Sunday

Sunday 22nd March 2015

it was another late night being a Saturday and it was a 1.00 am turn off the light but I’m pretty sure I wasn’t long in sleeping which in this house, for me anyway, is not the same as sleeping long. Having said that, I must be back in as the Golden Boy of the small gods promotion society as I was left until 4.39 am this morning. Three and a half hours continuous unbroken sleep. I dread to think what the cost will be. The gods are in the habit of selling you a favour and allowing you to have it, before you were even aware you wanted it. It does kind of put things in their favour when it comes time to collect. I got up, paid my visit to the loo, padding along the passageway to avoid waking Mike. Coming back I powered up the computer and signed in. First job, check the lottery and thunderball. Second job, dry my eyes. Then on with the post, and what a lot there was. I worked till 7.00 am without seeming to see the numbers go down at all.

Big Al came to greet me this morning and unless I’m mistaken it was in a friendly way rather than the usual “Where’s my food fool”? attitude. I’m so pleased to see him and the rest of the Famous Five that I shower them with some of the top food and put an algae tablet in. Whistling a little of The Gang’s All Here, I turn and take my meds then make a coffee to take back with me. All of a sudden I start making good progress. At 9.30 am I’m within 3 or 4 of being up to date when I hear a sound.I had to stop and listen as I’ve heard a similar sound before but it’s so very rare. Mike appears at my door Gasp! Cheeky burger was creeping to see if I was awake. I apologised for not moving when I first heard him but I was really trying to finish. He told me to carry on so I did and a few minutes later joined him in the kitchen where he still hadn’t made himself a drink. I put the kettle on. He was engrossed in something in the fish tank from hell. Some part of a plant had come loose and he’d found another corpse, I just glanced at where he pointed and asked whether something else was a rock. It wasn’t. He dipped the net and brought out two corpses. Unrecognisable for the beautiful fish they once were. I was in the meantime counting wildly trying to come up with my five survivors and hoping these two were he last. The Famous Five were all accounted for.

Because of problems with the car Mike hadn’t been able to do a run to his Dad’s on Friday.I knew he wanted t go this afternoon so when he asked what our plans were for this morning I suggested we went to the Bells but for breakfast instead of lunch. We’ve always said we’ll try it. We didn’t rush too much and got there about 11.00 am. The sign says it’s an eat all you want breakfast and I’m astounded when I see that nothing is restricted. You can help yourself to bacon ( fools), sausages, eggs, fried bread, hash browns, plum tomatoes and beans, even chips, and then you can have as much toast as you want. It was £3.99 and I think between the two of us we must have bankrupted them. I was waiting for them to pay us to leave.When we left there about 12.30 pm we headed towards home but had a little detour to the gift shop at Abakhan. I thought we were going to have a drink there but Mike said “Let’s have one at home” which was two minutes away. I stepped out into the beautiful sunshine and felt ill, no it wasn’t my breakfast coming back to haunt me, I had to slow up a minute until Mike turned round and came back asking what was wrong. “Nothing, just fancied a cigarette” I said. He put on that very whiney voice and repeated it with such sarcasm.He put a hand in my coat pocket and passed me my spray as the pain really hit. There was a bench close by. And all the time this mocking voice is bouncing round my ears “What’s wrong? Nothing. Liar, I can always tell, it’s your chest again”  I offer “If you know so bloody much why’re you asking?” We have a cigarette and then go to the car.

At home, I sit in the chair and the need to sleep hits. Mike has a coffee and when I come round he’s ready to go. I won’t see him for a month now so no more bullying or nagging for a while. Scratch that, I meant from him, I’m not for one minute suggesting Yvonne won’t. I walk slowly out to the car with him to collect my blue badge ( disabled parking scheme) and wave him off. Back inside again I have no choice but to start on the emails. Whoa, far too many.I had nearly 4 hours of that because at 6.55 pm I intend to take a break and watch Lara Croft. I’m afraid if I work straight through I’ll have another angina attack .I stayed awake and even enjoyed the film but at 9.00 pm I came through to face the music.92 more emails in three hours. I worked until 11.00 pm then started this blog and I’ll decide afterwards if I carry on or go to bed.

Someone pinched my pedals

This is more my mode of transport Mum.

Monday.

I don’t know whether to scream “Disaster” or offer thanks. I’d turned my light off at 1.00 am and was fairly quickly off to sleep I think. When I woke again I felt refreshed and swung my legs out of bed. I’d seen the glow of the clock but paid no attention, now I did.  It was 2.20 am. I paid a visit to the loo which only served to wake me more and came back to power up and log on. I knew if I did become tired again I could go back to bed for a while as 80 minutes sleep is pushing it even for me. But when I logged in and saw how much work was left from my backlog of yesterday with more having come in during the morning I thought maybe as I was going out again today, it would be good to get rid of the backlog completely. So that’s what I did. I was finished not long after 6.00 am and up to date, giving me the chance to put on a guest blog by my old friend Sarah Mallery which wasn’t due until tomorrow. I hoped she’d be pleased when she saw it up. At 7.00 am I went through to the kitchen and turned the tank light on. I was chuffed to see the Famous Five come and greet me. Yes OK, I know it could be construed that they were waiting for the food they knew was coming, but I’m sticking with my own line of thought here.

I left my friends ( yes, I have got some) chomping on their little food granules and turned to take my meds. There are some quite big snails on the glass of the tank. I know it means good water. I haven’t seen my assassin snails in an age so I’d better get some more of those. Tablets done I made a coffee and wandered back to the bedroom. Not too much come through while I was out of the room so easily dealt with. I opened the second email address and sorted that one too. It reminded me that I’d ordered some Tudor roses for MuJo to stick on the four poster and I hoped they’d maybe turn up today. I know they were posted on Friday but probably second class. The slow pace of the morning so far was nice. I was able to take my time getting dressed which meant I could colour co-ordinate though even now I can hear my Julia’s voice saying ” Not orange and blue together darling, you look like a bruised tangerine,” OK maybe that’s not quite what she’d say but you get the gist. She was a very gentle person who enjoyed ribbing me but who never tried to hurt, at least never after the great ‘No yellow shirts with your complexion even if they are your favourites’ debacle.

The postman came early and I was pleased to see the Tudor roses delivered. Less pleased to see them described as Yorkshire Roses merely because they were uncoloured, I almost got a red pen out. I guess the War of the Roses isn’t over yet. It’s strange to think that we carry on this joke between Lancashire and Yorkshire because of cricket these days. I actually like Yorkshire very much though I still maintain these are Tudor roses. Anyway they arrived. I ordered 4 for Mujo and a further 4 for me though I haven’t the foggiest idea why now. I couldn’t do my washing this morning as I’ve no idea what time they’ll turn up and what time they’ll want to go out.                                          As it happened they arrived at 10.20 am at which point I was still up to date with my mail. I saw to the drinks and then passed John the packets with the Tudor roses and the gargoyles. He was over the moon with them and knew just where on the bedposts they were going. We chatted for a while and batted about different places we might like to go but it was the chippie that won out. We went and had a pleasant meal there, followed by a ride over to Flint and to Aldi so Muriel could do some shopping. That suited me down to the ground as I wasn’t too happy with Julia’s flowers and needed some more. I got three more bunches including some daffodils. Hopefully as they open the vase will look stunning and full of colour for her.

From Aldi Muriel drove to Asda and then on to Temptations where we had a nice drink and I got to hold Ceri’s hand for a minute.( Sorry Mike, you should have been here).Coming out of there we had a look round a few shops ans MuJo were able to find another pair of curtains they needed. A successful day. We drove back to my place where I sorted John with a drink while Muriel went to Pauline’s for their lottery tickets. At about 4.15 pm they left to go home and after giving them a wave I came in to start work, or such was the intent. I certainly did some work but I have no idea how much before I was suddenly no longer here. That may have been at about 5.00 pm and the next thing I knew I was waking up in my office chair, in front of my monitor at 7.10 pm. A real break only I couldn’t get myself together enough to work out what I’d been doing or what I was supposed to do next. It took a few minutes. A real day off. I carried on as best I could from that point until it became time to stop and do the blog. And here we are again.

A toll? I’m not paying a toll.

Is choo Lookin’ at me?

Tuesday.

At last I’m back in favour. Should anyone ask I’ve been plugging Somnos daily and twice on Sundays. I turned my light off at 1.00 am and didn’t wake until 4.49 am which was wunnerful. Early enough to work before I go out but late enough for me to feel I’ve had a good sleep. Talking of work, there wasn’t as much as I feared from last night  and not too much early morning stuff to scare me, and believe me, I scare easy. Naturally my day couldn’t start without the waterfall effect and today I was able to make as much noise as I wanted with Mike not being here. That’s always assuming he’d hear me anyway. When I came back through I powered up and signed in. With a smile on my face I started.

The smile wavered a bit when I came to an email about a firm wanting to place a large order for my product and the money was on hand to pay for it. I had to sit and puzzle out what my product might be. I can only think it’s words so I sent them a link to an online dictionary. Not that I needed their money anyway since an attractive ( I’m guessing) young Nigerian lady has offered me 40% of her late father’s fortune (worth squillions) if I can only help her get it from under the nose on her Aunt who wants to force her to marry and give up her rights. However if I (Prince Charming and NO arguments) can arrange with the holding bank to transfer it…..well who knows. Wedding bells maybe as she knows my character is good (fool). After that, everything else seemed flat even with the jokes sent to entertain me. Still, I persevered until 6.00 am when I decided the fish were deserving of my company. Big Al and Pepper cam up to be fed when I turned the tank light on. The little bronze cory wasn’t too far behind. Little Al was poking about at the back and didn’t seem interested at first and the hoplo I couldn’t see. Not as worrying as it would have been a few days ago. Fair play, he did stop playing silly beggars before I left and he came looking for grub.

I left the fish and turned to taking my drugs and sprays before making myself a coffee. After putting the drink on my desk I concentrated on getting ready to go out so I’d have no last minute rushes though the words rush and David aren’t a natural marriage like Mike and sleep are.Once I’d pondered what to wear and actually got dressed I returned to work and made short shrift of what was outstanding. By 7.20 am my mail boxes were clear. I even managed a cheeky look at ebay before having to go out at 7.30 am. I reached the bus stop well ahead of the bus so had to walk the whole distance for a change. I did manage to get my breath back before the bus arrived and as I was the only passenger settled in my favourite seat. After a few minutes we set off and when we stopped in town I closed my eyes so I didn’t encourage chatter from anyone getting on. It was a pretty good journey and we arrived in Chester at 8.40 am. It was pretty cold and damp. I saw Yvonne waving to me in the distance and walked towards her, hiding behind a pillar as she got close. Reuben hadn’t spotted me so when I jumped out and said “Boo”he was giggling like mad. Our cafe wouldn’t open for 15 minutes so we walked round a shop that was open and picked up a couple of books for Reuben. Then it was time for coffee, and in my case a sausage and red onion toastie that Yvonne decided I wanted. It was very nice. After that we went and found some outfits for Reuben, sunglasses for Ugo and Yvonne and left.

We wandered round a few more shops during the course of the morning.I’d told Yvonne I needed to leave early today so I didn’t get into the same backlog situation I encountered over the weekend and yesterday. Anything more than a couple of hours out of the house is horrific. Eventually time to go was upon us. They walked me to my bus stop and waited with me until it arrived. I wasn’t first in the queue and my seat wasn’t available but I found a double nearby. As the bus left I waved to Reuben who was looking in the wrong direction smiling at a stranger. The journey was tolerable though I had to keep my eyes closed when someone sat beside me. Back at home I emailed Yvonne to thank her for the morning an passed her the details of some appointments I needed, hopefully two close together on the same day. She emailed me back with the dates and times and she’s actually managed to get what I want. There were 192 messages with more coming all the time so I made a start. By 3.00 pm the computer fan was whining so I took a break and had lunch while watching an episode of Escape to the Country. After lunch I washed up and returned to work again. If only the hourly rate was better I could be quite content.

By 5.00 pm I was feeling decidedly sleepy so went to sit in the lounge with the TV on. It worked like a charm, I fell asleep until 6.10 pm. I turned the tank light off, wished the fish goodnight and came back to work. No breaks since then. Each time I think I’m making great progress somebody writes to me. Still, I stopped at 10.30 pm to do the blog and I’m unsure if I’ll go back to it as I’m at home tomorrow daytime and may catch up then. Of course it’s games night at the other end but I’ll save the moaning about that till it happens.

The Winnah!!

The lap of honour.

Wednesday.

Well, I had an early night last night. In bed for 11.30 pm with a quick “Damn the rest of the mail until the morning.” I read until 12.30 am then turned my light off and settled down. I think Porcinus must have come to make sure I went to sleep because of the pervading smell of damp pig and I seemed to be counting pigs leaping a small gate as I drifted off. I woke at 3.24 am and felt ready to go into battle again. Not until I’d been to the loo of course. I turned my light on so I had no stubbed toes and I didn’t knock anything off/over on my travels. When I got back to my room I powered up the desk top and signed in. By 6.00 am I’d dealt with all last night’s late post including two very strange messages. One which stated VIRUS DETECTED AND ERASED which when opened had a weird message about how business was at this end and how they looked forward to doing business. The second had a subject of ‘ See what Morrison’s ( a Supermarket chain) have for you, which when opened was blank. I was expected to open an attachment which I refused to do since the sender was a private address. Maybe they thought people would be too tired at night to question their veracity and would open them regardless though it’s more likely to be that it’s a reasonable time of day wherever the senders are from.

Before starting the today’s batch it was time to turn on the tank light in the kitchen and check the Famous Five haven’t become the Fractious Four. I was OK since all of them were obviously at table waiting for their first-and only course. Whatever they were dreaming of they got just multicoloured granules.Though since it’s supposed to be composed of everything they need, it may be exactly what they dreamt of. Of course I got a dirty look from Big Al who obviously didn’t approve of the service in this particular restaurant. I have the feeling that his brush with death is now forgotten and the new mellow Big Al has been replaced by his original irascible self. I may be wrong and my fingers are crossed that I am since I thought the two of us were getting on so well. I turned away to take my meds, made a cup of coffee and returned to start on Wednesday’s mail. That took me till 7.45 am ( without refreshing) when I returned to the kitchen to put the washing machine on.

I came back to get dressed ready to make a trip to Pauline’s about 9.30 am for some bread. I made a start on today’s mail until just before 9.30 am then put my shoes on, grabbed my bag and my sticks and took a slow walk. I got my TV mag., my fresh bread, a small micro meal and some cigarettes being very disappointed when my brand wasn’t in and when the ten packet I buy for Matt was only a small size. I came home, unpacked the shopping, set the washing machine to dry the clothes and then came back to work. By some miracle I was up to date by 11.00 am and decided I had time for a nap before lunch. I managed about half an hour or so then decided to prepare my lunch which today was a lamb hock with some colcannon potatoes. I was half watching a programme about fake goods that come into the country and the vast amount the crooks earn from it. I’ve obviously been in the wrong job. Bargain Hunt came on while I was eating so I stayed till the end. After I’d washed the pots I fully intended to go straight back to work but I found myself mysteriously gravitating towards my chair for the other half hour of my power nap. My calculations were a little off as I had three quarters of an hour instead.

I was on my way back to work when my phone went and it was my pal Lis texting to see  if she could call in. Since it’s always a pleasure to entertain a pretty lady I jumped at the chance though it didn’t give me very long on the computer before she arrived. I made her a coffee, passed along her invitation to Reuben’s dedication and we chatted about her daughter-my friend Charlie’s- attempt to buy a house down in South Wales. Things seem to be going well. Lis has a lovely family and sees her grandchildren most days so there are always tales top swap. When she left to go and collect the eldest from school I came back to work. I had until 5.00 pm to try and make an impression on the mail and it was tough going but I didn’t leave too many. I had a yoghurt for my tea and then prepared the mugs which was just as well as at 5.20 pm I saw Dil and Matt walk past the window. I started making drinks. Lee was a no show tonight. After the usual quiz show Dil got the games table out and we started playing Yahtzee. It wasn’t Matt’s night as Dil won 3 of the 6 and I won the others. No clear winner there then. Not that I do usually stand a chance at that so tonight was an improvement. Instead of going onto cards next Matt suggested Balderdash. I was grateful Dil brought the original game to the table. I had a great start but a lousy finish as Matt romped home past me. In the second game I also had a great start but went downhill when Dil pipped me at the post. How on earth did my little brother and my nephew become such accomplished liars, and better at it than me?We still had a little time left so the cards came out for chase the lady. In the first hand Matt had the Queen of Spades in his hand and dumped it on me. I had it in my hand every deal after that but only managed to abandon it once. Three hands in and Dil hadn’t got a point against him. I felt obliged to remark on it and he suggested I was doing so to forge an alliance against him. So paranoid. Still, they do say just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean it isn’t true. We managed to catch him for a few points but we got the worst of it and Dil won. So for me a disastrous night. My heart is still breaking, or it would be if I had one.

They left about 9.30 pm as usual and I tidied up and washed the pots before coming through. A lot of post to catch up on again. This could be a late night. It’s now almost 11.30 pm so we’ll see how it goes from here.

I’m in a mellow mood again tonight.

Thursday.

It was a late one last night thanks to the backlog but I did clear much of it before admitting defeat. It just meant that having a read took me a bit beyond my usual 1.00 am mark. It was OK though as Somnos took pity on me, not too much in case I got used to it, but he did leave me here until 4.01 am this morning. At that time I felt a kick on my bladder like that from a sheep or goat perhaps which said “You need to go NOW.” It was fooling me though since the expected waterfall was a trickle. I came back quite disappointed and powered up the computer. When 6.45 am arrived I’d finished the last of the evenings mail and had already started today’s making quite a dent in it. It seemed a good time to go feed the Famous Five. Big and Little Al, Pepper and Bonzo the bronze cory came to eat straight away, very excited at the prospect of food. I couldn’t see Harold the Hoplo anywhere though and I was trying to rack my brain as to whether I’d seen him yesterday. I had to come through to check the blog to find out. Thinking he’d just not rolled out of bed yet I decided to take my meds.

As soon as the tablets were taken I went to make a coffee but the damn machine decided it needed cleaning the moment I’d broken open the pod. According to the book it takes about 20 mins to do the cycle. Let me say here and now that it can’t tell the time. I was still there 35 mins later waiting for the end. I put the kettle on and made myself n instant coffee. In the meantime, I kept going to the tank to check on Harold. Carefully scanning the tank my heart sank. I could see another body wedged behind the bubble curtain. I got the net out and used it to push he airtube until the body was free to float up. Naturally it was in a bad way and very nibbled so I’d no idea what it was but it could only be Harold surely. I was beginning to think my friend Laurie was right about there being a serial killer in the tank. I didn’t want to wait for ‘last man standing’ to see who it was. Anyhoo, I managed to catch the remains in my net and a couple of the ‘attack of the killer snails’ too, that’s only with reference to their size. I confess I was really sad as I deposited the remains in a plastic bag which I then put in the bin. I turned round and said good morning to Harold who’d just come out to eat. Wha????? Realisation kicked in that the remains must be from one of the recent deaths that hadn’t been seen before now. I was and am so grateful.

By now the coffee machine had finished it’s cycle so I flushed it out four times as they suggest, took the cleaning disc out and refilled the tank. I may have another coffee later and use up the pod I pierced. Greatly relieved I took what was left of my coffee and headed for my room. I stopped on the way for the magic waterfall. The mail had grown a bit while I’d been out of the room because you people are just addicted to writing aren’t you. Anything just to get the written word down in front of you so I can hear all about your new books. There should be an AAA for you all to attend, Addicted Authors Anonymous. I restarted work and carried on until 9.30 am when I went to the Post Office to send off a card and to Pauline’s for my proper ciggies, the lottery and a special birthday card for next week. On my return I started work again. I must have been daydreaming too as I caught myself wondering about Mike. I’d forgotten to ask him what time he’s flying today so he could have been on his way at that point. Poor Canada won’t know what’s hit it. I wonder if his long suffering sister and his brother in law have any problems getting him up when he’s on holiday. Mention of a casino might get him moving though. By 10.30 am I was tired. I was up to date but even so I knew a trip to the lounge to spread some Z’s about was a mistake. I slept till about 11.30 am then decided to prepare my lunch after waiting 15 minutes for the foodie-tablet to work. I was sitting down t eat just after Judge Judy finished her last case and was ready for Jessica Fletcher to solve a murder case from her sick bed. That kept me going until 1.00 pm. I washed the pots and went through.

It was at this point it occurred to me that I’d been missing for two and a half hours. I found out how bad a mistake when I booted up again. Still, I didn’t need to move again until about 5.00 pm. I only just made it. The afternoon held many entertainments for me on peoples blogs and there were quite a few new books to tweet too. But at 5.00 pm I made myself some tea and then entertained myself some more with a couple of quiz shows. I didn’t want to be away from the computer screen for too long this time as I had plans to depart again at 8.00 pm. Firstly it’s the reburial of King Richard 111 or Richard of York or Richard Crookback. He who was found buried underneath a car park in 2014 having fallen in battle in 1509 against Henry Tudor. Shakespeare vilified Richard and ensured the stories of him having murdered his two nephews in the Tower of London. However, tests on the bones have shown that Richard was not in fact a hunchback and it seems some papers have been uncovered which show he was well liked in Yorkshire and perhaps not the monster he was portrayed. Of course Shakespeare writing in the Tudor years could hardly picture Richard a Saint.                           Then it’s a new episode of the Big Bang Theory (YAY), followed by an episode of another U.S. comedy I enjoy. I’d be due to return here smiling after that lot.                            I only saw the first half of the programme on the reburial which was a shame but it was quite touching bringing  together descendants of the Yorkist line to share the ceremony. I’m sure the monks who took him and buried him did what they could but now he’s within the confines of a Cathedral in a tomb where he can be recognised as a Monarch of England.

