First of all I want to get things clear. If I’m to tell you my story you have to promise not to repeat it. It’s not that I really did anything wrong, it just that there may be some misunderstandings and though the Longlegs are here to serve, I’m well aware they do provide some food. Not that I can’t get my own you understand, but perhaps not the same variety. Mouse gets a bit boring after a time and frogs taste awful.
So, I was around at early light time enjoying a snack after a hard dark time getting comfortable. My ‘The Him’ and My ‘The Her’ came through to where I was and told me to behave today ! I know, it was really cheeky but sometimes you have to let some things pass. They told me they were going out and would be back later. Since I let them come and go as they like ( not like some owners who follow their Longlegs everywhere), I raised an eyebrow in goodbye. Well, I was busy eating wasn’t I. After they left I finished eating and went to have a short nap. That’s always fun since I can pick and choose where I go. This time I settled on going to My ‘The Him’s’ sleeping place and napping on his nightskin. The smell is sometimes strangely comforting.Rousing myself from the nap later I found myself still alone. Being fearless I decided to make sure the property was safe by checking each room. Most of them seemed OK and with just two left to do I went into their sitting place. On the arm of her seat I spied a bag of the odd colourful things she likes to eat. They’re very small and round and very very light. I haven’t tried one but they did look interesting and I wanted to make sue no-one had touched them while she was out. There may be peace between those rodents and I for now, but I don’t trust them. Anyway, as I pulled at the top of the bag to open it the bag tore a bit and quite a few fell out. They were all over the floor. I picked one up with my teeth and they felt strange and tasted a little funny. I think she’ll be grateful I threw some way when she gets back.
The last room was the food/eating room. I glanced round but it looked like there was no food left open. I couldn’t smell anything anyway. They had probably put it in the white box that blows cold over food. Shame as I would have checked that there was nothing gone off for them. My glance round the room told me something wasn’t quite as usual but I couldn’t place it at first. I decided to look a second time more carefully and there it was. The box that has the fish in it was open at the top. Well part of it anyway. Whoever had given them their food ( fancy eating flake) had left it open. I thought that might prove dangerous so I decided there and then to close it. Up I jumped with the balletic poise with which I’m gifted. On to the side of the sink, across the place the water drains off their cups and a quick jump up onto the box. I know you can see through all sides of the box but it was strange to see them from up top. I decided to watch them for a minute and leave the top open. There we’re quite a few fish in there and they came in all shapes and colours. One in particular was quite big and a very bright colour was swimming very near the surface. You don’t get a clear idea of the fin from above so I just put my hand down to try and turn it over for a small time. I suppose I moved quite fast because I know the fish are fast. My paw missed but the water splashed and it was funny seeing the fish all dart away. As the big fish edged back towards me I repeated the move but this time my paw caught it. Instead of turning it over I must have jerked my arm back in shock and the fish came out at great speed, left my paw and flew across the room to land on the floor at the far side. It flopped for a small time then lay still.
It was at this stage I knew I’d never be able to get it back up here to the box. Being a thinker I decided to leave it alone until My ‘The Her’ arrived back and she could do it for me. I decided to get back down from the box and head off to take a quick nap. Before I did so I remembered why I’d got up in the first place and shut the lid with my paw.
It was a short time later they returned and I heard as My ‘The Him’ entered that room,
“Julia, one of your fish has learned to fly. I’m afraid it’s dead. How strange, I’ve known fish jump out of an open tank before though never so far, but this is very strange since the tank is closed.”
“That is strange David” she replied. “you fed them this morning, it must have jumped out while you had the lid open.”
” That’s all I can think of too darling. Don’t worry, I’ll buy you a new one to replace it.”
So a lesson has been learned today. If someone tells me to behave when I don’t need to be told, they end up getting paid back for it. And they’re so silly as to think there are flying fish like birds. Sometimes I despair of Longlegs.
Too much fresh air.
Last Sunday I went for a meal with my family which included most of my cousins. The only times we are generally all in one place are weddings or funerals (and more the latter). We had such a good time decided to try and do it at least twice a year.
L to R. Moi, Linda, Brother Dil with Gary behind him, Debs and Peter. The gang’s (nearly) all here.
As the light was rising so was the warmth. It was comfortable on my ‘The Hers’ sleeping place but far better to be out and about. The small clearspace was open in her room but that would mean a long walk round the building. Far better to start by going out of the large clearway at the front.
I moved to sit by it. No-one was around. I called out but got no response. I called again a little louder but no-one came. This is not how it’s supposed to work at all, that’s why I chose these longlegs. I cannot be blamed for taking the drastic action I took next as I was being ignored.
My ‘The Him’ was on his sleeping place, lying on his back and making that stupid grunting noise he seems to make. How unfair that I had to disturb myself to get up and walk this far only to find he would rather sleep than open my clearway. I took action.
I started gently because of my innate kindness and only nibbled his ear gently. The insertion of my nose only caused him to shake his head and grunt a little more. So I bit his ear and withdrew quickly. He sat up, eyes open wide, hand going to his ear and coming away a little red. Not much, but a little. Lesson learned I think.
His legs swung out of the sleeping place quicker than I thought and I was virtually thrown to the floor in his haste. Of course as a Superior I know how to land well but he shouldn’t have done it and I stored the memory. For safety I edged away while he put on his funny fur feet and followed me…….. as far as the clearway where I sat down and waited. He also came to a halt and for a moment I thought he was going to suggest I was in the wrong. Luckily for him he didn’t. As I looked towards the handle he got the message loud and clear and opened my clearway. I heard him grumble something about 5 o’clock as I walked out and narrowly missed losing my tail as the clearway was once again shut.
Ginger was sitting by the gate basking in the warmth and mewed as I approached. We exchanged information on how we had spent the dark time and I allowed him to best me with his story of how he had caught an ugly flying thing that tasted like furry leather. Not nice at all. In truth he had bested me because I had not hunted and caught nothing at all. I had in fact been to the village and sat outside a house where longlegs had a lot of lights, had made plenty of noise but from which rich smells had come. It was that I was going to investigate now. Ginger decided to come with me.
We walked through the village, my village and saw only a few longlegs about. There was the woman who posts things who had jumped when my ‘The Him’ had put a fast running thing on the step. How silly, she was so much bigger. Soon we came to the house. The lights had gone and so had the noise but some of the smells still lingered but they came from round the back. We investigated. There were stacks of bottles that we had to jump over, but our noses, under my leadership of course soon found the source of the smell. Unfortunately it had a lid on, and the lid did not want to come off. How lucky that I have a Superiors brain skills, especially where food is concerned. I had Ginger go behind, brace his back against the wall of the house and raise his front paws to push over the container. I sat and supervised while he rocked it until it started to fall.
It landed with a terrible clang but the lid fell off. I pulled out a bag that held a fish smell and retreated behind the garden wall to eat. I suggested Ginger stay and search for something that smelled right to him. He agreed, and was half in and half out of the container when a clearway opened, a head looked out and a shoe was thrown. Poor Ginger, right on his tail ! He ran and instead of stopping behind the wall to join me, kept on running. I enjoyed a feast before picking a nice shrimp from the bag and carrying it home and leaving it beside my gate for Ginger or one of the others.
