Jo’s Party & Attempted Murder

Sunday 24th April.

I managed bed by 12.10 am last night, I didn’t dare go anywhere near the inbox though. I finished reading at 12.45 am and settled for sleep. I think I had time to blink once and open my eyes before I was up again. It was 2.06 am. It was 5.43 am before I had emptied the mail box and decided to go have my meds, some breakfast and then an investigation of my inner eyelids in my chair. I was awake again before 7.00 am and wandered back to my room after opening Joey’s cage. I did the loose post and then worked on the main post as it came in. It took till 9.43 am to clear that lot.

I took my mug through to wash and then prepared Mike’s mug and put the kettle on. It was about 9.55 am I took his coffee through. He;d been asleep since about 10.30 pm the night before. We got ready and left the house at about 11.00 am so I could go round a couple of shops before heading for Jo’s birthday meal. I bought myself another head, in red this time. Mike suggested I should try buying one that worked for a change so I could swap it for the one on my shoulders.                                                        We arrived at the pub at 12.20 pm and I hadn’t realised so many people would be there. It was lovely to see Dil of course and there was my great nephew Taylor with his Mum Deb, ex partner to my nephew David. There was Jess, Dil and Lynne’s daughter and her young son Rylan with whom I had some fun. Lee, Jen and Nathan and of course Jo and Karen and a surprise to me, Jo’s boyfriend whom I knew nothing about.

The birthday girl and boyfriend, Karen and Amelie

 

Jo creating a fire hazard

It was a nice enough meal but the wait for food was terrible.  The atmosphere on the other hand was brilliant. Rylan and Reuben played and though noisy they played nicely. Amelie was in good humour and Nathan was as full of smiles and waves as always. I think Lee and Jen liked the picture of Nathan I’d had put on a canvas and I think Yvonne liked the jumper I’d got her and the outfit and stuff I’d got Amelie. Reuben liked his toys. Karen and Jo seemed to love the big shoe lamps I’d bought them yesterday ( pre-birthday pressies) and they liked their canvasses. Jo liked her birthday gifts but I was devastated when opening the Tattoo Phrenology Head I’d bought of which the first one had arrived smashed, to find this one broken but not smashed.She’s going to try to glue it but I’m ready to get yet another.

When the party broke up we headed for home. I made Mike a coffee then we did Ju’s flowers before I fell asleep in the chair about 4.00 pm. When I woke up at 4.30 pm he’d gone. I started in on the day’s work and carried on until 7.00 pm when I went to make a sandwich. At 8.30 pm I took my meds, locked Joey in ( his lawyer lost a last minute appeal) and came through to carry on. I finished the mail at 10.40 pm and started straight in on the blog which should be done by 11.40 pm with luck.

Jen, Amelie, Nathan and Lee. ‘Cuzzins’

Monday 25th April.

Bed.11.30 pm                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Read till 12.20 am. quickly to sleep.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Up    4.28 am. It feels pretty good.  I worked on mail until 5.00 am then decided to get my meds and have some breakfast, only a toasted bap but that’s plenty. I got back at 5.40 am and carried on with the post, gathering more as I went. It was 9.42 before I could shout PARIS !. It didn’t mean anything but I wanted to shout something that began with a capital. My mailbox was empty and I quickly dressed and got my shoes on to take my prescription request to the chemist.                                                                         On the way back I made a quick call at Pauline’s before heading home. I was back in time for HUtH.

As that programme came to an end Bev knocked on the door. I opened it and she came through to do a test call on the intercom using the pendant which I’m supposed to wear all the time when I’m in but which I had to go and get from the hall where I hang it. She stayed for more than half an hour chatting, mainly about diabetes this week. When it was time for her to go it was approaching lunch time and she’d given me pause for thought about food. I decided against a liver and onions meal and settled for a chips with curry sauce and two buttered baps. Fair play, I did have a healthy rhubarb yoghurt afterwards though.                                                                                                                  After Bargain Hunt I was going to have a power nap but I’d just got my head down when my phone went. It was a text from Jade to check Wednesday at 10.00 am would be OK. Since we missed last week altogether except for what I did, I said that would be great. Awake now I went back to work. What was there kept me going until almost 3.00 pm then I went to watch Escape to the Country. I expected to close my eyes then but somehow didn’t. However, I did straight afterwards and didn’t wake until 4.40 pm, ten minutes in to my PYMWYMI antiques programme. I watched the rest of it then came back to work for 50 minutes before going to have a light tea and watch Without a Trace. SG1 followed and then Sanctuary.

I turned the TV off, locked Prisoner 99 up and said goodnight to him then went to the kitchen for my meds. Finally I headed for the bedroom/Office/Pit. Plenty of mail waiting for me which took me until 10.37 pm to deal with before I could do the blog. I will be in bed for 11.30 pm and ready for my trip out tomorrow.

Running riot at the park.

Terrible Twosome.

Tuesday 26th April.

Bed 11.27 pm last night.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Read till 12.25 am. Lights out but sleep took a short while.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Up at 2.39 am. Not as happy as I could be. A visit to Loo Loo Land and then back to open my gmail box. 37 showing at the moment. I was done at 4.53 am and went through to the kitchen for my usual. I had some toast while there. Coming out I went to the bathroom to trim my moustache before going out. I think it must be the fastest growing hair on my body. Cleverly I snipped my top lip at the same time but it seemed to be OK. I took my coffee to the bedroom and went back to work. I lit a cigarette and was distracted wondering when I’d bought red filters. It sunk in, I hadn’t. It took a while to stem the flow of blood, not helped by the occasional sip of warm coffee that set it off again. I finished the coffee, decided I didn’t need a blood transfusion so went back to work. Or I tried to, everything I tried to open wouldn’t. The little icon spun the wrong way and the message came that they took too long to respond. I kept trying and eventually it seemed to be OK again. I stopped work at 6.00 am to get dressed.

At 7.30 am I walked over in the freezing wind to get the bus. An hour of eyelid inspecting and I was there. Unfortunately, no-one else was. I had chance to smoke a cigarette and take a walk round a shop while I waited fr them to catch up.Reuben chose a good time to have a lie in, he must have known how cold it was this morning. We met up just in time for a visit to out usual watering hole and just in time for me to rid myself of the morning coffee voluntarily rather than the way that has me slinking home in shame. Yvonne ordered my new coffee while I got rid of the last.                                                                                                                                                                                                    When we’d finished in there and I’d had my hugs with Amelie it was time to shop. Reuben is going into his ‘big boy’s bed’ and though I’d bought him a duvet cover a few weeks ago, he needed sheets, pillow cases and their protectors plus pillows. I have a new duvet he can have. I managed to load myself down with everything and make a bolt for the counter even picking up a jumper for Ugo and one for myself on the way past. Not too much in the way of argument today. With the bags hanging from the trolley it made Amelie’s ride very much like that of the Bumper Car and she was riding into them as they passed.

We had a look in a new jewellers then waltzed round to the supermarket for a pizza for Reuben as that’s what he said he wants for his lunch. There seemed to be plenty of other things needed when we got in there and also one or two things we didn’t know we needed like a rhubarb pie for me. We moved on to a shop where Yvonne could look at the things she’d like to decorate Amelie’s room with ( if we ever win the lottery). Eventually all good things come to an end and it was time to head for the bus stop which coincidentally was just outside this shop. I’d barely got there when we saw the bus coming. I got a rare kiss from Reuben and a nice hug and kiss from Yvonne. Amelie was asleep by then. I got on, waved and the bus pulled off.                                                                                                                                                                                                                     With no need to stop at Pauline’s I was soon home again. Joey seemed pleased. I made lunch and at 1.45 pm went back to work. There was a lot waiting. I was just getting into it when the sneezing fit started. You know the old rhym, One for Sorrow, Two for Joy, well 36 is redecorating your computer screen. Three packets of tissues later and someone has given me a tap on the head which had been left open so my nose is constantly running. It’ got a lot more energy than it has a right too. I have a cold.

I worked until 4.30 pm then watched my PYMWYMI through blurry eyes. Pointless I saw except for the last few minutes as I was helping myself to rhubarb pie and custard in the kitchen. At 6.00 pm Without a Trace came on and like a switch had been thrown I was asleep. I woke up for part of SG1 and for some of Sanctuary then I was gone again until about the last ten minutes of Sanctuary. I should probably add that to whatever sleep I get tonight now. At 9.00 pm I locked Joey up, took my meds and came through to start again. Mail took me until 10.57 pm and then it was time for the blog. Midnight is my target for bed.

Playmates and competition for food.

The Cisco Kid.

Wednesday 27th April.

Bed at 11.55 pm.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Read to 12.40 am as finished the third book and I’m bereft. Nothing to read now.                                                                                                                                                                                    Up at 2.32 am.   Not exactly raring to go but decided I’m willing to return to bed at any time the fancy takes me. I made a flying visit to the Kingdom of Looe and then came back to sign into my mail. Over the last few days I’ve been going into the blogs I follow and changing them back from daily to immediate which is making a great difference. Firstly it seems to be working again, a problem that had prompted a change to daily in the first place. And Secondly, the deluge is much more a dignified trickle now and easier to cope with. There are still blogs I need to change back from daily but there’s no rush. Everything else is coming to me as it’s being sent and though it spreads it out more over the day there are less to clear at any one time. So, I might have been tied to the desk until 8.52 am but at least the numbers never looked overwhelming.