The Big Bang Theory just gets better and better. The writers are hot, hot, hot and the stars of the show are unbeatable. The funny thing is (for those of you who don’t know) is that Sheldon’s girlfriend Amy who plays a scientist in the show is a real life scientist and probably has no problems at all with some of the scientific terms Sheldon and Leonard’s actors have had to learn sometimes. The new show I’m sort of hooked on is called something like Precinct 99 and is a very funny show, again carried so well by some of the actors. To my mind far better comedies than some I see come out of the States and much better than most things we produce these days. At 9.30 pm I took my evening meds and came back through. A fair bit more mail to wade through but I don’t think it’s all bad. I broke off at 10.30 pm to do this and it’s mow 11.40 pm so I think I’ll go straight to bed.

Friday.

Woo Hoo. Somnos must have appreciated my efforts this week. I got to bed early last night by refusing to go back and answer more mail after doing the blog. I was in bed by 11.45 pm and my light was off at 12.30 am. I didn’t get up this morning until 5.01 am, a whole hour more than yesterday plus at least half an hour at the beginning. That’s over 4 hours and my best for a while. I thought the only drawback would be the amount of mail carried over undone from last night and the delayed start this morning. But no, there were no more brought forward than usual and even the morning post to that point didn’t look heavy. I only worked until 6.05 am before going to the kitchen and turning the tank light on.Today the Fantastic Four came up to eat without the fifth member but after yesterday I wasn’t falling for it.If he preferred to eat alone so be it. I dropped a few granules in for them all. The rules say no more than they can eat in a couple of minutes. It’s like watching hoovers at work as this lot get to grips with it. They were so intent upon eating that Big Al even forgot to snarl at me.

I left them to concentrate on taking my meds, which I did leaving the container empty. ( We won’t go into the tablets in Tuesday night’s box OK- I binned them). Once I’d done I went to get my meds drawer and did a complete refill of the container for another week. That doesn’t include he foodie tabs which are taken twice a day with meals so not a set time like the others.Those I keep to one side in the hope I remember to take some out if I’m eating somewhere. Of course that won’t be happening for three weeks now while Mike is in Canada. When I’d finished it was approaching 7.30 am so I made my coffee. I had another glance in the tank and saw Harold looking for his breakfast so I dropped a few more granules in and hope he finds them. As in life, some fish seem a little thicker than others. I took my coffee back to my room an started work again. I got dressed at some break in the work but had no intention of going out this morning. My warden came to visit on her last day and we sat down for a chat. I have felt fairly relaxed with her. She was telling me it’s her grandson’s 4th birthday today and lst week they had a little party at a petting zoo. I remember when I went to a petting zoo and the women slapped my face.(I didn’t honestly). After she’d gone I went back and did another half hour of work until midday and then went to the kitchen to do lunch. Steak in ale gravy with mashed potatoes today.

After Murder She Wrote I returned to work but by 2.05 pm was up to date again and retired to my chair in the lounge to have a power nap. Unfortunately I was caught up in Judge Rinder, the UK equivalent of Judge Judy and sleep stayed away. Yet again I had to return to work at 3.00 pm. There was a sound at the door and I saw a post van departing so I checked the outside cupboards. Nothing. I found two pieces of junk mail in the letter box though and yet the postman had come this morning. I can’ believe they sent a van out especially to deliver two pieces of unwanted junk. Yet again I managed to get up to date and this time I was yawning so returned to the lounge at 4.15 pm. Big Mistake. There was an antique programme on TV followed by a quiz I enjoy. I couldn’t quite drop off. A few minor flutters of the eyelids like butterflies in a breeze but the beggers wouldn’t stay shut. Giving up my other quiz at 6.00 pm I came back through to my room. I DON’T UNDERSTAND, Have you all taken a writing sabbatical? Where are the sacks full of mail I usually get. Is nobody writing to me anymore or has wordpress devised some devilish scheme to drop it all on me at once? Whatever it is, understand this. Me scared, me no like. It only took me till 6.50 pm and I was up to date again. I decided to desert you all and go back to the TV till about 9.00 pm. I laughed ha ha in the face of danger. Here’s hoping I shan’t be laughing on the other side of my face later. I actually ended up watching one of those feel good factor comedy films that I didn’t expect to enjoy- but did..

I took my meds and retired to my room. I didn’t feel up to having a shower so went straight back to work. I was gobsmacked.Normally two hours away from the screen has me in panic mode at a minimum of 30 messages an hour. Two hours tonight and not even 30 waiting. I read a terrible report about the British economy. Not a great surprise as I’ve said for years we’re bankrupt monetarily as well as morally. It seems there will be a new raft of stealth taxes and not so stealthy ones all hitting Middle England. It wouldn’t do to inconvenience millionaires or big tax dodging corporations. I understood a few years ago that if one major coffee house had paid taxes in the UK on money earned here, there would have been more than the amount the Government are trying to screw out of the disabled benefits programme now. There was also a nice request to connect on LinkedIn as well as some cheery posts from my friends. By 10.20 pm I found myself in the enviable position of being up to date again. After doing a quick, slow waltz round the room I decided to start the blog. I could just feel an early night coming on. 11.15 pm with luck. I need all my strength for tomorrow  since I learned the elemental known as Yvonne has taken the day off to take me shopping…despite protestations.  Early in the week she said Ugo and Reuben would take me but I knew I could get out of that. Now I’ve no chance. I have to hope she’ll accept I only want to go local as I don’t need much and speed is good.She can do her own shopping at the supermarket she likes on the way home. Maybe poor Ugo will be able to sit in the coffee shop while she does. At least the Force will be with him and not me. I love my daughter more than my life but like all women she scares me half to death, especially when she can see my shopping list. Chocolate, chocolate, beans, chocolate.

Saturday.

I didn’t quite manage my 11.15 pm as hoped but I was there by 11.30 pm which was something to cheer about. My light was out by 12.30 am after a read. There were a couple of false starts during the night notably at 1.25 am ( No Way) and at 3.05 am but I still felt there was more to come and managed to stay until 4.38 am finally. I was really pleased. I got up, made Niagara fall ( in a drought) and them came back to power up and sign in. Yesterday’s surprise is there today when I noted how few ( 18) messages had come from yesterday and again surprisingly only 42 emails from today. Having said that, I hadn’t yet refreshed from 4.42 am when I signed in.But at least by 7.00 am I was clear and able to go see to the fish. Big Al and Pepper had a race to see who could reach the front first this morning when I turned the light s on. They swam in place with their tales going like the clappers trying to stay positioned underneath the trapdoor while the current tried to push them away. I talked to them as I started to pour some food into my hand but Big Al’s look said “Just get on with it. Less chat , more action.” As I started to put the food in Little Al came over with Bonzo not far behind. Yet again Harold was conspicuous by his absence but after the last few days I’ve decided not to worry when I can’t see him. Chances are he’s still in bed and if not, there isn’t much I can do about it.

I left them to their feasting and went to take my meds.As I picked up the first spray I heard my phone beep in the lounge. It really annoys me. It was on charge all Thursday night and I didn’t use it yesterday and yet it still runs out of charge. Now I don’t know if it will be sufficiently charged when I go out.. Back to the meds, I finished and made myself a coffee using the remains of the milk in  my mug as usual. I took the food waste bag out to it’s little bin and placed both bins at the end of my pathway. I brought the other recycling bags out but had to tuck them at the side of the house because there’s a vicious wind out this morning. Before starting back to work I washed and dressed in case I lose track of time. They’re supposed to be here about 9.30 am but I know of old Ugo works on African time on his days off. As long as he’s up and at football by the afternoon he’s fine. Actually not quite true as he looks after Reuben while Yvonne works so he has to be up, but he generally doesn’t have to move much. Anyway, I started back to work.

It was about 8.00 am as I was sitting here minding my own beeswax that I heard a clunking sound followed by a slithering sound. It was a fair bet that no giant pythons had escaped so I went to the front window to have a look. Disaster ! My large bin had been toppled on it’s side as had the food bin. Not a major problem as the contents were in bags but the slithering was my waste paper bag which was happily spinning around in the wind depositing it’s contents everywhere. Naturally sod’s law says this week there are many small pieces of paper ( answers from Balderdash) all over the place. I started collecting them again. It didn’t take long before I was out of puff and feeling the strain from kneeling/bending. Then good old Bert from next door came out and started helping. We picked up plastic bottles too that had escaped from their bag. Between the two of us we soon had everything back in place. I had to move the bins back down the path hopefully away from the worst of the wind and I had to stand the dustbin on top of the recycling bags. Bert has apparently left his closer to is house than usual too. The big question is will thy be collected with not being in  their usual place? Will the collection team realise why the bags are not actually out if the wind has dropped by then? At which point they could turn all ‘Jobsworth’ on us. “Oh no, it’s more than my jobs worth to come down your path to collect rubbish.” Maybe I’d be back before that happened but at that point I got a message from Yvonne to say I was not shopping locally, I was going to the big supermarket with them. This could be a battle of wills worth seeing.

They arrived at 9.40 am, just as I’d normally have finished shopping and as I approached the car I could hear the throaty croak of Pops, Pops as Reuben saw me. Poor soul thought he was getting out to be with me but instead I got in the car. “Right , where are we going?” was Ugo’s question. “Asda” said Yvonne brooking no refusals. We set off and soon arrived there, the car park was very busy but Yvonne knew enough to say “We’ll be OK.” I headed for the cash machine while Reuben followed on riding his bug bike ( or Bugger as he calls it) and with his Ma and Pa. Yvonne got a big trolley we could share. I was dubious but went along with it. On the way to the flowers we passed a stand with items reduced in the latest dale and looked at a new ironing board Yvonne needs. It was good but not quite big enough. She turned it down on the grounds they wouldn’t get it in the car anyway. I chose some flowers and Yvonne got two bunches of daffs for herself, or for Monday, I’m not sure. Monday is the two year anniversary of Ju leaving us. We had a wander with Reuben hot on my heels, literally. He was trying to make me dance by running at my toes. I hat to threaten him with my fist while telling him to get off my toes which had him in fits of laughter and trying again. Suddenly I cam across another ironing board. A Minky and very wide just as she wanted and reduced by half. Room in the car or not she decided we couldn’t afford not to. I gave her some money to pass o Ugo to buy it now and try and get it in the car before we had to go. He was away a long time. As he came back I was half expecting to hear I’d be walking. It was close. Yvonne and I wold both have to sit in the back while the ironing board occupied the place of honour next to the driver.

We carried on shopping. I was piling my stuff in the front of the basket and Yvonne the back. Only problem was the back part is very small so there was a lot of overspill. Eventually we’d done and headed for the tills. Then the goods had to be placed on the conveyor Yvonne’s first and mine second. I gave Ugo some bags and proceeded to set my bags out along the bottom of the trolley ready to put goods in. Ugo packed his stuff and paid and I waited my turn. As soon as the youngster on the till started sending stuff through Ugo decided to help me pack and pulled my bags out of the trolley.I find it easy to fill 3 bags and spread the weight than to fill one bag at a time so I had to get them back again. I really appreciated his help as he put things in the bags in the trolley for me. We didn’t have time to go to Flint for a coffee as Ugo was due at football this afternoon. We had a drink in MacDonalds where Mike and I usually go instead. Once done we headed for the car. Ugo insisted on packing the boot while Yvonne and I squeezed ourselves into the back seat one either side of Reuben. My accompaniment all the way home was a DVD of Thomas the Tank Engine. Until now I never knew Thomas was naughty. When we got back Yvonne helped me take the bags in so she could finally see the gift Tariq had given me on my birthday, the picture of Roobs and me. They had to go. I looked at my watch and it was 1.00 pm. I’m no idea it had got so late.

Once I’d unpacked and put the shopping away I took my pre-food ( I wrote pre-foot there but honestly it wasn’t while I still had hooves) tablet and buttered some bread. Corned beef hash was speaking to me. I think it was something along the lines of “Eat me or I’m out of date and food for worms.” But I can’t be sure. Finally I was able to come back to work and my worst fears were confirmed. Everyone was working weekends and more specifically, while I was out of the house. I’m very fortunate that now I was back things seem to have eased off. I was also lucky that I didn’t have any fakers, conmen or nut-jobs to delay me. The worst part was developing a rhythm and then realising I was starting to nod off.  The bathroom and a good splash of water in the face beckoned. By the time 5.30 arrived I felt OK about breaking off for a while. I went through to the lounge thinking I’d have a little tea soon and found next to my chair , the two post food tabs I should have taken at lunchtime. I put them on the arm of the chair so I wouldn’t miss them a second time. I’m (almost) ashamed to admit I settled for two doughnuts for my tea as I watched a celebrity edition of Pointless. At least I watched until an attack of the noddies took over and I didn’t wake until 7.20 pm. I came back to my room. It seemed a good time to try and have a shower before working so I prepared all my clothes and putting my dressing gown on took the clothes to the washer ready for Monday, put some clean lounge pants ( the ones with the Red Dragon of Wales) on a hook in the bathroom and turned the shower on to reach the correct temperature.  I put the emergency alarm round my neck then pulled it off again and put it on the windowsill in case it blew the system.  Then I had my shower. To an outsider looking in it would have seemed strange to see a body with it’s bum uppermost as I had to fold in order to wash my hair. That out of the way I was upright again for the rest of the ritual cleansing . Getting out of the shower I had to assume the position again to dry my hair so I might have looked very short under that towel. I came up puffing like old bellows and dried the rest of me. That takes a while given my girth. Too bad Mike hasn’t been around today with remarks about booking coach trips to go round me. I’ve missed going for my meal at the Ivy too.

Once dry I re-started work and by 10.00 pm was really doing quite well. Keeping pace as I was I broke off at 10.45 pm to see to the blog. I could take my time I hoped. So I did. My friend Suzanne Joshi  https://patriciaruthsusan.wordpress.com/ made a request for tonight. That I choose my favourite Welsh song to put on for you all.

    This is my National Anthem and still raises hairs on my neck.

I wish you all a week full of wonder and Hugs.

David 28.03 2015

Sunday bloody Sunday & ISP Wails in Wales.

Sunday. It was a bit of a restless night so I managed to sleep a bit longer this morning. I didn’t get up until 5.56 am and flicked the computer on as I was leaving the room for the loo. It was ready to go when I got back. Strangely there were only fifty- odd ( rather than fifty odd) pieces of mail and happily a good few were about last weeks blog. and happily no-one has yet claimer terminal boredom. There was another of the fraudulent mails and it upset me quite a lot. This one claims to be a woman currently in London staying in a cancer hospital with terminal cancer and no more than two months to live. She and her husband lived ( guess where) in Nigeria for some years where he worked and invested. When he died she sold up a shopping mall, a hotel blah, blah, blah. The money is still in a bank out there but she won’t be able to go back. She specifically wants me to take on the couple of million she has and donate it to charity less 20% which I can keep for expenses. This is one of the more wicked cons out there appealing to people’s sympathy. I also had the standard bank manager with a deceased client message which gets sent to the crap pile without hesitation.

At 7.00 am I fed the fish though you wouldn’t know it as they all had their backs to me and were swimming to the furthest corner away from me. I assume that’s because he didn’t get fed yesterday. They should know by now that Saturday is diet day, for fish at least. I turned to take my meds and included one for a pre-meal. After about ten mins I was ready to have a bowl of shreddies but was overcome by spirit instead. I was forced to eat two doughnuts instead. Erm, don’t have a go at me though, there were three there and I was only forced to eat two. I took my after meal tabs and retired back to the bedroom with my coffee. Away from the temptations of the kitchen and whatever malevolent spirit resides there. I worked through a couple of mail refreshes until I was clear about 10.15 am. I decided at that point to print some pictures off to fill a frame for Yvonne. including a copy of the one taken of me with Reuben by Tariq. I knew my black ink was almost gone so I thought I’d better change that first. When I turned on and checked, it seems all of the inks were getting low and not wanting a hiccup during printing I thought I’d change them all. I’d bought quite a few last time as the compatible inks are quite inexpensive.

I got the cartridge holder to the right position, shook the new inks, took them out of their wrappers and inserted them one by one as I took the old ones out. I was very careful with the disposal of the old ones. I set the printer to go and all I kept getting was a message to say that these inks were incompatible with the printer. Nothing I could do would change the message so I’ve now got new inks in and can’t print anything. I ended up having to go to Amazon to buy proper Epson inks. The annoying thing is these cartridges are exactly the same as the ones I took out and were part of the same order. I won’t be able to do anything until the Epson inks get here from Jersey. I expect they’ll be gold plated at the price I had to pay. Unless maybe they come with a free holiday on Jersey.

That messing about took me to lunchtime where I had every intention of being good. Unfortunately the spirit wasn’t so inclined and I ended up with four rashers of bacon (sliced with a razor blade), a Bury black pudding ( all the best ones are from Bury) and a small tin of beans. By choice I added two baps to that. I struggled to eat it all but after a dynamic effort almost made it. I put the last bean in the food waste bin. I followed up with a Kitkat. It’s only now I realise how lucky I am not to have been forced to eat the BFG from the freezer which I’d forgotten about. After lunch I had a Sunday nap in my chair which was quite welcome but when I woke up I was talking to someone on the couch and I’ve no idea who. I felt quite lonely actually and went back to work. I stayed there until 5.30 pm when I went to watch part of a film and then an episode of Inspector Morse  followed by The Antiques Road Show. It was time then to come through and have the last mass catch-up of the mail and start the blog.

Monday. Well, it was a little better last night and I slept until 6.05 am so swinging myself out of bed wasn’t too difficult.I should perhaps have been in a sitting position first though as when my feet swung left to right to find my slippers, my head swung left to right into the wall. It’s OK though, the wall wasn’t hurt too much and isn’t going to sue. The trouble is, wherever I have the bed in this room it has to be side on to a wall unless I remove the rest of the furniture. Where it is now is right next to the emergency alarm which I may have to use if I clout myself like that one more time. I whimpered my way down the passage to the loo.  I considered an en suite but chamber pots are so passe now and I didn’t want to passe it by in the middle of the night. I returned from the loo and turned the computer on. A couple of days ago I received an email purporting to be from createspace telling me they were having problems making a payment to me. I did nothing about it as the same day I received notice of a payment due in about a week. Today I had the same message again and I’m uncomfortable about it. It looks real, it reads real but my nose says something is off so I’ve messaged their help desk to ask if it’s real or a convincing con. I’ll keep you informed of any answer. Maybe I’m getting paranoid now.

I saw to the fish at 7.30 am and also had a bit of breakfast. I was sure I was going to have Shreddies but as I poured they came out as Rice Krispies. Tomorrow I’m going to try it with my eyes open. I took a coffee back to my desk then went to get washed and dressed. I’m not going out and I’m expecting no visitors but you never know. At about 9.30 am I realised I needed to go out with my prescription request so I’ll have the drugs ready for Thursday/Friday when it comes to doing the week’s supply. I donned my leather jacket and headed out. The rain was like a continuous waterfall and I was drenched within feet, at least my head and my legs were. By the time I got back I was like a drowned rat ( sorry girls) and had to towel dry my hair and glasses before I could see to change. If I’d thought to pick up cigarettes while out I could have avoided a trip in the morning. I’ll have to go early so I don’t miss the postman again.

At lunchtime I had a lamb shank with mashed potatoes, peas and carrots. Very tasty. Then it was time for my afternoon kip. I hadn’t intended too and was quite enjoying a film. When I woke up I wondered how it had become a murder until I understood  I’d missed both an end and a beginning. So, back to work. On a serious note I’m both worried and disgusted with the number of countries who are becoming right-wing. The number where there are signs of anti-Semitism growing again as in the Ukraine and where there is an anti-gay movement . If it’s true that the UK and the US are responsible for the current regime in the Ukraine because the previous Government were not wanting to join the EU then both Governments have a lot to answer for. A number of deaths can be laid at their door already.                                                                      I worked until teatime when I had a bowl of strawberries then watched my quizzes, half an antiques programme and hen a film called ‘Employee of the month’ that made me smile a few times. At 9.00 pm I came through in the hopes of finishing the mail and the blog early. Well that’s not happening.

Zebra Boy

Tuesday.You remember Julie Andrews singing as she worked her way through an alpine meadow with the von Trapp kids in tow, Idle Swine, Idle Swine every morning you greet me, or words to that effect. Well I checked the bathroom mirror this morning and Idle Swine stared back at me. It was 6.25 am before I got up today and I’d barely been for the stop-start mission before it was time to feed the fish and myself. They got some very boring fish flakes and I got some rather tasty, thick, buttered toast. It was a nice change from my cereal and I was able to use up the last of the weekend’s baps. After taking my drugs I wandered back to my bedroom with the coffee that was going to wake me up. I turned on the machine and got started. Content wasn’t too bad in that no-one was trying to con me first thing and I did get my answering email from Createspace. Their messages were genuine. It seems they’ve been having a problem paying me since January. I followed a different set of directions to the last ones but seemed to end up in the same place. The difficulty is they don’t tell you what the problems are. I had to un-click a couple of things then re-click them in the hope it kick starts whatever isn’t working. If it goes Kaput again I don’t know what I’ll do as changing back to cheques isn’t an option as bank charges will eat up the value.

