work on mail, the blog and a few answers to comments on the Buthidar Blog I did today with it being 11/11.                                                                                                                                      I had a message this evening from Mike to say his grandson is home today. I’m so pleased and I look forward to seeing him tomorrow evening for all the details.

Elevensies.

Am I bigger or is the elephant smaller?

Thursday 12th November.

Light off at 12.40 am last night. I stayed in bed and for once there wasn’t too much wriggling before sleep came. Ten minutes later the clock said 3.07 am and time to get your lazy ass out of bed. Anyone who thinks that is completely wrong, I don’t own a donkey and if I did, it wouldn’t be in my bed. When I said I love donkeys, that’s not what I had in mind. It’s just as well I haven’t said I love pigs or someone might take me for a Prime Minister.                                                                                                                                    I paid my usual visit to the loo then powered up the computer. It took an age this morning. When it was finally live I checked my bank and there staring me in the face was the £10 my devious daughter had transferred to me. Even worse, my bank had not retained records of our previous dealings and held her account number so I could transfer double back as threatened. For now I am stumped.

One major shock when I signed in was no mail in my Talktalk account. Hopefully that’s because I’ve received none and not another glitch on their system. My gmail account had a few to be going on with at least. At 4.55 am when I was in the clear I went for breakfast and to take my morning meds.                                                                                 When I got back it was 5.25 am and very worrying to find still no messages on Talktalk and no more on gmail. Normally by this time I would at least have the daily updates on everyone I follow from yesterday. I spent some time on ebay checking for fun gifts for Christmas. At 6.00 am I gave up and went through to the lounge to shut my eyes for a while.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            At 7.15 am I came too and felt much better. Much crosser though when I looked at Talktalk. The internet service is free so I suppose you could say I get what I pay for and maybe they’re paying the price of their own popularity. But we’re paying that price too in terms of the lousy service. Honestly it’s been so much worse since things were improved recently. Anyway,I went round everywhere I could think of changing my email address for notifications to my gmail account. Hopefully tomorrow all the messages about your blog posts will go there.

After going to Pauline’s at 9.15 am I came back and checked the post again. Still no change with Talktalk. I did a few things like peeled some sweet potatoes and changed Joey’s seed and water. I watched Homes Under the Hammer and occupied myself until 11.15 am before going to prepare my lunch.                                                                                   At 1.00 pm Taltalk was still giving nothing away but the flow had increased nicely on gmail. I finished what there was and then at 2.00 pm closed my eyes for 5 minutes. It was a very elastic 5 minutes because it lasted until 2.55 pm. At that time I had a healthy queue in gmail but talktalk also gave up 3 pages worth of mail- it was back, but not with a vengeance as all my overnight mail was missing. All the stuff they gave me now was new. At least they were back and giving me something.                                                       Mike sent a text to say he was on the way so I worked hard. I was clear just before 4.30 pm and went through to let Joey see the antiques programme and to keep him company while he shrieks at the screen. Definitely not because I wanted to see it  anyway- or hear it.                                                                                                                                                 Mike arrived at about 5.15 am and after making his coffee we settled to our quiz Pointless, yes that’s the name of the quiz not a description of out actions. Then another quiz, an episode of Big Bang Theory, the real story of the Mary Celeste, two  more Big Bang Theories and then what I’d waited for, The Last Kingdom. It’s brilliant. The books are excellent but this series really  brings it to life. Finally it was time to come through and do some work on the mail and the blog. It shouldn’t be too hard a night as you won’t believe this but Talktalk is still playing up. It just refuses to load. They should scrap the changes and take it back to the way it was when it worked. Even if just for one person who has stayed with them through the worst.

Preparing my Xmas cards 2 years ago today. Just 3 months old.

I’m in the mood for real nostalgia tonight. A superb singer

Friday 13th November.

Lights out at 1.00 am after a few more pages of my Pratchett ‘Thief of Time’. I suppose I should have been spooked by the date but the only witches I’ve met have been white ones or sandwiches (sorry).  Perhaps it was spooky that I woke at 4.13 am?  My bladder started having a very one sided conversation so I made a trip to the Piddle Palazzo  then came back to log on. As expected Talktalk is still as useless as a chocolate teapot so I took the last move and diverted all my twitter posts to the gmail address.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               I worked on mail until 5.45 am then went to take my meds, have breakfast and prepare my drugs for next week in their pots. At 6.30 am I came back to find out Twitter had delivered all my notifications of posts to the new address. Magic, now I could get on. I could only work until 9.00 am though before breaking off to do a coffee for Mike in the hopes of getting him up and out. I tried to do the same for Joey but without the coffee. Joey managed it first but to be fair Mike wasn’t too much longer. About ten minutes.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      I’d want to say I went to sit with them but if forced to be honest, I sat with them for about fifteen minutes before nodding. As the TV was on with Frasier, I was conscious every time Mike commented on something or when Joey tweeted. I was fully conscious when Homes Under the Hammer came on though. When that ended at 11.00 am both of us left to get dressed (at last) and then Mike said his farewells as he left to visit his Dad. I came through to finish the mail I’d started and any more that had come in. I’m beginning to think there’s a little gremlin somewhere who sticks his head round the screen to make sure I’ve gone before he dumps a couple of bags of mail then runs. It’s fantastic not having to rely on Talktalk now.