I had an argument with myself about whether to go to Pauline’s or not. I won. Just as I was getting my socks on I overruled myself and couldn’t go. That left me sulky and grumbling for ages but I knew I’d need lottery there tomorrow and my TV mag so better stay in the warm today and pick up a few more card tricks and learn some more Trivia answers before Dil arrived this evening. The postman came and brought a letter to say no increase in my private pension this year. THANKS Government !! At least it makes notification to the benefits people easy. He also brought me a voucher for £10 from the Government for answering questions on the survey I did. No wonder there’s no money for pensions. Before Jade was due at 10.00 am I received a message to say she was running 20 minutes late. Not a major problem really as I’m here all morning but it was actually almost 11.00 am when she arrived. As usual I just left her to it.                                                                                                                                                                                Marta Beaman, a lovely lady from  https://plainandfancygirl.com/2016/04/27/all-creatures-great-and-small-the-power-of-pets/  did a nice post on animals /pets and made mention of Oscar and his winning ways as my alarm clock. As it’s been a long time since he’s been mentioned I thought I’d share a photograph of him occupying my chair to make sure I don’t get to sit there.

Oscar takes a chair

And a subtle reminder of his book.

There are old posts from me going back into pre-history describing the cruel and unjust methods he used to get me out of bed.                                                                                              When Jade left I was able to make lunch which was two beef salad baps and a yoghurt today. I sat and ate watching snooker as my Bargain Hunt was over  I suppose I could have watched the end of it as she left at 12.40 pm but I was starving. At 2.00 pm I returned to work and stayed here until 4.10 pm. I’d only been in the lounge ten minutes watching a little more of the snooker when Dil arrived. I made him a tea then turned over for our Antiques programme.                                                                                                            We chatted about Sunday and seeing everyone. We’d both just had texts from Jo to confirm we were going to meet again on 22nd May for the next batch of birthday celebrations. I must check though as I don’t think she mentioned where.

When the quiz was over the TV went off and battle commenced. The Yahtzee was a draw at 4- 2 then 2 -4. The Trivia which was the longest and most drawn out game we’ve had in a long time ended in a worthy win for Dil after answering How do you write 99 in Roman numerals. It was time for him to go after I threw his coat at him and ordered him to ‘Begone’. I locked the front door and drew the curtain against the cold. Joey had just gone in so I locked the door then went into the kitchen to wash the pots (which I dirtied by eating the rest of the rhubarb pie) and taking my meds.                                                                                                                                                                                                                          By 9.45 pm I was back in my room with the ton of mail that had arrived. It took until 10.55 pm to clear what there was then so I could start the blog. I shall be getting my beauty sleep about 11.45 pm ready for an outing with MuJo tomorrow.

Face off

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here under sufferance

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know some people have wondered about the gift I got for Joanne that got broken twice. I’m waiting to find out if she managed to glue it before ordering another.

Tattoo Head

Thursday 28th April.

Bed 11.50 pm                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Read till 12.25 am as I just had a brochure to read. Lights out and sleep not far behind.                                                                                                                                                                            Up at 2.18 am.

First of all was the inevitable trip to the loo then I came back and signed on. I checked the bank and then wrote out an email to the Benefits section at the local authority to let them know there is no increase to my private pension but that I am not now paying tax. I gave them the new figure to recalculate benefit (if any) from. Once hat was out of the way I concentrated on my emails. I worked until the box was empty at 5.02 am and then headed for the kitchen to take my meds and have some breakfast. When I returned at 5.30 am I carried on working  until the box was empty again at 8.42 am. A perfect time to get dressed ready to go to the chemist and chase up my missing drugs and to Pauline’s for my TV mad before I forgot it. I thought I might as well do the lottery while I was there. It actually looked beautiful out there but I wasn’t going to trust the temperature. On went the woolly jumper.The chemist was having a problem getting one of my drugs and it would be next week before they did though there were enough to tide me over. I asked if I could take the rest but no, as the chemist wasn’t on the premises they couldn’t release them. I was so cross I didn’t even bother reiterating that I always ask for my drugs to come when they have them an anything missing can come later. I don’t want to leave it till the last thing is in. I think they’d have made me wait until next week so I arranged for everything else to be delivered after 4.00 pm today. The chemist should be in when the shop is open but I know he travels quite a  way. The jumper was a good idea as the sunshine carried no heat this morning.

Before I reached Pauline’s I saw one of my neighbours  stroking a dog, I called “You never stroke me like that”, so she did. Shame she had to call me Good Boy too though. I wasn’t long in Pauline’s and got everything I wanted except some Liquorice Allsorts . I knew Mike would want to eat his if he came tonight and would hate for him to eat alone. I also asked Pauline for the winning Lottery tickets, so who knows. If you hear a shout of ‘Ey up’ outside your house, it may well be me. Don’t throw shoes ( unless they’re a very stylish size 10 ). I returned home at 9.25 am and did a little more work but stopped at 10.00 am to watch HUtH with Joey but I think he was in a mood because I’d hardly seen him this morning. Also I had to put his millet in his food tray as the stalk wasn’t strong enough to hold it.  I relented and got a fresh one out.                                    MuJo arrived at 10.00 am which is very early for them. I saw to the drinks and we chatted a while but at 10.30 am they were anxious to go. I pointed out the time as being far to early for lunch but they said Muriel needed the bank and the Post Office first. Given that I asked if it was OK if I made a quick nip to Home Bargains. It was. What a success that was. I practically flew round the store but I knew where I was looking for what I wanted. Yvonne is going to be doing up Amelie’s bedroom and had seen some nice lights for the wall when we were out on Tuesday. I was pretty sure I’d seen some at this branch of my favourite shop. I had, and what a bargain.

I was just walking out with my purchases when I met MuJo who’d come for a look themselves. Great, I got to go round again at a more liesurely pace and picked up some gifts for my Great Nephew who will be One next week. Muriel managed to find a few things there and I know John got something too. When we left it was straight back to the car and then off to lunch. It was pre-decided today that a return to The Bells of St Mary’s was on the cards. We were there only minutes after they started serving. The till area was almost free and we could quickly order but the line of people waiting to get their meal was massive. I was disappointed that when I got my meat there were hardly any boiled onions, very few carrots and scrappy roast potatoes. If I waited there for new dishes to be brought everything else would go cold. Still what I had I enjoyed.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          After lunch MuJo asked if I’d mind going to Abakhan for my coffee. I didn’t mind. It’s an old mill where they sell material and everything related to fabrics even to wedding gowns and those funny little hats women wear for such occasions. I know of old they also have a good craft shop, a wool shop and a gift shop though that is very expensive. We enjoyed our drink and a look round the various departments. It was still pouring down as we headed for home. We were back by 2.30 pm which was unusual and because of the weather they weren’t too long before leaving to travel home themselves. Once they’d gone I saw a text from Mike to say he was on his way so I started work. I broke at 4.30 pm. I was watching PYMWYMI when Mike arrived so I made him a coffee while he dropped his luggage in his room. Then my drug courier arrived just before 5.00 pm so I c0uld stop worrying about that.                                                                                                                                                                                                                       When the quiz Pointless was on I made Mike something to eat. We watched Without a Trace but think I may have nodded off towards the end, either that or they now amalgamate part of SG1 into the story because when I opened my eyes that’s what was there. I was out a good hour and yet still somehow managed to miss a chunk of Sanctuary as well. At 9.00 pm I took my meds, locked Joey away and came through t work. It ook until 11.00 pm to finish the emails and start the blog. It’s going to be close to midnight I think.

Nursery play.

Dig that rhythm n’ blues man.

 

Friday 29th April.

Bed 11.58 pm                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Read to 1.15 am Couldn’t sleep.

I got up again at 1.45 am and started to read again being prepared to fall asleep reading if I must, which I did sometime after 2.05 am which is the last time I remember. I was up again at 4.00 am. After a trip to  the loo I went straight to the kitchen and took my meds then brought the drawer through and replenished the drawer from the stuff that arrived yesterday then replenished the drugs tray for the next week. I returned with a coffee and set to work on my mail at 4.35 am. I finally got clear at 6.56 am so I was able to have a short break before it started coming again, That lasted for just a couple of minutes and then I was at it until 9.00 am.

I’d gone through to the lounge and was relaxing with Frasier when Mike walked in about 9.10 am. Not bad for someone who’d slept from before 10.30 pm last night. I only know as I turned his TV off at 10.30 pm. I made his coffee while he struggled to raise the venetian blinds on his eyes. I stayed in the lounge with HUtH till 11.00 am and Mike only moved long enough to make himself a second coffee.As I went back to work Mike went to his room to get dressed ready to go out.                                                                 The mail was going down OK when he came in to say goodbye, he’d see me tonight. I carried on until 11.35 pm then decided to go peel my sweet potatoes for lunch. Once that was done I took my pre-foodies, put the sausages on the grill and cut the potatoes ready to be boiled. My potatoes were mashed, peas were in the microwave while I dished up the sausages then prepared the chipshop style gravy before adding the peas and putting the gravy on. I was ready to eat at 12.05 pm. After Bargain Hunt I was ready to return to work. I just didn’t know it would keep me occupied until 4.30 pm. At 5.15 pm I returned to it until 5.50 pm when I was pretty clear. I needed to be as I wouldn’t be returning to it until at least 9.00 pm.