At  just gone 9.00 am I got dressed and went to replenish the ciggie supplies at Pauline’s. I got fresh baps and my new TV mag while I was there. Then it was home again to work while waiting for the postman. It was getting to be late morning when there was a knock on the front door. I must have been concentrating heavily as I left my seat but not in a good way and came down holding my chest in fright. Another small knock and I went to answer. I could see it was my postie before I opened the door. The parcel I had to sign for was no longer than a cigarette and not much thicker. My Iodine has arrived. Before going through to make my lunch I bared my stomach (look away ladies) and painted a patch about the size of a 50p piece or a 2 cent Australian coin I’m reliably informed. While waiting for it to dry I left my stomach bared and read the brochure that said how important Iodine is to the body and how the chemicals in our water depletes it. Hopefully this will help me chase of the chest before I have to go back to the doctor’s again. I covered the stomach up took a tablet then placed a cottage pie in the micro ( Yes, I know I said I was fed up with them but the shop we went to at the weekend had little choice). I’d just about finished eating when I glances someone cross in front of the window. As best I could I ran to the kitchen with my tray, turned the TV down and went to the front door. There was my wonderful Crazy Cat Lady Helen. Since she’s left the Ivy and doesn’t want to lose touch she’s come to visit. I had no problem opening the door to her and ushering her in. You can’t help but be relaxed in her company. As a ( sort of ) joke she even brought me a packet of ham and two little eggs from her own hens, freshly laid. I gave her the midge fragnet Mike had brought her back from Canada and a box of chocolates as she now misses out. She was with me well over an hour and was a delight. We talked about her crafting and was able to give her two crafting CDroms from Ju’s collection that she didn’t have.

When Helen left I felt quite bereft and had to go straight back to work on the computer. I stayed there most of the afternoon catching up. There was another knock at the door and this time it was my drugs ‘mule’ from the chemist bringing the latest supplies. After I’d signed Rasputin ( who notices) I took the drugs to the kitchen and went to sit down with a film. At just gone 4.30 pm when I had the lap top on my knees and was swearing at it’s lack of speed, I may have been contemplating a quick kip when I heard the sound of the door opening. I couldn’t hear too well and my mind registered nothing but shock until Ugo walked into the room bearing a stern looking Reuben.But lo and behold he smiled at me. I turned the laptop off and took Reuben from Ugo so he could visit the loo, the dance he was doing was quite unseemly. I was able to dodge the grab for the glasses and took him to the mirror which he loves ( talk about vain and Reuben’s no better). Ugo came back and decdided to give Reuben some milk but for some reason his eyes were following me around and his arms opened to indicate a pick up. I did so gladly and Ugo took a walk to the chippie. Ten  minutes later he was back with sausage and chips for me  ( come on, I had to make an effort after he’d bought them) and whatever rubbish he was having in the kebab line. But first he took Reuben back and started to feed him while I ate my tea. Afterwards we swapped so Ugo could eat and I played with Reuben. I made Ugo’s pudding and almost collapsed with shock to find he only wanted ONE chocolate pudding but would take custard with it. They left about 6.00 pm so Reuben would be back for his bedtime. After I’d waved them off it was straight back here playing catch up again. I’d thought about going back through t the lounge for a late episode of The Mentalist but instead settled for an earlier episode of SG1 from 8 – 9.00 pm. Then it was back here for the rest of the night.

Mischief 1

Destruction accomplished.

 

 

Wednesday. I had an inkling this was not going to be a good day when I opened my eyes at 6.55 am

that’s almost afternoon as far as I’m concerned. Bypassing the computer, I didn’t stop to collect my £200 for passing go but shot straight to the loo and from there to the kitchen.

I fed the fish and at least they couldn’t accuse me of being late. No sign of the assassins at all. I don’t remember them booking holidays just because the weather looks good. I had my meds, made a coffee and had some Shreddies for breakfast. Kitchen duties finished I headed back to the pit and turned the computer on. Wow, 107 messages. I ploughed in and was making good progress when about 9.30 am there was a knock at the door. Because I wasn’t dressed yet I was careful how I appeared but it was only my favourite postman. YAY, my inks. I signed for them and came back to the pit full of the joys of Spring knowing I could now print off the pictures I wanted to do for the frame I have for Yvonne. Bollards ! I opened the package and there were only 3 inks, the fourth would be coming by a separate delivery with no mention as to how long. Deflated I returned to the mail.

By 10.00 am I had finished the first batch and decided not to refresh until I’d dressed and hoovered up. A quick mop of the kitchen floor and I got the Hoover out. I did all through the lounge though it didn’t seem to matter what setting it was on, thick carpet, thin carpet or hard floor I felt sure I could have done a better job just sucking in hard. I know the bag is empty so it’s not that. I set it for thick carpet and assaulted the hall. It seemed to do well on the hard floor but I ended up using it more as a carpet beater in the end. I decided to give my pit a miss as I’d be working in here in a few minutes………. or so I thought. When I got back my modem was showing access-local only which means the internet is down. I turned the modem off and waited the prescribed time before turning back on, no change. I turned the computer off and rebooted, no change. I did everything I could think of but it made no difference, I’m off. The rest of the morning and most of the afternoon I was either in a state of misery or abject fear at knowing how my messages would be accumulating.

At 5.00 pm relief came in the form of my brother Dil and nephew Matt. I’d almost forgotten Dil had told me last week that he was on holiday this week. While I made drinks Matt checked his tablet and said it looked as though TalkTalk was having some problems so the fault might lie at their end. That was some relief as I knew I hadn’t touched the modem with the Hoover while I worked.

Drinks distributed we started play. Two games of Scrabble later and both Dil’s an my chin were on the floor and Matt had conquered us both. Despite some nice little wordplay by me with adit, aglet and qua Matt’s tablet was coming up with words to beat my brain like qi and other little gems.

We turned to Nomination Whist and with a struggle I came joint first with Matt. The boy is on fire tonight. At least in crazy 8’s I won convincingly pushing Matt over the 300 mark before I hit 3 figures and Dil had only just got over the 100. Finally it was Cribbage and through more luck than judgement I managed to cross the line first. Dil said nothing but you could hear the cogs turning so I’ll have to watch my step next week. They left at just gone 9.30 pm so I tidied up , washed the pots and headed for my pit. Still no luck though I tried turning the modem off again for a few minutes then back on. I’m left to wonder whether the modem was upset that I hoovered so close to it. Maybe it was shock at me hoovering at all.

I went to bed very unhappy, picked a book to read about the dark history of some European Kings and Queens though it seemed to be quite lenient with the Titles as Elizabeth Bathory was not a Queen and Giles de Rais was not a King. I think I only read till 11.00 pm before trying to sleep.

 

Thursday. Much more like usual I woke at 5.52 am but was amazed I’d slept so long with no forays to and from the loo during the night. I didn’t turn the computer on but went straight to the loo checking the modem on my way back. Still nothing. All the lights are on except the internet one.I turned it off as I went past heading for the kitchen. I turned on the tank light and prepared to say “Good Morning” to them all but disaster had struck. Big Bill the circle swimming Angel Fish had finally succumbed to ‘whatever’ and was lying on the bottom of the tank. I cleared the plants and vases from the top and went in with my net to get him. There was some weed about him which came out too and I was quite cross as I’ve been putting something in to kill the weed off. I was annoyed in case he’d got tangled and the lack of motion had caused him to drown. I don’t think it was that however as there didn’t seem to be enough to have stopped him moving. While I was tere I used the net to gather as many snails as I could and as much weed as I could then buried the lot in the dustbin in a plastic cup. There are now 3 bull nosed placs, a small fish with a flashy tail and a small catfish which is completely white with red eyes ( I know there’s a word for it but can’t remember it this morning).

I had my meds then a piece of toast before coming back through, turning the modem back on as I came.Still nothing. I turned the computer on so that I could record the diary entry oherwise I’ll never remember anything. What surprised me was a pop-up saying there are windows updates and the computer would be turned off in ten minutes. I put it off for an hour. How are windows updates getting through if there’s no internet?

YAY. 10.45 am and I’m back up and running. Only 305 messages await in 24 hours !!!!!!! It’s scary. I’ve no choice but to start reading and typing. Some messages I might pay more attention to usually will have to be passed over if I want to finish sometime today. Food, who has time for that? Well, now that you mention it, it’s almost one o’clock and I need it. Yes, another cottage pie but I did have pizza and chips yesterday- comfort food, today it’s speed food. After that it’s back to work and work and work and work. Tonight it’s my 8.00-8.30 Big Bang Theory and then at 10.00 pm my Person of Interest I don’t want to miss those.

I had a real push and got the post down before Big Bang so I didn’t miss it after all but it’s now 9.49 pm and I’m worried about my other prog. Nearly 60 to go and that makes 487 in all today unless I refresh it again……. See you later.

Friday.Ah, much more back to normal today. I didn’t have to beat sleep off with a big stick in the hopes of my internet returning, I managed to finish by 1.00 am and in total it was 532 messages and 2 blog posts. I was up at 4.46 am telling myself that today would be the Queen of Days this week now I can communicate with the outside world again other than by banging on the walls and hoping someone hears me.

My first batch was done by 6.30 am and I decided to give the fish an early treat. They were all there alive and flipping. I picked up my tablet container and realised I needed to refill it as soon as I’d taken this mornings doses so I swallowed those and got out the new drugs and filled the little compartments which took about 20 minutes then had some breakfast. I took my coffee back through to the bedroom about 7.15 am and refreshed. Not too bad, just 37. I managed to keep on top of things so that when 9.15 am came I was able to get dressed and go to the post office with my voting form. The reason for my mini rant earlier in the week was the form contained four far right groups hiding behind new names, The British National Party is known to be right wing fascist and racist but then you have the English Defence League which is an offshoot of the BNP, Put Britain First is another then we have United Kingdom Independence Party which appears to be OK until you see their history and find they were practically founded by people from the BNP who seem to be still there. There is a group called No2EU which is another on that could appeal to people who don’t take the time to check that this is run by the Chairman of the Communist Party of GB.That leaves the LibDems who haven’t earned themselves any trust since they’ve been power sharing with the Conservatives, who themselves have broken promises since they came to power and are treating the disadvantaged, the sick and the vulnerable very badly with benefits changes while giving tax breaks to the wealthy. They had an opportunity to govern fairly but have now probably lost that opportunity. There are the Labour party who are profligate with our money and despite raising taxes ( as always) they borrowed a lot of money and left the UK in heavy debt. Lastly there is Plaid Cymrru the aprty of Wales who can only be elected to serve Wales and not England so that’s a choice England don’t have. If large tax dodging corporations paid their way and if  he tax relief for the wealthy was lowered then the benefit changes wouldn’t need to be made at all.

Whinge over………..I got back from the Post Office to find the internet kaput again. I calmly pulled the rest of the hair from my head and got back down to turn off the modem and take all plugs out, wiggle them ( technical term) and replace them before turning the modem back on. Glory Be, it’s back !! I almost kissed the postman and might have done if he hadn’t looked so shocked, dropped my stuff and run off. Here was the last of my ink. Double YAY. I performed the difficult task of changing all the inks while simultaneously cursing that the ones I was throwing away were new. Then I set to selecting three pictures to print off to fit the triple frame I mentioned earlier in the week. The spaces were 6″ x 4″ so I had to guess their sizes on a couple of A4 sheets of foto paper. I couldn’t have done better. Everything came out so well. Lunch time came and I retired to the kitchen to make a pizza with micro chips, not forgetting the buttered bap. I’d not long finished when I got a text message ‘ On Way’. Fantastic, I had n’t expected Mike to be this early as he was getting here late afternoon the last few occasions.

I made sure the mail was up to date so I’d be free when he got here. So, when he arrived just before 3.00 pm I got the kettle on ready and was almost pouring it as he reached the kitchen. I got my usual (brotherly) kiss and a hug and then he parked his bum and told me about his week. If he left out the bits about nooky it would have taken about ten minutes but he’s had a good week, a better week than me the miserable beggar. We watched a couple of quizzes together answering as we went along then he had something to eat. He washed my hair ( quite difficult for me), I had a shower and then we relaxed again to chat and eventually watch the TV a little more. At 9.00 pm I came through and left him to his own devices. I think I’ve managed to catch up again but still the occasional hicccup with WordPress sites keep asking me to sign in but not carrying comments over.

Saturday. I’m not too unhappy at 5.45 am this morning as it allows me to get a start on the mail. I know Mike’s put his alarm on for 7.00 am as he asked me what time last night and I suggested 6.45 am I stopped him from laughing before he choked. Well, I was doing OK and making good progress when I heard his alarm go off, and off, and off. It was still ringing when I left the bedroom to go to the kitchen to put the kettle on and turn the light on for the fish. I had time to take my two sprays, take all my tablets and put a piece of toast on before the kettle boiled and I made Mike’s coffee. I took it through o his room, put it on the bedside table furthest away and called        ” Coffee’s up Bro”. There were some unintelligible grunts in what I took to be either Polish or maybe High Neptunian for all I know as I left the room to return to my toast. It was about 5 mins later I heard the slither of his feet and the clicking of his nails on the laminate floor of the lounge. I must remember to get the vet to file those nails down or at least get Mike to stand upright and keep his hands off the floor. 

I went about emptying bins and writing a note in  large black crayon asking the food waste wagon to leave me some new bags as the previous one foot square note must have been too small for them to see. I have 2 bins and up to 4 bags to sort on a Saturday. Some places have an extra bin for garden waste too. There’s no room to leave the driveway on a Saturday. It was almost 7.30 am as I went back in the house and found a fully compost mental human being ready to converse . By 7.50 am we were actually leaving the house and I had only left 14 messages undone. We drove ( well technically HE drove but he says I do a good job of trying to from the passenger seat so I’m counting that a a win) to the big ASDA to shop and yet again I was lucky enough to find some nice things for Reuben. Oh, I did manage to pick up some food too. We had a drink before we left as I was so dry but I had to give up before the end as I’d chosen one of those iced coffees and was on the brink of brain freeze. We  OK, HE drove to Flint where after buying some chocolates we had another drink but this time in Temptations where I was greeted nicely by Daniel as Mike shot straight past and headed for the loo. Ceri appeared and we had nice words before Mike came back and brought all conversation back to gutter level as he chatted her up and teased her. From there we went to the frozen food shop and stocked up on ice lollies.

On the way home to unpack I arranged to meet my niece Karen in Llandudno while Mike visits our friend Brian and his new dog. It’s Karen’s birthday this week and I wanted to get a little gift to her in time. So, after unpacking we were off again. You could tell how nice the weather is from the volume of traffic so the journey was almost an hour. Mike dropped me off in front of another ASDA and left. Plucking up my courage I went inside and headed for the cafe. It was great to see her arrive and the hug was fantastic.Big shock, half a minute later Joanne her sister arrived and I got double the dose. We had lunch and then went round the shops finding a birthday gift for my nephew Lee James. Joanne had to leave to go to work about 2.00 pm but Karen being a veteran shopper stuck with me. Eventually we’d walked as far as we could and I let Mike know I was ready whenever he was. He was there in less than ten minutes. I hugged Karen goodbye and got into Mike’s car. He drove us home. It was about 4.30 pm when we got home. I made Mike a coffee, sat him in front of the TV where football was on and came to look at my mail. It’s as well his ear trumpet wasn’t handy to hear my choice language. I stayed hard at it until 6.45 pm when I needed a break and went through to the lounge. Still  *****y football! I watched a programme with him and was going to come back through at 9.00 pm when I saw the start of an X-Men film so I delayed my start by half an hour. I’ve been at it continuously since then with messages and blog. I hope you’ve all had a good week.

Don’t forget if there’s a particular record you want me to play that shows your taste of means something to you, Shout out.

Be Upstanding

 

Caught Upstanding

The Cough, The Gas Man Cometh and the Runaway Cigarette.

Sunday. I managed to get up at 6.00 am and start right in on the mail but there were just so many this morning. I listened out for rain in case we were car booting again but heard nothing so I thought I’d just keep going as much as I could in case. We all know what it’s like, some messages you have to answer, some you need to comment on and others you think why’d they bother to send them. There were lots to answer to start me off as there were many comments on last night’s blog. Some of them didn’t even swear at me. In truth everyone was showing their usual amazing patience but surprisingly no-one mentioned the children’s choir I found so amazing. Says a lot for my taste doesn’t it.

Damn, Mike’s alarm went off at 7.00 am so it means it was either another mistake on his part or he was intending to car boot. Discretion being the better part of valour I went through to the kitchen to see to the fish, drugs and my coffee and while there I prepared Mike’s mug and stuck the kettle on. If he got up I could pretend to be ready for him, if not the mug would be ready. Great, no movement so I returned to my room and started again. I’d done about two answers when I heard him move but just as far as the loo. Back to the kitchen I reboiled the kettle and made his drink. I put it on the side table next to his chair and prepared to go back to writing for a while. As I passed the bedroom door I noticed he’d gone back to bed. I was ready to stamp my foot in frustration when a little voice said “I’m awake but I’m cold”. I would have suggested he put a dressing gown on but brought his coffee through instead. Back to my room and I sat down to continue when there was a padding of footsies. ” I’m in the lounge you know” he called. Sigh, back up I took my drink with me and entered the lounge. Mr ‘Cold I am’ is sitting in his trollies ( underpants) and tee shirt in a room with the window open. I finished my drink and suggested he let me know what he wanted to do and when he was ready to do it. As for me I went to get washed and dressed and get as much mail done before the movement orders came.

About 8.00 am Mike came through to my room wearing a coat complaining at me keeping him waiting. I had a choice, carry on writing and bite my tongue in half, carry on writing and finish the missive I was on or wrap my hands round his throat and later plead insanity. In the end I just put my jacket on, slipped a carrier bag in my pocket, crutches on my arms and headed for the door. We decided to head for the Countess of Chester Hospital in Chester because their carboots are usually quite big. We did have to allow for the fact that it had rained a bit during the night and despite the forecast was spitting now. When we arrived it was quite a poor showing. Also, Mike started to feel unwell as he suffers quite a few problems with his stomach, quite often the rest of us suffer quite a few problems with his stomach too, but at least we were outdoors. Poor sould had to shuffle past the stall so fast he didn’t see much. I bought two candles and that was it. We packed up to find him a loo. Luckily I kknow a Frankie and Benny’s opens at 9.00 am for breakfast on a Sunday and it wasn’t too far away. We arrived there and he did a little dance to the loo and left me to order. I knew he’d want his normal Americano with cold milk on the side and I ordered a big breakfast for him. ‘Cos I’m so good I had my latte and a small bacon, egg and beans Oh, with toast for us both of course. After that we headed for home.

At 12.45 am I’d virtually caught up with mail and we were ready to go for lunch though we couldn’t manage a full Sunday roast dinner. That meant we could go to the Ivy and have a snack instead. The Gannet’s snack was a lamb hock with saute potatoes and mine was something else ‘ahem’. I remembered to take tablets which I’d forgotten at breakfast. Everyone came over to talk to us which was great and Tariq managed quite a conversation, mainly along the lines of “Why do my other customers all disappear when you two walk in?” We were actually there quite a long time and as we left Tariq came out with us and forcibly stuffed my money back in my pocket as today’s meal was a treat from him. What am I going to do when he has to close down bankrupt?

We had a ride into Prestatyn to buy a BFG for supper then took a back road hoping to come out near the Castle for sale. No joy. We did end up going to Jackson’s nursery for a drink to make up for missing one two weeks ago. Then as I couldn’t find any inspiration for this month’s birthday presents we went home. I was almost 3 hours back on the computer as Mike was looking at ebay on the laptop in the lounge. At 7.00 pm I forced myself to take a break and half the 16 portion BFG disappeared for tea, and I had a piece too. We watched Endevour together and for me it just keeps getting better and better. At 10.00 pm I helped Mike settle an ebay problem and then came back through where I still am. But now at 12.30 am I think it’s time to close. Hope you all enjoyed a great weekend and have a great new week to follow. Cwtch.

Monday. I was up at 4.50 this morning and working on the mail. Cough, cough, wheeze, wheeze it was really annoying. By 6.30 I was shattered and lay down for a minute that became an hour. When I woke the second time it was 7.30 and I could hear Mike in the kitchen. Amazing, I didn’t think he knew where it was. ( By the time he reads this he’ll be in Canada and I’ll be safe from retribution). As I went through to say good morning I realised I hadn’t even heard his alarm go off which is unusual. I did my usual routine and took my coffee through to sit with him- I was sitting, not the coffee. He was already fairly well prepared to journey off to his Dad’s to meet with a social worker then travel home to his son’s to pick up his grandchildren from school. He only has a couple of days as he flies out on Wednesday for his month in Canada. Maybe I should be suspicious because I have another friend who flies out exactly a week later for 3 weeks. I know he likes her. Hopefully his sister will keep him in check. I must admit it was quite sad to wave him off this morning and know I’ll be missing out on laughs for a while but at least I know he’ll have a great time.

After I’d bolted the door so he couldn’t get back in I lay down for a while. The chest is a problem I have to live with but it does get wearing after a while. It wasn’t long before I got up again as I remembered the gas man cometh today between 10 – 2 o0 pm. I’m afraid I couldn’t be bothered getting dressed so I cleared as much as possible out of his way then plonked myself back in front of the computer. There was a knock at the door at 10.20 am and it was him. I sort of pointed him in the right direction- the loo- then towards the meter. He agreed it wasn’t an easy place for me-or anyone but said rather than raise the meter as I’d hoped, what he suggested was smart meters which actually send readings in every half hour so they never need to read the meter again. If that was what he suggested who was I to argue so he phoned the instructions in from his van and then came back to say I should get a phone call in a few weeks. I pointed out it should be on file that I don’t do phones so he said they’d write.I won’t take long and will probably be him as he’s local. He left and I was so pleased I’d just about coped that I emailed Yvonne straight away to tell her. It was a case of “Well done Daddy, but what about the handle for turning the gas off if you ever need to? That’s partly the reason for doing this.” I felt quite deflated as I hadn’t given that a thought. I’ll just have to wait until he comes back again and hope it’s a Tuesday when Yvonne is here.