At 11.45 I stopped again though I was pretty well done, so I could prepare my lunch. I’d been fighting a battle with myself all morning as to what I should have since I’ve got bacon in as well as my chips in curry sauce. I finally settled on the latter so I could have bacon tonight with Mike if he was hungry. Erm, don’t get the idea I’ve suddenly become generous and I’m sharing, he has his own bacon which is smoked and I hate it.                                                                                                                                                                               Following lunch I couldn’t think of anything that would please me more than to try and get into Talktalk. I wanted to put a note on their forum about the terrible service but they needed to send me an email which I couldn’t access to verify it!! When I did get in at some time after 2.00 pm it allowed me to look at one message and that was it. No deletions allowed. However at 2.45 I tried again, got in and deleted the lot. No problems there since it’s all coming to me at gmail now. Help, is there any way I can make it stop? At 3.15 pm I took a break and went back to Joey to see if Friday 13th has spooked him enough to want my company.

I stayed in the lounge and at about 5.30 got a text from Mike to say something had happened and he’d be back late tonight. I just relaxed with the TV until 6.00 pm then came back to work and have a look at ebay. I won something. At 7.00 pm I went for a shower and locked the front door. At 7.30 pm I watched an episode of MASH then Mastermind. I left a terrible stain on my chair as I suddenly glimpsed movement from the corner of my eye. As I leapt in the air I saw it was Mike  who hadn’t warned me he was on his way back. He made his coffee while I watched the end of Mastermind. There was a programme about a minister on the Falklands who will be leaving soon followed by an hour of Top of the Pops 1977 which I wanted to watch as Yvonne was born in December that year.                                                                                                                       At 10.00 pm I locked Joey’s cage and wished him goodnight, took my meds, wished Mike good night and came through to attack the work. As I came through I was laughing as Joey had been very loud when the music was on and also started headbanging in much the sane way that we used to when Status Quo were playing. Funny the thoughts that come to you.

I should be OK time wise tonight I think. Not so much mail I couldn’t cope with after the blog.

Saturday 14th November.

Last night was fine and I had plenty of time for a read. Light out 12.30 am and I’m pretty sure my lights were out soon after that.                                                                                         Waking time was 3.23 am  and even had I still been tired I wouldn’t have dared go back to sleep in case Mike woke before me and caught me sleeping when he was up. I’d never hear the end of it and he’s probably create a blog just to say how many tries it took to get me out of bed.He’d be very inventive though and people are always happy to believe the worst.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     I’ve woken this morning to news of the atrocities in France. Yet again an enemy too cowardly to show themselves has taken the lives of the innocent probably for no better reason than they were enjoying themselves. La Belle France, you are in my thoughts. Don’t bow down before this mindless terrorism. For anyone interested, here’s a post I did on this atrocity. lorddavidprosser1.wordpress.com/2015/11/14/mindless-terrorism/

I worked on doing the above post and on my mail from gmail until almost 5.30 am. I was actually able to get into Talktalk this morning but all I needed to do mainly was delete the post there as it was now duplicated on gmail. At 5.30 m though, I went through to the kitchen to take my meds and to have breakfast. That meant there’s just one further meal needed with tablets during the day and I could choose which one. I chose lunch.                                                                                                                                                                  I gathered up the rest of the paper/magazines ready to go out for collection, always assuming they’d actually pick it up this week. Then it was back to work until it was time to do Mike’s coffee. His alarm went off a couple of minutes early but I wasn’t going to complain. I went to do him a coffee. As I took it through the alarm sounded again but even in combination with my dulcet tones it didn’t move his caracase. So, I determined to take out the rubbish. It was quite nippy out this morning and Mike was lying on top of the bed with no top on. A draught may have slipped through while I took the rubbish out. I came back in for the paper waste just to be sure and by the time I returned then he was sitting in the lounge, tinged with blue and sounding like a typewriter.

We were on our way at 7.30 am and had started shopping at 7.45 am. I saw some things for the baby to be and also for my great nephew for Christmas. I loaded up on selection boxes to make sure I had enough and sweets to take to the girls today. I even put a little food in this week which might be why the bill was 50% more than I expected it to be t £60.00 ( they overcharged me £1 but I had it corrected) which in turn had Mike laughing almost hard enough for apoplexy. ( Not hard enough though). We had our usual coffee and I managed to complete a card with a sticker someone had left on a cup on the next table.                                                                                                              On the way to Flint we called in at Aldi for some waterproofing spray which I thought might be good for my hat in view of the rain we’re expecting. I managed to get a couple of things from there. We parked outside Temptations but instead of going straight in hit a couple of shops. I had a niggle that I was looking for something in particular in Homies but couldn’t remember what so didn’t get it.                                                                                                                                                                                                                           We had our coffee and had a slow stroll to one last shop to check something out before getting back in the car. I’d left the decision about lunch up to Mike today and he’d decided on Prestatyn. A twenty minute drive down the road and we were sitting in our favourite seats ready to  get a carvery. I took my pre-foodie first. I was only given two slices of beef but they were as thick as doormats and not much smaller. The meal beat both of us and Mike said it’s a first for me ever to leave beef. I didn’t want to but had I not the explosion would have been heard from miles away.