I was watching Without a Trace when I got a 6.30 pm text from Michael to say he was on his way back. I saw SG1 then at 8.00 pm went for my shower. When I cam back to the lounge Michael still hadn’t arrived but about 8.30 pm he walked in. I made a coffee and he told me how bad the traffic and the weather had been. At 9.00 pm Have I Got News For You came on so I decided to stay for that too. When I’d taken my meds and finally came through there were 51 messages waiting with more coming in. Sometimes you answer one at one end of the list which generates a new one at the other end. I worked until 10.45 pm then started the blog. I intend to be in bed by midnight as it’s shopping day tomorrow and I have all my early morning duties with the rubbish, the recycling and turfing Mike out of his bed.

Sunshine, in case you don’t remember it. Not today though.

Exotic colours.

Saturday 30th April.

Bed 12.01 am after doing a little more mail.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Read to 1.05 am Last visit to loo.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Up at 2.21 am first visit to loo .

I put myself straight to work on ebay ordering what I’d decided I wanted for Lee’s birthday. Though his lovely wife Jen says not to get him anything I find I can’t do that. Lee has been important to me for his whole life. I have to think hard about Karen now to find something special .                                                                                                                       I worked on the mail until 5.00 am then went for my usual jaunt to the kitchen.I had toast with lashings of butter and by 6.30 am felt sick. But, after breakfast I’d seen to the kitchen bin and the food waste bins. I’d taken them outside but left the bins on the step to take down when we went out.  After washing my hands I’d returned to work   on the emails taking delight in the fact that I had time to enjoy some of the stories, especially the Guitar Mancer serial by my friend Teagan.                                                              https://teagansbooks.com/2016/04/30/guitar-mancer-episode-6-audition/                                                                                                                                                                                             At 6.00 am Mike’s alarm went off so I finished what I was doing and then went to the kitchen and made a coffee. One more alarm had gone while I was in there and then the third just as I took his drink in. After the alarm going off I expected a better response than Uh Uh when I said the drink was there. I returned to ework but there was no movement from there until after the fourth alarm. At least I’d only made the one visit.

I went through to the lounge to open Joey’s cage at 6.45 am  and was surprised to find Mike awake rather than sleeping in the chair. We decided what flowers we’d want for Ju’s vase this morning. Somehow we were on our way at 7.00 am. We parked up and I got cash while Mike grabbed a trolley. Inside the store I went to get my spuds while I asked Mike to choose the flowers. Then in tandem we went round the rest of the shop getting what was needed.Towards the end of the supermarket I asked Mike to pick up my pop while I got some milk. There was one of the large carts they use to transport the milk in the aisle and I had to go behind it to get the milk. I was just leaning over to get the milk when I felt a thump on my right hip and I started to topple . “Murder” I cried and two heads came round  the end of the cart. One was a member of staff who’d been using an industrial floor cleaner  and had gone into the front of the cart with a real wallop which had then sent it into me. He grabbed my arm to pull me upright as I tried to get my crutches into a position to support me, The second face was Mike who was trying to get the crutches back on the ground since he felt there was more support that waving over my shoulders like a paralytic spider. The accident prone polisher who tried to polish me off was very apologetic and offered to get me a chair so I could sit a while. I said I was OK.

Mike and I moved off though I was moving quite gingerly since the floor was wet and slippy where the machine had been. I have to admit my hip hurt and I said to Mike that I should maybe faint now and then sue the store. He suggested I might get my shopping for free at least. I suggested he run back and pick up a 55″ screen TV first.  When we finished in the supermarket we headed to Th Range again for bacon baps for breakfast. Don’t blame me it’s all his fault. I’ve bought great salad stuffs this morning again. There’s another good shop close by where I managed to get a few things I wanted  before we got in the car again and headed for Flint.                                             When we parked up we stopped to have a cigarette and walked to a shop I needed before we went fore coffee, His mouth opened in a big drool when he saw it was Sian on today. He almost behaved himself when he saw her son was working with her, but not quite. Coffee was nice but it was time to move on again. Next door as it happened. Mike found a nice picture frame he wanted.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Finally it was back in the car again for a ride up to Holywell where I managed to get just what I wanted to complete my gift for Amelie’s room. After that I left Mike the choice of where we lunched. He decided on The Dragon’s Rest just off the A55 at the Holywell exit.

After lunch it was time to come home. We made it for 2.00 pm. We unpacked and put away the shopping then I came to work. I stayed until almost 6.00 pm then leaving just a small amount in my inbox I headed for the lounge and some relaxation. To make life fun, despite being hit inthe left hip, my problem all evening has been my chest , the left side of which has been very painful, almost like it felt when I had pneumonia. But I’m still breathing much to his disgust.  We were watching a programme that didn’t finish until 9.30 pm so I was later coming through than usual. total mail at that point 63 so it took me until 11.05 pm to finish and that was while I was being ruthless ( It’s true, I haven’t had a Ruth for ages) having to ignore some posts that have been reposted a lot or if people have sent multiple messages. I shall post at midnight come what may and then I’m in bed toot sweet!!

Am I next on the menu?

I’m amazed, dumbfounded , shocked!

 

Slaughterhouse Blue & Birthdays and Arrivals

Sunday 17th April.

I expected last night to be the usual but I was to be surprised. Bed at 12.10 am, read till 1.00 am then sleep. That part followed the usual plan. But I had a small period of wakefulness at 2.17 am then a longer on at 3.22 am when I visited the loo and decided to walk into a wall on the way back to my room. I brought a picture down which lodged partly behind a radiator with a heck of a clatter bringing me to my senses and waking Mike who called out to see if I was OK. Apart from dented pride I was. I still had to spend some time sitting on the side of the bed having a smoke and trying to decide what had happened. I went back to sleep at the time I’d normally be getting up. I slept until 7.04 am. I started work on the mail as soon as I’d taken my meds and brought a coffee through. I was in a panic as the normal deluge had started arriving by then.              I was startled to have Mike appear in my doorway. I looked at my watch and it was only 9.30 am so I was even more startled. I went through to make him a dink and stayed to let Joey out and try and sort out what we were doing today. I left 74 pieces of post in my inbox at that time.

We decided it would be a good idea to head for Flint to see if Argos had the electric screwdriver he wanted and they were showing in their catalogue so at about 11.00 am we left. Flint didn’t have one but they checked and found Mold did and kindly reserved one for him. We had a quick coffee in Temptations ( a chance for him to drool over Sian) and then headed off for Mold about 15 minutes away. Once we’d parked up I showed him the way to Argos and he got what was needed. We were leaving the store when a loo became a necessity, the shop advised him there were no public loos open today (?) so I guided him to the nearest cafe I knew so he could go. We ended up having sandwiches for lunch but as he pointed out, we couldn’t complain as we’d had our Sunday lunch yesterday.                                                                                                                                                                After lunch we walked round a couple of shops looking for some gift wrap and I picked up about half a dozen sheets. I’ve got a little time before the next batch of (unwrapped) birthdays hammers on my door. April, May and November are the worst months for birthdays for me but at least this month’s are wrapped now.

Coming back it was fun with the sat-nag on listening to the way he wanted us to go while Mike and I had decided on the pretty route over the tops. The poor fella in the sat-nag must have been going frantic looking up all the roads to try and adjust to our route.He did pretty well. We were home for 2.00 pm and did Ju’s flowers before sitting down to try and watch a not very good film. I fought bravely to keep my eyes open. About 3.30 pm Mike asked if I was going to sleep and I told him I’d better go and start work. He decided that would be a good time to start for home. I turned the TV off. After making sure he left and running a metal detector over his luggage, I locked the door and returned to the computer. The figure now could almost have been a historical date  like 1066 it was so high but I don’t know any events from 213 AD except I think the Romans were still slaughtering the Brits at that point. I worked until 6.10 pm and then went for some tea. I think I started watching something like NCIS but it wasn’t long before I was undergoing eyelid inspection from the inside again. I didn’t wake up until the closing music of one episode at 7.55 pm.

I scorched the carpet moving fast enough to get back here. It took me till 10.35 pm to clear the mailbox and that was with cutting corners. I’m (fingers crossed) gong to be greased up and in bed about 11.30 pm.

Looking Hopeful.

Blatant Advert placement.

Monday 18th April.

I was in bed fully basted by 11.45 pm. I read my book until 12.45 am then it was lights off and settle down. At some stage during the night I got up to go to the Piddle Palace but no accidents  and no ciggie on the side of the bed either, just back to sleep. I woke this morning at…wait for it…….6.32 am. Am I becoming human again and starting to enjoy a proper sleep cycle or is it just Somnos on holiday? I woke with a terrible headache but that seems a small price to pay.   After the usual visit to the loo I went straight to the kitchen and took my meds then made a coffee to bring back with me. No breakfast today. I signed into the mail and found 56 messages overnight. It was 6.50 am so the next batch wouldn’t be too long in coming.

The next batch arrived late but just as I was finishing the overnight lot. Oddly enough, it seemed to come in fits and starts today rather than en masse. I just had to keep going. I was clear at 9.37 am and was exhausted. I knew more would come but decided that what I needed just then was rest and my chair beckoned. I just lay there with my eyes closed wanting sleep. Joey had a singing squawking session but I couldn’t move.  Somehow I managed to turn the TV on in time for HUtH .  The feeling that I needed to sleep wouldn’t go away though I did manage to stay awake for the whole programme. When it finished I came back to work but after twenty minutes the bell rang. It was the warden and she came in for half an hour to chat about things and see how I am. When she left there was no time to come back and finish off, I needed to get on with lunch. Braised steak and mash today.