The next thing was to check my gas balance on line. After the most recent fiasco’s it had gone from £200 in arrears to £300 in credit. Today’s reading left it just £97 in credit which was a blow. Have I used £200 of gas in the last 2-3 weeks and damn, I won’t be able to get a rebate now. I’m in credit of over £200 on the electric but they won’t rebate that without a new reading so If my chest is OK later this week I’ll go outside and get a new reading from that meter. I went back to work until lunchtime when I had a pie. The rest of them will have to be put in the bin now. I should have frozen some last Friday. There will be tears. After lunch I turned TV on but only saw a few minutes before I felt myself drop a cigarette and start to nod off. The cigarette had gone inside my pocket so I was dancing on the spot tying to gt it out. I did fall asleep afterwards. Later I went back to work till almost 6.00 pm then had tea and some more TV. I caught a Harrison Ford film I’d not seen before, Clear and Present Danger. When I say caught it, I mean in between noddy periods. I can’t believe how tired I am today. Back to work at 10.00 pm and I’m now up to date and have beaten the witching hour deadline. I’m off to bed. Night all !

Tuesday. Awake at 4.15 am but with just one thought in my head. No way Jose, I’m not ready. I went straight back to sleep until 7.30 am. I bypassed the computer and went straight into the kitchen to see to the fish. The snails are coming back again and I may have to buy an assassin snail. I love the idea of a kind of ninja snail on my payroll going round and taking out all those snails that have offended me. Had my meds, made a coffee and took it back to the bedroom. While I waited for the computer I took an antibiotic but judging by my breathing between the kitchen and here, they haven’t kicked in still. A few years ago it took 4 different lots and I still ended up in hospital so I can do without that happening again. Can you imagine the blog….Lay in bed all day, they took bloods, gave me oxygen and wouldn’t let me smoke.                   The mail was fairly heavy but that was OK as I wasn’t going anywhere. I have the chest and Yvonne has a cold, better the twain not meet. I worked all morning and was disappointed when the real postman didn’t pay a visit. I dearly want to see the book I ordered for Reuben about toys becoming real through being loved. I broke off at lunchtime for a small pizza and then fell asleep in the chair afterwards. A message from Yvonne woke me to say they were still coming for Tuesday night tea and she’s feeling much better. At that point I didn’t know Ugo had  taken the day off to be with Reuben while Yvonne slept it off during the morning. 

I worked some more once awake so as not to fall too far behind today. By 4.30 I’d had enough and went back through to the lounge. I was on the point of nodding off yet again when I caught a glimpse out of the window of someone moving across my field of view. They’d arrived early. I got to hold Reuben straight away and he was full of smiles for me. It was probably because he was planning his next moves that I wasn’t aware of. It didn’t take long to find out when he suddenly burst into life in my arms and grabbed the beard to hang on. My eyes leaked.Then he spotted the chain about my neck an he spent ages trying to get at it and remove it forcefully. He tried getting my glasses, chewing my finger off to get at my ring but all the time he was fixated on the chain. Ugo went out to collect tea from the hippy and when he returned I was exhausted and happy to hand Reuben over to his mum. I buttered and cut up some bread for her to give him. I enjoyed my sausage and chips and Ugo enjoyed his kebab after which I gave him the last of the BFG and knowing Reuben stood no chance of getting any, I brought him a chocolate biscuit to nibble on.                                                         All too soon it was 7.00 pm and they had to leave. Since I hadn’t been dressed all day I had to wave them off at the door. Reuben wondered why Pops wasn’t carrying him to the car but I’d have had no wind at all if I had done.

I did a little more work and watched TV from 8-9.00 pm. Work till 10.00 pm then a new episode the the Mentalist. Very good, but I’m not sure how I like the changes since they no longer have Red John to chase. Then back here to finish post and do the blog. I’ve timed it well enough to be able to read a little. I need to rest as I have to get dressed and visit the corner shop in the morning.  Sleep Well.

Wednesday. 4.15 am today and not a struggle. I nipped, nay skipped to the loo and then came back to see the damage. I was pretty amazed that there were 23 emails just from last night despite the time I’d finished and a further 61 between midnight and 4.15 am. Do none of you sleep?  I know here’s a time difference in some places but it should only be silver surfers like me on the computer between midnight and midday. Anyhoo I got stuck in. Two of the con artists from Nigeria were back on with their millions. Maybe they don’t know about my vow of poverty. ( I vow I’m sick of being poor). By 7.30 am I was pretty clear but decided not to refresh until I’d seen to the fish. I took my antibiotic and went to the kitchen.

When I refreshed there were quite a few posts from ‘Kitty’ who invariably has something interesting to say or to show. There have been some wonderful wildlife video’s to see but also some very disturbing posts about things happening in various parts of the world.  http://dearkitty1.wordpress.com/2014/04/09/hummingbirds-flowers-and-iguana-in-costa-rica/  When it comes to things like one of our leading political parties having Neo Nazis as members and holocaust deniers then I’m very disturbed. When I see posts about a leading U.S. Bank suggesting Europe needs a dictatorial government to deny benefits to it’s peoples I’m even more disturbed especially when France already has a far right leader who is imposing austerity measures. I sat back and asked myself  why a bank should suggest imposing austerity measures when it can’t know what they mean. I doubt very much if any bank is intending to lead by example. It is worrying though that after all the conspiracy theories we read about banks wanting to take over an run the world, why they should want right wing governments in place to do so. Then a chap I admire greatly, the famous Pinkagendist had a post where the wife of a Minister, identity disguised, is blogging about gay people coming back to church to repent as though being gay is a sin, and being anti gay marriage , promoting opposition to same. What happened to live and let live, to tolerance, to the path in life suggested by Jesus who these Christians are supposed to follow? There will be questions and answers from both sides of the argument to come on Pinkagendists blog as each states their point of view.   http://pinkagendist.wordpress.com/   At this point I’m introducing a song for you all.

I got dressed at about 9.00  am and took a slow walk to Pauline’s. OK, I know I’m stupid but I needed cigarettes. I have cut down while my chest has been bad and tried to use one of the fake fags in between but I still enjoy the real thing. I worked most of the morning and finally cleared the box at just gone 11.30 am.My postman came and delivered a parcel for Mike. He looked at he name and said “That’s not you is it?” I had to explain I was taking parcels while Mike is away. He’d warned me one was coming and I knew what it is but when I picked this box up it’s as light as a feather. I wonder if the man who sent it forgot to put anything in?  Time to see what was on TV. Hellfire, just what I need this week, a choker. How do I eat lunch with a lump in my throat? As it happens I did manage but I didn’t really enjoy it so that should count for something. As usual I nipped in and out during the afternoon to try and keep current . For no reason other than it was one of Ju’s favorite records before she died and we played it at the funeral I’m posting a second song for you.

I’d just finished my last update at 5.30 when I was surprised by the arrival  of Lee James. I thought he was in Japan. Turns out he goes on Friday. Blow me, not five minutes later his wife Jen appears from work and is joining us foe games night for a change. I’m so pleased. It was almost 6.00 pm before Dil and Matt arrived so by the time I’d sorted drinks we had a slightly later start.One of the nice things about having Jen with us was that I could suggest not playing scrabble. After last weeks horror losses I didn’t want to chance it. So, I got away with suggesting Balderdash first. Ha, they agreed and somehow I extracted my revenge with a whitewash. I suggested a second game and maybe LJ saw the glint in my eyes as he suggested changing to Absolute Balderdash. That lad has a cruel streak. But, being the (grit my teeth) good loser that I am I ak-wee-essed. What happened? Well, it was an even bigger whitewash, I romped to victory miles ahead of my nearest rival. WOO HOO !! L.J.and Jen chose that point to leave. I’m sure I hear muttering about the biggest bloody liar in the world but maybe my hearing is a bit off. I made another drink for Dil and Matt and grudgingly brought the biscuits out, I only left two in the packet just in case, but being noble I didn’t eat one. Matt drew up the score sheet for Nomination whist and Dil dealt the cards. The first couple of hands were a bit iffy but I did get into my stride. Bingo, I won that too. A clean sweep. We packed up and they left without hitting me once, mainly because I was barricaded in the kitchen, lethal that Matt can be. After they’d gone I did the pots, tidied up and came through to finish the mail and do the blog. It’s now almost 12.30 am and I’m listening to the end of a record I’ve not heard before by someone I’ve not heard of before. My last job of the night is to share it with you. If like me you’ll love someone for a thousand years, you’ll enjoy it too.

Thursday. Back to early starts again. It was just 4.35 am when the bladder alarm  struck and had me scuttling along to the loo for a stop start session that was worse than the works bus route in  morning. By the time I got back to the bedroom I was wide awake and so were all the birds who’d gone to sleep on the guttering outside the bathroom window. It’s not really my fault, when you pee standing up and in the dark you have to pee in the middle so you know you’re hitting water. Ignoring the birdie complaints, I wrote myself a note that if I go out later I must wear a rain mac, and then turned the computer on. One of the first items I found really delighted me, I’m due a £385.65 tax rebate…. or as the idiot who tried to take me in described it.. Tax Refound Notofication!  It would be nice if the crooks at least learned to spell the words they’re using to convince others. I also had quite a few messages about instant insurance quotations in seconds which I thought I’d take a look at. I dutifully filled in the online form with the info required like Age-Ancient, Smoker, Yes Please, Sex, more than Yes Please…..you get the picture. I get all the way to the bottom of the form and it says now provide your telephone number so one of our annoying sales reps  highly trained consultants who will scour the universe for the best quote, can speak to you. So, I put in a fake number and I hope they spent ages trying to get through.

I heard a little tapping sound and when I looked up I saw it was 8.10 am. I dashed ( stop laughing at the back) to the kitchen where one of the bull nose plecs was using a snail to tap a morse code message on the glass of the tank. It was only ten minutes for heavens sake. Yes, I know it was lunchtime yesterday but my brain is porous these days. Things slip out. I smiled and fed them. They turned their backs n me and swam away. I took my sprays and went to get my pharmacy from the lounge.Man, that drawer is heavy. Maybe it’s all the medicinal Mars Bars I hide from Mike- for his own good of course. I took my morning tabs and then refilled the container with a full week’s supply. I replaced the drawer and then made myself a coffee to take back to the bedroom. Before starting work again I got dressed as judging by my lottery results I need tickets for Friday and the weekend. Maybe I’ll have to double the bribe to £2 ? I worked on clearing the first batch of post until almost 9.30 am then took a four legged stroll to Pauline’s where I also bought some baps. The sun was really shining so I must have looked odd in my rain mac but you just don’t understand how vindictive a tired bird can be. I could return looking like I have white spot. I managed the journey unscathed however so I’m just hoping the sunshine put everyone if a good mood.

I refreshed my page and though there were only 41 I knew they’d take a while. I put my head down and forged ahead and cleared one because at that moment the postman came and delivered another watch I’d been waiting for and my book The Velveteen Rabbit, more accurately it’s Reuben’s book but I get first read. I’ve been hearing about it for a while as a modern classic and it certainly seems to be full of promise. I put it away ready to give it to him on Sunday. I wonder how long it will take to be devoured as he now has 3 teeth. I continued with my mail. It strikes me that though I’m often inundated with mail, I get to read some fantastic blogs of people I follow, some of whom have become tremendous friends over the time I’ve been blogging. I’m so grateful that some are dedicated to the most worthy projects possible, or some that just fill you full of hope. Others just manage to bring a constant smile to my face. At 11.30 am I knocked off to go and make lunch which as usual I sat with in front of the TV or is that sat in front of the TV with? I stayed there until 2.00 pm before starting the usual afternoon dodging back and forth. I wasn’t too bothered about anything early evening but I wanted to be free for 8.00 pm. I was free, and my Big Bang Theory lived up to it’s usual humorous promise. There were two other comedies with new episodes following that which I thought I’d try. How I met your Mother which I can take or leave and the new ( to me) Brooklyn Nine Nine which has a lot of mileage in it. It made me laugh out loud and not much does that. It’s usually quiet appreciation. Anyhoo, after that I came back through and brought the post up to date before coming to bore you to tears. To make up for it I have another blast from the past for you.

Friday. 6.15 today and I’m happy with that though it was 1.00 pm before I turned the light off last night. I had to check under the bed for the bogey man first. I’d been hoping for a boogie man but I’m told no-one does boogie now. While ploughing through my mail I was reading a post that shocked me. It said that in 1978 a record was banned in North America because they didn’t like the idea of 4 men in dresses. I had to sit and think for a while about who’d be threatened by that, it was done in such a humorous way. I don’t know whether the ban extended to the record as well as the video or whether the record company actually made an alternate video for the American market. Anyway, you all know what this is leading up to so without further ado I give you……………. QUEEN. 

The morning was as usual, the fish getting fed on time and me getting my coffee. I nipped to Pauline’s for some cash and bought some ciggies. Since the Government increased the tax on cigarettes yet again I now have to ask for 95 instead of 100 with my brand trying to keep the prices down. The Government complain that smokers use the health service with self inflicted illnesses. I accept that, but everyone else who complains should remember their treatment is subsidised by smokers through the taxes we pay. As I got back from the shop (sans Kitkat today) another parcel arrived for Mike but at least it wasn’t my postman today wondering if I use an alias. This parcel is of the right weight for what I was expecting so I’ll assume he ordered something very light earlier in the week….and it suddenly dawns on me that he’s ordered a homburg. Wednesday’s parcel is explained.

I had a pizza at lunchtime and followed it up with an afternoon kip.That lasted for a good hour before I returned to answering messages. I bobbed in and out to keep things as up to date as possible so I could have an evening break. I managed from 6.00 pm to 8.30 pm and only came back in here after Mastermind. Surprisingly I was able to answer at least a couple of everybody’s specialist subjects and some of the general knowledge. Back here it’s been a time of commenting on quite a few blogs and doing a number of tweets. People are brilliant at returning the favour. I left it until late to start the blog and I want to be in bed before midnight. As Mike always says, If I’m not in bed by midnight, I should go home. I hope all my friends in the Antipodes have had a great start to their weekends and I hope all my friends from elsewhere in the world get a great start when it arrives for them.  Hugs !

Saturday. There I was this morning at 5.40 am with plenty of time to work and not an alarm clock anywhere to disturb me. By 7.00 am I was feeling tense listening for the sound. I even got up and went through o the kitchen and put the kettle on- I don’t use the kettle for my drink. This fish must have been over the moon as I fed them and I don’t do that on a Saturday. Oh heck, things have gone to pot and he’s not even here. I took my tabs, made my drink and went back to my bedroom blowing a quick raspberry in the direction of Mike’s room as I passed it. For a Saturday morning there wasn’t too much post but I still worked steadily till 8.30 am. Still not quite getting my head round not going shopping and not trading insults with my bro I went to take a shower. See, he’s even skived off washing my hair and I had to revert to  bending in the middle and doing it with my arms now below my head. That only resulted in me having to sit down in a hurry as I overbalanced. Take my word for this, sitting on a shampoo bottle is not comfortable and doesn’t result in your nether regions getting covered in foam.  It does however result in some high pitched noises you hope the neighbours don”t want to investigate.

I got dressed. You must have heard the saying ‘All dressed up and nowhere to go’ I felt a fool so I changed into jeans for comfort. I brought my post up to date and decided to go out to Pauline’s. Instead I diverted to the One-Stop over the road and got some cash. Their machine was working for once. I chose there because they are affiliated with a bigger supermarket and often carry specials. I needed Easter eggs for my nieces for tomorrow and wanted to see their choice. They did me proud and while there I decided to get them for Yvonne, Ugo and Reuben. Then it was back over the road to Pauline’s where I tried to hide the contents of my bag so she wouldn’t know I’d shopped elsewhere. The choice of eggs there is awful. I bought my cigarettes for the weekend, one other item and left. Before going home I nipped to the ‘Savoy’ which is a little sandwih shop that also do some meals. I bought a nice ham salad sandwich ( heavy on the onions) for my lunch and a sausage roll for my tea.  Back at home I refreshed my screen and found a few messages had come while I was out. I also checked ebay and found I’d forgotten to bid on some books I wanted and the pesky auction had finished. Typically it was a low price too. I was up to date with mail again by 11.00 am and took a break. I stepped out to see if the bin men had been and met my postman arriving with a free pen I won. The bin men had been except the food bin man had collected everybody else’s but mine. I’ll be looking at a plague of flies outside the front door next week.Heaven knows what the inside of the bin will look like when I come to put the next bag in.

I sat with a book listening to a bit of music until lunchtime. Then it was time to enjoy my sandwich with a portion of BFG I’d got from Pauline’s. Well, I couldn’t go to my Ivy Emporium or Kassidy’s and I missed my morning coffee at Temptations, I deserved a treat. The only trouble is I’m missing my friends at the Ivy and am talking to the walls and this is only week 1. I had a nap in the afternoon as soon as I chose a film to watch. There was no snoring in the chair beside me and I know I was bored. Roll on tomorrow when the girls come. I nipped back and forth to keep an eye on the mail but it’s been quite manageable this week.  Mind you, I’ve had more opportunity to get at it. By 9.45 I knew I wasn’t taking anything on TV in so decided to call it a night. I’ve had chance to get up to date before coming to the blog to regale you with today’s non-happenings.  I hope Mike’s having a great time in Canada but I’ll be glad when the month is up.

The last song for this week is by one of my favourite artistes of all time. Mr James Taylor. I want to dedicate it to all my friends out there because it’s called Shower the People you Love with Love. Enjoy…….

Well padded camouflage.

Peace at last

I’m almost on my way.

My white afro.

 

Mother’s Day & Diabetic Review.

Sunday.

It started early enough, bed at 1.30 am last night, or at least that’s when I finished reading. Up again at 5.15 am and that was AFTER putting the clocks forward.  It’s stupid but I think I’d worked myself up to such a pitch about how I’d be today that it was almost self-fulfilling.  I was thinking of Ju as I did my mail and I was looking at her pictures as I went around the house but oddly enough I wasn’t the miserable git I’d expected to be.  I’d expected to be alone this weekend but that hadn’t been allowed and Mike was here though obviously as it was Sunday I only expected a few minuted with him between actually getting out of bed and leaving for his Dad’s. What a shock then to hear his alarm go off at 7.00 am when I was standing in the kitchen making my coffee. For one thing he’d watched TV late and for another the clocks had gone forward which would/could possibly deprive him of an hour’s sleep. Anyway, I put the kettle on for him ( he doesn’t like my podded brand of coffee). I was even more sure the alarm had been an accident after hearing no movement from him. Still, I risked making a drink and taking it through for him. I left it on the bedside table and just called “Coffee up Bro.” The response was a startled “OK, thank you, snore.” I got washed and dressed and drank my coffee while doing the last bit of overnight mail in my box. Lo and behold at 7.50 I heard mike call good morning and tell me he was awake. A few minutes alter he was in the lounge and I joined him there.

It turned out the thought of attending the first large car boot locally had appealed to him though I believe it was an attempt to occupy my mind really. We made it out of the house by 9.00am and drove to Rhuddlan. It was disappointing to see the car boot wasn’t as large as it usually is there, but after all it’s their first of the year. Still there were enough stalls to keep us going. We walked round paying careful attention to everything. I didn’t want anything in particular but Mike was hoping maybe to find another gurgle jug. We were approaching the last stall on the penultimate row when we both spotted them. A beautiful pair of jugs in a colour approaching gold. I thought they were from the sixties possibly and Mike agreed. The stall holder wanted so little for them it was a waste of time to haggle so Mike bought them both. We were well past the halfway mark on the last row when I grabbed Mike’s arm and drew his attention to a watch winder on a stall. Very smart looking. He never expected to see one at a car boot but he was a bit worried as he wanted a double ( or more) and this was a single. I said it would do for now at least keeping one watch wound until he found something else, but only if it worked of course. Mike asked about it and the chap said he’d paid £65 for it just over a year ago, and it worked fine. No way it could be proved at that moment but as he only wanted £15 it was worth the risk. I bought it and then added an 8 socket electric plug tower to my purchases for just £7.00  As we’d walked round Mike’s phone had beeped a few times and I’d seen him texting. Since I’d had a message from my niece Karen I didn’t think anything of it. We left and headed for a large supermarket close by that has a cafe. As we he sat eating toast then a bacon sandwich he asked me what I wanted to do about lunch. To be honest I wasn’t that interested today but he told me his messages had been from Yvonne and  they were meeting us between 12.30 pm – 1.00 pm at the Ivy for lunch.

I bought some chocs at the Supermarket then we made our way to the Ivy getting there in plenty of time. I know they didn’t know we were going but shock, horror, they’d let someone else sit at both our tables. We had to sit at a normal dining table until my eyes drilling into the back of their head made one group leave. We occupied our rightful place. Tariq came over for hugs and Angie to say hello. It wasn’t too long before a baby was thrust in my lap and Yvonne sat down next to me. Ugo sat next to Mike. Tariq brought the drinks over and while Reuben alternated between the grape and whine dance on my lap and trying to snatch my latte from the table we ordered lunch, except Yvonne who’s weight loss plan with a diet group has her refusing all food. Normally I’d argue with her but today I realised she could take Reuben before he stole my lunch. Yvonne wasn’t at her best today and I knew it’s because she’s so upset about Ju.  I could probably have offered more comfort than I did but was afraid of letting go.

After lunch there were multiple hugs, and no fight about the bill with Tariq as he left the room and I caught Angie. She didn’t want to do it but was persuaded. There was a disagreement about a tip though as she said no since I’d taken chocolates in. Lucky for me with so many customers she couldn’t follow me outside to fight. I’m learning. We went home and Ugo followed as I’d told Yvonne about Reuben’s outfits from yesterday’s shopping. I’m happy to say she loved them. They stayed with us a while then had to go. I did some work then went through to watch a bit of TV with Mike though he was actually on the computer himself for a long time looking at Ebay.I managed to nod off for half an hour though I was conscious of Mike having a long telephone conversation while I dozed. I made tea about 6.00 pm and then we did the fishtank  (finally) before watching a new episode of Endevour which is excellent TV. At 10.00 pm it was time to come through to see how much work was waiting and to get the days blog done. I’m happy to report I survived the day well and though I obviously miss Ju I wasn’t overcome with emotion and was able to concentrate on wonderful times with her, especially at the car boot we’d been to today.