Fed and content I walked round the house and jumped in my clearway where I settled down on the end of my ‘The Him’s’ sleeping place so he could stroke me when he woke. I am so kind and thoughtful like that.
Sunday. I read until about 1.00 am last night before turning off the light and trying for sleep. I’m not sure how well I did or how long it took to attain it but I do remember sitting up very distressed after being out with Ju and losing her somehow. It was very vivid. What else is a little odd about last night is that I woke at 5.10 am sitting upright in my chair in the lounge. Being there isn’t strange, it’s not remembering going there that is almost as though I sleepwalked like I did as a child.
It being Sunday, very dark and grim with the rain from Hurricane Bertha, gifted to us by those kind Americans, bouncing off the pavements, I knew not to expect Michael up anytime yet. At 7.00 am I went through to feel the very grateful and friendly fish, make myself a piece of toast. throw my meds down my throat and make the first coffee of the day. I answered those messages that required it and made comments where necessary on my blog and others and amazingly was done by 8.30 am. Truth to be told I felt tired so decided to go and nod off in my chair again. It turned out to be more a case of resting my eyes than sleeping so I was still awake when Shock, Horror, Mike walked into the room under his own steam at about 9.00 am. I’m afraid I let him make his own coffee and didn’t really engage in much conversation though I did answer him. I just couldn’t open my eyes and didn’t want him asking what was wrong with them.
Last night Mike’s mood had been a bit off. He listed problems with the world, laid the blame where he wanted it and did everything in a raised voice. I’m not going to say he’s all wrong, he’s not, but his manner brooked no argument and unfortunately I’m a bit of a devil’s advocate ( even when I agree with him) trying to be calm and getting him to look at two sides. Perhaps he thought my quietness today was as a result of him flying off the handle.That was OK. Anyway, with the rain belting down outside, he asked what I wanted to do and I wasn’t bothered. Neither was he it seems. I did come up with some options but he thought maybe I’d prefer to work on and keep up to date until lunchtime. I decided to give it a go and returned to my room, but first, EBAY. I found something I thought Mike would enjoy and called him to see it expecting him to look and go. He made space on the edge of my bed and stayed so by the time it came to dress ready to go out for lunch he was still there and so was all my mail. We set off for lunch at 12.20 pm.
Traffic was slow and there were some small floods on the coast road where drains couldn’t keep up the pace. The weather was obviously good for The Ivy as the car park was well used. Luckily though our favourite table was free. Shella was cooking and Tariq was helping her as well as helping Angie wait on tables and make drinks. Their very pretty daughter Amber was helping in the kitchen area too. Angie made our drinks while Mike and I decided on food. Mike, pork, leek and chilli sausages, mash and peas with an apple and chutney dressing and gravy. Coward, pork sausages, mash and peas. While we were waiting we checked to see if Tariq had been able to dismantle Mike’s coffin for transportation. He had so fingers crossed we wouldn’t need he roof down while the rain is bouncing down. Dinner was lovely but there was no chance to chat to anyone today Tariq being so busy especially.I paid the bill and we prepare to leave. Tariq came flying out to help us transport the load to the car and even I did my bit, carrying the head part of the coffin which should go in the boot. Everything went in with the roof up. Yay, only I’d have to sit in the back behind Mike. Tariq gave us hugs and we left.
Mike dropped me off at home, rang his Dad to say he wouldn’t visit today with such a bad storm and then set off home. I was turning the computer on before he’d turned the corner and spent the next four hours there until I was practically straight. I had some toast and a tiny portion of BFG which I shall be forced yet again to finish on my own and then watched antique shows until 8.00 pm. I’m now caught up on mail, post finished and I’m going for a read. Night All.
Oh Mummy, you didn’t?
A Picture of Innocence
Monday. 3.07 am this morning and I wondered if it’s worth going to bed anymore, not that I do go to bed since I only lie on the top with the heat as it has been. I worked until almost 6.00 am then found I was tired so I headed for my chair. The fish would have to take a chance on me not being too long. They were lucky, I was up again at 7.10 am. I was even luckier as they didn’t seem to notice the extra few minutes I pinched. I didn’t bother with breakfast as I remembered the sacrifice I was having to make with the BFG. Having to eat the whole thing myself, I thought I might have some for tea. After all, I’ve got a full lemon meringue in the fridge too that has to be eaten. Still, I have broad shoulders and can take up this load.
I brought my coffee back to the bedroom and played catch up with the mail again. I made such headway I even managed to play with a couple of pictures to send to my niece being very careful this time not to send anything that would make her cry. Her boss would find it odd when she leaves crying on a Friday and returns crying on a Monday. When playtime was over I went back to work. I hadn’t bothered to get dressed as I’d no intention of going anywhere but a message from my friend Lis saying she’d pop in changed my mind about dressing. One look at me in my lounge pants and I wouldn’t see her for dust. She was coming at about 11.00 am so I had time to make myself decent and to make a real dent in the mail. I managed the mail anyway. Lis is coming because I let her know there’s an invitation to a birthday party waiting for her.
She arrived almost on time, just fashionably late perhaps by ten minutes. That’s OK as I was able to have a cigarette. Though I spray the room, Lis doesn’t mind too much as she was a smoker herself some twenty years ago and the smell doesn’t offend. I passed her the invitation ( once I’d let her in and seated her) then went to make her a coffee. She was delighted to be invited to Reuben’s 1st and was talking about kidnapping her grandchildren to take. I’ve openly admitted I’m not looking forward to it with all the strangers and their parents too. What if they don’t have jelly and ice cream? I’m hoping to go for lunch first that day and perhaps Mike will drop me off there on his way to his Dad’s, though he is a party animal and might stay a while. My nieces will be there too and may protect me. We had a good old chin wag as we both worked for the same authority and know people in common.
Lis left me at midday and I decided to have lunch and watch my antique programme. I wasn’t especially hungry so stayed with ham and coleslaw sandwiches. See, I still managed my meat and two veg. The programme was quite interesting, two teams of two people and an expert each given £300 to buy three items from an antique fair to then sell at an auction. It always struck me as being the wrong way about as they’re buying at the most expensive venue. Still, the teams bought their items today and each spent less that £100. A good move as the winner is the one who makes the most profit or loses the least. They didn’t seem to spend well today at all and yet one team made 3 profits and one 3 losses. The profits were £47.50 which they get to keep. I should have mentioned that the experts can buy a bonus item with what hasn’t been spent. One made a small profit and the other wiped her face. Sometimes the experts are atrocious including one I understand has now been shipped off to the U.S. to serve as expert on one of their shows. That causes much hilarity over here.
TV over I returned to work for the afternoon. Taking things easy until at 3.30 pm I decided it was time for a siesta which lasted till 4.30 pm. I watched quizzes then until, 6.30 pm and came back to get stuck in so I can skive off at 9.00 pm to see a programme where children or parents find parents or children they were separated from very young. For the children they often need to get answers as to whether they were deserted and unloved while the parents want to know how the children they had to give up have fared. I had my tissues at the ready. So I worked hard to leave me free and hopefully wouldn’t have too much post to do. But as is often the case the gods decided to have a chuckle. I came back all red eyed as you’d expect. It was a mother, pregnant young, desperate to find the daughter she’s been made to give up almost 40 years ago and a man of almost 50 who wanted so many answers about why he’d been given up for adoption, from his mother…the upsetting part in this one was that though the girl had given her son up, she’d gone on to marry the boys father and then had two more boys. In both instances the reunions were touching and the answers satisfactory to the children. There was a ton of mail waiting as though the post van had watched for me disappearing before dumping a sack load. It’s taken a long time to catch up and I’m tired so it’s off to bed I go.