When we left the CookHouse we headed for another branch of Homies as I now remembered what it was I needed this morning. Some of my new Aveeno but with shea butter to try. I want to find which is the best one before trying to get it from the doctor again. Eventually we came home and after unpacking and putting the shopping away I was able to come through and work while Mike watched the run up to tomorrows Grand Prix, to get the grid places today. I worked from 2.00 pm to 5.30 pm watched our usual quiz when he called me and then worked again from 6.15 pm to 8.00 pm. I didn’t manage to finish but I have an agreement which says I have to spend some time in Mike’s company so I watched two programmes with him till 10.15 pm, washed a couple of pots then came back to do the blog and any mail I had time for.

Important.  If anyone receives mail supposedly from me with the email address as shown with any similar subject, Please don’t open it. I haven’t sent it. I’m very sorry but it seems I have a virus of some kind annoying people with spam.

I wish you all a Great New Week full of Dreams come true and Hugs Galore xxxx

Sunday Outing, antibiotics and steroid boobs.

Sunday. It’s ridiculous, bed at 1.00 am after finishing the blog and having a short read. Up again at 3.10 am. There was no doubting I was awake since I stubbed my toe nipping to the loo. I was able to take  a gentle look at my post and see who’d read the blog and commented. Always a great part of my Sundays. I’m often surprised but always delighted at how kind people are. No screams of ” Go back to bed you boring old fart. Give up writing till you have something of interest to say.” By 5.45 I’d come over all of a do-da and needed to lie down. I slept until 07.25 am.  Much refreshed I went through to the kitchen and turned the tank light on. I decided not to feed the little beggars as they hadn’t stopped me yesterday when they were fed by accident. After the shake, rattle and roll of meds I took my coffee through to continue with the mail. By 9.30 am I was able to  get washed and dressed and I decided to make my bed. I was going to do Mike’s bed too but he’s away for long enough that I can take my time. 

You’ve never seen such a poor performance in your life. I managed to strip the bed without too much hassle. A little heavy breathing maybe but that’s normal for a bedroom they tell me. Getting clean pillowslips on was also easy but getting the sheet on tired me. Getting the duvet cover on was an utter disaster though. I almost ended up inside it and after having succeeded it took over half an hour for my breathing to come back under control. I wonder if I burnt off any calories. I sat down in front of the computer to relax and keep the post up to date and that’s where my nieces found me at 10.45 am when they arrived. I gave them some little gifts and also their Easter Eggs as I won’t see them next weekend. Karen borrowed the computer to check her emails as her laptop has gone to the great byte ground in the sky. By the time she’ done I had my shoes on and was ready to go.

What a journey.Karen was driving and asked me if I knew the way as she’d forgotten. I said yrs, I could direct her. She wanted to go the part of the route she knew but I don’t know how to get there from that direction. All the time we’re deciding how we’re going to get there we’re actually driving and getting near to missing the way I knew. In the end I was made chief guide and directed Karen to an exit off the expressway. We were approaching Chester when Karen mentioned perhaps parking in town so we didn’t have to walk from Yvonne’s with my bed chest. We settled on that and proceeded to go round a big roundabout to go back on ourselves. We found with my disabled badge we could park for free in the law courts and so parked there. Then we realised Yvonne was expecting us and we tried to ring her to tell her to meet us in town.Neither Jo nor myself could get through. We also realised that the walk from the Law Courts was just as long as the walk from Yvonne’s and we’ gained nothing. I kept stopping to breathe which made it a long journey and as Jo still couldn’t get her I rang and left a message on Yvonne’s phone. She rang back a few minutes later and we arranged to meet. We were well on the way by now but Yvonne and pram still arrived when we did.

Dinner was in a pub chain and rather than try to get the lift activated to get upstairs we carried the trolley down 8 steps to the basement level. The meal was OK though nothing to write home about. Standard pub fare. We’d finished and were jut leaving when Ugo arrived but he wouldn’t stay for a meal and drink on his own so he had a soft drink while pushing Reuben round a clothes shop. What joy for him.Luckily the torture didn’t last too long. We all went to Cafe Nero for a drink ( Frappe for me) but Yvonne ordered cakes as well and I ended up with a wedge of chocolate Fudge cake. I really tried hard to fight against having it but I couldn’t see it go to waste. The girls had to share an extra cake as Karen is sworn off cake for Lent. We gathered outside on the pavement when we’d finished and looked like a protest group. It was time to say goodbye to Yvonne, Ugo and Reuben as we were heading off to a Supermarket before they closed. We mad it but not by much and all three managed to get what we needed.