Monday. Confessions first, I didn’t open my eyes this morning until Mike’s alarm went off at 6.58 am. In fairness it was a 2.00 am bedtime last night so I don’t feel too guilty. But when the alarm went off I shot up as though I’d been stung. It was as well I did because I heard no movement from Mike’s room. Without pausing to turn on the computer I went straight to the kitchen. The fish were the first priority when kettle on while I used my sprays and took my tabs. As the kettle boiled I made Mike a coffee and shoved my mug under the machine for a latte. I woke Mike as I put the coffee on his bedside table, conscious of the fact he needed to be gone by 8.30 am. There was a definite grunt of acknowledgement but that was as far as it went. I grabbed my drink and went to the computer and made a start. First I had to finish doing the ones I hadn’t managed from last night. At 7.30 I went through to remind Mike his coffee was there and he needed to get going. Hnnnfff. Not a flicker. I finished my drink and was taking my cup to the kitchen at 8.45 when he finally moved. I sat in the lounge with him till his eyes opened and focused a bit.

It was 8.45 when Mike finally left. I haven’t heard whether he made his appointment on time yet. As for me, I started in earnest on my mail and managed to get up to date at just gone 10.00 am. Mike had reminded me before he left that I needed to get dressed and take my prescription request in to the chemist. So by 10.30 am I was on my way there and called in to Pauline’s for some Branston pickle, and one of those accidental kitkats. When I got home there was a pile of mail and every piece was junkmail without exception, not unlike what was also waiting on the computer. It was mid-day before I made myself a sandwich for lunch and sat in front of the TV as I ate. After I’d washed the pots I continued to sit there until I nodded off. When I woke I had one of those muzzy feelings and decided I’d better do something, I did, I fell straight back to sleep. It was 3.45 pm before I woke again. I have no idea why but I still felt tired. Anyway, back to the computer to catch up which took me till almost 5.30 pm. I had a tin of pineapple rings then watched Law and Order. Once that was done I turned over to watch something else but kept nodding. At 8.00 pm I finally pulled the plug and came through to the bedroom. There was quite a bit of mail to answer but I was also nipping back and forth to ebay. I won a box to keep tea bags in with a clear lid so you can make a choice. I won a watch. There was another one I wanted and bid on that I missed when commenting on a friend’s blog post.

I’m currently watching another two watches tonight but one finishes at 11.57 pm and I doubt my eyes will be open that long tonight. I’ll have to put a bid in and hope for the best. I’m off now to complete the rest of my post and cross my fingers there won’t be too much more tonight.

Tuesday. April Fools Day. It felt like I got up this morning ten minutes before I went to bed. I woke at just gone 3.00 am according to my ever so luminous clock. I tried to just relax and go back to sleep but gave up at 3.50 and started work. I finished the first batch before 6.30 am and felt tired so I lay down for a minute or 60. At 7.30 I was awake again and went to see to the fish, take my meds and make a coffee. When I returned there was mail again including some from Yvonne to say she felt lousy with her throat (again) and it was great that I didn’t have to face her when I said I didn’t need her to come today as a friend was taking me to the doctor’s. I know she was glad. From my point of view it was a great way of dodging the bullet.

I worked on the mail until about 10.15 when I decided to get washed and dressed. I was being very good with my smoking this morning, stretching my last packet out as I have a bad chest. That was the bullet I needed to dodge though missing the diabetic review would be a bonus as I hadn’t asked a friend to take me. By 12.15 pm I thought, “Why the heck not, I can do this”. At half past I donned my jacket and made my way to the bus stop.I was actually at the point of turning back, even though the day was glorious, when a bus pulled up beside me. It wasn’t the bus stop, but the driver was letting someone off early, he asked if I was heading for the bus stop. Like an idiot I said yes and got on. I was in town before 1.00 pm. My appointment wasn’t until 3.00 pm so I wandered down the High Street slowly until I reached Kassidy’s. It didn’t look too full so I entered and took a small table out of the way. Chris mouthed a welcoming hello at me but my hands were shaking. In over 4 years of being here I’ve never been out alone and been in somewhere alone either. Dawn took my order and I waited for my cuppa to take a tablet. Chris came over to say how beautiful Reuben is and she could see I wasn’t myself. She’s a lovely person and just ignored my idiocy. I think Dawn had forgotten my tea so Chris went to do it for me. It arrived at the same time as Dawn brought my lunch. So much for 15 mins between taking the first tab and eating.

As I finished Chris came over to squeeze my shoulder. I knew it was support. Si was cooking today so I wasn’t able to see him. I paid and left. It was 1.30pm. I had a look round the Supermarket and thought about going home. Instead I decided to try it. I bought a box of Ferrero Rocher and wandered to the surgery. I was there for 2.00 pm. I sat in solitary for the full hour before I was called and almost left a dozen times. When I got in, the Sister asked if there was anything she could do for me. I said No thanks. The review took only minutes and it appears my blood tests show an increase in my glucose levels so next prescription they’ll up the tabs even more. No checking my feet as usual or pricking of the thumb. My BP was OK this time though. What she did notice is that my chest isn’t and so I ended up with a prescription for anti-biotics. I think my stuttering responses took longer than the actual review but I handed over the chocs gratefully and left.

It’s quite a walk to the bus stop but I made it and within minutes two small buses appeared with Prestatyn as the destination. The first one left before I had chance to breathe but I got on the second one as it looked as though it was heading off. It was actually moving to the space vacated by the other one to give women ( girls) with trolleys chance to get on. It was awful, really crowded and I had  a youngster bouncing about on the seat next to me. It started off and to my horror bypassed my usual road and started leaving Holywell heading away from the Coast Road where Prestatyn is. I had to ring the bell to get off which was a very long way due to roadworks preventing he bus stopping where it normally would. It was a long walk back to town and to wait for the right bus. I decided to bypass the chemist when I got home as I’ll go in the morning and see if they have my other prescription from Monday ready yet.

I ploughed into mail when I got in and kept going until almost 6.00 pm when I decided to watch a film instead of my usual Law and Order. That took me till 9.00 pm when I almost ran back here to try and catch up. It’s almost 11.45 pm and I have about 10 left which I’ll go and do now. Here’s hoping for some sleep tonight.

Wednesday. Another 3.50 day despite it being a 12.30 pm finish last night and I still had a read. I did wake up feeling rough. The bronchitis is here with a vengeance so I’ll have to get the anti-biotics this morning. There were so few messages this morning I worked till 6.45 and hen decided to lay down. I managed to nod off until 7.35 am. It wasn’t worth starting again then interrupting myself so I headed straight for the kitchen to give the fish a treat. Instead it was I who got one when I found two of the plecs climbing the glass so I could see their fronts and their mouths as they cleaned the glass. I’m fascinated as they’re small and almost translucent.I have 3 in total. Two are about an inch and a half and one about two inches long. Anyhoo, I fed them and then followed my routine with meds and coffee before going back to catch the next batch of messages.

At 9.30 I washed and dressed, going for the lumberjack look today in my checked shirt. I took a walk to the chemist with my scrip. Unfortunately the slightly uphill walk took it out of me and the journey took a while. When I arrived I was told the chemist hadn’t so I’d have to have them delivered later. Not a major problem as the prescription I put in on Monday should be back and they can all come together. I started the journey in reverse. Much easier on the downhill slope. I did a few more messages then printed off a picture of Reuben on Tee Shirt paper and went to iron it on. I don’t know whether I didn’t obey the destructions properly or whether the  paper was old and faulty but the picture wouldn’t peel clean. It’s still a nice image but a little patchy. I’d just finished when I saw someone from the chemist approach the door. Yay, my anti-biotics, but when I got there that’s all there was. The man who delivered wouldn’t know about the rest of the drugs so I’ll wait till the end of the day.

11.30 am and I felt whacked and so packed it in for the morning and went to sit in the lounge. I saw the carpet looked bad so I got the hoover out. As soon as I’d done that I noticed the wood flooring looked bad now so I had to mop that down and did the kitchen floor at the same time. I put a load of washing in and decided enough was enough. At 12.00 I went to the freezer for a pizza and found some chips with Chinese curry sauce I’d bought. A rare treat as Ju hated the smell of curry. While it was in the microwave I buttered two baps and prepared a tray. As soon as it pinged my stomach rumbled and I tucked in with relish, that is, I didn’t have relish with it, just ate with gusto which is not another person. I put chips on one of the baps and loved having the butter melt everywhere. The other I used to mop up the curry sauce at the end. Yum Yum. The  bronchitis hasn’t robbed me of an appetite…..Yet.

I did a few messages during the afternoon and the delivery of my other drugs didn’t come which means another walk to the chemist’s in the morning. Still, I would need to go out for my lottery anyway. It is a pain though as I usually do my drugs on a Thursday morning for the week and there won’t be enough now. Maybe I’ll rattle less. At 5.30 pm Dil and Matt arrived so I made coffee and tea while they answered the questions on a TV quiz I’d turned on. After I’d brought the drinks through I put up the card table and got the Scrabble ready. Why the heck did I bother. Two games to Matthew. I was whitewashed and trounced in that order. I did however learn for the future that qis is a word. I got the cards out and we played Nomination where it was my turn to win convincingly. After that we decided to try Chase the Lady ( a version of Hearts on the computer) as Matt needed a reminder of how to play. Again I stood and did the victory dance before collapsing breathless to the floor. I’ve just this minute realised that means Dil didn’t win anything tonight. I wonder if he made Matt walk home. We said our goodbyes and thank yous and they left. Do you know they do a forty minute journey each way every Wednesday just so we can play games. I love them for the effort they put in for me especially as Dil comes straight from work without eating. I tidied away the empty packets of biscuits ( at least 6) from Matt and washed the mugs.

I took my nighttime tablets through to the bedroom and started on the mail. I was horrified it was back up to 84 again and typically my computer had joined a union and was working to a go slow. It took till 11.55 pm to finish before I could start the blog post. Time for bed said Zebedee, G’night all.

Thursday.I shall have to ask you to suspend your natural scepticism for a moment when I tell you that after going to bed at gone midnight and turning my light off at approx 1.45 am  I was rather disturbed to find myself awake and staring at the clock at 2.22 am.I was looking for a message in all those little ducks but determined not to get up so drifted back to sleep. No revealing dreams that I can remember. The next thing I knew is that I was awake again, this time it was the wakefulness of getting up and staring at my clock it was now 4.44 am. Even if I’d been tired at that moment there’s no way I’d have gone back to bed in case I woke to 6.66 am.

I started in on the mail and though there weren’t as many as yesterday they took me considerably longer. The first batch was almost at an end when I broke off at 8.00 am to see to the tank. I took the last meds in my boxes this morning but couldn’t do the next batch because my Monday meds hadn’t been delivered yet. I took my coffee back to the bedroom, crossed my fingers and refreshed the post. An extra 23 so not too bad. I cleared the remaining ones from pre-tank, cleared these also and then washed and dressed. By 9.30 am I was on my way to the chemist’s. I asked the young lady if my prescription was ready and she went off to check the boxes. No joy. A little panic set in as I have no idea what half my tabs do and wondered what I might do without their control. Dancing naked in the middle of a zebra crossing has completely lost it’s appeal these days. Seriously though, as some are diabetic controllers and some for my COPD along with anti-depressants I didn’t want to find out. I stood there for ages before she spoke to someone else who sent her to yet another person. Eventually she came back with someone else who told me that the prescription was in but they were still missing one item which they expected to be delivered today. If I’d like to take the rest of my stuff ( OF COURSE I WOULD) someone would deliver my last item later. Dawn who usually delivers my meds offered to bring it on her way home. She’s a gem, but I can’t believe they held my stuff since Tuesday rather than give it me minus one item which they’ve done many times before. As long as I know what’s missing I’m fine.  I called at Pauline’s while I was out and collected my lottery tickets….I want everyone to cross their fingers between 8.00 pm and 10.00 pm gmt on Friday please. The coffee’s will be on me as I fly everywhere to meet you all.

At home I did my tablets for the week. I can always add the missing ones when they arrive and they’re for an evening anyway. Then it was back to work to clear the mail before lunch time. My postman Darren arrived with one of the watches I won which I’ll give to Ugo tomorrow. At lunch time I had a pizza with some micro chips ( Hey, I just looked at the clock and it’s 11.11 pm…I’m getting spooked). I fell asleep afterwards supposedly watching a film on TV. Later I did a few retweets, commented on a few blogs and caught up again on mail. It’s a constant battle to stay afloat sometimes and I’m already dreading tomorrow when I’m possibly out all day while the mail accumulates for my return.

I was going to have some pineapple for my tea but when I’d opened the fridge earlier I’d seen a packet of sausages. Normally I’d have cooked them at a lunchtime and had some with sweet potato mash and maybe a couple of cold ones for tea on a sandwich. As I’ll be out for lunch tomorrow ( I hope) and having thrown a couple of unopened packs away recently I decided to cook them and have some for tea. There are 8 in a packet and I decided to butter two baps. I found that four sausages just fitted a bap nicely and ended up having the whole packet. So much better than waste and far too late to ship them off to Africa. I stayed where I was after washing up until a new episode of my Big Bang Theory had aired then at 8.30 pm came through to start yet again. There was plenty to get through and it was gone 11.00 pm when I was able to start the blog and freak myself out. I think I’ll turn the clock around tonight.

Friday.  So, Friday at last. I managed to get up at 3.58 am so had plenty of time to get the post out of the way and still do the fish, take tabs, drink coffee and have a last wee before going to catch a bus at 7.30 am.  Allowing for the time it takes to get to the bus stop and travelling time, I expected to in Chester at 9.00 am today. The first one to come was one that goes in a different way which I took once before but was very surprised today when it pulled in at 8.30 am. It meant I could be at Yvonne’s for 9.00 am and have time for a cuppa before our outing. With the bronchitis I had no choice but to take it slow, I was moving so slowly the roadside beggars were offering me money to move off their pitches. But I got there in time for my drink, and also to have Reuben dropped in my lap while Ugo and Yvonne got ready.

Our 9.30 departure became 9.45 am and then we had to go to a specific garage to fill up so it was actually 10.00 am or gone when we started. The journey was pretty good with a constant speed most of the way.My nerves weren’t too bad as Ugo kept at least one hand on the steering wheel at all times. Perhaps the staining on the seat gives him problems. When we arrived we parked up and I got us a 3 hour ticket. First stop Coffee and loos. Since I was with Yvonne the second stop was at a clothes shop where she found things for Reuben and Ugo. She as particularly mean today and wouldn’t let me pay for anything. I especially like a watch she got Ugo with something on the dial like, Why worry, I’m already late. From there to another shop she likes and then to a cafe Ugo likes. The man is an eating machine. We wandered a bit but time was being eaten up and with 25 minutes to go we headed for the reason for the trip, Titterton’s Pork Pies. I got my little stock in and then we headed for the car to set off back.

When we arrived near home we carried on so I could go to The Ivy and take a pie for Shella who knows them from her time living in Stockport years ago. I handed it over to Tariq like the priceless object it is. Shella had left to collect her children from school half an hour since so I reminded him to take the pie home. Yvonne and Ugo had a cake with their drink but then decided perhaps we should have a meal while we were there. I needed something as I hadn’t eaten all day, Ugo needed something as his toast, bagels, cake, more cake and yet more cake hadn’t done the job. As always I had a lovely meal and as always a fight about the bill, firstly with Yvonne and when I won that, a fight with Tariq who insisted I shouldn’t pay because of the pie. They took me home and dropped me off. First things first after hiding the pies in the fridge was to check messages. 141 so I was stuck on the computer until 7.00 pm when I watched some TV. But, while I was on the computer I was reading a friends blog,  the very excellent Melanie Marttila on      http://melaniemarttila.ca/  I came across two things I have to share with you. The first is an amazing children’s choir which blew me away  http://youtu.be/g7a2u9v0V0c     ‘Untrust us’ Crystal Castles covered by Capital Children’s Choir.                                                                                                                            The second is the same two cellists I gave you last week but doing another piece. This is a rock piece and should astound you . Therefore here are the two cellists again.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V7EugoweM4&list=PLrRtwIUSeaCEOxW7Ydgq2eDbFA84BdL5F&feature=share&index=2  Welcome to the Jungle.                            Enjoy.

I watched TV till Mike arrived at 9.30 pm then chatted with him until it was time to come back through to hit the mail. That took a while and as it’s now gone midnight I’m in danger of turning into a pumpkin if I don’t go to bed. I’m sure Mike would say I’ve already got the shape for it.  G’Night All.

Saturday. I slept till 6.30 this morning So I hadn’t managed to clear much  post before Mike’s alarm went off. At 7.00 am I shot through to the kitchen, turned the tank  light on, put the kettle on and took my tabs. The alarm went off before the kettle boiled but it didn’t take long to brew a coffee and take it through. As usual the alarm was wasted and Mike had gone straight back to sleep. I called out that a coffee was there and got the usual garbled response. I’m sure some message penetrated the brain but I’m not sure what it was. I busied myself clearing the food waste bin and the larger rubbish bin taking the bags outside to the waiting receptacles. That done, I came in for the assorted recyclable waste bags and tucked them under the wheels of the big bin so they couldn’t be blown away. I came back in, washed my hands and grabbed my own coffee. The second alarm went off and within minutes Mike came through with his drink. I stayed quiet and gave him time to wake up. I went back though to my bedroom and jumped at the chance to do a couple more emails as I got dressed.

We were on the road at 7.45 am, amazingly Mike’s eyes were open now and I trusted him to drive. To be honest, eyes closed he’s often a better driver than some out there. Eyes open and I don’t wear myself out on the imaginary brakes. We had a quick stop at Tesco’s for my baps and some coffee pods then set of in earnest ( no that’s not the name of the car) for our main shopping haunt Asda which is owned by the American Walmart group. Last week Mike was looking at a jacket he liked at £35 and today when we went in it was £10 so he didn’t hesitate. I managed to find a couple of things for Reuben in his next clothing size. Mike disappeared to the Loo and I started shopping as I didn’t need much. Always a tense moment is seeing someone I know, or rather knew. I saw two people I like was was able to avoid until on one aisle I saw the wife of a friend. She spoke to me but only to say hello and you could see she wasn’t sure it was me. We passed easily. I had almost done when Mike returned and I felt safe again but minutes later a voice, and the friend and his wife were now there. The conversation was short as I think John knows how vulnerable I feel but he did invite me along to the closing of the Eisteddfod (International Music Competition and show ) where my two friends (The Toastie Tenors)  Richard and Adam are appearing. I had to say yes. Conversation over we parted and Mike and I finished and left.

Leaving Asda we headed for Flint where we spent some time at the pet shop getting things for the fish and to clean the tank. Also admiring some beautiful glass fish they had.Completely translucent. After that it was time for a coffee which I’d missed at Asda and I was now completely dry. Ceri wasn’t in so the banter was very limited. He had to settle for his coffee and a teasted toecake. It didn’t take long to finish in there so we were home again by 11.00 am and unpacking. Since very little of the shopping was food today that didn’t take long. Mike was looking for something on his phone so I took a quick look at the actual mail, which could wait, then attacked the messages left from this morning. I worked steadily until Mike suggested he was ready to go to lunch so I packed in and we went to the Ivy.

It was really busy there and poor Angie looked run off her feet. She took the order for our drinks and we found a seat. By the time they arrived we were ready to order food and then some (cheeky) people vacated our table so we moved. Tariq ran back and forth delivering meals and we said a swift hello. We helped by folding some serviettes ready for use and then stood outside with a cigarette before lunch. Soon after we’d gone back in, Helen came out with our lunches and stopped for hugs. The food was lovely and very welcome. Things slowed a bit and Tariq was able to come and chat but I wanted him to disappear so I could pay. When he did disappear, Angie seemed reluctant to take payment and said Tariq would deal with it. That meant yet another argument. Only by putting money down and walking away can I win. I waited for Mike to finish his coffee and some more people came to pay. They were stuck for cash so I handed over £5 in coins. Tariq came round with a not , only it was a tenner. He must think I just got out of bed. I told him he can owe it to me, but if we don’t go there tomorrow I’m sure he’ll have forgotten before Mike gets back next month.

Back home again I was able to concentrate on the computer for a while before getting us some tea and settling to watch a bit of TV together, By ten o’clock I was itching to get back here or I’ll be up all night so Mike gave me permission and headed off to watch football in bed. No, they weren’t pla….well you knew what I meant anyway. I’m as up to date as I’m getting tonight as I fancy a read before sleep. Hoping you all have a Great Weekend. Massive Hugs all round.

Wiring Up.

Youngest swinger in town.

Mr Happy

Hamunex and Zorba the Greek’s Dance.

Sunday. My usual Sunday morning treat is reading the responses to last night’s blog and thanking you for commenting. It’s a Sunday and it’s sacrosanct. I was therefore paralysed with shock this morning when Mike’s alarm went off at 7.00 am on a SUNDAY !!!!!  The feeling did return to my limbs and the blood start flowing round my brains again when there had been no movement for a quarter hour other than to switch it off. For a few moments I thought he’d taken himself and the impetuous offer of a car boot seriously. My laughter rang from a rafter (  just practising the poetry there and it seems I need to ).  I followed my usual timetable and chatted to the fish for a few moments, sharing with them the reason for the hilarity. I took my coffee through to carry on with the mail and saw no reason to wash and dress just yet. I’d settled down into a nice little rhythm when I heard the unbelievable sound of movement and it wasn’t even half past nine. I checked, and yes, his bed was definitely empty, I didn’t hear crying so a) he hadn’t fallen out of bed or b) he didn’t know the time. I heard the loo flush so I ran ( OK, my estimation of a run) to the kitchen and put the kettle on. Mike would say it didn’t suit me so I put it sown again and plugged it in. He was in his chair when I brought his coffee through and I stayed there for a few minutes. As there were no insults forthcoming I knew he wasn’t truly awake so I went back to clear my screen and get dressed.