Tuesday. 3.56 am Today. I decided to conduct a survey of all the occupants temporary and otherwise to see how long it takes them to become fully awake and functioning after waking up. Well, there’s me, and I’m fascinated to see that the moment I wake I’m functioning.No ‘coming round’ time, no ‘I need a coffee first’ time, it’s zero to hero. The fish I had to interview en masse as they were all waiting at 6.00 pm as though they knew food was coming.They said they’re always on the ball as they don’t sleep. I’m not sure whose voice it was that said “Unlike you who wastes all that time every day” but I’m considering short rations. Sarcasm, because it’s no longer legal to beat someone up. I wonder if the fish wrote that. Michael was the last to be interviewed and all I got was a couple of grunts. So much for the intelligent species.
I actually did well this morning and had the post cleared for 6.00 am when I went to the fish. I even had time to write a piece on the new blog about Robin Williams, another tortured comedian to go far too early. The same age as me in fact.I couldn’t be bothered with breakfast but decided I’d have some toast when Yvonne and I meet up for coffee. I can take my food tablets then. So, I just shoveled the normal meds down and took my coffee through. I got dressed for the weather since the internet and my phone app both show Chester and here as having a bright but showery day with heavier outbreaks this afternoon. By 7.20 am I was up to date again . Time to struggle into the backpack and pick up the bag of Ugo’s birthday gifts for tomorrow.I got as far as the crossing and who should stop to let me cross but my bus. As soon as I was over it shot off and carried on uphill to the stop. I mention this because I’m heavily clothed, laden with bags, using crutches and about to start slogging uphill to catch the bus that was just next to me. When I finally got there the driver said,” You should have stopped me I’d have let you get on there”. He sees me take the bus almost weekly? I texted Yvonne to let her know I’d made it and would be there in three quarters of an hour and I’d meet her half an hour after that. I hadn’t done half the journey when I got a text to say she was there early, how far away was I? A bloody long way was my answer.
We met up at 9.00 am in the cafe and Reuben saw me coming and broke into a big grin. He knows a victim when he sees one. I drew the short straw and had to hold him while Yvonne went to order. She came back with the drinks and put the wriggling monster in a high chair, he wasn’t happy and his lungs clearly told us so along with the rest of the City. Then toast and jam arrived and you could hear a pin drop. I enjoyed mine but of course totally forgot about tablets. Ah well, I’ll just have to have some of that lemon meringue for tea that I’been left to eat on my own.( sob). We moved on from the cafe to see if we could find something for me to give Reuben to unwrap on his birthday. Since his real gifts, a ball pool with balls is already at their house it won’t be going to his party. He has some nice coloured trousers I got a few weeks ago so Yvonne suggested a top in complimentary colours. I agreed so we went to look. Naturally today there was every colour but or his size was missing. I ended up getting a nice teddy bear with something like ‘A gift from Grandad’ on it.
We trogged around another shop and bought a few small gifts and odd items before heading off to Tesco’s to get some fresh bread and a few other items. That seemed to take a while so it was lunch time when we got out. By the door there was a man with a bucket on which was written abandoned dogs. I threw £1 in and do you know he didn’t give me one. I should do him under the trades descriptions act.
A place we’d eaten at in the dim and distant had closed down. Today we found it had reopened under new ownership and decided to give it a try. Very spacious inside and with a very helpful member of staff who took our order for drinks to give us time with the menu. When he came back decisions had been made. Yvonne was going to have a duck wrap, “Oh sorry, I think that’s off the menu today,” odd, because that’s where I found it. Ok then, Yvonne will have the prawn wrap on wholemeal , side salad and an order of chips. I will have the beef sandwich with a side salad and chips, hold the horseradish but yes to onions and mustard. He came back twice to check whether Yvonne wanted white or wholemeal, we were the only customers and he forgot! He asked how I wanted my steak sandwich and I reminded him I’d ordered beef sandwiches not the steak. When it arrived they’d held the horseradish, the mustard and the onions and I got crisps not chips. But the beef was glorious, so thickly cut and succulent all it needed was a little salt.
We left there and went to pick some milk for Reuben and intended to go our separate ways then. Unfortunately I saw the word Reductions written across the window of a shop so be fair, we had to check it out. In the end all I got was a teeshirt for Mike. We hugged and Yvonne headed off to change for work. Reuben was looking a bit bewildered and waving to me as they left. I crossed the road for my bus stop but realised Yvonne forcibly dragging me into that last shop had made me miss the one I’d intended to get. Gritting my teeth I faced the crowds and headed for the bus station to catch an alternative. I only had to wait 20 minutes.As it was the bust that took the longer route it took an hour and twenty minutes to get me home. The rain that I’d dressed for was bright, warm sunshine and I was very uncomfortable. I was also uncomfortable dropping off on the bus and then the driver would stop and I’d move forward and be woken up. And a little girl and mum got on. The mother parked the pushchair just in front of me in the space available. She was a bright smiley little thing but every time I nodded she shouted “Yerch” or something and that brought me back again.
I was in at 4.00 pm and spent until 6.00 pm catching up before having a ham sandwich ( with tablets) and a portion of lemon meringue while I watched Law and Order. Straight back in here to attack the other 100 or so messages with more coming in all the time. I was up to date before starting this and now it’s back for a last assault before bed.
Tit for Tat- He started it!
Wednesday.This will of necessity, If I’m to get any sleep tonight be a very short post. It was a 3.05 am start followed by a 5.20 am finish. A few Zzzz’s floated through the lounge from my chair before starting afresh at 6.50 am with the ritual feeding of the fish and the other morning routines. At 9.30 am I went to Pauline’s for baps and cigarette supplies before tonight’s visit. I worked all morning to lunchtime at midday and had some TV treats till 1.30 pm. Again I started work and was kept going until 4.40 pm when I got to see the end of a quiz.
The card sharps arrived at 5.30 pm and watched the end of a quiz while I made drinks. Then started the games. Two of scrabble. First blood to me and the second game to Matt with me being placed third. Oh the shame of it. Nomination next which Dil won easily with me languishing in third again. Finally Crazy 8’s where despite a great start I completed my hat-trick and came last. They went home grinning. Wash up, tidy up.
187 messages between finishing on the computer and getting back here which has made it difficult to catch my breath. It’s gone midnight and I want some sleep so I’m off now. I’ll try and get back to leave a music video tomorrow but I’m off out with Mujo so don’t hold your collective breaths.
Thursday.3.17 am today so maybe things have settled again. I’d hoped for longer as last night was fairly late but maybe I dropped off quickly. I don’t remember. The landing didn’t hurt either. (Sorry, it’s been a day for terrible humour today, and the day’s not even over). I paid a visit to the loo and decided to sit this morning as my hand was shaking a bit. Mike would say I’m letting my feminine side show again…too much, though I notice the seat is always down in a morning when he’s here.