Lunch and Bargain Hunt out of the way I returned to where I’d left off to try and get myself into a good position again. I sat there going through the motions (no missus not THOSE motions, stay with the script and stop writing your own lines) until I was clear a few minutes before 3.00 pm. I was sure if I went to my chair I’d get my power nap and feel OK again but the Zzzz’s wouldn’t come. I watched Escape to the Country which I have often missed thanks to the Zzzz’s filing an inappropriate flight plan. At 3.45 pm when it finished I came back to see what else had arrived and to clear it up. I even managed a little look at Ebay. Lots of birthdays next month too. At 4.30 pm I went to watch PYMWYMI (see Blog Cast List) and then since my Cold Case appears to have finished, to watch a quiz. At 6.00 pm Without a Trace came on and I had to use matchsticks to keep my eyes open as I was going to watch The Antiques Road Trip next. I managed it. Then it was time to watch Sanctuary before coming back to work. I turned over and didn’t even get to see the start before I was asleep. I didn’t wake till 9.30 pm either which meant I was late. I closed Joey’s door and wished him goodnight, took my meds and came through. Clearing the post took until 10.50 pm so starting the blog was late. I’m aiming for 11.45 pm and given that it’s only fifteen minutes away and all I have to do is sort the photographs and choose my music I’m sure of making.

Far away thoughts.

Ready for anything.

Tuesday 19th April.

I was safely in bed by 11.50 pm after dealing with an extra message that came in. I read my book until thee were just white pages left and felt cheated that the author hadn’t at least put a few doodles on them. My light went out at 12.40 am and I settled quite quickly.   I had no problem getting up this morning and was going to go straight into getting dressed until I realised a) it was still quite dark without the light on, and     b)  doing that might mean a damp carpet as I hadn’t been for a wee yet and wanted one. I resolved that straight away and turned the light on as I left the room. It was 4.10 am so I guessed the last couple of days were flukes.                                                                                                       Coming back from the Pee Parlour I logged onto the computer and my mail box. Just 31 to deal with seemed OK .That took me until 5.54 am  when I shuffled down the passage to the kitchen and the waiting drugs and breakfast. I put the washing machine on while I was there. After breakfast I returned to my nest with a cup of coffee. More mail was waiting. A friend I was worried about recently had the love of her life, a much younger man who didn’t know of her feelings break his friendship with her. It was childish and petulant. She was angry and I thought that was good. The problem was she didn’t stay angry but after 3 days got in touch and ended up declaring her true feelings for him. Now he’s responded and also declared his love for her. At this point I should be pleased for her and wish her much happiness, and I do. But I’m worried about the effect the next time he has a tantrum and unfriends her on Facebook again.

I finished the main batch of mail at 8.45 am. Today the people are coming to see if I have asbestos in my kitchen ceiling before they do the kitchen and bathrooms. They could only give a time of between 9.00 am and noon so I wanted to slip out to Pauline’s just before 9.00 am so I’d be in. I was back in the house by 9.05 am having been to Pauline’s and to the sandwich shop to get myself a ham SALAD bap for lunch. I’m pretty sure I’m covered for my 5 a day for the next month now.                                                           I checked ebay and found I needed to pay for something I’d won which was great as I’ll have it well in time for when needed now. At 10.00 am I watched HUtH with Joey though his vocal support almost frowned out the programme. After that I returned to work but had only managed a few messages when the man came to check me out for asbestos. Well, not me personally but you know what I mean. That was about 11.15 am and he was doing so much more than I expected, taking samples from all the rooms for a start. He’d said it would take about an hour when he came and yet I was surprised when he said his goodbyes at 11.45 am. He said he wasn’t leaving me in a deathtrap but I had to ask him to repeat himself as the voice was a little muffled by his mask and the hand he held over his mouth.

I took my pre-foodies and put my ham salad bap on a plate, picked up a yoghurt and went to my chair. I turned the TV on ready for Bargain Hunt and after 15 minutes started eating. The bap made a really nice change though I don’t want you to start equating the words salad and nice together in my mind. When 1.00 pm came I went back to work. There seemed to have been a breech in the dam and heavy leakage in my direction (it’s my age I think). It took a while to clear up but I was back in there for 3.00 pm to see Escape to the Country. Again I returned to work at 3.45 pm and had a little session of ebay too.  At 4.30 pm my serious viewing started with PYMWYMI followed by Pointless which was in turn followed by Road Trip and Sanctuary during which I stayed awake.  That made it easy to take my meds and to say goodnight to Joey with no rush. I ambled through then feeling that wasn’t enough, I went back and came through with my now infamous Quasimodo walk. I was disappointed to find I didn’t have a belltower to climb and beams to scamper along as I made the bells talk to me. I made do with the mail instead. And this time there were 72 waiting, cruel, very cruel.                                       I was clear by 11.05 pm but only because I ignored most of the messages by a multiple poster who writes quite a bit on a subject that doesn’t interest me.I do respond when the subject does.

I think I shall still be in bed before the witching hour makes me become human again.

Prepared for rain

Liquid eyes
to hypnotise.

Wednesday 20th April.

In bed at 11.56 pm and because the new book I ordered hadn’t arrived I had to re-read a pamphlet on poltergeists. I didn’t want to start on a full book and have to leave the new one alone if it arrived today. I am really anxious to continue with the Uhtred story. My light went out at 12.27 am as I headed towards sleep.                                                     I’m pretty sure I had been lying in bed awake and thinking of my mother for a while before swinging my legs out this morning. It’s possible I was dreaming though as I hadn’t looked at the clock until I moved. When I did it was 3.34 am. I thought it was later. After a visit to the Palace of Piddle I returned to my room and signed in. I worked on my mail until I finished one at 4.44 am and decided that was a good time to break for breakfast and my meds.  Rice Krispies and toast this morning since I couldn’t decide between the two. I’ll be the size of a barn shortly. (Whaddye mean I already am, and no,I didn’t call you shorty). After eating I washed the pots and brought a cup of coffee back with me.

The overnight and early morning mail kept me occupied until 7.11 am. I had time to get dressed before the deluge hit. When it came it was in fits and starts again so for a while the figures didn’t look too bad and they refilled only when I got low. At 9.15 am I broke off to go to Pauline’s for tomatoes and cucumber to make sandwiches at lunch time, I didn’t bother with a lettuce because of the waste, I’d probably throw it straight in the bin. When I got back I checked my phone for messages from Jade, nada, and then carried on with the mail until 9.55 am when my TV session with Joey called. HUtH. It was good today.                                                                                                                                       At 11.00 am I came back to work and carried on with the messages until the box was clear at 11.55 am. For lunch I made two beef and partial salad baps which I ate while Bargain Hunt was on. I kept trying to tempt Joey to come and eat with me but I think he prefers manners. I was going to catch a quick forty winks at 1.00 pm but I’d no sooner shut my eyes than I got a text. Jade asked whether she could come tomorrow instead. I replied that I didn’t know if I was having visitors tomorrow or Friday and I’d have to let her know.

I went back to work until 3.45 pm. I dealt with mail and also with some things on ebay. I was doing searches and sending some of the results to Yvonne in the hopes she’d let me buy something for them. I don’t know where that child got such an obstreperous nature from. She seems to forget that I reign supreme and that my word is law. In fact I’d go so far as to say she deliberately thwarts me every chance she gets. I don’t know where I went wrong but I’m paying for it now. I bet she’s not like this with her husband, unless of course it’s he that has usurped my authority. But no, she was like this pre-Ugo.                                                                                                                                                                            At 3.45 pm I at in my chair and closed my eyes, even Joey wasn’t going to stop me. I Zzzzz’d until 4.26 pm which couldn’t have been better since PYMWYMI started at 4.30 pm. I was surprised not to find Dil there grinning at me but tonight it was almost 5.00 pm before he arrived. I made him a cup of tea and we had a little natter before Pointless. Ae 6.00 pm the TV went off and the games came out. In the Yahtzee he won three straight games and then surprisingly so did I. On the second sheet it went 4-2 in my favour. In trivia he had four pieces of pie before I’d got my first but I fought back and managed to reach the sixth. When I got to the centre he asked a kind question I was able to answer and it was all over bar my dancing on the table shouting “Ha, ha, I won, I beat you! Could you help me up off the floor carefully please.” We did have time for one game of cribbage and he took a great lead which he maintained most of the way round. At the critical juncture though I pulled the pair of 5’s from my sleeve and gathered enough points to win. I led him out of the house to say goodbye so he couldn’t slam all the doors as he went. This was the Slaughter House and he was blue.

After washing the pots, taking my meds and saying goodnight to Joey I came through to see how bad things were, I hadn’t been here in 6 hours. It was bad, but not in a Let me out I’m leaving home kind of way, more a Heck, I’d hoped to get some sleep tonight kind of way. I was knocked for six though when I opened a message from my friend Hugh to say that Victoria Wood had died. This is a great loss to entertainment as she was a superlative performer. A real talent with her comic routines and a very talented writer of both comedy and serious material.Then I had  message from Yvonne with the same news saying “Bloody cancer again.” Because she was ill such a short time I wonder if it was pancreatic cancer that took her do quickly.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          I finished the mail at 11.15 pm and went straight on to the blog. It will be midnight.

Bite size

You spin me right round baby…..

Thursday 21st April.