As his human side emerged, and to be fair it does have a long way to come, the insults started about the volume of my snoring last night.According to Mike, it’s only the fact his bed is wider than the doorway that stops it being pulled out as I draw in breath. He didn’t complain about anything I’d said in the blog so I assumed he saw only the glowing compliments I usually put. Maybe that’s why he told me he was only up so early for my benefit. I confess I did choke slightly on the use of the word early but as his slitted eyes were glaring at me with a definite red tinge I hid it behind a hand and innocently asked what he meant. “Why, the car boot I promised if you want” he told me. I told him how kind a thought it was and I’d love to go to a car boot ( to help them clear the pitch after the cars had gone) and by 10.00 am we were on our way.

To be fair to Mike there were still  two cars there when we arrived so we had a liesurely stroll round them. I picked up a little stand that displays the suit in play at cards for Whist and Bridge. That should help on a Wednesday night. I saw a rocking hose activity centre on one car site and decided to think about it. Big mistake, By the time I’d decided to get it , it was no longer there.I forebore from mentioning the benefits of getting to a car boot sale early using the more common definition of that word. Anyway, from there we decided to hear home via Flint so Mike could exchange a non-working remote control for a TV he bought a couple of weeks ago. That was done quite quickly so we decided to have a coffee. Today it was Trudie and Sian behind the counter and Mike was having a great time laughing and joking with them both. Time was getting on so we decided to go straight to lunch. We’re a mile down the road and still arguing about where to go until we’d passed the entrance to the Blossoms. Mike put the hood down on the car so we could enjoy the unusual spring sunshine and with chattering teeth I reminded him I’d no sweets to take to the Ivy but as he staccatoed back, it was OK as I’d taken a tin yesterday.

The Ivy car park was full. As we’d drawn up a young couple had just been going in. By the time we’d parked and walked to the door they were just coming out again saying there wasn’t an empty table. We thanked them but went in anyway. I nipped to the loo and as I came out again Mike was just settling down in our usual seats and the couple that had been there were just leaving. I suppose he smiled at them which is enough to scare anyone off. Tariq came to say hello before bustling off to serve someone. Helen came flying out to say hello and give a hug and Angie waved saying she’d be there in a minute. She came to take our order and as my gums were still thawing out I asked for cfffee and what sounded like Hamunex but she knew what I wanted anyway, she also knew what Mike wanted anyway but luckily for her she has a husband. Mike had a Salmon Burger I think and now I could feel my teeth again my order would have been translated as ham and eggs  ( with thick cut chips and peas). We allowed a couple of brave cyclists to share our table and Mike chatted about their ride today. They’d come quite a way but they said it was worth it for the hot chocolate. Our lunches came and the lady cyclist accepted a chunky chip from me. The meal was as nice as it had been yesterday and the Ivy was doing a roaring trade. I was glad, except it meant we had little chance to chat to Tariq. We did see Shella and manage a few words though which was great. I really must try and see if I can get some of our favourite pork pies for her.

Mike dropped me at home and went off to his Dad’s. I ploughed straight into work until about 4.30 when I found my eyelids needed some study from the inside. I turned on the TV for the Tomorrow People and away I went. There was  afilm due to start when I woke up so I turned over. It didn’t last long. Not my kind of film at all so I turned to repeats of Big Bang Theory and saw one I must have missed. At 8.00 pm I turned off and came to attack the mail. I finished that just before 11.00 pm in time to do this and have a little read. Just had a text to say Mike home safely and will be up late on Friday.

Monday. I got up at 3.00 am but after a cigarette didn’t feel like work so just lay in bed. I was tempted again at 5.00 am but after hitting myself a few times went back to bed and even nodded off. It was just gone 7.00 am before I decided I was awake enough. The fish got fed early just to confuse them and I had my meds and made a coffee to bring back to my room. It was almost half seven before I turned the monitor on today.  There was a heavy mail bag but just as it has been recently there were a lot more comments on the two posts I’d been notified of. I should be jealous at the number of comments they got but one was a serious issue that deserved comments and the other was a momentous birthday in a woman’s life and many people wanted to reassure her life wasn’t over. So, completely unstressed I took my time and didn’t even get dressed until 10.30 am. After all, no plans to open the door today. Knock, Knock, “Who’s there?” It was just the postman with a small packet to be signed for. Just as well I had got dressed after all or the whole village would know what a devil-may-care life I lead.

I lunched on a lamb shank with colcannon potatoes. Afterwards I felt bloated as in reality it’s only my fingers getting any exercise today and even they look fat now. I did have a diet strawberry yoghurt afterwards though. Most of the afternoon I spent washing down my waste bin and brushing dust under the carpets. I almost set the washing machine going but managed to restrain myself until there’s a full load. I haven’t totally surrendered to domesticity yet. I watched a bit of TV and even managed 40 winks despite the late morning. My head is not sitting straight at the moment and I can’t settle to anything. There was an hour back with mail again before Law and Order came on and then another show that just didn’t penetrate my eyeballs before I came and started on mail again. A few blog posts to read an comment on, a few I could think of nothing to say so just ‘liked’ them. A message from Lis to say Charlie’s friend has been told the pancreatic cancer is inoperable and it will be chemo and palliative care only. I hope he didn’t go to see the oncologist alone. That must be the worst information in the world to hear. I can’t tell you how sorry I feel for him , his family and his friends right now.

I’ve finished the mail early and don’t feel like refreshing any more tonight so after I sign off here I’m going to do some reading if I can. Tomorrow I have to try and go to Chester to see Yvonne and Reuben so I’ll need to be on the ball. I think I’ll lay off the chips too after having them twice this weekend. Maybe they’ll have a couple of scallops instead ( thin slices of par-boiled potato deep fried in batter). I must remember to pick up some baps as well, remind me while I’m out will you.  Hugs.

Tuesday. A 4.10 am start on my mail this morning ensured I was bright eyed and bushy tailed at 7.00 when I was able to get dressed after getting momentarily up to date. I had seen to the fish, taken tabs, filled my outside container and made myself a coffee well before it was time to go out. I dressed in ( upper layers only you nosy beggars) black and white checked shirt, silver trousers, a blue grey cardie ( mistake) and a black & white dogtooth jacket. As the sun was shining I felt good as I stepped out at 8.00 am to go to the bus stop. I’d steeled myself to  take the 8.10 bus despite the number of schoolchildren at the stop. I wanted a slightly longer time with Yvonne and Reuben. I took the single disabled seat ( no the seat wasn’t disabled, it was for disabled people), shut my eyes and had an undisturbed journey. They were waiting at the bus stop  as I arrived. Reuben was asleep and he stayed that way during our coffee stop when I had two rounds of toast with strawberry jam. I had no conscience about not saving him any.

I managed to find myself a light grey cardie is the sales so I don’t wear this blue/grey one again. Also in the sales I managed to get Yvonne a dressing table mirror that opens to reveal a jewellery cabinet, a cap and a onesie for Reuben and a nice shirt for Ugo. I also got Ugo a block of chocolate as he hasn’t given that up for lent this year for a change. We stopped on the way home for another coffee as I get very dry these days. Yvonne took the chance to nip to the loo again as she seems to be waterlogged these days. Reuben just tried to pinch her herbal tea so that she ended up feeding it to him from  a teaspoon. He certainly seemed to enjoy it. Back at their house Yvonne made me a baked potato for lunch with baked beans while she ate some rabbit food as per her diet sheet. We watched a film in the afternoon as we waited for Ugo to get home from work. Concentration was difficult as Reuben was doing the dance from Zorba the Greek in my lap. I may sing soprano before long.

When Ugo did arrive home we readied ourselves for leaving and our Tuesday night treat of dinner together. Yvonne had to carry her own diet meal as per weightwatchers. Ugo stopped off to allow me to buy some baps then drew in outside the chip shop to get our meal. I was just having chips. I was enjoying them with a couple of my baps and Yvonne started feeding Reuben a little of my malt bread. He took to it like a duck to water. Next week I start hiding it. They left at about 8.00 pm so I came straight through to clear the 130 ( plus 20 on refresh) that had accumulated while I was out. I finished 10 minutes ago and now at 11.45 pm I’ve just about done with this post and want my bed.

Wednesday. A 5.00 am start with a 6.30 am finish when I sent myself back to bed today. I didn’t surface again until dead on 8.00 am and I’m sure that was only because the fish were sending mental messages out about me shifting my arse. I shifted it and gave them some light and food. As soon as I’d taken my meds it was back into battle with a coffee in my hand, or to be more accurate in my mug which was in my hand. I find it leaks otherwise. There was nothing stressful in the post, no marriage proposals, unfortunately no offers of rampant sex with a goddess who’d devote herself to me no strings attached. I was glad of that as I hate being a puppet. There was one message from Burkina Faso telling me about the money I was due, one message from the tax man(or woman) saying I’d overpaid last year and they’d like to put the refund in my bank account -yeah right. There was one message from London that said I’d been given a lucky number in February and would I like to ring and check what the prize is @ £1.63 per minute with a minimum ten minute call (in the tiniest writing possible) and one last interesting message to ask if I’d like to invest in a short film for which I’d receive various treats according to the size of my donation, I think the last of which was a ticket for the premiere at about £25,000.00. That one was genuine but a little outside my income. This latter type of message for funding of things is becoming more prevalent these days.

I was kept busy and entertained all morning by some great posts on some of the blogs I follow but on a few blogs I checked I found that poetry has changed beyond all recognition since I was at school. They don’t have to rhyme anymore and there are haikus that I have a problem understanding. At lunchtime I broke off for some braised beef and was very good in doing without a pudding afterwards. I sort of drifted into a film during lunch so I stayed and saw it out before going back to my desk. I wanted to be sure I was out by 3.15 pm to watch something. I was and I did, even managing to stay awake for it all until it finished just before 5.00 pm. I quickly had a tin of pineapple chunks and then dashed to do a few more messages before the clan arrived. Another message from Lee that he couldn’t make it.

Somehow I was up to date for 5.45 and was able to get back to the lounge before the door went. I was in the kitchen making drinks before they reached the lounge but not before we’d done our Walton family imitations as they walked up the hall. Hello, hello, hello, hello. I thought there was an echo. As always we huddled down behind the card table ready to slaughter each other at Scrabble and the games start in earnest ( That’s a smaller village just behind Greenfield). Despite the obvious cheating of Dil looking at Matt’s letters the minute he was otherwise occupied, and helping Matt in order to block me, I drew first blood. It looked like it would be my game next too but somehow Dil pulled ahead with a 7 letter word which he swore were the droppings of a water buffalo used for fuel in a tiny mountainous region of Kenya. Somehow the scrabble dictionary had gone missing and this strange word with 3 Z’s couldn’t be challenged. It’s not that I don’t trust my brother but he does bear watching on occasion.

Next was Nomination whist and I was able to bring out the little toy I’d bought on Sunday to show what suit we were having as trumps each hand. It proved quite useful. Matt asked if he could do the scoring in case he ever joined MI5 as a code breaker. I didn’t mind as I saw he scored Dil 10 points even if he got a call worth more. There was a slightly blue tinge to the air when Dil found out and I don’t think it was from Matt’s cigarette smoke. The insults flew so thick and fast that they were gaining air miles and there was much laughter which stopped the minute Dil won by a large margin. Personally I think Matt just scored him 10 every game so he didn’t end up walking home. Our last game was Crazy 8’s which started great. My score was pathetically low and Dil was breaking records in the other direction. Again the laughter started and I was enjoying very much Dil’s score being over 200 after just three hands, almost as much as I enjoyed Matt’s score at 50 something and me down on 33. It came to what would be the last hand and Dil played a three, I played a three and Matt played a 2 . Dil played another 3 calling last card, I played a 2, Matt played another 3 and I thought Dil was sure to pick up the 16 cards accumulated but no, the evil beggar had another 2 in his hand which he laid down to go out. There was cackling galore as I was forced to pick up 18 cards and count the points to go on my score. Matt finished on 50+, Dil on 217 and I shot straight up to 202. Matt was the winner. I went and sulked in the bedroom leaving them to tidy up the mugs, cards and the table. They left smirking and saying they’d see me next week. I think I’m moving before then.

That was at 9.45 and it’s now 12.15am. I’m as up to date as I can be for tonight so I’ll have half an hour with my book before sleep. G’night all.

Thursday.I worked hard this morning to get as much post as possible cleared for 8.00 am so I could spend time doing my drugs for the week but only after the fish had been fed of course. By 8.30 am I was back at my desk with a coffee smiling at the sunshine even though I was now in a darkened room. A few more messages and I decided to get washed and dressed. Today I was coming out of seclusion……….admittedly only as far as the corner shop to stock up on baps, cigarettes and renew my lottery tickets that had proved a big let down ( again ) on last night’s draw. Someone has to win it and I see no reason that someone shouldn’t be me. As their pithy little slogan says. ‘You’ve got to be in it, to win it.’

By 9.15 the messages were down enough to take a walk. The parents on school runs should have vacated the shop now and left something for me. They had. I got the last packet of baps and the last 100 cigarettes ( of my brand ), my TV mag, the lottery and I thought I’d chance 3 scratch cards that Ju used to like.I headed back home. I’d just unpacked and put the stuff away when the postman came. He was delivering a card case in aluminium designed to stop people scanning credit cards as they walk past. Unfortunately he was supposed to be delivering two so I had to get on to the ebay seller who promises to send out the other one first class post. The scratch cards gave me £3 which is what I’d paid so nothing lost nothing gained. I’m not sure if hat was a message from Ju to lay off. On my way home I’d seen some lovely little jonquils coming up so here’s a spring picture for you……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Jonquils ( I think) or maybe just mini-daffs.

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

By 10.30 I’d finished the mail and gone to sit in the lounge. I’d just nodded off in the sunlight coming through the window when there was a knock at the door. There was a Council Van parked close by doing some replanting and for some reason I thought it might be them. I opened the front door and went into shock. I must have looked like a goldfish as I was backing away my mouth opening and closing as one of the two people there introduced himself as from the Jehovah’s Witnesses. There was a time many moons ago I may have invited them indoors for a debate and maybe a glass of water. I managed not to hide but took rather a long time stuttering out my inability to talk to strangers ( and there was I talking to strangers) as I slowly closed the door in their faces. He did apologise and say he understood.  Now awake I went and sat on m bed for a while to calm down. It may be a while before I open the door again. Eventually I went back to work which kept me going until lunchtime.

Lunch was two ham baps which I ate in front of the TV half watching some old film or other which always seem to be on around that time. I nodded off again and must have had at least an hour as it was a totally different programme when I woke up. I though I was having problems with the plot. I was very lazy the whole afternoon and only returned to work at 4.00 pm so that I’d be free at 6.00 pm for Law and Order. I wasn’t, and only caught the last half so I watched an episode of NCIS as well. Back in here at 8.00 pm I’ve watched and listened to a bit of music on Youtube caught up on mail and managed the blog post. Youtube has gone down so maybe I’ll find a dedication song tomorrow. For now it’s a case of wishing you all a very good night.

Friday. Hurray  Youtube is back on. So, before I forget here are my dedications this week.

http://youtu.be/WANNqr-vcx0    White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane to Meeks at  http://acflory.wordpress.com/ for the little change in luck this week. Always Hugs.

http://youtu.be/wJVpihgwE18   We gotta Get out of this place by The Animals to Sherie Sprague  at http://sjsprague.weebly.com/ In case she ever considers the move.

http://youtu.be/4bniEbKXt6M  Born to be wild by Steppenwolf  to my friend Laurie at http://laurie27wsmith.wordpress.com/ A little reminder of the biking past.

And two for Mike  ‘cos I like his stories   http://youtu.be/ulvauWJxaV4 Love Wars by Womack and Womack ( Classic) and http://youtu.be/PJDrLVAjgd8 which is Love Ressurection by Alison moyet. I understand the resurrection isn’t a problem though bro????

It was an early start this morning but quite easy as nothing difficult in the mail. Not a single proposal of any kind, marriage, larceny or even a sexual advance in my direction. Has the world suddenly recovered it’s eyesight? I saw to the fish a little earlier than usual just to confuse them a bit. It’s an odd life when a tank of fish find you predictable. I was washed and dressed for 9.00 am but I’ve no idea why as I’d no plans to go anywhere. I stayed on the computer as I was having a good run on the family tree. Sometimes things just fall into place but I’m not sure Father in Law to Great Grand Aunt is anything to be getting too excited about.

At 10.00 am there was a knock on the door and I went towards it expecting the postman with my missing card-case. Yesterday’s experience pulled me up short of opening the door so I called out “Who is it please?” and then couldn’t help but chuckle about a joke I heard many years ago where the next line was “It’s the gasman I’ve come to read your meter.” That wouldn’t be too funny after my recent hiccups with British Gas . As it happened I received a response.” It’s the warden David, checking to see if you completed your form.” That would be an Oops really as I stuck it in my waste paper recycling. Luckily I hadn’t shredded it. I opened the door and it was a warden I knew and managed to stammer that I hadn’t done it yet. “That’s OK” she told me, “I’ll collect it next week.” Smiling and nodding agreement I closed the door. First stop the waste paper bag. I found it and it wasn’t too creased. It’s now completed and on my table ready for pick up.

I had a tin of pea and ham soup for lunch as I wanted to save the last two baps for the gannet when he arrives and didn’t want to go to the shop. I’m not saying what I had for pudding since I’ve found out I can hear ( some) Australians shout from here when they don’t approve. A subtle hint though, they were round, quite dark and very crunchy. Mike arrived mid-afternoon as I was watching a movie that I think was the one Noah watched on his cruise. It was called Went the Day Well and was from a Graham Greene story where a village in England was taken over by the Germans prior to an invasion. It was OK but I was glad when it was over so Mike stopped asking questions about what was happening and making me miss same.

At teatime I fed him cheese and branston baps with tinned peaches to follow. I had the peaches too ( not the same ones obviously or there would have been a fight) and followed up with, erm well , something, and so did Mike. What a hog. Having said that though he did do the washing up afterwards which was great and I only had to direct him to the kitchen once too. We were due a quiz at 6.00 pm so I had half an hour on the computer. Mike made me a coffee ( yes, he remembered the way) and put it on the lounge table for me. I managed to finish the mail and get through in time for the quiz and a still hot drink. At 7.00pm my kind generous bro washed my hair for me before I showered. I went back to the lounge for another quiz which was sports and even got some right . Mike asked where his bro was and what I’d done with him. As a rule I’m good at quizzes unless they ask a sports question or a car related one. We had the next episode of Jonathon Creek which was passable but when they said the series is on DVD at the end I said no thanks and came through. Mike went off to watch TV from bed in his room. I’m up to date on mail and now with the blog too. Still time for a read so that’s my next plan. Hope you’re all going to have a nice Weekend which starts tonight.

Saturday. Before you ask it was 4.50 am today. I ploughed into the mailbox straight away and kept getting annoyed with Microsoft Security Essentials telling me of a threat that needed cleaning and hen when I removed it, saying I had to restart. It’s a pain constantly signing in. After the third time it became annoying so the last re-start order is still sitting there untouched. The first batch of post finished just after 6.30 am so I went to the kitchen and took my tabs, put stuff in Mike’s mug, made myself a coffee and went to sit with the family tree for a while. The most observant of you might have noticed an accidental break in routine at this point.

Mike’s alarm went off at 7.00 am so I made him a coffee and took it through, called him and went back to work. About 15 minuted later there was a shout of “Good Morning.” Amazingly he was awake and drinking. I carried on working until I heard him dash to the loo. I checked his mug and he’d finished the drink so I made another one for him. I passed the loo as I took the coffee through to his bedroom. I could hear some atrocious noises but alas I’ve heard him try to sing before. I went and got dressed then carried on working again. It was just before 7.45 when I heard a shout from the lounge. I must have missed hearing Mike move around. He asked how long he had to wait before I was ready. I put my shoes and jacket on and went through. Cheeky beggar didn’t have his coat on and hadn’t finished his drink. I had him out and about right away.

Despite a cocky remark about being at the store by 8.00 am, we weren’t. Though I will say it wasn’t far off. We picked the potatoes first and then started on our usual route. Passing the ladies clothing section we saw Sale rails and heavens, it was gents stuff. I will admit a couple of shirts fell into the trolley but so did a pair of trousers that were miraculously Mike’s size everything at £3 each. We headed towards the gent’s department for a quick peep and there was sale stuff there too. A jacket I’d previously liked from £40 down to £20 which when Mike asked was now at £10. It accidentally fell in my trolley too. Eventually I had to put food in so we headed off there and passed a shelf with reduced bedding. I got a great fitted sheet for a ridiculous sum and an even cheaper book on Welsh names. I live in hope…………………….. .As we left there after a drink Mike headed for the expressway home and I didn’t understand when he swung off on the Chester road. He bypassed Chester and drove through Cheshire to Blakemere village. Regular readers may recall a visit I made there last year. As a confirmed shopaholic this is a perfect place for me.  http://www.blakemerevillage.com/   it’s well worth a look or a visit if you’re in the area. We had lunch there and didn’t leave until  4.00 pm.

At home again we unpacked and put away the shopping from this morning and I dashed off to see how many messages I’d missed. At 86 it wasn’t as bad as I ‘d feared. At 6.00 pm I left it as Mike called me to watch Field of Dreams with him.I made some tea to eat while we watched it and an essential component was the egg custards. It’s a fantastic film and I find it catches me in the throat a few times. I must interject here for the sake of a friend to say that though HALF A TIN of sweets was consumed during the watching of this film but not a one passed my lips. Once the film was over there was something else for an hour then an episode of Endevour which I had to leave at 10.00 pm in order to come to do the blog and anymore outstanding mail. Mike went to bed to watch the rest of it then catch up with Match of the Day. My post is just up to date and I managed to get this post finished with the obligatory pictures. Without further ado, here they are………………………………………………………………….