The girls dropped me off at home and Karen put my shopping away for me. Then they had to leave. It was 4.30 pm and I felt quite alone. I came through to answer the mail I’d missed being out and was done by 6.00 when I went to have my tea and watch a Jennifer Aniston film Marley and Me before Endeavour came on. I watched that till 10.00 pm. I ‘ve been here ever since catching up and doing the post. Sorry I’ve kept you all up so late. I’ll try and do better tomorrow. It’s 12.10 and I’m off to bed sulking because I forgot to look at ebay earlier on.

Monday.  I’m not going to mention what time I got up this morning but it was at least ten minutes before I went to bed. There was plenty of time to take it easy doing the post and because of that I did it wearing my headphones and had a music-fest all my own. I moved back and forth between the years and actually had a little Michael Jackson session running through some of the great songs he did. No matter what you think of the person it would be hard to deny he earned his title as Prince of Pop and amazed us with his many changes of song type. He was a humanitarian and an environmentalist …. I’m currently listening to Earth song and it was one that moved me greatly. Anyhoo I decided that I’d give you a few records this week as I’m going along and will try to be chronologically faithful, but don’t hold your collective breaths as I don’t want to be the world’s biggest mass murderer. 

I did my tablets about 8.00 am, saw to the fish ‘pause'( sorry, it’s Buggles with Video killed the Radio Star) OK, then got washed and dressed. I returned to the mail but with one eye on the clock ( I was praying it wouldn’t roll off as I haven’t swept the carpet) as I wanted to go to the chemist with a repeat prescription. When this one is returned it will have the extra tablets to control this peak in my glucose levels. Heck it’s almost Easter I need them under control before eating all my eggs. (The Knack – My Sherona). The journey was swift. I wore a new hoodie so I could travel incognito. People said it would have worked better if I hadn’t worn one of my waistcoats on top- DRAT. It had rained overnight but the sun was shining brightly. Still a bit cool but if that’s as far as it goes with the threatened wintery blast before the heat wave I’ll be happy.

I returned to the mail and typically my short sojourn outside meant another 3 sacks had been delivered. It kept me going until almost 11.30am  when with a sigh of relief I broke for lunch. Today I had a cottage pie and two buttered baps.  ( Sorry, It’s Mister Mister with Broken Wings now). It’s possibly the warmth of the meal that brought on the tiredness but I had almost 2 hours in my chair before I had to gird myself up ( it’s not rude honest) for battle with the mail bag again. In truth can you imagine how boring my days would be without the personal messages from friends, the comments on my blog to answer or being able to share the blogs of others and try to make rude comments as Anonymous. Actually the blogs I read have my emotions up and down so often I’m newly engaged to a venetian blind. The world is full of idiots and evil where women and children can be traded as commodities, where life is so cheap and profit matters more than what we do to he planet and to animals. For instance I was reading about palm oil. Doesn’t sound important does it and yet great swathes of forest are being destroyed to plant palm trees for oil. Many of your Easter eggs will contain some but it’s a profit thing for the makers and does nothing for flavour. We don’t need palm oil as there are plenty of substitutes which can be used and which don’t need to have the Earth denuded of forests to get them. If you can buy Easter Eggs that don’t contain palm oil please do before another tree is knocked down to provide it thus losing all the species like orang-utans  which are killed in the process. Many thanks to Chris at the Story Reading Ape for this………………    http://thestoryreadingapeblog.com/2014/04/14/spare-an-orang-utan-guv/

                                                                                                                                                                                        At tea time 5.30 pm I wasn’t on my best behaviour and had 2 small chocolate puds with custard then settled to watch my Law and Order. I must have blinked towards the end because suddenly it was NCIS and about half way though. I stayed to see if I could make sense of it and gave up when the end came.Whoever the black hat was they didn’t get him for a change. I decided to call it a night and have an early night myself so back to work on the posts. I hope you enjoy the music interludes  and forgive the fact I have no real news to share.

Tuesday.  The coughing got to me last night. If I could have I’d have stamped out of the room and gone to sleep on the couch, but this is one of those coughs that follows you. Anyway, I was probably in the best room not to disturb any neighbours. I tried lying down, I tried sitting upright- which isn’t too difficult when you have 5 pillows and I even tried a drink of milk. That’s my concession towards health foods for this month. At some point I obviously dropped off and this time I wasn’t sitting on the edge of the bed. I woke at 4.35 am and started on my mail before I even remembered I wanted a wee. After adjusting myself I popped to the kitchen for a couple of aspirin and notice a few snails on the glass of the tank. Right, action required. I went back to the computer and signed into ebay. Say hello to the two newest to be members of the household…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