Bed was actually 12.15 am and reading took until 1.20 am before I realised I was only halfway through a long chapter and had to put my book down anyway. I marked the place carefully, nipped to the loo (and back) and turned the light out. I saw it was 1.27 am. Sleep wasn’t long in coming. It was an awful dream filled night so I was glad to see 5.32 as I woke, and about four hours isn’t bad.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 First job of the morning was another visit to the loo then back to log on. Firstly to the bank to check my pension was in- it was, then straight to the mail. I worked until 6.30 am then went to take my meds and get a coffee to bring back. Once back I cranked up the output to try and finish what I had before anyone flung new stuff at me. I didn’t make it so was at my desk without a break until 9.35 am.

You’d have been proud of me with the speed I decided what to wear and how quickly I put it on. So ,  what if I wasn’t exactly colour co-ordinated and had put my lounge pants on in error. I changed and looking a little more subdued went to Pauline’s to get my lottery. I accidentally bought a Twix as well which I accidentally ate when I got back. There were just a few extra messages to clear and I just had time before going in to change Joey’s seed and water and putting HUtH on for us.                                                                 MuJo arrived about 10.30 am which was a pleasant surprise. I saw to drinks then passed John his birthday gifts to open or not as the mood took him. He said he’d rather wait until we got back from wherever we were going.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      There were a lot of questions raised about where t go for lunch, all of them raised by John because we just reminded him it was his birthday, his choice. In the end it was decided we’d go to the Bells of St Mary’s. We left the house very early at 11.20 am even though they don’t start serving until 12.00 pm, I think it’s a case of once a decision is made you act on it before it gets changed. We arrived about 11.40 am and I got the carvery tickets and the drinks while John found a seat. Then he and I took our pre-food tablets so we were ready for the kick off. Noon found us lining up to be served, the first in the queue.

I had my usual roast beef dinner but here they serve onion gravy with huge chunks of onion in and the mashed potato is really nice.We all seemed to enjoy what we had. From there we went into Prestatyn to look at a couple of shops. I managed to get a toy each for Nathan and Reuben to make up for an outfit I’d got last week for Amelie. I’ll be able to dish them out on Sunday when we go to Jo’d birthday meal. I also picked up an extra head, this one in black and a Buddha. John seemed to be the fittest I’ve seen him in ages walking round shops. I had to stop. About 3.15 pm we set off home with a detour to John’s mother’s house. She’s well into her 90’s and he wanted to check she was OK. We got home about 4.00 pm and John started on his gifts. He laughed at the Dalek and at the motion sensor whistling parrot. He adored the hip flask designed by my friend Sarah of First Night Design  http://firstnightdesign.wordpress.com  , she’s a fantastic artist as well as a lovely lady. He liked his fleece but I think he was impressed with my choice of his porcelain soldier figures as he didn’t have any of them and on was of the green jacket rifles like Sharpe in the books by Bernard Cornwell.                            I’d just put the antiques programme on when the doorbell rang and it was Bert with a parcel. We were having quite a long chat on the step when  Mike arrived like a bolt of lightning. The speed his little legs were moving told me he was due  an urgent visit to the Piddle Palace. Bert said goodbye and I went in.

MuJo were on the point of leaving having seen Mike arrive so we said our goodbyes and they promised to come again next week. I came back through and watched to the end of the show with Mike then excused myself to catch up,promising I’d be back in by 7.00 pm no matter what. I juggled as much as I could then kept my promise. Only when I was back in did I find they’d cancelled the Antiques Road Trip to show a programme about Victoria Wood. So many funny clips.                                                                                            When it was over I came back through to work and Mike said he fancies an early night too. Now I know this one is an alien.                                                                                                      I caught up about 10.45 pm so might be in bed by 11.30 pm tonight.

Muriel and John aka MuJo

If she tells me to ‘Say Cheese’ just one more time when I’m lactose intolerant……….

Friday 22nd April.

I slithered into bed at 11.45 pm last night and took to my book. I read until 1.00 am ans only stopped because I feared reading until the end of a chapter which was many pages away. I need to pace myself too as I don’t have the next book in the series which Muriel says she’ll bring with her next time.                                                                                          It was strange when I got up. I wanted to go to the loo which as ever wasn’t a problem, but on my return I couldn’t find my glasses. Quite seriously I must have spent ten minutes looking for them. I looked beside my bed in case they’d fallen, in the bathroom in case I’d put them on the windowsill, in my dressing gown pockets and in the lounge in case I’d been in there and put them on my table. I don’t think Joey appreciated the light going on. I checked the kitchen too. It was at least he full ten minutes before I realised I was using them to look for them. At no point had I checked my boat-race.                                                                                                                                                                                        Worse still, I came back to my bedroom after having apologised to Joey and putting the light out to start getting dressed. It suddenly occurred to me how dark it was. I glanced at the clock and it was just 2.35 am. I hadn’t even slept for an hour and a half and here I was preparing myself for a new day when my compost was most definitely not mental.

I signed into my mail and started working on the messages. By 4.00 am I was up to date and took a chance on a lie down, it worked, I lay until 4.50 am. Getting up I checked on new messages and there were none at that point. I decamped ( love that word, I feel like Baden-Powell) for the kitchen where I took my meds then prepared the boxes for the next week. I brought a coffee with me when I returned at 5.40 am and found more messages had arrived. All in all I stayed with my face glued t the screen until almost 9.30 am when Mike got up. I left the last few messages and went to make him a drink. Joey was delighted to have us both in the room. I put HUtH on at 10.00 am bu fell asleep in the chair for part of it. When I woke, the postman had been. The last picture I’d ordered, a shame it hadn’t come yesterday.                                                                                   At 11.00 am I got up to start peeling my sweet potatoes and Mike went to get dressed and then came through to say goodbye. By the time I’d finished I just went ahead and started the cooking and took my pre-food tabs. I ate at noon.  I waited until Bargain Hunt was over at 1.00 pm before washing the pots and then going to face the computer. There were 121 pieces waiting for me and odd bits more coming in. I wasn’t able to move from my seat until 4.22 pm, and believe me, my seat was feeling it. I took a break for my antiques show then worked 5.15 pm to 5.45 pm and took another break when Mike sent a text to say he was on his way.

At 6.00 pm I has Without a Trace on and held back my scream when Mike arrived back and I missed the important conclusion where one missing person dies and one survives and I’ve no idea how or which. I made a coffee for him and left it in the cup honestly. At 7.00 pm I went for a shower and Mike washed my hair for me as usual. He mentioned something about a haircut/beard trim again but luckily I was deafened by water in my ears and didn’t hear a thing, especially as the forecast is for a very cold weekend with snow possible. Question of Sport was on when I came out,my team lost. I watched Sanctuary and then Have I got News for You. At 9.30 pm I closed Joey’s door, went to take my meds and wished Mike goodnight as I was coming through to work. As I was working on the mail he kept popping in and out until finally at 10.30 pm he announced he too was going to bed. I finished the mail not long after at 10.40 pm and was able to start the blog. Hopefully I’ll be done by 11.30 pm (ish) and can get back to the half chapter I left last night.

Horticultural Guy

The groupies follow him everywhere

Saturday 23rd April.

I finished reading with the end of the half chapter and turned the light off at 12.27 am.  Sleep was almost instant. When I woke I felt as though I’d been aboard a ship all night and didn’t have my sea legs. That didn’t make going to the loo easy. ( “Vertigo?” Mike asked later,”No” I replied “it was only about 4 metres/yards.”) You can imagine the fun trying to keep my aim true, a drunk with palsied hands. Still, at least I managed not to walk into any walls this week. It was 2.07 am and if I’d been dreaming about Vikings after last night’s reading I couldn’t remember where I’d buried my hoard this morning.I suppose I’d have had a problem being a Viking though being neither a Dane nor a Saxon but a Briton that both sides fought after they’d invaded my Country and pushed us further and further back until the border between us and them made getting to us difficult. Wales held the original inhabitants of the whole Country just then and I don’t mean 2.07 am this morning.

After ‘loo time’ I did emails until 5.00 pm then went through to the kitchen to take my meds and have some toast for breakfast. I brought my coffee through and carried on until 5.45 am. At that point my box was clear. I was just relaxing onto the keyboard when I was startled into wakefulness by Mike’s alarm going off. It was 6.00 am. I headed for the kitchen to make him a drink and the alarm was still going. It honestly occurred to me that maybe he’s popped his clogs in the night. Suddenly it came to an abrupt halt. Had it run out or been turned off? I put the kettle on and then stuck my head round his door. He was still with us as I could see he’s changed position. I made a drink and took it through. When I said “Coffee up”, I got a reasoned response with minimal foul language.                                                                                                                                                            He was actually in the lounge with his coffee at about 6.15 am. Amazing. He ‘s going to bed early, going to sleep early and now getting up early. Not understanding the change that’s come over him I carried on and dealt with the  recycling stuff, getting it outside ready for collection.By 7.15 am he was dressed and ready to go. Even claiming to  be awake at that point. We left Joey at the window looking sad at our departure.

Things went well at the Supermarket as in I got what I wanted and even what I needed to a degree. Of prime importance were flowers for Ju and we picked three nice bunched including some Iris’s Mike found. We zipped round and found the till that our friend who insults Mike and receives as good as she gets was in charge of. Once he’d had a good session with her we were ready to go. By pure coincidence today Mike remembered he wanted some lights for his fish tank so we decided to forego the coffee in McDonald’s and go to see if they had any elsewhere. Well, we had to try The Range first. They didn’t have quite what he wanted so we had to have a drink and a bacon bap to console ourselves him. We tried a big pet shop close by and then the pet shop in Flint. That meant a drink in Temptations and another round of female- Mike banter. I suggested a couple of places that may well have the lights he needed and we set off for Rhyl. One shop had almost exactly what he wanted, just not long enough. We made a note of the make to try later on the net. We went for lunch.