I started work and since there was a smaller gap between me finishing last night and starting again this morning there weren’t as many messages as possible. I was able to delete three straight away from my main account as they were all headed ‘Please keep confidential’ which is the latest title used by the Nigerian con artists. One ‘Your account is suspended’ went the same way too. Just before 6.00 am I’d caught up and sat back in my chair for a cigarette. Big mistake, this chair isn’t as stable as my old one and I almost went a*** over elbow. I had to decide whether to face the fish early or to take a more leisurely approach. Since I swear they know what I’m doing before I do I thought it better to feed them first. The three plecs were waiting stuck to the glass like sentries so I wasted no time and with a cheery “Good morning” I fed them.
I went to take my food tabs and prepare for toast and coffee then took the rest of my morning meds. By the time I’d smoked another cigarette it was time to turn the toaster on and crisp up some bread from Tuesday rapidly going hard. As the coffee brewed on my wonderful Tassimo ( Kenco medium roast today ) the toaster shot my breakfast six inches into the air and I played catch. All I caught were three burned fingers. At least it was hot enough to melt the butter nicely. I bit into it, or maybe I should say I tried. The crust was like rock and I nearly lost my remaining tooth. And that’s the tooth, the whole tooth and..well you get the picture. I had to go all dainty and find the chain saw to take the crusts off. What remained was small but perfect. I swallowed the after meal tabs and took my drink to the lounge where I wriggled a comfortable place on the cushion with my bottom, drank my coffee, closed my eyes and nodded off. Bliss.
I recovered consciousness at 7.45 am and went back to work with a new lease of life. As I did the work more came in. Nothing too much but I knew the box needed to be clear when MuJo arrived as it would be a while before I got back to it. I got dressed about 9.30 am in case they arrived early and nearly had to get changed again when there was a huge THUD. The postman had delivered a thick Christmas catalogue. Knowing I had no time to look at it I put it on the arm of the settee unthinkingly. I was up to date at 10.40am when I went through to the kitchen and saw Mujo approach.As it looked fairly warm out and John was in teeshirt I prepared cold drinks. John took one look at the catalogue and tore off the wrapper to see what special offers there were. Muriel told him off saying maybe I’d like to be the first and then picked up some photographs off the table and started looking through those until John finished looking at the ‘special’ pages and handed them over to her. For a few minutes I might not have been here. John was very complimentary about the photo wall and Muriel commented how much my father looked like his mother until I pointed out it was my mother’s mother and they didn’t have a car.( Go on, it’ll come to you. lol).
Not long after they got here there was a sound outside and Muriel asked if it was the binmen. Before I could answer there was a knock at the door and it was the gasman come to read the meter which was supposed to have been changed for a smart meter at least 6 months ago. Next time he’ll have to do his own scrambling to reach the meter and maybe they’ll get the job done. Two minutes after he’d gone a large delivery van drew up and Muriel said it was coming here. It turned out to be the bookcase I’d ordered earlier in the week for delivery tomorrow. I shouldn’t have carried it. We left about 11.15 to head towards lunch but also because I wanted to look for some postcards to send to a friend in Spain. I can’t believe how hard it is to find postcards in my town where there is a sacred well centuries old. Eventually I found some and took them to the post office to get stamps for them. A flight to Spain to deliver them would be cheaper. We went to John’s favourite chippie for lunch where he and I had liver and Muriel just a piece of chicken. It was very filling. From there John went to a charity shop ( where I bought a lovely magazine rack two weeks ago) and bought himself an oil painting of two galleons at war. Then Mu who I think had been buying some potatoes joined us and we went to the car and headed for Flint. The first job on arrival was to visit my favourite shop to buy chocolates for Temptations. As soon as I’d done that we could go for a drink. Ceri was in and she was grateful as they were all in a chocolate mood she told me. Lucky it was a big box then.
After drinks we did a few more shops without buying much and then headed back to my place. Once in I opened a small tub of ice cream and shared it between the two of them and had one of my dark choc ices. We nattered on for a while until they decided it was time to go at 4.45 pm. I waved them off and from that time on I was glued to the chair until 7.00 pm when I went to watch two old episodes of MASH. The humour is still as crisp as ever even though the war isn’t Korea these days. After that I took my evening meds and came through to finish my night’s work, which I haven’t forgotten means I owe a song from yesterday too.
Friday. When I woke at 3.07 am this morning I knew I was still tired but I wouldn’t get back to sleep just then. Fair enough, perhaps I will after doing some emails, I thought. I worked until 5.45 am and decided since I had the upside down imprint of my keyboard across my forehead that I’d give it a go. It took a while to do it but I dd . I nodded off in my chair and didn’t wake until 8.00 am. I knew this fish weren’t going to like the delay but I still hesitated and took my drug drawer through with me. After taking my morning meds I started filling the boxes with meds for the next week. I replaced empty boxes with new ones I’d ordered Monday and turning round to dispose of the empty foils what did I see? The fish, I’d forgotten them again. That became my next job and they studiously ignored me by sticking their heads against the end of the tank furthest from me. Stuck up little beggars I thought but wasn’t about to voice it. I took my food tab next and had a cigarette to time me for making the toast and eating it. I made a coffee whilst the bread toasted. Having eaten the toast I took my after food meds and took my coffee through.
As it was now 8.45 am it was time to be dressed which I did before doing some more mail. At 9.45 am I took a walk to Pauline’s for milk in case Mike is coming this weekend and renewed my lottery tickets. I also sent off the first of my three postcards to Espana. Coming home again I put the milk away and decided to clean my Tassimo that had shown the red light at breakfast. It normally takes about 20 mins and I was getting rather worried at 40 mins before it finally finished at 45 mins. Then I had to rinse things and set the machine to clear itself…. at least 4 times it said so that the whole job took over an hour. By now it was fast approaching lunch time so I cleared up my post and at 11.45 am took some micro-chips through to the kitchen. Again I took a pre food tablet them placed some ham on my plate and finally had a cigarette to time myself. Finally I was able to put the chips in and butter myself a bap. Ham. chips and petit pois was a nice meal especially since the bap was nice and soft for a chip butty.
I enjoyed my lunch and was ready to watch my antiques show. I must have been halfway through when I found my eyelids needed checking again. I wasn’t away for long as I was awake for the auction but I thought of how embarrassing it could have been just 15 minutes sooner. I’d have an impression of my face in the peas and funny green buboes all over my face. I turned the TV off and came back to work. Strange , no message from Mike, it must be that he’s gone to his Dad’s first to help him find shoes so I’ll probably see him about 7.00 pm. I worked steadily through the afternoon and finally got a message at 5.00 pm to say he’s on his way but from Rugby so it’ll be three hours before I see him. By 6.15 pm I’d had enough so grabbed an ice lolly and went to watch some of the European Athletics. I felt so sorry for the competitors performing in the rain. At 7.00 pm I went for a shower and shock, horror, I had to was my own hair this week. If you’re not eating and don’t have a weak stomach try to imagine a 6ft fella bending double in a very small space so he can wash his hair upside down and try to keep his balance at the same time. Mission successful though very uncomfortable but no angina attack. I did however have an Olympic swimming pool on the floor outside the shower. Drat! I may need to work on this a bit.