These are my bumblebee assassin snails. I hope they’ve got a good appetite as I want them to get rid of the little breeders in my tank. Fortunately I checked, these are very slow breeders and when they run out of escargot for lunch they hoover up old food from the tank floor. I worked until 8.00 am and then turned on the tank light and fed the fish. I issued no warnings  of what was to come. After taking my meds and making a coffee I went back to work for a while. By 9.30 I’d mopped up, even the two offers from ‘Hi you don’t know me , but’ women who had suggestions enough to put me on my back or at least in bed all day. I washed, dressed and went to get some stamps and some cough medicine. I called in at Pauline’s for next week’s TV magazine and, well, next weeks TV magazine. I came back and was disgusted to see that you lot have been shirking and I’d run out of excuses to leave the i***ing. I ended up doing my single bedding, a pair of jeans and four shirts plus one tee shirt. I found the tee shirt I’d put a picture on last week had not survived well so after leaving that implement to cool down and putting the board away, I went back to ebay and ordered some Fruit of the Loom teeshirts at great prices and some new transfer sheets so Yvonne could have a go at making some as gifts. The reason mine didn’t fare well was because I didn’t press the transfer as I was supposed to.

After a lunch of lamb shank and mashed potatoes I studied the inside of my eyelids for some time and then watched a little TV. BY 2.15 pm I was wondering how the mail was and came through to check. I was working on it when there was a tap on the door, I didn’t turn it on though. I opened the door and there was my friend Dawn from the chemists with the items I’d requested yesterday. I passed her some chocs to share at work and took the drugs through. The bag seemed lighter than usual and when I checked prescription inside I had forgotten to order any of my sprays. I don’t know how I did this as I’ve taken to trying to order my drugs at about the same time as I did the previous month and I do this twice a month. At least I had the new drugs for the diabetes control. Ah well, I shall have to pay another visit there tomorrow- the third this week. This looking after yourself game isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

I worked until 5.30 pm then had a ham sandwich and a yoghurt before watching my Law and Order. It’s getting bad when I’m watching repeats of repeats. At 8.00 pm I’d had enough and came through. Much more waiting for me this time. Causes to be followed, Petitions to be signed. arguments to be had. There’s an amazing young man called Kenneth  using his weekends to travel round the US to sit in coffee bars to chat to anyone who wants to chat. Fellow bloggers. authors or just people who happen to be there. He’s creating a remarkable society of tolerance and understanding because people are relaxed and able to speak openly. Bonds appear to be forming, not just with Kenneth but with each other.  Here’s his blog, and don’t let the heading put you off. http://culturemonk.com/2014/04/15/cocaine-jesus-hitchens-really/   . It’s been quite an interesting evening really but like all good things it must now come to an end. One last blast from the past for tonight.

Wednesday.  4.45 up and about and coughing. This linctus is lovely but fairly useless. By tomorrow I’ll be needing a different one, hope it tastes as good. It takes me back about 50 years and more to a time when one of the top cough medicines was called Owbridges. They also made Owbridges Pastilles which were fantastic for coughs, colds and just eating as sweets. I had many a packet before they realised they shouldn’t be eaten that way and withdrew them from sale. I wonder if they still do the mixture? I know it’s only Wednesday but I’m starting to feel boxed in even though I do enjoy keeping up to date with all my post. I’ve got cabin fever and it’s only 6.00 am. HELP!!!

As usual I work until 8.00 am then do the rounds, fish tank, meds coffee. Knowing I wanted to get the prescription request in early in the hopes of having the sprays  tomorrow I got washed and dressed early. I still wasn’t up to date when I let the house at 9.05 am and walked up to the chemist. It didn’t take too long and the sunshine was wonderful. As I was approaching home I saw the post van pull up and Darren posted something through my door. I was anxious to see what had arrived so moved my legs a little faster. In amongst the larger stuff was a very small padded envelope which I opened excitedly. Inside were two small containers used for putting daily tablets out. Inside each one was a little ball of moss and a bumblebee snail, my assassins. I placed them in the tank straight away and then read a not which said they could take up to 48 hours to move. That should be fun when I’m leaving feedback. It was odd. I’d seen both drift down but I could only see one.Maybe their colouring is good camouflage against the stones on the bottom of the tank. I watched for about 10 minutes but no movement.

I went back to working on my mail and every third one was back to being dodgy messages from banks plus one firm who have credited me £310 for  my work and they’re desperate to pay me. Very kind of them. This kept me going until 11.10 am when I decided to go through to the lounge. One piece of mail from earlier proved to be the tee shirt transfer sheets for Yvonne. They were quick, and I also had a nice Easter card from friends. There was an epic on TV, The Fall of the Roman Empire so I sat down for a laugh since the history is barely acknowledged. But there was some good acting here and there. When the film ended at 2.15 pm I had a quick update of post and then went back to my chair and slept for an hour. When I woke up I heard someone outside say “I’m glad he’s stopped using that buzzsaw.”  It was back to coughing again so they’d have something else to moan about but who cares, I have my honey and lemon linctus. I rushed through the messages and was back in the lounge for 5.15 pm ready for my visitors. I put a quiz on as they usually arrive for the last bit and try a few questions. Tonight the traffic must have been bad as they didn’t arrive until it was ending. Probably just as well as the last set of questions were on the Spice Girls.