After lunch we had a little wander round the shops in Rhyl and I found something I hoped would appeal to both Karen and Jo. As I’m seeing them tomorrow I’ll find out if I’m right. We headed home. Once the shopping was unpacked and away I was able to come and check the mail. I worked from 2.30 pm to 5.45 pm getting it down before feeling I could take a break. Mike was watching his beloved Manchester United play a game on the TV. Not literally on the TV, the programme was on TV. At 6.00 pm when it was halftime he went through to his bedroom and TV  so I could watch a film in the lounge. I made him a coffee and some tea as a thank you.                                                                  Ugo was coming to put something in the garage later so I was ready to help. We got it done very quickly so that just after 9.30 pm I was able to start the rest of the mail and the blog. The mail was done by 11.15 pm.

Can you see the reflection in the eye?

Can you see a little flying saucer just above his head?

 

The Great Potato Escape & The Cleaner Starts….and Finishes?

Sunday 27th Sept 2015.

My light was off at 12.30 am and I was ready to sleep. It was a pain to be up again at 1.04 am though after a trip to the loo I went straight back to sleep until 4.06 am.Then it was definitely time to get up to start dealing with mail. I paid another visit to the loo first then powered up and signed in. It only took until 5.30 am to clear the talktalk mail and then till 6.15 am to clear the gmail box.Next I spent a little time answering comments on the blog before disappearing for my meds at 6.55 am. Meds all done I brought my coffee back and did some more emails then checked on ebay and put a bid in on a black homburg dating from about 1910. About 9.00 am I went to open Joey’s cage and got the cold shoulder even though I sat chatting to him. Scratching his itches seemed more important and I suppose I can sympathise with that. I went back through at 9.30 am to check comments on the blog and heard Mike get up at 9.45 am- Unaided ! He’s currently taking tablets designed to curb the urge to smoke. You take them for a month . For the first couple of weeks you take them and smoke normally, then the dosage changes. Today he seems to be smoking much less than usual and certainly much less than me where we would normally keep pace with each other. Maybe I should ask for some.( Don’t even think it). We talked for a while then he went to do the vase for Ju’s flowers and I started to give Joey more millet and another seed bell. Then I had to sweep the floor around the cage.

At 10.30 I was back on the computer and keeping an eye on the hat I was bidding on. At ten seconds before the end I increased my bid and was winning but at 5 seconds someone gazumped me by £1. I was as sick as a parrot even though I do it myself. The hat was just my size. To make me feel better Mike got dressed. ( believe me it’s always better to see him dressed) and we went to lunch. For some reason we decided to try Misty Waters and we haven’t been here since Ju died I don’t think. They always seemed to have spectacularly great meals or as bad as they come. I’m pretty sure ownership might have changed and there’s a new chef. The meal was great. I had roast beef and Mike had half a lamb. The quantities were good too, the only trouble was the potatoes seemed to have knife resistant skin. One of my roasties shot of the plate when I tried to cut it. It bounced off my lap and onto the floor. It almost happened again with my small boiled one. Mike thought it hilarious and knew he was safe because he’s slathered his meal with mint sauce which I  despise with a passion.He suggested mine were the leaders of the escape committee.  After the meal we started towards home but broke the journey to go to a supermarket. It didn’t take long to see we wanted nothing so we came home. Mike shot off to see his Dad and I came in to speak to Joey and to catch up on mail yet again.

At 5.00 pm I broke off to have some tea. Some rhubarb crumble I must have accidentally forgotten to send back with Michael. It would never last till I see him on Thursday evening. I had it with custard and not to rub salt in the wound but it was fantastic. After washing the evidence I sat with a film on, nattering to Joey every time he came out to do a circuit of the room. That meant I talked most of the way through my own film. It was quite funny as he stayed in his cage during the adverts. At 9.30 pm I abandoned another film starring Adam Sandler whom I never really seem to have got on with. If Mike had been here it would have stayed on for sure as Jennifer Aniston was in it with him. At least it gave me chance to come and clear more mail and respond to comments on the blog…. one of which by my lovely friend Teagan sent me hotfoot to her blog where she’d made the most kind comments about me, and others had joined in. I’m still glowing now. I would have been going to her blog anyway for my weekly helping of her serial which keeps me on the edge of my seat. Once the mail was clear I made sure to close down ebay for the night to avoid further distraction, more late nights and a further emptying of the bank account. That done I was able to start the blog safe in the knowledge I’d be in bed before midnight.

Monday 28th.

If you heard a strangled scream about 12.38 am BST this morning I apologise. It was me waking up about five minutes after I’d gone to sleep and finding out I needed the loo. And yes, I did go before I turned the light off. I was much happier second time round at 2.47 am as I knew I’d be able to see the green cheese that’s the moon a lot closer and the partial eclipse. Hmmm, it didn’t look very green to me but it did look awfully close and the effect of the partial eclipse was wonderful. Very ethereal, it was worth standing out in the cold in my dressing gown for. Yes, the old jokes are the best….this morning I opened the door in my dressing gown. Why have you got a door in your dressing gown? I’d been to the loo when I got up and come back to log on and start my mail before venturing out. I made a belated wish when I came back in since I forgot when I saw it all. Back inside the house I carried on with my post and with the comments on my blog.People are far kinder than I have any right to expect. My music choices seem to be hitting the spot for some of you. I just hope the memories they bring are all positive.

At 5.50 am I went through to the kitchen for my meds. I had breakfast so I took my pre-foodie, stuck bread in the toaster, had my meds and then a cigarette as a timer so the toast would be cold, then slathered in butter I had it. Wonderful. About 6.15 am I came back to check on further messages, cleared them and headed straight to ebay to see what I’ve got coming up today. A hat, not sure, a broach, don’t really need it now, a pair of trousers, Oh yes, I need those and an antique Victorian embroidered smoking hat, no question I need this. There’s also a bulk buy of watches would be great for Temptations if I can get them reasonably enough. Fingers crossed. Just as well my private pension kicked in today. Approaching 7.00 am I opened Joey’s cage door so he could fly free whenever he was happy with the light. I thought about putting the washing on then put it off as MuJo are coming today and I hate going out while the drier is still going. Instead I turned the TV on and sat down in the lounge with ‘3rd Rock from the Sun’. At 8.15 am I went to get dressed so that I could take my prescription request to the chemist at 9.00 am.

When I went out some kind person has kindly let their dog foul the tunnel connecting the bungalows to the main road. It was either like an Army assault course trying to avoid the pieces scattered about or like Rudolf Nureyev doing a series of spins across the stage on one toe. I made it and wondered whether to take the long way round on the way back. I knew I’d have to sweep the tunnel anyway. After I’d dropped the prescription request off I did come back the same way and after doing my pasodoble I got my brush out and swept the mess into the garden verge. My postie gave me a surprise by coming early this morning. Another sign-for package and I wasn’t sure what it was going to be as I’d forgotten a piece of jewellery I’d won at the end of last week. I checked it out and came to do feedback. It’s possible I may have spent a minute or two more on there. I needed to go to the kitchen to wash my breakfast post and prepare drinks for MuJo. I’d no sooner got in there than I saw them passing the window. Just 10.30 am a bit earlier than usual. Since I haven’t seen them for three weeks we had plenty to chat about though and Joey entertained them with an aerial display.

We left the house at 11.30 am and I hadn’t seen Val by then. I hoped she wouldn’t think anything was wrong. Up in town John visited his charity shops then we went to the Bells (not the Bells of St Mary’s) for lunch. I had some braised steal with boiled potatoes and they both had a roast pork dinner. After lunch we went to the new Homies shop in Holywell and it was great, bigger even than my favourite shop in Flint. Then a card shop and back to the car to head for Flint.First Mu wanted ALDI which was fine and we picked up what she needed before heading for Temptations. I’d bought the girl’s chocolates in Holywell so we could go straight into Temptations and order. Sian served me and then a few minutes later I saw Ceri and got a wave. There were a couple more shops to visit before we headed off again. Back in the direction of Holywell again so Muriel could visit LIDL for flowers and loo rolls. My loo rolls were sold out so she couldn’t get those. We went home where I made John a cup of tea to take his next tablets with. They left around 5.00 pm. I went to talk to Joey and got a rollocking again.

I had some tea then did some work until it was time for one of my auctions at 7.37 pm. I won that one. Being up to date I went to sit in the lounge and watch a comedy with Joey performing his acrobatics again. I remained there until 9.30 pm when I was due to check another lot but I decided against bidding as the price had gone up so much. I have a few tomorrow with luck so I was able to start the blog at almost 10.00 pm and with luck will get another early night.

Tuesday 29th.

Light off around 12.15 am and I was ready to sleep. I got up at 3.24 am and knew I’d been dreaming about having an argument with somebody.Since I can’t remember who it was in order to avoid it I’ve decided to go into isolation and avoid everyone today. I shall therefore be locking myself in the loo from about 7.00 am so I can’t start with Joey. Today’s blog may therefore be even more boring than usual if that’s possible. My first job of the morning after he initial visit to the loo was to check the bank. After I was satisfied an expected receipt was there I was able to start on the mail boxes. Both done and dusted by 5.00 am. That meant I was able to put the washing on as I’m not visiting Chester today, I have a cold I don’t want to pass on. I was also able to start some cleaning. Joey feigned sleep so he didn’t have to help but he always thinks he does his share by making the mess in the first place. I keep telling him not to spit but he gets seed husks everywhere.