Mike arrived at minutes past eight and was in annoying mood from the start.”Whoever it is has won the bet” he said pointing at my Mr. Men lounge pants. I heard all about his battle with the coffin bookcase and felt guilty about mentioning mine. Mind you, he hasn’t mentioned any help yet either. I watched an NCIS episode with him though I didn’t hear it as the mouth was on top form. I listened to him say he’s got a lot of time off in the next two weeks and threaten me with spending it here. He knows all about low blows. Then I came through to start work and he’s been in three times to disturb me and stop the creative flow ( or that’s my excuse anyway). He mentioned that he has been convinced for a long time that the Bjork song It’s oh so quiet is a remake but couldn’t remember who’d done it. Today he finally found out and I had to be treated to a listen. My mistake when I said surely whoever it was wouldn’t scream like Bjork. So, dear friends, guess what piece of music from 1951 I’m going to leave you with tonight. A song as old as me!
Saturday. 4.45 am came the rising of the lark this morning. It must have been a little foggy out as he came to the surface coughing and spluttering though being the perfect gentleman he is, he did keep one wink over his beak so as not to disturb other little birdies. Excuse me while I roll round the floor in merriment and mirth for a minute at that thought. Armageddon wouldn’t disturb certain little birdies. I checked my lottery first and once the tears had dried started on the mail . There was quite a bit but I was in high hopes of finishing before we went out by using the old formula eeny meeny miney moe to decide which ones I binned. I settled on anything with a vowel in the first word.
At 6.30 am I was quite close but decided to break away to get dressed ready for depositing the rubbish outside. I couldn’t face breakfast so went straight into battle with the fish who I’m quite sure knew it was Saturday and a no feeding day as they were swimming round in circles with little placards saying ‘Eekwul Rites 4 FushFish’. Look I know they go round in schools but I never said they were intelligent, just sly.I could see the bubbles coming from their mouths but mercifully could not hear the chant so gave up and fed them. I had my meds and grabbed the food waste to take out, collecting the paper, tin and plastic on the way then deposited them at the end of the path. It was approaching 7.00 am so I put the stuff in Mike’s cup and boiled the kettle. It’s not true what they say by the way, a watched kettle does boil, and just as it did the alarm rang. Just as Mike turned his alarm off and before he could fully regain deep sleep I announced his drink quite cheerfully (and loudly).There was a definite OK in the grunting somewhere so I grabbed my own drink and went back to work until the alarm rand again or until I threw a cup of water, whichever came first. I brought the mail up to date, YAY. My timing was perfect, the alarm sang again and I called in his door about not letting his coffee go cold. “Ohyesohyesohyesohyes” he said and the legs swung to the edge. Hard luck for him that I’d already departed before those toenails could pin me to the wall like a butterfly.
I know you’ll be shocked to hear that we left the house a tad later than 7.45 am and were well on the way to our destination before the eight o’clock warning came on the radio. At five past I was at the cash machine hoping the bank manager was off duty today.It didn’t take very long to do the shopping. I thought putting food in the basket would just encourage him. We stopped for coffee as my mouth was very dry and I hadn’t brought any pastilles out. Then as I stopped for cigarettes Mike who was desperate to smoke one went outside and loaded the bags into the car. This break in routine was to prove costly later.
We headed for Flint so Mike could drool over and banter with Ceri at Temptations. I have to say there are few men who wouldn’t drool. First though we walked over to buy chocolates for the girls and to pick up a few odds and sods here and there.That was when we discovered Mike had left the rest of my shopping bags on the handle of the trolley at the supermarket. Ceri wasn’t on the counter when we went into Temptations but young Kyle made our drinks without having to ask what was wanted. We’re like furniture in that place now. Ceri appeared from upstairs where she’d been making sandwiches and immediately began saying hello to everyone. So many regulars now. She was telling us she’s due to go away soon on an activity holiday and has to use a trampoline which sen Mike into paroxysms of delight at the thought. A lot of laughter later we moved on. I picked some choc ices up from the frozen food shop then we headed home. I mentioned to Mike I’d found out a road we knew connected with another road we knew…unbeknownst to us. We detoured and followed it. We unpacked and put away then Mike did Ju’s flower while I tried to catch up on mail…the Internet WAS DOWN (sob). It took ages to figure out I’d knocked a wire and to get things going again so that when we left for lunch I had still got a long list.
We arrived at the Ivy to find someone (Tariq) had started putting up a fence either side of the entrance to make it look nicer and more welcoming. It was an excellent job. We sat down inside and it was fairly busy. Angie was serving at the counter and it seemed Tariq was assisting in the kitchen as well as serving the food. Angie made our drinks and as we got them Tariq brought an order out and came to say hello. He asked Mike about the coffin bookshelf and whether it had gone up OK and as per instructions. So began a saga that included visual representations by knife and fork. It seems the sides had attached to the top fine and the base to the sides.It appears the first three shelves from low to high had gone in nicely but when the last shelf had to be forced into position and Mike had started screwing ( I really shouldn’t use that term in connection with him) it appears the top had sprung on one side leaving the screws in the wood and the top split where the screws had been. My eyes glazed over but Tariq being the nice man he is offered to redo that section again. We had the company of an elderly gentleman at our table for lunch which meant that for 5 minutes the conversation was a lower key than it often is. It didn’t last long and he was soon joining in.
Lunch over we came home again and I had no excuse not to start work again. I stayed at it until about 6.15 pm then made some tea for us and watched a bit of TV but at 9.00 pm I had to excuse myself again and come back. I’ve done as much as I can for tonight so I’ll just wish you all a Great New Week and send Hugs Galore.
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.