As I made drinks Dil set up the table for Scrabble. I wish he hadn’t bothered. Nothing I did was right. It was a slaughter and I went from second place in the first game to third place in the second game. Thank heavens we don’t play a third. I’m actually a good player but I met my match and my Waterloo tonight. As I made the second drinks the cards came out and Matt prepared a score sheet for Nomination whist. OMG, I barely got out of double figures. Again I was third. I knew at that point exactly what my record of the night was going to be. But, before you enjoy my discomfiture let me say that by sheer luck and some prestidigitation with the pen I won Crazy 8’s.

They left at 9.30 pm giving me chance to tidy up, wash the post and take my night time drugs. I came through to finish up on my mail while listening to some music and then concentrate on the blog. Time to say Goodnight and go for a short read.

Thursday. I got to lie in until 4.50 am today , trouble is , last time I looked at the clock before going to sleep it was almost 2.00 am. Some noisy beggar with a cough was keeping me awake. By the time I’d had a wee or six then washed my hands it was 5.00 am and time to start on the emails. And what a lot there were this morning. You’d been a busy bunch overnight. Especially Dear Kitty-Some Blog    http://dearkitty1.wordpress.com/ who always has such fascinating content it would be more than rude not to read it. My problem is that often they’re very emotive and drive me to comment or in some cases to want to create a blog on the subject myself.  I had a message to let me know I won 3000 Euros compliments of Microsoft which is lovely. They said they’ll write to me so I’ll wait and see since they don’t have my address and couldn’t tell me how or why I’d won it. I think the con artists are dredging the bottom of a very deep barrel now.

At 7.30 I went through to deal with the fish and sort my tablets for the next week. It often takes quite a while to get them all into their little compartments. I never include the diabetic ones as I have some in my pockets for meals out and the rest in front of where I plate up at home so I shouldn’t forget then. Today is the first day for doubling up on one of those so I have to remember to take it 15 minutes before eating…..or 30 seconds if I forget. I must remember to take two in to take after the meal and if you ask me, I think they make a pretty poor pudding. I took my coffee through to continue with the mail but decided to get dressed first because I wanted to go out about 9.00 am.  I choose that time so I’m usually back before the postman gets here. Today we arrive back at the same time and I was able to relieve him of a parcel of tee-shirts for Yvonne. She still doesn’t know it but they’re so she can create some gifts with Reuben’s pictures on for various family members. I checked them , pinched one for myself and put the others aside for when I see her next….by which time she’ll probably have read this post and there’l be no surprise.

At 11.00 am I’d finished and went through to the lounge where despite coughing enough to wake the dead, I fell asleep. It was strange as I could hear music, one of my favorites in fact and it was the late realisation that it was my phone that woke me. Naturally it was in the bedroom just as sitting here now I realise it’s in the lounge. The phone said 3 calls missed from Yvonne. Oops. A message came that she’s spoken to a doctor at the surgery and he’d checked my file out and was faxing a prescription to the chemist for some new antibiotics, some boob enhancing steroids and some medicine. She wasn’t sure the chemist would be able to deliver so could I pick it up. I know she doesn’t want me in hospital this year so she’s organised this and I’d better do as I’m told if I don’t want to be in hospital this year- she has a mean right hook. I got my shoes on and strolled up to the chemist. It’s fairly dull now and the wind is chilly. I wonder if the forecast of weekend rain is right, Ha, of course it is it’s a British bank holiday. There was a bit of a queue a bit of a wait and then Zaq the chemist called me over. I’m to take two of these antibiotics straight away with a pint of water and with food, then take one a day with the same rules. Won’t that be fun. 6 steroids to be taken at the same time every day and this mixture which taste of rotting sweet apples. It’s Ugh!!!! But my honey and lemon has run out now.

I wandered in and out of the computer mailroom until it was time for my programme. At 8.30 pm after watching the new Big Bang, BAZINGA, I went back again to catch up before Person of Interest at 10..00 pm. Of course when that finished I had o leg it to finish the mail and get to the blog.

So I leave you with this…..     

Friday. I wasn’t sure today about writing the blog as I haven’t much to be proud of.  I got up early as always, did mail, saw to fish..erm No actually, I’ve just realised I didn’t see to the fish then or later. If there’s no blog tomorrow you’ll know they got me….erm no you won’t as you won’t be reading the blog at all.I shall have to rely on my daughter to post something to describe the hideous condition in which I was found after the fish have done with me.  I did remember to take my meds including the steroids and the new antibiotic, I even had some cornflakes so the antibiotic was OK though I didn’t have a pint of water. Having breakfast meant I could take the diabetic drugs early and be able to leave tea out today. I segued straight into the coffee routine and took it back to the pit to continue working. Being a bank holiday so many people were off and able to send mail or post blogs instead of spending that time with the family and in the case of the UK out in the sunshine while it lasts which isn’t long if the forecasters are right this time.