I did my cleaning, I did my washing ( the machine got stuck on the drying cycle, the stuff was almost rigid when I realised). There was nothing interesting in the post and I fell asleep during Homes Under the Hammer which was the only interesting thing on the telly this morning. I was so confused when I woke up I  took my pre-foodie and ended up making my lunch half an hour early. I fell asleep before Bargain Hunt even started.                                                                                                                                                        After lunch I came through to attack all the work I’d missed by skiving off in dreamland and had a fair bit of catching up to do. A knock at the door surprised me but it was my friend from the chemist with my prescription a day earlier than expected again. Much better than the often three days late. I had to keep hitting myself over the head with a stick so I didn’t fall asleep again as I have an important bid on during my Antiques Road Trip tonight.                                                                                                                                  I took a break to watch Homes in the Country at 3.00 pm but was conscious of my bids all the time. At 4.35 pm I sat by the computer watching the countdown and with my 10 second strategy. I lost what I wanted because the same sneaky burger as before sneaked in. However 20 minutes later I won the next one by adopting his strategy over mine. The one after that I lost because I was involved in answering an email and only turned over just as the item was won. Still, along with one I won yesterday, this will mean I have enough of a decent present for the person intended.

After the stress of losing I returned to the lounge for the last of the Road Trip and then for my two quizzes. Joey was in full chatter mode to his small mirror in the cage and I’m sure he wasn’t answering questions with me. As I turned the volume up to hear it, he turned his volume up too.                                                                                                           From 6.30 pm to 7.55 pm I concentrated on my mail to keep myself clear but at 8.00 pm I watched a DIY SOS followed by a search for the bones of Alfred the Great, King of Wessex and founder of modern day England. It seems that Henry VIII’s dissolution of the Monasteries did much in helping to lose the bones of King Alfred and his family when Hyde Abbey was destroyed. I can’t help but wonder sometimes what would have happened had William not invaded and the country had been left with Anglo Saxon rulers. Finally I turned the TV off and said my goodnight to Joey before coming through to try and convince you my life is interesting, and again clear my mail.

El Toreador fights the bull with his bare hands..

Wednesday 30th

I had an early night and it was great. I didn’t feel like reading and had to put my book down and turn the light off before midnight. I was probably asleep within a minute. It was an absolute pain to wake up at 12.10 am.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      However much I felt refreshed I needed more sleep so I went to my chair in the lounge and soon nodded off there. I woke at a much more reasonable 3.41 am. OK, I’m talking reasonable by my standards not yours. It didn’t take me long to clear the post from my talktalk mailbox but I was distracted by a search I wanted to do on ebay before I even started on my gmail stuff so it was almost 5.30 am before I was clear there too.                                                                                                                                                                   I applied cream to my legs to stop the itching ( I hoped) and went to take my meds and have some breakfast. I was unsure until the last minute what to have and ended up eating my toast hot for a change.

Breakfast over and excess butter removed from moustache I returned to work. A few more messages had come in while I was away so I worked to clear those. I confess that I was glad some did not need replies because I know I was distracted.                                                                                                                                                                                                   I’m having visitors next week. I’m both scared and excited to be meeting someone I’ve never met before even though we’ve known each other online for a while. I haven’t had visitors for many a year and to be honest I’m trying hard to think of ways to make them feel welcome and anticipate anything they might need even down to dishes for the dogs. As you can imagine, that’s going to please Joey no end as he’ll have to be cage bound a couple of days.                                                                                                                  Since I don’t cook here except in the microwave or via the grill, main meals will have to be eaten out but I want to make sure I can offer breakfast at least. So, I’m all the time trying to think of things for my shopping list for Saturday.

At 9.00 am I went to Pauline’s to get some cigs (even though it’s Stoptober tomorrow) some curry & chips and my TV mag. Guess what, a black forest gateau jumped from the freezer into my bag.I had to buy a loaf just to insulate me from the chill. It’s started defrosting now so I suppose I’ll have to eat it. Pauline also remembered that I’d never managed to find another cleaner ( is my reputation that bad?) and she kindly gave me the name and number of a friend who cleans. I’ll have to ask someone to get in touch with her for me.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Naturally when I got back Joey gave me a telling off for going out.  I wonder if they make a harness for a budgie so I can take him with me? If I get a cleaner it’ll be nice that he gives someone else a rollocking for using the hoover. I came through to keep pace with my mail and had a lovely message from my lovely author friend Paula Acton who’s birthday it is.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    At 10.00 am I went to see the Homes Under the Hammer and made a real effort to stay awake this time. I succeeded- just! There was a 2 bedroom house for sale with a guide price of £10-15,000 which went for £25,750. It was tremendous. Nothing too major to be done. They spent about £8000 doing it up and got a valuation at the end of £60,000. That’s almost £30,000 profit (less fees) for a short period of work and the satisfaction of seeing a property look so nice. Renting it out would give an excellent yield too, much better than money deposited with a bank. There are still bargains to be had at house auctions.

At 11.00 I came back to do the mail and at 11.50 am I went off to do my lunch. I was dickering between something a little different that involved lamb and colcannon mash or chips with curry sauce. Then I remembered that the chippy should be open for lunch and decided to go there instead. I got two small sausages, chips, mushy peas and curry sauce. I may not want to eat again this week. In the end I lost the battle with myself and there I was in the queue at the chippie. To be fair it was very nice but the chips were pale enough for me to think they needed emergency treatment. It was just as well most were hidden under the curry sauce. I’m assuming Joey doesn’t care for curry either as it didn’t entice him over. After lunch I came to my room to work . I stayed until 4.15 pm then went to prepare a mug for Dil. I glanced out of the kitchen window and saw someone walking away from the door area. I hadn’t heard a knock or the bell. I went outside to look and a young lady, about to get into a car came back towards me and introduced herself as Kelly, the girl Pauline had told me about. I brought her inside to talk and Dil arrived which made it easier for me to speak. Anyway, she starts tomorrow for two hours. Wonderful.

Dil and I watched the Antiques Road Trip and our usual quiz before the weapons of war came out. Yahtzee first and I won 4-2 so we had to play again where I lost 4-2 so it was honours even. It had taken quite a while so we only had time for the Trivial Pursuit after that. I’m pleased to say I won that even if I fluked the answer to the last question. Dil left to go home for his tea with a call he’d see me on Sunday as they’re coming to the meal on Sunday with the girls. There will be ten or so of us this time as well as Reuben and Nathan. After tidying up and washing the pots I came through and was able to start the blog at 10.30 pm so not too bad tonight.

Thursday October 1st.

After ignoring any further emails that had come in I was in bed for 11.30 pm last night. After a read I turned the light off at 12.23 am and didn’t struggle too long before I was asleep………….until 1.27 am that is. I knew I wanted more sleep but it didn’t seem possible in bed so at 1.38 am I decamped to the lounge and nodded off in my chair. Joey didn’t seem to mind the company. I slept until 3.01 am which was the point when I was awake in the way that says “That’s your lot pal.”                                                                  I paid a visit to  the Wee Room on my way past and then got to my bedroom to power up and log on. What a strange morning. I tried to log onto talktalk mail and was told I didn’t have the right to access this. I tried for gmail instead and was timed out.I tried for the bank and got in, my pension credit was there but still not the money they owe me. I’m sure they just hate parting with it. Yvonne phoned them for me later on.                                                                                                                                                                                             I signed out of there and tried my Barsetshire Diaries site and was also blocked, so I tried ebay- no problems there. I started all over again. Talktalk-fine,  gmail – fine, Barsetshire – fine.  Great,I started on my mail.

At 6.00 am I called a halt and went to have some breakfast and take my morning meds. Following that I had a quick clean round and boxed some of the millions of ornaments before Kelly gets here to clean. I don’t want her to start off thinking I’m a slob. By 7.30 I was back at work but not for long as I was temporarily clear. I got dressed and went through to Joey to open the cage. Kelly is an animal lover luckily for him, and doesn’t mind him being out. She told me yesterday that she has so many pets, people think she’s an animal shelter and dump more animals on her all the time. She has dogs, cats and ferrets all in double figures. Those aren’t pets, it’s a menagerie.  I took a walk to Pauline’s to do the lottery and she reminded me that there are big changes due at the end of next week. I forgot to ask her how much more it would cost. They’re adding more numbers t the lottery which to my mind makes it harder to win but they’re increasing the prizes on some of the lower wins. They already seem as rare as hen’s teeth. I have a ticket she can scan that tells the machine my numbers and to produce a ticket for Wednesday and Saturday. She won’t be able to use that next week but I must ask her if it can be used after that or perhaps I can get a new one.