Sunday. It was actually quite lonely for much of the morning today. Of course there’s no verbal chatter when I’m working on my messages from what Mike calls pre-dawn. The fish don’t talk to me much either even when I feed them after a day of starvation. I wish I could say the various snores, grunts, shouts and farts emanating from Mike’s room are comforting but it’s not true, that slightly dense fog creeping it’s way over the doorway lintel is actually quite threatening. Left alone the beast emerged from it’s pit about 1o.30 , like a new born kitten it’s eyes still closed but with all the menacing size of the tiger waiting to pounce. Part way through it’s first coffee it was heard to say “I’s awake now” and you ‘re sure you can hear the claws as they are drawn and withdrawn from their sheaths. When you least expect it, a strike, ” When was the last time you weighed yourself?” he asked. “Years ago” I responded,”why?” “Because how’re we to know if your diet is working without a weigh in.” I wasn’t sure it was a good idea to explain it’s not exactly a diet, just an attempt to eat more healthily but if I used that word I know very well it would be countered by the mention of chocolate. I wondered whether it was too late to distract him and add laxitives to his coffee but no need, the god of bowels was on my side as the hot coffee sent him off at the run. I’d hoped to distract him but when he came back he brought up a height and comparitive weight health chart of his phone. “Right” he said,”weigh yourself.” I was not afforded privacy for that. “13 stone 2 AND a quarter pounds” he said in a very specific way. ” Take off a couple of pounds for your clothes” “Ahem, how about five pounds”I asked. Begrudgingly he agree because he was sure I’d cross the unhealthy line. “Right, five foot eleven inches and just short of 13 stone, oh” he uttered ” you’re just in healthy.” “And you?” I asked. “Erm 13 stone, and I’m 5 foot almost five inches” he had to answer honestly. “So by rights it’s YOU that should be on this DIET” I said smiling sweetly. There was a period of quiet. It was a little later when the mention of lunch came up that Mike decided to question me about where to go. Would I like to go the Bells where I could have a Sunday roast and (as usual, whispered under his breath) pile on the potatoes. Would I prefer the Blossoms with their Sunday roast where I just had my potatoes allocated or maybe the Ivy Emporium where I could stick to the Baked Potato diet. I said I didn’t mind, I’d be happy to eat any though perhaps the temptation of the Bells should be removed. We set off and withing a few minutes it was clear the Ivy Emporium would be the choice. Great, I like it there. When we arrived I got out of the car and headed towards the door. I stopped to see whether Mike was behind me and had a strange sensation of sinking. My crutches had hit some wet moss on the path and were doing the splits away from my body. I was moments way from toppling when Mike’s hand grabbed my collar and drew me upright. I got my crutches back on the path and set off again. We got in and found it more crowded than usual but got a table anyway. Just settling down and the table by the log fire was vacated. He was up like a shot and I struggled to follow knocking the menu’s everywhere in the process.He came back an d picked them up and I’m sure I heard the word ‘Oaf’ somewhere. We settled at the new table and I removed my coat knocking the menu’s over. With a roll of his eyes he picked them up. The owner came to wipe the tables down from the last customer but didn’t even say hello. It took me a few seconds to realise it wasn’t him. Like him, but not him, deduction Sheerluck, a brother! Quite right the owner said as he came out. Roped in to help as it’s busy, did we fancy washing up? There was a specials board today that included a smoked pork steak with bbq beans, jacket potato and cole slaw. It sounded ideal and we both settled on that. I had a tea and Mike his usual Americano with cold milk on the side. The meal was freshly cooked but not too long in coming and we both enjoyed it, so much so that he had apple pie to follow and I was forced into lemon meringue pie. Diet beggared yet again. Mike in pedantic mode pointed out a sign that I’d mentioned to him which said White hot………….chocolate rather than white………hot chocolate. I swear he wants to get me banned from every eating establishment possible. We drove home he dropped me off and set off for his dad’s. I caught up on mail, went to watch TV through closed eyelids and went back to mail again. A beef and tomato sandwich for tea followed by a strawberry yoghurt and a strawberry smoothie done in the new (fantastic) toy then I watched a little of the story of the two girls who had photographs of themselves with fairies at the bottom of the garden. Harry Houdini and Arthur Conan-Doyle were taken in by the convincing pictures. Another catch up so that I can see a film at 7.00 pm. Despicable Me, I keep hearing about how good it is. Well I saw it and fair play it’s very entertaining. Rather than come through straight away I thought I’d channel hop a bit and came upon another film just starting called Kick Ass. Paint me Prude. What’s the matter with people today that they have to put foul language in the mouth of kids on film. OK, so there are kids that use it ans some kids will hear it in the playground but they’re more likely to use it when they see it on the screen used by other kids surely? It’s a poor day when our language skills are so poor we can’t find alternative words to use than the same bad language they employ. OK, rant over. I turned off pretty quickly and came through to see what new mail I had. One was a joke about the very elderly ill man lying in bed who smells his favourite ‘cookies’. He manages to make his way downstairs and gasping for breath reaches the kitchen where he sees row upon row of chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven. He silently blesses his loving wife and reaches out for one only to have his knuckles rapped by a spoon. “Hands off those, they’re for the funeral” he hears. Night All.
Monday. 4.17 am. Looks like my period of lie-ins wasn’t destined to last. When I woke I almost fell over as I found I’d slept in the bed last night instead of on it. My legs didn’t move free as expected. I pressed the computer on as I passed by on the way to the loo. After proving my bladder holds the equivalent of Niagara I went back and signed in. Only 47 mail today, there’s a treat and I was done just before 7.00 am . Feeling in a very generous mood I turned the tank light on and fed the fish early this morning. I had my tabs and brought a coffee back to the bedroom. There was a sudden temptation to go back to bed but I fought it and unfortunately won. After catching up on the new post that had come in it was time to get washed and dressed. Too early to pop out yet as there are a lot of children pass close by going to school. I don’t want stories spreading that Father Christmas lives here and adults claiming they were only in my garage to give Rudolf a carrot. I wandered back through to the kitchen with my dirty mug ( oi! The one I’d been drinking from) and my eyes landed on the piles in the 2 I***ing baskets. It was time to do something. So, I sorted the bedding which had been folded coming out of the washing machine and decided the creases may stretch out when on a bed. I stored it away. Underpants and tee-shirts were treated the same way. Towels went to the airing cupboard leaving me with shirts that have to be I***ed about 10, and socks which I proceeded to pair up. True to form there are about 20 socks without a matching partner. What dimension do the ones that disappear get to? Feeling less guilty now I mopped the kitchen floor using my new Flash gel and then while it was drying went out for fresh baps and some cigs. It might save me having to leave the house tomorrow. I checked for more mail and dealt with it. I have a true friend who half my mail gets to and the other half is returned undeliverable. We’re testing out different methods to see if we can get it all through. That done I had time for a couple more poems before lunch. As usual now it was baked potato and beans to which I added ham and coleslaw. I’m not sure if I’m losing weight or the jeans made by a couple of firms are just more generous than usual but at least two pairs I can remove without unfastening. My friend suggests I may not be far off mooning at everyone. I’ll wear braces just in case, I don’t want anyone thinking there’s an eclipse. During lunch I watched an old Burt Lancaster film I think it was 10 tall men.After that I washed up and then inspected my eyelids for an hour before going back to the computer.At 5.00 pm I knocked off and had a banana for my tea with a smoothie and a yoghurt. I could have put the yoghurt in the smoothie I suppose. I had half an antique programme, a quiz, law and order then Murder she Wrote before deciding I’d had enough TV and coming back through. I’ve read a few interesting blogs and commented on some as well as answering some personal mail. I’m still early enough tonight to get the blog done before 11.00 which is a rarity so it looks like I’ll get some real reading time tonight. Nos da.