I knew I should get washed and dressed so I had  shower and put on some clean clothes. I made the excuse of not going out because my hair was damp but if I’m honest that wasn’t the reason. I couldn’t face it, not even the corner shop. here would be so many people out and about and I didn’t want to see them. Still, the hair was a good excuse for a while. I was fortunate that no-one came to the door. The chemist was shut so I’m saved delivery of my sprays until Tuesday. I bought baps yesterday so I had two at lunch time. I had a bag of crisps with them and for pudding…I’m taking the fifth. Having my second lot of tabs meant I don’t have to face a third meal.

One of my favorite groups of all time and what fun I’m having listening to them.

I spent the afternoon alternating between the TV, nodding off and keeping the mail as up to date as possible. I try very hard not to respond to posts that offend me when it all comes down to just a difference of opinion, unless that difference is over something like the mistreatment of others.  I have lost ‘friends’ before over the subject of the Health Reforms in America because I thought they sounded good at first and only sounded bad after they’d been watered down so much in the Senate. Now to me it sounds the same as before, a dream scenario for Insurance Companies. I honestly thought if anyone could have made a success of a free Health Service it would have been the US. For a long time I’ve thought they don’t really care about the people over there and half the senate are in the pay of the NRA or Monsanto. They’d forgotten who they work for. Imagine my delight today when I hear that one state has passed a law that any food made from GMO crops must be labelled. Then I hear that a group of women ‘Concerned Women’ are complaining because the President spoke to Uganda about the law that says homosexuals will be jailed for life. They see nothing wrong with that law at all.

I had a text from Yvonne that Ugo wants to bring his Mother and her partner round on Sunday. I’ve met her twice and him only once. He seems a nice chap but it seems he asks after me whenever he speaks to Ugo. That’s very kind of him. Anyway, I knew his Mother was coming and I’ve bought some chocolates for her but I’d nothing for Dale of course. I think that means I’m going out in the morning. I watched Law and Order, Special Victims Unit and decided to call it a day. More mail, more music and the blog. See you tomorrow I hope.

Saturday. I didn’t rise from the pit today until 4.50 am. That’s piggin’ typical when I decided last night I must go out. I know full well that much as I love Pauline’s she won’t have the kind of thing I want. So, I did as much of the mail as I could then saw to the fish at 6.30 am…and YES, I really did  see to them today and made sure they got fed to make up for yesterdays debacle. I had my sprays, chomped through some cornflakes and took the 1001 tablets of the morning regime then too a coffee back to my room to have as I got dressed. I needed to be ready to leave the house at 7.30 am and gave myself no time to think about it. I made it and walked up to the bus stop. It’s early so obviously few people will be about and I don’t have to speak while I use my bus pass, just nod and smile at the conductor. There are only two other people there and so far apart as to be as antisocial as me. It was a short ride to town and again, all I had to do was press the bell as we approached my stop. I’ve only been on the damned thing fr 5 minutes and I can’  wait to get away from ‘the crowds.’  The Supermarket is open but also quite empty. Brilliant. I go to the cash machine and as the cash comes out shout “I won”. Then I grab a trolley and take a slow walk round. I do the slalom course round the shelf stackers cages and mark myself full points for not hitting any obstacles, despite one of them dropping a strawberry under my wheels. He must have bet on another driver. First stop flowers for Julia’s vases then my baps, hmm, nice and fresh, good date I’ll take two packets. Next stop cakes ( Honestly Andrea, it’s for the visitors not me…unless they leave some behind). Then milk. So that’s necessities taken care of that I could have got down the road but I’m here for a purpose of course. Still, no rush is there, so I buy a meal, some yoghurts, crisps, ( I completely bypass the freezer with ice lollies and BFG’s) and get a packet of biscuits and then some diet pop for me. Well, it could be three weeks before I can get out again. Finally I arrive at the chocolate aisle and get two blocks of special chocolate much more likely to appeal to a man that an Easter egg. Lastly round the corner to the beer aisle where I buy a bottle of Welsh beer for Dale and Ugo.

By now my trolley, which initially I used for support is getting quite full. So I head for the till knowing life is about to get awkward as I can’t do self service now. I’m so pleased, though still shaking, that the cashier s a young lady Ju and I used to see a lot and the two of them chatted together. She smiles at me but doesn’t make my life more difficult with chatter. Instead She asks If I need help packing and If I need bags. A nod and smile on both counts. My trip for chocolate came to £50.00 and I got a voucher for £5 off my next shop of £40.00 or more. What’s that saying about hell and ice? Anyhoo, there was no-one behind me and I asked her if she’d use the freefone to call me a cab ( please don’t insert your own jokes here). She did, and with a grateful smile I rolled the trolley outside in the hopes that the damp I could feel on my legs was sweat and in the hopes that no-one stuck a  drinks mixer in my hands to shake the martinis. I put the bags by the kerb, dropped off the trolley and lit a cigarette. I was even allowed to finish it before the taxi arrived. ” For David” he said and picked my bags up like they weighed nothing and dropped them in the boot. I had no choice but to proffer my address or we could have been rolling about all morning. We arrived very quickly and the driver carried my bags to the steps. The cash transaction plus a suitable tip was soon done and I was able to go in and unpack. After that was done I put the fresh flowers out and wished I’d chosen more. It’s annoying that they’re nice flowers but quite expensive for small bunches there. They did look nice though.