 

Messy eater !

 

Hoodie in good humour..

 

Park life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have a Great Sunday and a beautiful week to come.

Forgotten Fishes and A Scrabble Win

Sunday. It was almost 6.00 am before I got up this morning. No conscience though as it was 2.oo am before I got to bed. Mike will say he was up till that time too but he was snoring away when I went to the loo at about 1.00 am and turned his TV off just as Lena Lovich came on. Just as well or she might have woken him up again. In that short space of time I’d got over 120 pieces of mail so my heart did sink a bit but on the other hand what chances of Mike getting up early and wanting my company anyway, so I ploughed on. At 8.00 am I got up to take my tabs, do the fish etc or so I thought. I know I definitely came back to the bedroom with a coffee. I was through them by 9.25 am and as there was no sound I refreshed the screen. Another 28, Hmmm. no problem. Ten minutes later Grumpy got up, leaving the other 6 dwarves behind. I nipped through and put the kettle on to make a coffee. Leaving everything in his cup I headed back to my room shouting through the bathroom door to let him know he just needed to add the water.

I returned to the mail and there were just 12 outstanding. One quite a long letter from a friend whom I enjoy writing to and one, the exciting one, to tell me the book had been put on Lulu. I was really excited and had been waiting to hear this since last night. It might be the reason for a slight distraction, what some may call a lousy excuse, I offered to Mike as he came through to ask why the fish were beating on the glass of their tank in the dark. How the hell I’d forgotten about then I don’t know. Anyway, he said he’d see to it for me and I said I’d be in soon. I couldn’t wait to get onto Lulu and complete the book. Sending it to Global advertising, ordering my proof copy and setting the price,which was quite a job in itself. It’s all done.

This book is dedicated to my grandson Reuben D.C. Eboh who will be a reader I hope.

I owe Huge Thanks to the following friends for helping me reach this stage.
Ilil Arbel without whose technical wizardry I’d be lost.
Sherie Sprague for editing out all my errors and making my English look better.
http://roughseasinthemed.wordpress.com for helping with the title, though I got the final tweak.
Huge Hugs to you all and to those
who encouraged me to do this!

As I went through to the lounge about 11.00 am still in my dressing gown ( Shock, Horror) Mike was watching the bobsleighs in the Winter Olympics. I was in time to see the UK set a fantastic time and get to third place in the medals, and also in time to see Latvia and Russia do even better and push the UK to 5th. I was proud of them anyway. Mike then cheered on the Canadians at Ice Hockey unto about 12.15 when it was time to get dressed. We went out just before 1.00 and because it was local went to the Royal Oak for Sunday dinner. Uncomfortably crowded for me but a tasty meal. We went back home and almost as though we hadn’t gone out Mike was able to catch the rest of the Hockey with Canada winning 3 to Nil over Sweden. A shame as Sweden deserved to score too. It was a good game if you like violent mayhem.               Mike was not going to his Dad’s today so he was able to stay longer. We watched a file together ‘The Boy’ and then nodded off during other programmes until about 6.00 pm when we had a light tea,  one bulb each. At 7.30 he left for home and I flew to the bedroom to do what my hands had itched to do for hours, get back to my mail. Amazingly just 84 so I’ve had an easy time so far.

Monday. An early start this morning and the news that the book is on Lulu. I had to go in and set the price, choose the Global distribution package and order my proof copy. In a way it’s quite exciting as I’ve ventured far outside my comfort zone with this, I’ve also made the classic mistake of listening to friends and family about how good it is rather than some unconnected beta reader. That’s because of course it was only intended for my grandson originally. Now of course, since being persuaded to open it for general sale I can donate the royalties to the Pancreatic Cancer Fund for Ju’s memory. I was still hopping about when 8.00 am came and I had to feed the fish and follow my normal routine. The snail colony in the tank is almost blocking the light now, I think it’s wet arm time this weekend.

I did a couple of tweets during the morning and there seemed to be a lot of blog posts to comment on so that I was at the computer most of the morning on and off. I put a load of washing in as there was no-one here to tell me about separating the colours. At lunchtime I emptied the machine after having the drier on for 3 hours, flapped them to remove as many creases as possible and folded them into the linen basket. Now I have to train my eyes to avert themselves if they stray in that direction again. For lunch I had beef casserole with mashed potatoes and peas and then granted myself a couple of hours break which was spent nodding off in my chair. Late afternoon and I returned to battle bringing myself up to date and responding to wonderful comments on my post.

After tea I settled to watch some Big Bang Theory and an episode of CSI NY before coming through about 8.00 pm to carry on with mail and the nights blog post. Plenty to keep me going till late but I still managed a read.

Tuesday. Up at 6.00 am and in no rush this morning as Chester is visiting me this afternoon so I can take my time. In amongst all the mail there’s this little gem. I accept that English is not everyone’s first language but I’d expect someone in such an important business to have a smattering of education. Since those fools at the lottery missed my numbers again at the weekend I decided to pass the opportunity on to those of you who are investors. Go on, you know you want to.

Dear
with all du respect i’m mr Ibrahim i lead a group of suppliers
in gold dust and bars from west africa.
we are looking for  partners or buyers in europe , asia ,
america for the quantity of gold of 22 carat and 95% of purity origin
from guinea conakry we currently have.
we are abble to bring the said gold anywhere the buyer want us too
after discussing about the proccess and sign sale and purchase agreement.
waitting for your urgent reply to send you some certificat of the gold we
have now.
i’m presently  with that said gold at morocco in transit .
Thank you
best regar

I’m not quite sure what a best regar is but if any of you have one, keep it to yourselves please. A couple more tweets this morning and lots of comments to make on other people’s blogs. There’s a lot going on out there. At some stage I knew I’ d have to get dressed, the picture of the writer cigarette in hand, still in dressing gown and open bottle of ———– ( insert your own poison) to hand died out in the thirties, or at least in my thirties. We’re all bright as a button, laptop toting semi-professionals on the run these days. So, I got dressed before lunchtime and then made myself lunch just to prove it.

Afterwards I’d returned to the mail when I received a text from my wonderful friend Lis just checking if I was still alive and checking if I was at home or in Chester. When I said “At home” she told me she was on her way. She arrived about half an hour later and settled with a coffee and chocolate biscuit ( see, I do share) as we chatted about everything happening since we last saw each other. When it came time for her to go it was just time for Yvonne and Reuben to arrive. She was able to spend enough time to coo over Reuben as I picked him out of his pram and was rewarded with a big smile.

Reuben in my armchair

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

Yvonne was thrilled with the cow rocker I bought at the weekend and Reuben seemed to approve too. He also seemed to enjoy me pretending to drop him and there were whoops of laughter in the lounge as we played. At about 6.00 pm Ugo arrived with ta which for him was his only meal today but not for Yvonne and myself who still managed to pack away some chips. I had two buttered baps and Yvonne showed restraint with one. Reuben showed even mor restraint by helping Yvonne eat hers. I had a rhubarb crumble and custard afterwards though I haven’t the foggiest idea where I put it. Ugo (oink oink) had 2 chocolate puddings with custard.!!!!! OK, they were very small but that doesn’t sound half as good. At 7.00 pm it was time for them to go and I carried Reuben out to the car. You could hear my joints scream. He’s really heavy. The rocking cow is for one year olds but he’s tall enough to more than reach the floor on it. After waving them off I spent an hour catching up again and then treated myself to a film. A lighthearted comedy with poor old Heath Ledger kept me smiling until 10.00 pm when it was time to turn off and concentrate on leaving myself a clean slate. Mujo tomorrow and card night too.

Wednesday. T’was a funny old start to the day as I felt full of beans ( which I’m not for a change) despite it being only 3.10 am. I’m not even sure it was worth going to bed earlier on. Anyway, I started on my mail, an opened can of Pepsi beside me ( just in case any Pepsi exec is reading this, I prefer Pepsi Max). By 6.15 am I’d started to flag and the yawns were getting bigger and bigger so that I was actually in danger of swallowing myself. I lay down on the bed and zonked until 7.50.am. One minute there, the next minute gone. The rest did me a power of good and my eyes were almost fully open when I bopped one of the plecs on the head with a food tablet. I’ve never seen it move so fast, mind you they’re so good at camouflage I’ve never seen it move period.

Tabs done and  coffee in hand I returned to the bedroom and worked till 9.00 am then decided I’d better get dressed in case my visitors came early. They did, but not until 10.30 am by which time I’d almost got up to date. There was a knock, the door opened and I heard a call of “It’s only us”. I made drinks or rather I poured drinks as Muriel likes her J2O and John wanted a cold drink so I did him a lime and lemonade. One day I must remember to put water in the ice trays and stick them in the freezer. We had a bit of a natter before Mu announced she’d like to go to Jackson’s Nursery after lunch. Fine by me, but then followed a discussion about where lunch should be. I’m afraid I ruled out his chippie because I’d had chips last night. He ruled out my choices as not liking them and we settled on The Bells ( of St.Mary) which is a carvery. I have no complaints about the meal except it was too big but that didn’t stop me eating it since I was the one who piled stuff on but I did end up feeling bloated. One good thing, and Mike would be proud of me, I remembered my tablets and took them in the right order. It was also handy as I’d downloaded a £3 voucher for The Bells yesterday.

Lunch over we set off for Jackson’s and found it very changed inside, that is except for the prices which only bankers can afford. We couldn’t even get a cuppa because it’s half term and the cafe was full. After a good look round at some of the fantastic stuff they have we left to head for home. On the way we had to detour which brought us close to The Dragon’s Rest where we decided to have a drink. I had a chocolate milkshake which was glorious.

We reached home and found we were all three tired. John went to sleep, Is struggled and Muriel tried to occupy herself. At 3.30 pm she announced they needed to leave and woke John. They set off, and avoiding falling asleep I came back to the computer. I finished at about 5.05 pm so scuttled through to see the last ten minutes of my antiques show. From then on I kept a weather eye on the window. A text from Lee said he couldn’t make it today. A shame, but at 5.50 pm I saw Dil and Matt approach so I went to make drinks. Dil has his tea and Matt has pot luck of the coffees. Play started and I actually won a game of scrabble, then Dil won a game and also won nomination whist which Matt says he always does. The usual insults flew across the newly covered card table, if Dil gets any more sarcastic I’m passing him a tissue to stop it dripping from his chin. Then we decide ( sorry, Dil decided. It’s not my fault Matt) to teach Matt how to play Cribbage. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to teach anyone how to play crib but you can see their eyes glaze over or start to look fearful when you start, Fifteen Two, Fifteen Four, two goes six and six is a dozen. Or playing the hands, Eight, fifteen for two, twenty one ( Crib made easy), Twenty eight ( three to the gate) Twenty Nine ( Two to the line) Thirty one for two. By this time Matt was grabbing his coat and heading for the door screaming something about speaking English. Dil almost tripped over his box of sarcasm tissues trying to bring him back. Yes, I lost that game too.

Wednesdays are always a fantastic evening for me. I get the feeling of closeness within the family though I wish it was closer still since there are some people I see far too little of. Matt is a bright young man whose company I enjoy but I’m sure for him the Wednesday trip might be more a duty than a pleasure. We never get the chance of a real conversation like  remember having with Karen at his age. Mind you, what would he have to say to a boring old fart anyway.

Today is the day I’ve decided to add music to this weeks blog and again I’m dedicating it to my friends. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Olga at   olganm.wordpress.com   http://youtu.be/HiB7Be0wNsg   Barcelona by Freddie Mercury and Montserrsat Caballe in honour of her beautiful home.

And one for Reuben. Brian and Michael had a big hit with their record about L.S.Lowry but the ‘B’ side was my  favorite  http://youtu.be/sg9Rra9mdTg . I hope he’ll remember the Nanna he never got to meet.

One for all my friends  http://youtu.be/Bx9qUR9P2ZQ  A Good Heart by Feargal Sharkey. I’ve found so many good hearts through the blog. Than you all.

Marylin Warner       warnerwriting.wordpress.com    http://youtu.be/uGDA0Hecw1k    who reminds us to tell our family the important things while we can. Mike and the Mechanics with The Living Years.

Thursday. I had a struggle this morning. I did get up but it was a fight as I saw no reason to get up. I attacked the mail but saw no urgency in it. I was lethargic. Not so lethargic that I forgot the fish of course, I don’t want to face THAT look again. I also managed to see to my meds for the week. Mr.Predictable, that’s me. At about half nine I got washed and dressed before heading out to buy some cigs, bread and the all important Lottery tickets. The fresh air made all the difference. I came back feeling much more alive and decided to try and download Adobe Air to my computer to open a programme I’d been sent called Booksoftware and it’s for designing covers. Up to now I’ve had no joy with Adobe Air and it took three or four goes before I got it this morning. Then I tried to open the Booksoftware file and  it’s that has caused my final defeat. Nothing I can do makes it open, I’ve even tried deleting it and downloading again. Aaaarghhh, frustration.

There was a knock at the door and it was a delivery man from Lulu with the proof copies of Reuben’s book. It’s thin but looks very good. I’m really pleased with the end result. I let Yvonne know straight away and she’s making sure I remember to write in it for Reuben. I tried to break it to her gently that he can’t read yet. I must find the funds to order some more. I had an email from Ugo with some points on our ongoing theological discussions. We’re both a little inflexible in our viewpoint but he’s such a star it easy not to offend and even have a laugh sometimes. I liked the way he called his faith a big hope as that’s what I consider my faith to be too though more grounded in people. What I like is that he listens politely and doesn’t preach or try to punish me with threats of hell but does what I expect everyone to do, accept that we can still live together with different viewpoints.

I dodged lunch in favour of ham baps and allowed myself some dark chocolate fingers afterwards. Most of the afternoon I was dozing for which I paid a price when I came back through here at 8.00 pm and found my message box jammed to overflowing again. I’ve been at it for two and a half hours so far, taken  a break for the blog an must now return. It’s just as well Mike’s not here or he’d make me refresh. There’s been no change in sales of the new book but i’ d like to thank the UK buyer and the U.S. buyer very much. Pancreatic Cancer Research will be grateful. Night all.

Friday. 7.30 am today before I opened my eyes. I couldn’t believe the clock and thought for a minute I hadn’t notice it stopped last night. I nipped out to turn the fish light on and then went for a wee. Getting back to the bedroom it was a bit nippy so I put my dressing gown on and kickstarted the computer. Naturally the rules say if I’m late the postbox has to be full. At 98 it wasn’t joking.  I worked to 8.30 am and went for tabs and my coffee then ploughed in again until 10.00 am when I nipped out for some milk. Even with a refresh I was up to date buy 11.15 am but definitely in need of a break. There’s a channel that shows old films so I sat watching Moonraker with George Baker and wishing myself a Cavalier. Those Roundheads had no sense of fun.

I had a small break for lunch which was pizza and micro chips so not too unhealthy and as the pizza had pineapple I had at least one of my 5 a day. Once the film was over I came back to keep the messages down and returned to watch another. As that ended it was back to work long enough to empty the box before going to watch the final day of my antiques programme. I had a text from Mike to say he was on his way from Manchester and he’d be there by 6.00pm. He was, with moments to spare so I made his coffee while he settled to watch a quiz. We chatted so I knew how his week had been and he’s told me that next Wednesday he’s to go for a heart monitor test. A bit worrying. I made him some tea and had a small sandwich followed by a healthy yoghurt. At 7.00 pm I disappeared for a shower then came back to the lounge to keep Mike company.

After a couple of quite interesting things on the box we watched Jonathan Creek which was to my mind poor by comparison to the old series. Then tit was time for Mike to go out for ciggies. He came back in complaining of the cold. I said at least it wasn’t snowing and cheekily brushing his hand through my thatch he said “Unless he did that” meaning dandruff. Cheeky sod. The boy is so sharp he’ll cut himself one day. There was a bit more banter before I was able to throw him out and concentrate on mail again. Just 68 this time and I’d polished those off by 11.00 pm. Then I made another attempt to change the background on my Twitter to include the new book. Twenty minutes later and I was no nearer. I can change it to a normal theme but I can’t get it to accept a picture of my books like I had before. I’ve no idea what i’m doing wrong. Anyway I’ve broken off to write this and keep you up to date with my ineptitude. One more try then I’m off. See you tomorrow.

Saturday. I didn’t start answering mail this morning until almost 6.30 am. I was up at 3.00 am for a nip to the loo and a ciggie but wasn’t in the least interested in staying up and managed to get back to sleep fairly easily.The next think I know is it’s past 6.00am, that’s three days recently with around 5 hours of sleep.I don’t understand it but I’m not complaining. When I did finally rouse myself I ploughed into it fully expecting Mike to be up at 7.00 am raring to go, sorry, it’s a bit early in the day for a joke like that. If he got up at that time he’d waste half an hour trying to bring me round. As it happens his alarm didn’t go off when expected but I took a coffee through at 7.00 anyway after following the usual routine in the kitchen. I managed to get through some more mail before his alarm finally went off about quarter past when I nipped to the bathroom before he needed it. As I got dressed afterwards I actually hear him rouse himself and attack the now iced coffee.

I did finish the first batch on my computer before going out and we actually made the shops for 8.15 am, Yes, on the same day !! I wouldn’t say Mike’s fond of his bed but he does have a mattress stapled to his back. I keep asking what he’s got stapled to his front that causes the shirt buttons to strain but he says he’s no idea what I’m talking about. cough cough. Shopping didn’t take long today as he refused to let me near the sweet counter or the biscuit aisle. For ‘my own good’ of course. It’s a hard life. Later we shot off to Flint for a couple of items where I managed to smuggle some Wagonwheels ( chocolate mallow biscuits) into the basket. We went for a coffee where one of us had two roundss of toast and I promise I have no crumbs on me except those spluttered when I muttered “piggy” under my breath. We went home then and after a couple of hundred yards he even let me get into the car instead of running alongside screaming that my jacket was caught in the door. Bless those Nuns who started waving to him and pointing.

We had time to unpack and I checked my mail. Three letters and all trying to sell me insurance. Mike suggests maybe they know something I don’t. I’d just caught up with my mail again when our friend arrived to take us to lunch to say thanks for help with his moving. Mike and I decided to suggest somewhere which would cost very little and still have a good meal so I ended up in The Bells again. This time my beef was on, and it was gorgeous with onion gravy. We chatted a while then decided to go out for a cigarette. My face lit up when I saw a familiar face emerge. Cheryl from Kassidy’s was there and neither Mike nor I have seen her in ages. There were huge hugs and she sat down beside me. I was asking about her health as she had a bad chest last time I saw her, I also asked if she was still working. Her face crumpled and she told me she was out for a treat with her daughter and granddaughter because she’s been quite ill. She has cancer and needs chemotherapy to reduce a large mass before they can do a mastectomy. Mike and I are devastated for her and the family. She’s a wonderful  person and one of the few I’m comfortable talking to. Plus she was really nice with Ju when she and I used to eat in Kassidy’s. Life is very cruel and quite unfair. Mike teased Cheryl as he always has and brought a smile to her face, but you could see how closely he felt the memories of his own close dealings with cancer through his beautiful daughter in law Kirsty as well as my Julia.

When Cheryl and her family had left we sat and chatted with Brian a little longer and then went our separate ways which was easy as we’d come in separate cars. The Ivy was on our way home and Mike agreed it would be nice to go for a coffee and to say hello. Tariq was there and came to shake hands, his wife Shella was there with her parents and also her very pretty daughter. Helen and Angie were both on too. Tariq grabbed the Ferrero Rocher before the girls got a look in but they both came over to say hello and thanks anyway. Helen had time for a laugh as always, she’s a delight. It may be Cheryl’s news had hit a little hard and I wasn’t talking much ( so what’s new there before Mike says anything) but Tariq squatted down beside our seats for a real chat and paid us the great compliment of calling us friends despite the short time we’ve known him. He also took us to see the progress he’s made on the photographic studio and where the cake business will be based. Mike says I’m banned. Shella and her daughter left, Helen left too but not without coming over to hug us. Tariq had to leave to cook since Helen had gone, with so many cats and other pets she probably needs an early finish to have them all fed before midnight.

Mike and I got our coats on to leave and Tariq came out, He lied said there was no change in the till and he couldn’t manage the £20 note I offered payment with. I had nothing smaller but if he thinks I’ll forget………. He also came from behind the counter to hug us both which brought a lump to my already lumpy throat. The journey continued and as we were getting towards home Mike reminded me of the antique shop we’d tried to visit that was closed recently and drew in beside it. We’d just gone inside and there was another familiar face not seen for an age. That of Si(mon) owner and chef at Kassidy’s and also Cheryl’s boss. As it’s been a while since we were there I obviously asked what news there is and all I was told was that he’d closed early as there was no-one in town. I was really surprised he didn’t mention Cheryl as I know him to be a caring man. We didn’t but anything so headed home.

There’s a gannet in my home. I don’t want to name names but lat me say he’s not called David. The gannet ate chocolates just before  tea. Had tea,plus malt loaf and egg custards. Then there was more chocolate. It wasn’t long before David heard the pitiful words “Ooer, I shouldn’t have had that last chocolate ( or six). Unfortunately David has run out of sympathy today and sniggered.  Love and Hugs to you all and wished for a great week. Share a hug with someone xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Youngest swinger in town.

Crawl attempt

 

Crawl attempt 2

 

At the Park

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Druid’s Inn Day and Back Away from Those Tools

Sunday. Such a lot of post this morning. It took from almost 5.00am to 8.00 am to finish.The fish were lined up at the side of the tank waiting for the light to go on when I got there. Maybe Starvation Saturday is getting to them, or maybe they’re just aware I haven’t imposed it upon myself. I spoke nicely to them as I dropped the food through the hatch so I may be forgiven. Mike had intimated it might be nice to do something today so after I’d taken my coffee through I proceeded to get dressed. I didn’t realise his ‘do something’ was stay in bed. Still, I was dressed, the sun was shining and I managed to stay on top of the mail. A little after 10.30 he rose from his pit and levitated towards the lounge in nothing but teeshirt and shreddies, I threw a cloth over Ju’s picture and one over the fish tank.