Tuesday. Up very early. I’ve decided it’s a residual effect of Oscar my alarm cat waking me. It’s probably why I get out of bed so quickly before he goes for my feet. I’m on my way out of the room before I realise he’s gone. QUICK ADVERT. Which reminds me that his book is still available for all cat lovers and sadists alike. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Memoirs-Superior-Lord-David-Prosser-ebook/dp/B00EJ9FNWS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1390942104&sr=8-1&keywords=memoirs+of+a+superior ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Sorry, but I don’t want to die starving in a garret somewhere. Available in paperback in two sizes of print.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..As usual I dealt with my messages and found my friend’s computer had literally blown up on her. That’s going to curtail a bit of the gaming so maybe she’ll get down to writing a bit now. Mwah ha ha , I don’t do that half as well as she does which sends a chill down my spine as I’m usually in trouble of some kind. The fish got their second treat of the week and I had an early coffee after taking my tablets and sprays. As I turned to leave the kitchen I was taken ill, that’s the only possible explanation for what happened next. I opened the pantry door and got out the I***ing board then opening one of the cupboards I got out the lethal instrument itself. I recovered enough to put it down and make a run for it. By 9.00am I’d finished my mail, couldn’t think of an animal beginning with N to do a poem on so decided to get washed and dressed. I was determined not to go out anywhere today though. My cup had to be washed and doing it in the bathroom left me with the problem of no draining board and the floor of the shower didn’t seem appropriate so I walked through to the kitchen again. I’d just placed the mug down when I saw the postvan pull up and the driver headed here. YAY, parcels, good old Amazon with perfect timing. They didn’t delay me for long and Darren hadn’t stayed to make conversation except to wish me a Happy New Year. It felt like he was mocking me as I wandered back into the kitchen to wash the mug. I could avoid it no longer. I erected the board, put smelly water in the instrument and turned it on. I started on my shirts. I ended up doing 8 and putting them on hangers on the back of the door. That was about all I could manage but there were tears in my eyes as I checked the basket, my estimate of 10 yesterday was way out. There are still 8 more to go. It’s no good I shall have to call in the services of a professional I think. A neighbour uses a service which washes and presses ( I can cope with that word) everything for him. It takes on a Wednesday and delivers on a Friday. I’ll see if I can catch their van tomorrow. Trouble is it’s MuJo day and I have no idea how early they’ll be.I’m sort of looking forward to this visit to as I made a gift basket up over the weekend with Mike, everything in it is made by a firm called Bonner’s which was Mu and Ju’s maiden name. It’s also not a common name so for some reason I thought she might enjoy this. This year I got MuJo some Christmas tea which they really enjoyed and I couldn’t find it again except in the US and with postage I’d be paying nearly £ per teabag. So, I’ve been buying some boxes of different teabags in the hope they’ll be pleased, then I had to try and find a Teabag box to put them in but they can be £30 or more so last weekend Mike an I bought a plain box which I hope will do the job. This is like OCD in that once I started I couldn’t seem to stop. Tomorrow it ends when I finally hand things over and won’t be buying more. I had to skip the letter N since the only thing I could think of was narwhal, so next on my list was O. I’d already done P. Q was impossible so I went to R and I did poems for those two letters. I have U, X and Y left so that’ll be a no then unless I go with Yak. I have two left to do and I’ll need a couple of spares in case more are rejected. I’m still struggling with the best size to do the book, small like a ladybird book or larger like a painting book. Larger seems to be the type favoured by many of the shops I’ve been in. I’d love a hardback but think the cost will be prohibitive If I put the book on general sale. After lunch I spent some time in the lounge looking through the new Argos catalogue but saw nothing exciting. What is exciting is that I’m expecting three more parcels from Amazon. My wonderful nephew and wife who gave me the gift vouchers for my birthday will be pleased to know I’ve put it to good use, some long handled, long bladed toenail scissors and some extra strong spring nail clippers. He may not be as pleased to learn I also ordered two memory sticks to download the family tree onto but will be asking his help in doing it. It’s a joy having a computer expert so handy. Teatime was a banana and a strawberry yoghurt again. Perhaps I shouldn’t buy in bulk. Afterwards I checked the mail till 6.00 pm and then had two hours slobbing in front of the TV. At 8.00 pm I came back through and have been listening to Motown classics on Youtube as I dealt with more mail. I had a quick skive to bring you all up to date so now I’m going to finish up with The Four Tops ‘I’m in a Different World’ and see if I can find William Bell and Judy Clay with ‘Private Number’ as I do the last of my mail and go for a read………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….Enjoy http://youtu.be/X9uvmca5WF4 …….. I’m your Puppet. James and Bobby Purify…………………………………………………………………………………………………………… http://youtu.be/yDtTVYHOBZI ……… I’m Doing Fine Now. The Pasadenas ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. http://youtu.be/weGiFoK4JeI ……… Loco in Acapulco . Four Tops …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… http://youtu.be/ubDVUQon5BE ……… Young Gifted and Black. Bob and Marcia…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. http://youtu.be/53u7LuGJecw …………. Let your Yeah be Yeah. The Pioneers …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. http://youtu.be/Tj96QFzOL5Y …………. Let’s Just Kiss and Say Goodbye. The Manhattans ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. http://youtu.be/jPnZZTVp_2A …………. Heard it Through the Grapevine. Marvin Gaye ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. http://youtu.be/v78-ftcqpNw …………… Midnight Train to Georgia . Gladys Knight and the Pips………………………………………………………………………………………….
Wednesday. Oh dear. I had a poor night which resulted in me lying in bed semi with-it until gone 7.00 am. It then became a rush to get as many messages done before the fish deadline and my first coffee. I didn’t do badly since I just deleted anything that came from a bank (3) and decided not to fully read those that I opened unknowingly but which turned out to be African cons. In fairness they’re trying harder, asking me to believe I’ve already dealt with them on somebody else’s behalf and now this person wants to pay me. It’s trifling amounts below the million now and obviously not worth my time. Obviously once I’d done the fish I had to come back with my coffee to finish off. By then there were 20 more but at least they were genuine. By 9.10 am I’d cleared the last of that lot but was afraid to refresh until I’d washed and dressed. MuJo were coming and there’s no telling what time. I didn’t want to be found sitting at the computer in my dressing gown. I’d just finished dressing when the postman arrived but I was grateful he didn’t knock. Just one package today, the long handled, angled toenail scissors in a posh little pouch. I didn’t try them out. There was time to do a few more messages of the normal kind and comment on some blogs before I thought I should prepare for the visitation. Get milk in John’s cup and decide what coffee I’m giving him today, and take the cap off Muriel’s J2O so she’s able to pour when she’s ready. I’d just done that when they arrived at half ten. I handed Mu the packets of teabags and the box and also the basket of food made by Bonner’s which she thought was great. Then I went looking for two tiny gemstones which could be used as eyes on John’s wolfshead waking stick. Luckily I still have most of Ju’s craft stuff and found two small red ones. We chatted for a few minutes and at 11.15 they decided it was time to lave for lunch…….a bit earlier than expected but at least I hadn’t had breakfast. We went to the Ivy as they haven’t been there. Plenty of room at this time. I kept to my baked potato and beans while Mu had the meal I’d enjoyed on Sunday and John had the same but with chips instead of baked potato. To me that’s awkward but my friend was very obliging. It was a good size meal though John wasn’t impressed with the quantity of chips. I certainly would have been happy with any of them today. They were very impressed with the atmosphere and comfort there. Afterwards we took a ride to Prestatyn to see the new shopping precinct we’ve heard about. I managed to find some nice clothes for Reuben in Boots but shock, horror, wasn’t especially impressed with any of the other shops. I don’t think it compares to Flint. There was however a Costa so John was able to have a breakfast sausage sandwich and I got Mu a small cake. I was glad of the points. We started for home and in half an hour we were here with John ready to drink again. I think he’s showing signs of the diabetes coming on. They left at about 4.00 pm giving me an hour on the computer. I managed everything but one I couldn’t get my head round. I had some fruit for tea and watched a quiz show till the next visitors arrived. Dil and Matt arrived about quarter to six but no Lee tonight unfortunately. Still at least he didn’t see me sobbing to win just one game of scrabble the whole evening. They ganged up on me unmercifully. Typical father and son tag team tactics. Heartbroken I was and promptly showed them the door at half nine, they both said they’d seen it though. Back in here to attack mail and frustration as it keeps stopping and asking me if I want to close down. Doesn’t it know I’m big enough to do so if I want to? Ah well, I’ve had a little break from it so now I’ll have another try. Night all.