It’s not 9.30 am yet so I go back to the computer and start on the mail again. I’m doing OK.

A little pause for thought borrowed from my good friends C.J. and Mousie    http://morguemouse.com/2014/04/18/heres-a-jellybean/

It was about 10.30 am when I heard my phone go. It was Yvonne. She said she and Ugo had been hoping to spend some time with me on Monday after his Mum had gone home. Now they were arriving by coach today and as Ugo didn’t have to go to Birmingham to collect them would it be OK if they spent some time with me today instead. I asked whether this was instead of tomorrow too but no, that visit is still on. Yvonne said she needed an ALDI shop  and would I like to go? I wasn’t going to text back and say I’ve been to a supermarket as that would have meant a lot of texts so I said Yes please but I don’t need anything.  Well, they arrived about 11.45 am to collect me and off we went. It turns out Ugo’s young nephew is coming too and of course I haven’t got anything for him so I’m going to a supermarket aren’t I? I see more flowers and get two nice bunches for Ju and some for Yvonne, I see books for Reuben, a jumper for Ugo. I get Ugo’s chocolate fudge cake and find an old favorite of mine too a strawberry and rhubarb flan with a crumble top. Well you have to don’t you. The nothing I wanted in this place cost another £30.00. I dread to think what Yvonne’s was from the number of times she said “It would have been at least £150.00 in another supermarket” but her trolley was laden. From there we went to another shop, why? Well she needed tissues and I didn’t want to ask why she hadn’t got them where we’d just been. Anyway, she also found some shelves for her cousin’s birthday. I bought some wine ( not for me) and since we’d decided to lunch in the Ivy I had to get some sweets and some small chocolate Easter Bunnies for all the girls there. The ovely Helen ( AKA Crazy Cat Lady) has been keeping in touch by tweets so I know they’re missing their sweets though she does say she’s missing Mike and I too. I’ve been saying all week I’m missing my meals and my friends there.

As we drew up at the Ivy, Tariq was coming round the side of the building. We waved an he looked genuinely pleased to see me. In all fairness, he’s such a nice man he’s genuinely pleased to see everyone. He walked us indoors and said he’s preparing the outside play area now ready for the season. He never stops working. He took the order for drinks and left us a minute to decide on food and Yvonne fed Reuben. I passes the sweets etc over to dear Angie who then brought a big hug round the counter. C’mon be fair, of course I love it. It’s the nearest I get to a woman these days. Tariq took the food order then leaned down to talk to Reuben. He loves kids and it looks like the feeling is mutual. We had a wonderful meal and I got out the money to pay so I could go out for a smoke. Tariq approached before I could get up to ask if I was in a mad hurry. I answered “Not if you don’t need me to be”, so quick, just like that. He asked me to do him a favour to which I agreed straight away…I’ll never learn, though I did make him take the payment for the food first. We had to undergo the usual ten minute argument about getting it cheaper- like nothing, or a bit cheaper-like half or just bloody take it and put the change in the tips!!  The favour was to let him do something for me. Eh?? “He never lets me do anything for him” he complained to Yvonne/Ugo.He wanted to take a photograph of myself with Reuben and frame it or put it on canvas. I agreed on the proviso that I’d let him take the picture if he let me pay for the framing. An argument for another day he said. He must have taken a dozen shots which pleased Reuben no end. One in particular stood out for me and I do look forward to seeing it when done.

We left and came home where I was able to give Yvonne the transfer paper and T-shirts I got this week. I’m sure I can bring her round to the idea, but Just in case, I told Ugo to make her do it. My beard was a mess and my hair not much better so Ugo cut my hair ( sorry Bro) and then Yvonne attacked my eyebrows with glee. I really am having a problem teaching her that you close the blades fully and cut the hair, not partially close them, drag the hair out then close the blades. Because of their visitors arrival they had to leave. It was magic for me to see them and spend time like that. I may not see Yvonne tomorrow because of a space in the car problem now the nephew is coming. He’s a lovely young lad though so maybe he’ll offer me support tomorrow.

I went straight back to the computer for 2 hours then had a couple of hours break cleaning loos, sinks and dusting tables. A little bit of inconsequential TV and then at 9.00 am back here for a last blast. I’m going to finish with a great song tonight even though I’m not a massive country fan, this one is great.                                                               

The Yogi

 

The Cool Yogi

On the road again.

Male Model

I like shaving foam Mummy.

Swim Time

BAZINGA !

 

 

Does my Bum look big in this?