Twenty minutes after the first coffee I heard “Ug. ug. ug. ug” and knew he was waking up. ”  Good morning to you too” I responded. He shot off to the loo leaving burn marks on my laminate floors and eventually returned fully dressed and smelling like a brothel. I must say I prefer soup myself. After an hour of the laptop looking for a watchwinder it was time to think of lunch, or in his case breakfast. I left a bid on some green baize and we left. As always we were in the car before the discussion as to where to eat started. Best out of 3 at rock, paper, scissors told us that we’d go to the Dragon’s Rest . The journey began and my mind began to wander a bit, back to New Year. We just reached the op of the hill as I thought, “I wonder if we could get into the Druids today” as Mike actually said the words and we both shouted “Get out of my head you bar-steward.” As it happens with a slight detour we could get into the Druids and what a lovely meal it was. The standard roast beef dinner for me but Mike had beef, pork and lamb on his. My portion seemed like half a cow.

On our way out afterwards a woman was just applying a tissue to the corner of her child’s mouth. Mike told her she should spit on it first getting a ripple of laughter from the table. Following on I added “He knows that as I’ve just done it for him poor lamb.” to another ripple of laughter. As the sun was still shining and Mike’s usual visit to Manchester on a Sunday was going to be later today, we had a ride to Afon Wen( white river) Antiques and Craft Centre. You’ll all be astounded to hear I spent nothing. What I did come away with though was a violent stomach ache and a pain in the neck. The pain in the neck drove me home. A couple of trips to the bathroom started me on the right road and then just after Mike left to see his dad I fell asleep. I was out for over an hour and with having been out of the house for so long I can through to check the mail. The other half of the globe had written this afternoon. That kept me occupied until about 6.45 when I needed to eat something and take some tabs. Time to settle down with Poirot.

I was surprised when Mike came back ay about 9.00 pm and I stayed with him for half an hour commiserating on him losing his winder while he did the same over my green baize. I’m not paying nearly £30 for a metre square piece ! Eventually I came through and I’ve been here ever since. I’ve now sen the working file for the book and have high hopes it’ll be on in a day or so . I’ll be abe to order a proof copy then if Lulu OK it. I just hope t’s not going to cost a mint with pictures. Well it’s now 12.50 am so it’s time to call it a night. Five minutes with a book a I hope.

Monday. Mike and I had words this morning.He’s finally discovered the grunts don’t work and words are a better form of communication. If only I can get him to use them in the right order.

I got up quite early and did the usual rounds with my mail. Still no marriage proposals, it’s been about 3 weeks now since the last one. But I am still getting proposas of another kind as per the one below.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              [SUSPECTED SPAM] Somebody kinky out there is prepared for a date with you tonight! See my stunning pics                                                                                                        Leticia to you –

Well, not just somebody it’s me right here actually.
Why do yummy girls get so lonesome now and again?
I don’t wanna end up going on a rendezvous with some wimp so
I though possibly you’re up for it?
I like it when a dude is self-confident and can show a chick a great time.
I can be very kinky sometimes, look at my glowing photos!
Are you that guy? I believe you are,
send me a message right here http://rhuclhsh5jljlimcswqyaog2uq.thevalentinefinder.in?tonin and we’ll see where it goes!

 

Where it went was straight in the bin. It may have been some years since nookie and I were on nodding terms but I think I still prefer the more amateur approach. I dressed about 7.30 just to prove I was up before Mike but I needn’t have bothered too much as he still ignored the alarm despite the fact we’re due at our friend Brian’s house by 9.oo pm to help with the moving. I actually motivated Mike by wafting a coffee scented candle in this bedroom. I added a real coffee to that so he’s really no excuse. By 8.50 am we were just about on the road and reached Brian’s about half past nine. The place was in chaos as you can imagine, but we got started by dismantling the TV and satellite boxes,DVD player and get this, a VHS player. Once done this was taken to the car and stored till we  were ready to go. The computer, the printer, phones, modem and then Brian’s music centre were added to the mix. An hour or so later Mike and I made a move towards Brian’s new flat while he and his sister waited for the removal men.

 

In Llandudno we headed for ASDA (Walmart) fist and bought some milk and a new kettle so we could drink as we worked. Mike carried the TV in and opened a window for me to pass the rest of the stuff in. Sort of an un-burglery. It would have been funny to be reported to the police for actually adding something to a place.We started with the computer and with Mike on the floor attaching all the cables it was soon ready to go. At this point he couldn’t have accessed the internet as the new phone line isn’t active. The TV underwent a similar treatment just before the removal van arrived with Brian close behind. It was mainly stuff from his lounge and kitchen so we were able to get the computer up onto it’s work space and work out where best it would go. The printer on a little table next to it. Brian and the men went off for their second load while Mike and I set the phones up and arranged the lounge furniture. We nipped out for lunch then and came back with HUGE sausage and onion baps. Not my fault I couldn’t find anything diet conscious there.

 

Mike went into starting the fridge freezer and the cooker after lunch. He was well on the way when the next delivery arrived. I had the pleasure of putting the bed together. Mike checked the washing machine and found a pipe missing and Brian fretted about calling in the phone company and SKY.  The removal men had brought a unit that Mike thought would be better for the TV. We tried to keep a straight face as he cursed at having to undo wires, thread them through then re-attach them. Eventually it was up and while Brian went off to find the missing pipe Mike tried to tune the TV in for terrestrial channels as SKY were refusing to come sort their end until March 6th. One very unhappy bunny in our midst. Mike went off to do the washing machine while I decided to go out for cigarettes. The shop was further than I thought and I was out for over an hour which made Mike ring to see if I was OK. Breathless as I was, he thought he’d rung a sex line in error. I arrived back and Brian was still on the phone to SKY. Everything was arranged and all the appliances were up and running so Mike and I left.

 

On the way hope we stopped to pick up braised steak and creamed mash from the chippie and went home to eat. Then it was time for showers, me first and by 8.15 pm I was in my dressing gown and attacking my emails. I’ve been here ever since and it’s just gone 11.00 pm now. We’re out again tomorrow so I’d better get some sleep. Mike is driving back home tomorrow night so I might manage a few quiet days.

 

Tuesday. I didn’t sleep well or long last night. I’m convinced someone stole my share. Now I’m not naming names here but someone was in bed by 8.30 pm and was fast asleep ( telly still on)when I nipped to the loo at 10.30 pm. I turned the TV off fully expecting him to wake up and claim to be watching it but not this time. I got up. did mail , got washed and dressed, did mail, saw to fish, tabs and coffee, did mail and finally woke him with a coffee at 8.30 am. This unnamed person got up with some reluctance.

 

Mike joined me for coffee in the lounge and asked what time we were going to Chester. I explained that I’d said to expect us about 10.00 am. It was almost 9..30 am before we left but we made reasonable time and were there by 10.10 am. Somehow I ended up with Reuben in my arms while Yvonne practically bolted to the kitchen with the excuse of making drinks. He grabbed my ear and twisted it  so I knew who the boss is. Well and truly put in my place. We offered to put up a curtain rail in the lounge which meant I could pass Reuben back. He was showing every sign of being a tired little boy. Fortunately Yvonne managed to get him off and laid him upstairs in his cot with the baby monitor on the table bedside us. We sussed out what to do and went to get the tools from the utility room. There wasn’t a single thing of any use and it appears Ugo has all the power tools in the car. He mustn’t trust Yvonne not to operate on Reuben when he’s niggly. Mike had to run me into town for  hammer drill, both masonry and wood bits, screwdrivers, pliers and a hacksaw. As it was approaching lunch time we picked up some pizza to take back. When we arrived, Reuben was back downstairs having slept for about 20 mins.

 

After lunch and the usual lapdance from Reuben ,plus an attempt to pinch my Pepsi Max Mike and I started work. He was much more than hands-on guy and I was more planning and passing. Reuben wasn’t at all keen on the noise the drill made at first but after a while he just looked a little startled when it started though happy once it was going.Of course he started growling at us all but I don’t know whether it was drill imitation.Once the curtain rail was up we attached the curtains, then reattached the hooks for the nets to a different place and put those up. It did take a good couple of hours and it’s a job Ugo won’t have to worry about doing once he finishes work. Yvonne was a little worried he wouldn’t like us doing his job but I told her to say the curtain fairies had dropped by. We left at about 5.15  pm as Mike wanted to pick up some jumpers for his dad before he sees him on Friday. That done we headed for home.

 

At home there was a note in the letterbox to say a delivery had gone next door for me. Yay, my card table. It’s pretty good.I tested it out and it stands quite firmly. Mike went on a marathon phone call as I started catching up on mail. 128 in total. I worked at them till 8.00 pm then went through. He came off the phone long enough to ask me if I’d refreshed. I ignored him and asked what he wanted to eat. I solemnly swear the bacon butties were entirely his choice. I had to join him as the bacon wouldn’t have got used again this week. As it was ready he finished his phone call and came to eat. That done, I went back to the computer till about 9.30. Then it was time for meds so I went to the lounge and there was Mike on another marathon phone call. It had to be  a woman. I watched the end of a programme and decided to stick around from Law and Order special victims unit at 10.00 pm and it was then he came off the phone again. I swear I’ve never seen anyone with cauliflower ears from phone calls before. Both Mike and I received a message from Ugo thanking us for saving him some work. I answered that he’s welcome but to put my tools down and back away from the bag now. I don’t want to see them disappear to the car too.

 

11.00 pm time for me to have my last go at messages and to get the blog post on. It’s gone midnight now so time for me to head towards bed and a short read. I’m so pleased it’s a day in for me tomorrow after Mike leaves. I’ll be able to stay on top of things much better. Nytol…….

 

Wednesday. A funny start to the day, no not the humorous kind. I worked from 5.00 am to 6.30 on my emails and then couldn’t keep my eyes open. Rather than send anyone a gobbledegook message I lay on the bed for a minute that lasted an hour. We have some very flexible minutes in Wales. At 7.30 I sort of roused a bit, did a couple more messages and then went to sort the fish out. I’d no idea what time Mike was planning to leave but I know he promised Rose he’d accompany her to hospital this afternoon. I didn’t make him a coffee as I did mine  intending to let him stay asleep till about 9.00 am. However, with no shout from me and no alarm clock he got out of bed unaided at 8.30 am. I was and still am in shock.

 

Just before 10.00 am Mike left and told me he’d be back again on Friday evening after taking his dad to see a solicitor. I’m a bit wary of asking why since I don’t want to find out Mike thinks it’s for the purposes of solicitation and have to disappoint him. After he’d gone I worked on messages until lunch time and then nipped to Pauline’s for some milk and ciggies before making myself braised steak with boiled potatoes and peas. I have to eat some of the food I bought at the weekend after all. I stayed in the lounge after lunch to finish a Sherlock Holmes episode but missed the last bit when I nodded off again. I think I’ve been bitten by a tsetse fly. Finally I came round enough to work on my mail. Two more offers of enhanced cleavage today which are more like waterwings. If I got lost in those they’d need search parties to find me again. I’d say it’s like being in a brothel except you’d ask me how I know. At 5.00 pm I couldn’t face any tea as I’d eaten so much at lunch time so I just had a drink. Lee arrived about half past and then Dil and Matt about 6.00 pm.

 

I made coffee, tea and poured cold water and then unfolded the new ( to me) card table. As usual we started with two games of Scrabble. Who won? Sorry, I couldn’t quite hear the question it’s a little noisy with me tapping my fingers like this. Then we had a game of Nomination whist and I offered my support to the other three players allowing them to scramble above me. By now I’m starting to sulk and my chin is at table level. Dil suggests a game of Crazy 8’s until they need to go. I’m jinxed, I couldn’t win a game if I was the only one who could see the cards played. Matt to one side of me reversing the direction of the game and then laying ‘pick up’ cards on me, Dil doing the same from the other direction. Just to add insult to injury Lee sits opposite me laughing his head off. The night was a disaster zone. I tried very hard to wipe the tears from my eyes as I bid them goodbye. They were also trying to wipe their eyes as they left, it seems laughter does that to a person. Shame it wasn’t raining.

 

I washed up and came through to deal with the last of the day’s mail, though I was bright enough not to refresh at the end just in case. Now time to tell you my tale of woe in the safe knowledge of your sympathy. Hugs all.

 

Thursday. I swear I’m going through the change. In bed at 1.00 am this morning and up again at 5.00 am, What? I know there’s nothing unusual in that but let me finish. By 7.30 I’d finished my mail but suddenly found my eyes filling with tears. In fact I woke up. I’d nodded off on the keyboard again and dropped my cigarette in my slipper, I dreamed I was being tortured- you’ll be happy to know I resisted and didn’t give any of your secrets away. Please send the cheques in gratitude to my home address. I removed the cigarette which had gone out anyway because of these new chemicals added  to them, put the flames out on my foot and limped to the kitchen. It’s a terrible shame but I spend the majority of my life limp which has Mike in fits of laughter.

 

The fish were ready to be fed but this morning only the angel fish was glaring at me. I can live with that since he turns in circles all day so the glares are intermittent and not sustained. I’ll be honest here and say the albino cory doesn’t scare me at all but the bigger bull nosed plec, well I just hope his eyesight is awful cos’ if not one of these days I’m really in for trouble.That done, I started to do my drugs for the week which is a Thursday chore. I opened the stuff that has been delivered yesterday and wouldn’t you know it, one of my sprays was missing, AND it had to be the one that ran out yesterday. I did everything else and then took my coffee through. There was a little more mail which I finished just after 9.00 am then got washed and dressed. I went to the chemist to see what and happened and for a start they’d forgotten to put an IOU in my bag for which they apologised and then explained they were having some problems getting this particular spray. I hope it hasn’t been discontinued or it will mean a visit with the doctor, I dread those, lovely lady though she is. Then I visited Pauline’s to get my lottery tickets and handed over the one from last night to check. Please note, no begging letters will be answered, but I’d won £25 ( about $40) which paid for today’s tickets, a newspaper for Muriel and three scratchcards  which ultimately proved useless ( sorry Reuben).

 

I came home and the postman had been. The green baize had arrived along with a [package from the U.S. from a friend sending Reuben a copy of a colouring book she’d published. There was a letter from my optician telling me it’s time for a new appointment and also accompanied by a quick snigger from the gods of whimsy, an appointment to visit the surgery for a review of my diabetes and though April seems far enough away not to worry there was a reminder to book an appointment to have a blood test in advance of the appointment.

 

At 10.45 the MuJo arrived and immediately ploughed into telling me how difficult the journey was and how bad the weather has been where they live recently. I know they’ve had the snow I seem to have avoided. No, I’m not tempting fate. I made drinks and we chatted in general until 11.15 am when they suggested heading out for lunch. Unsurprisingly it was the chippie. John is so badly overweight I’m surprised it ever crosses his mind and yet it’s always his first choice. It was a nice enough meal though and of course freshly cooked. I had a word with the waitress and told her to slip me the bill to save the usual arguments. It worked. Afterwards we went to a newsagents where there is a new magazine to collect military watches and the first one was cheap so we both got one.

 

Next was our trip to Flint. A couple of shops so I could buy some chocolates to take to Temptations. The place was crowded and it looked like a mothers club had congregated there judging by the numbers of prams and pushchairs but we found seats. Ceri was on a day off but other friends were serving so my welcome was there as always. It took me three years of going in before I could speak to anyone and without the feeling of being amongst friends I couldn’t go. It’s been a much more instantaneous feeling at the Ivy with Tariq, Shella and the girls there. Coffee break over it was time for a car wash and home.

 

MuJo left at about 4.15 and after they’d gone I noticed the phone flashing.( I’d be arrested if I tried that ) and there was a message from the chemist to say they’d got my spray. Coat on again and I went to collect it. One of the girls said I shouldn’t have bothered, she’d have brought it on her way home. Living in a village is great. I watched the rest of an antique show I follow then went to start emails until my 6.00 pm programme. I saw the first few minutes and dropped off. It was midway through the following programme before I woke so I gave up and returned to my messages which I’ve been hard at since 7.30 pm. I gave up at 11.00 pm to write this and now some aeons later I’m leaving to go finish my messages before the spell wears off and I become a frog again. Hugs to you all.

 

 I’m back. In honour of my great friends C.J. and Mousie of  http://morguemouse.com/ I’m sharing a fun record that I’m dedicating to them

http://youtu.be/edDmtJYxg3U   It’s by The Kursaal Flyers and called Little does She Know. Mousie will know why.

Another old favourite to continue tonight’s Fun Hour ( OK 10 mins, so sue me)  http://youtu.be/nJ2zpCTdShg  Driver 67 with Car 67                                                                          http://youtu.be/TUb2-28adB0 This one I’m dedicating to ‘Meeks’ ACFlory  acflory.wordpress.com because we’ve had recent conversations about driving and because I adore her and her blog. 

 

 

Friday. You’re going to be very bored today.It can be cleared in a few lines with one exception which I’ll mention in a moment. Just so you don’t think I took advantage of being alone in the house I still got up uber-early and worked on my mail. As usual apart from the fish, tabs and coffee break I spent much of my time slaving over a hot keyboard. But, and I can’t remember where the heck I got it, an interesting quiz came along. If you’re honest with the answers it can be very accurate and also very revealing.   http://similarminds.com/jung.html      I ended up ISTJ and Mike as ESTP. I wonder how much we all have in common. After lunch ( sausages and sweet potato mash) I took a break to do some tidying up before coming back to the mail until Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is time. I had Law and Order, put clean bedding on and then took a shower. At about 8.30 pm Mike came back for the weekend so bang goes my peace and quiet. We yattered a while then I got him to do the quiz while I did my mail. I’ve just finished so am catching up on the blog post so I can catch some Zzzz’s before tomorrow.

 

Saturday. How lazy was I this morning? 5.30 am before I slung my lazy ass out of bed and then got out myself. I was hard put to make headway into my post at all before Mike’s alarm went off at 7.00 am. I knew I had at least a few minutes as he wouldn’t move without his coffee so I headed for the kitchen. Fish on-Check, Meds taken-Check , Coffee made- Check, OK I can safely go through now. I called his name loudly enough to penetrate his ear, called coffee’s up and left to take my own drink back to my room. I had time to wash and dress, get up to date with mail, empty the bins, take them out and put the recyclable rubbish out for collection and he still hadn’t moved. Cleverly his alarm hadn’t gone off a second time so he must have been compost mental enough to turn it off after the first one. By now it was gone 7.30 am so I shrugged and refreshed my post.

 

Mike got up at 7.45 finally and he’d taken last night’s coffee cup and this morning’s through to the kitchen. They were empty so I washed them. He came looking for this morning’s claiming he hadn’t finished it. Perhaps he’d intended licking the pattern off the cup. I gritted my teeth and made a fresh one. took it to him and went back to the mail. Again I caught up and went back through where he’s sitting with a full coffee cup reading a magazine. I resisted telling him getting up would be less of a problem if he went to bed before 1.00 am ‘cos I’m good like that and also because he can run faster than me. Eventually he got up and got dressed. At 8.15 am we were on our way. 

We reached the supermarket and Mike got a trolley as I went to the cashpoint then I met him inside. We’d got two packets of potatoes and some flowers for Ju when he said farewell and flew off to the loo. That gave me opportunity to buy myself another pair of trousers I didn’t need without him nagging. I was also able to get some of the food I needed in the basket without him laying it out in some OCD fashion that drives me up the wall. Anyway there wasn’t much room as I’d found something for Reuben that requires a bit of space.

 

Mike caught me up near the bread aisle but he’d promised to take me to another shop for some particular baps I wanted. Pop, cakes, Milk. malt loaf and chocolate ( not for me) followed and we were done. Mike takes the bags to the end of the checkout when we’ve unloaded the trolley onto the conveyer belt. We have a good system going. My mouth was so dry we had to have a coffee before leaving. In 15 mins we were in the other store where I got my baps and also pods for my coffee machine. Mike got some windscreen wash but I refuse to drink that. And talking of drinks, yes we stopped at Temptations for coffee but unfortunately Ceri wasn’t there due to a family loss so the banter was missing.

 

Back home, we unpack. Mike arranges Ju’s flowers for her and they’re really pretty. I sit aghast when I find out my gas bill is in arrears by over £200 and my elec bill in credit by over £200 so they’re putting my direct debit up by £20 a month for the gas and lowering my direct debit for the elec by £3 per month. Go figure. I had some nice pictures of Reuben from Yvonne  in my mail so I sat looking at them for a while, sorted my mail up to date and asked Mike what he wanted to do about lunch. Since he’s the driver I think the choice should be his. We headed for the Ivy Emporium. Tariq waves and greets us as we walk in and as we approach the counter I see the heavenly mad cat lady (Helen) is there, as well as Sophisticated lady (Angie) which is good as the chocolates I pass over go down well with them. Helen says she’s still enjoying Memoirs of a Superior which of course is about Oscar, and it sounds like her dozen cats are enjoying his antics too. Like all of the places I feel most comfortable, the people here are very special. Tariq has a laugh and a joke with Mike as we order lunch. Mike’s gone for a Moroccan Burger and I’ve settled for a large breakfast. The gannet had a slab of apple pie afterwards and said he knows I’ll mention it. I’d hate to disappoint him. Tariq as always undercharges me and as always I have to overpay him. I’ll only feel guilty if he shuts down next week as the profits are too low…………………………………………………………………………………………………

Bacon.

Back at home later it’s mail time again while Mike goes on Ebay. When I do go through I promptly fall asleep and when I wake up Mike’s nodded off too. That gave me chance to put a film on anyway. We watched Tomorrow People and he finally let me come through to finish the night’s work.

I wish you all a great week and send the usual Huge Hugs……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Green Guy

Swing Boy

Little Man