Thursday. No visitors, no events, just a quiet day. Great. I dealt with mail very early and had seen to the fish, sorted my next weeks tablets and made a coffee by 7.00 am. Instead of going back to refresh mail I just sat in the lounge watching it become lighter outside. It wasn’t easy to start but after finishing my drink I got washed and dressed. At 9.00 am I walked to the corner shop to renew m lottery tickets and renew my hope of winning naturally. On my way back I met a neighbour who asked me whether a woman had knocked on my door last night about 9.30. It seems this unexpected visitor had called on her and demanded details of her bank account. Had it not been for the fact her son was there it’s possible she would have caved in. Another neighbour did so last year. I don’t know whether my place was avoided because I’m male, had visitors last night or just that it’s not my turn yet. They get short shrift from me if they call here. I don’t need to bore you with today. Mail, meals and a bit of TV about sums it up. Not at my best today so I’ll leave you with a song instead………………………………………. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDUmT3wm-0A&list=FLykLqhnwlNz3Qz3GX3qyuXw&feature=share&index=11 …………………………………………………………… Queen- These are the Days of Our Lives.
Friday. That was an unreal night or brief interlude as it should be known. Light off to sleep bout 1.00 am and up and awake at 3.45 am. It’s as well I live alone as I was miserable as sin too. I dealt with emails, blog comments and everything and round about 6.00 am the fish thought it was their birthday. Early food. I took a shower, well you have to show willing in the New Year don’t you. Who knows, I may even indulge in the summer if it’s warm. Had my tabs, made a coffee and came back to the computer to keep up. I corrected a few poems I found where the final line had been cropped on the Jpeg copy and then did a count. YAY, all 32. I’ve now sent them off to be edited before a friend creates a cover for me. I’ll send her the poems at that time in case she wants to use any of the clipart. How does ‘Odd Animal Rhymes for Toddlers’ sound as a title. Suggestions welcome ( as long as they don’t include Close the Blog and Go).
The last one. I’m not going alphabetically.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………I kept up most of the morning as I have no idea how long I’ll be out this afternoon. The postman came with some nail clippers but disappointingly not the DVD of Terry Pratchett’s Going Postal. I’ve managed to pick up another of his from ebay too and am bidding on a third. I don’t want the cartoon ones especially. Ju upset me today merely by not being here. Funny how it gets you sometimes. Lunch at midday and I don’t even need to tell you what I had any more. I need to restock on potatoes and beans tomorrow though. At just gone 1.30 pm there was the honk of a horn and I saw Ugo’s car outside. I went to the door to ask if they were coming in or was I going out. I got my coat. We drove to the Ivy Emporium where as it happened people were coming out as we were going in. A coincidence honestly. We were the only customers just then but Gary gave us time to settle before coming to take our order. I just had a latte but they chose burger meals while I got to hold Reuben. What a little gem. no squawking at all, smiles and giggles all the way though I’m not sure he was happy at not being offered a chip butty. Gary was as nice as usual and his wife Helen came through once she’d finished cooking. She’s nice too. They deserve to succeed. From there we shot to Flint for a little shopping then they ran me home and came in for a cuppa. I’d bought a Galt box game of animals to fit together for Reuben’s shelf at home as he’s not old enough yet. I’ve never seen such a reaction. H tried to hold the box and was making excited noises as he touched the pictures on the box, it was almost as though he was trying to do the noises.We hugged, they left and I attacked the post that had mounted up while I was out. There was a particular post I became involved in. Spain’s decision to end abortion will affect 100,000 women a year.My friend was appalled at this, especially as it’s being done by Cardinals etc of the Church so it’s more a religious decision than political. One particular person was arguing in favour of it and coming out with the biggest load of religious claptrap I’ve seen in ages. More so to my mind because there are many non-Catholics in Spain these days and this will hit them despite Catholicism not being their religion. This action makes the wealthy go outside Spain for their operations and the poorer element are pushed to illegal back street methods. This decision is best left to the women who’s bodies they are rather than a group of religious people who supposedly have nothing to do with sex but can decide that a human life is created from the moment sperm and an egg meet. At 8.30 pm Mike arrived. He says it was a slow journey because of the rain. It took him two and a half hours for what most consider a three hour journey. I made coffee while he fiddled with the TV and got us two episodes of a forensic crime series and one of QI. At 11.30 I was allowed to escape to come here to do this and any emails. It’s now 12.55 am and I’m off to bed. Hugs all.
Saturday. Mike paid me an undisclosed sum of money today not to tell you he slept through two alarms and it was all his fault we left to go shopping late. Please consider yourselves not told. Before evening drew near though, I had managed to clear my mailbox, prevent myself from busting a stitch laughing at an email purporting to be from a woman who was obviously a man telling me how much she.he regretted never having received an answer to the heartfelt outpourings of love sent previously. Believe me there haven’t been any previous messages from this one or it would have gone straight to the slush pile. I had also taken my tabs, seen to the fish and read War and Peace in the original Russian. We did eventually get out and arrived at the shops before they closed for the day.There wasn’t much to get as my shopping list currently reads potatoes, beans, oh and milk. It was done so quickly that we had time for breakfast and I am forced to confess ( before he tells you) that it wasn’t perhaps quite as healthy as baked potato and beans. There was a small detour before going home to unpack so that someone nameless could banter with Ceri over the Coffee, sounds like a line from a song. Ceri asked if I was OK as I was very quiet. Mike had said something similar but it’s probably just because I can’t get a word in edgeways. We also had a look round the local shops for a cross cut shredder as Mike had burned out the motor on his last one. At home the shopping was put away and the post opened to reveal the two films of Terry Pratchett books I ordered. I was just going to start on emails when Mike announced a trip to Rhyl might find the shredder so it was coat on time again. The weather was foul, really cold and damp up to the kneecaps. It takes forty minutes to get there, we park in the open on the roof of the shopping precinct a target for incontinent seagulls though in this rain it was more likely to be albatrosses as anything smaller was sheltering. We hit a stationers and found just the thing, only two let and the offer ending on Monday. Bright spark said he’d wait and see if they had one left in the branch near his home to save him carrying it. The car is about 200 yards away. Instead we have a short wander round the town centre in the pouring rain, get in the car and leave. We’re wet, have driven a fair way and have left without anything. On the way back we stopped at the Ivy for a drink. If Gary thought I was bad subjecting him to three visits in a week he now knows it for sure since I not only took MuJo once but now I’ve taken Mike again, though to be absolutely correct, technically he took me so it’s his fault. Back at home once again I made tea though I co-opted Mike into buttering the bread and then we settled in front of the TV for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and then The Tomorrow People. Mike started complaining of a vicious headache and Is suggested he went to bed to watch Vera with the light off and I came through here to catch up on my mail. I brought my mobile through since I’d forgotten to take it out today and found I had a message. My niece let me know that Amy has died now. Just Penny and Priya left of our happy bunch. It’ s really sad………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
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