At home again I had a quick glance at Frasier which I think Joey must have put on. The phone went and I listened to the message left which was to say that on her first day Kelly had to go to the vets and wouldn’t be here until this afternoon. Obviously I couldn’t reply but it doesn’t matter anyway as I’m here. As long as I can get to the TV at 4.30 pm. And talking of the TV, I watched Homes Under the Hammer again this morning. I’m fascinated by the changes some people wrought on the places they bought. I think I’d quite happily have most of them to renovate a property for me.                                                                                                                                                                                                        After that I came through to catch up on my mail and leave feedback on a small delivery from my postman. But at 11.50 am everything stops while I get my lunch. I didn’t go to the chippy today but I did have chips with curry sauce from the freezer. I do have some normal meals like cottage pie in the fridge but I just have the taste for that today. I’m so easy to please.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        O.M.G. Something utterly strange and unusual happened, I fell asleep after my Bargain Hunt.!! I was unconscious until 2.10 pm and even then I had to try really hard to pull myself together. The sun was shining down through the front window tanning one half of my face a crispy bacon brown (Mmmm bacon). I struggled to my feet while Joey laughed and made my way to the bedroom (mine, not HIS) to check on my emails. One of them asked if I was OK as she was missing my comments on her blog. It made me think, there are a few I haven’t seen anything from just recently, some of my favourite people. I went through to wordpress to check I was still due to receive instant notification, and I am which worried me even more. I changed the rate from instant to daily to see if it makes a difference. I seem to remember someone once saying that wordpress cap the amount of blogs you can follow but I didn’t expect that to mean it would stop sending notifications to me of ones I follow regularly. No wonder I’m getting through my post so much quicker.

At 2.55 am Kelly arrived preceded by a knock on the door. I’d have to be a corpse to not notice what a pretty girl she is. It was during a brief conversation about my photo wall that it came out her husband died 4 years ago and that they would have been celebrating 15 years together this year. I thought she was about 18 and I think I have to start revising my guesses. Is this like the statement that policemen seem to get younger every year, I can’t guess a woman’s age at all now? We decided that she’d start to work on the kitchen and work her way round to the lounge and from there it depended upon how much time she had left. What she doesn’t do this week she can start on next week. She does know that she can’t polish on the TV table at 4.30 pm when the Antiques Road Trip is on. After being introduced to my hoover Kelly asked if it was OK just to do an hour today and to complete the stint tomorrow when she’s bring her own industrial hoover along. I didn’t realise mine was so poor. I agreed of course as it meant I’d be OK to watch my Antiques Road Trip on both days. She left at 4.00 pm and at half past I stopped work and went to the lounge. I stayed until 6.30 pm before coming back to work.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

My phone was on charge in the kitchen so I kept an ear and an eye open for it. Mike texted at 7.20 pm to say he was on his way.  I stopped work and went through to prepare his mug at 9.00 pm and watched a Law and Order episode while waiting. Mike arrived at 9.40 pm and nearly turned my shoes brown when I went to check the front door and as I opened the lounge door he was there. I made his drink but he had to carry it as my nerves were shot. I was filled in on the information regarding his father and it seems the hospital are OK with him going to the new flat so he must be doing well. Maybe a couple of weeks respite before he moves in but it turns out the home is right next to the flat anyway so he can chart progress on the removals.                                                                                                                                                                                            Mike seems less stressed and happier at the news. I’m glad. I’ve told him about an invitation to Dil’s anniversary meal in November but I’m not sure whether he’ll be with me that weekend as his birthday is on the Friday and he may prefer to have the weekend with his son and grandchildren. We have the family meal on Sunday this week to enjoy as well which will be nice.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              I watched another episode of Law and Order with him before coming through at 11.00 pm to do the blog. The mail may have to wait till the morning.

Friday 2nd.

OK. It was a late finish last night. Bed about 12.30 am and light off about 1.15 am but at least I was able to stay in bed this time and I didn’t have to get up in the night wither. I got up at 5.11 am and felt rested. I had to pay my visit to the loo now and leaving it longer wasn’t an option. I came back and brought the computer to life then started on the emails. I had to draw a halt to it as it’s Friday and my drugs for the week need doing so at 6.00 am I went through to the kitchen and took my morning meds and a pre-foodie. I put two slices of bread in the toaster then grabbed my drug drawer from the lounge and started filling the compartments in my drug tray. That took me about twenty minutes and then I was able to have my toast and make a coffee to take back to work with me.

I heard Mike’s alarm go off at 7.30 am so I went through to the kitchen to make him a coffee. He acknowledged the drink when I took it through but didn’t move. Nor did he move for the next alarm or the next or even my call that his coffee was cold that accompanied it. Finally at the fourth alarm I heard him go through. I finished the message I was dealing with and followed Mike. By now there was plenty of light so I wished Joey good morning and opened the cage. He preferred to stay behind his mirror and pretend I couldn’t see him, at least f0r a while. As Mike had a meeting at 10.30 am I’m glad he left about 9.00 am. You’d have expected me to return to work straight away but no, I found myself watching Frasier again.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      The postman surprised me by coming early this morning and banging on the door but the parcel I had to sign for was one I’d been expecting. It completed a section of presents I wanted out of the way. For all my failures on ebay recently ( including this morning dammit) I’ve had some good successes. There are still more parcels to be delivered in dribs and drabs from them, probably Mon, Tues, Wed of next week according to their guesses and then the following week as well. Real progress which I’m pleased about as Mike announced it’s 12 weeks today to Christmas Day. Not long at all. I will be ready.

At 10.00 am I had Homes Under the Hammer for an hour. Well for 50 mins really as Joey had a right ‘paddy’ for the first ten minutes. I’ve no idea who he was telling off or why but he was ferocious and his little head was bobbing up and down with emphasis. It’s just as well the show does a recap of the properties and their problems as they show you the changes made or I’d have missed the first one completely.                                                                                                                                                                                                          It’s just as well we don’t all wake up in that mood or get angry all the time. I forgot to mention last night that Yvonne did phone he DWP about my money. Whoever she spoke to admitted the debt showed on screen but said no-one had requested payment in the office. This is now 8 weeks down the line from their admission. So he did it for me and told Yvonne it would take 4 weeks. She was seething, especially when he came back and asked for all my bank details to make payment. As Mike commented last night, why didn’t they just reverse the payment to where they took the money from? The DWP hold my bank details as that’s how they pay me. But it’s not worth getting in a tizz about. I am owed it, I will get it now. You do have to wonder at their efficiency though. What would have happened to some other poor soul who just accepted the debt and not queried it? How much interest have I lost on the money owed and what bargains might I have found on ebay with it?

I returned to work for an hour after my programme then broke at midday for lunch. I had a corned beef hash and I have to admit I don’t like the ones from Morrison’s now. Whether it was the herbs they seem to have added or perhaps that was a coat of mould I missed, it just didn’t sit well with me. I thought I might just shut my eyes for forty winks to sleep it off but though I tried hard it was no go.Disappointed I came back to work.                                                                                                                                                         There was plenty to go at too, and quite a few sales in shops I use. I was happy to note I beat most of the sale prices on ebay. One firm had the nerve to offer me a jumper at£14.99 instead of £19.99 yet last week I bought the same one from their ebay store at £7.99. I think it’s fun shopping for the best deals. Swings and roundabouts though as last week I paid £9.99 for a Goodsouls jumper I could have had for £4.99 today. I worked till 3.00 pm then took a break for Escape to the Country knowing Kelly was due back at about 3.30 pm after she finished her main job for the day. I was hoping her industrial hoover wouldn’t just suck my carpets up.Thank heavens for laminate.                Kelly didn’t come. No phone call with a reason, nothing. I’m beginning to think it must be me though I didn’t say enough to be offensive and I’m very easy going about how the cleaner would work. Neither exacting or demanding. But perhaps there’s something else that no-one will tell me about? I mopped the kitchen floor.

At 4.30 pm it was the last day of my Antiques Road Trip. I stayed awake, it was very good. I remained in the lounge until 6.40 pm. They said Eggheads was on but when I turned over it was Strictly Come Dancing. Not for me thanks. I noticed an old episode of A Fine Romance with Judy Dench and her husband the late Michael Williams. It was excellent. As soon as it was over I had to ram 40 minutes work into 20 minutes so I could go for my shower at 7.00 pm. No word at that time about Mike coming back so I locked the front door, grabbed my change of clothes and went to the bathroom. When I came out clean and dressed to relax I went straight into the lounge  and was just in time to hear my phone tinkle. Mike said he was on his way back, that meant with luck I could expect him around 8.30 pm. It was 8.20 pm as he was in time for the last bit of Mastermind. I found out his Dad is now in the home by the new flat but there is a question mark as to whether he’ll ever come out to try the flat. I suppose the biggest part of the decision making will be whether his Dad says he doesn’t like where he is at the end of the three week respite period or not. If he seems happy to stay where he is everyone will be happy.

We watched a programme on Patagonia of particular interest to me because of the Welsh families that moved there and still maintained the Welsh language and traditions. But they have some strange and amazing animals there too and some weather patterns that are quite unbelievable.After that I took my night time meds, locked Joey in his cage with a goodnight and headed back to work. Mike wasn’t too far behind and he seemed tired. As I was working I couldn’t hear the TV in his room so maybe he’s settled to an early night. I got my mail up to date by 11.00 pm and then started on the blog which I’m hopeful will still get me to bed early. I’m tired too.

Saturday 3rd.

I did manage to beat the midnight deadline last night and kept my relaxation reading down to the minimum so that my light went out at 12.20 am. I wriggled for a short while to find a comfortable spot then I was gone.  I woke and got up at 3.11 am. There was no urgency for the loo but habit took me there first before coming back and powering up and signing on.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Before starting my emails I went to my WordPress reader and changed all my favourites back from daily to Instant to see if it makes a difference. I apologise to all my regular friends who haven’t been getting likes and comments, Sally, Olga, Jane, Mary J and Sue, all of you, I’m not ignoring you but I’m not being notified of any of your posts. If any of you have any idea how I can deal with this I’d be happy to hear from you.                                                                                                                                                                 After making the changes I waited to see if it made any difference to emails coming in. In the meantime, On with the Show, I opened my talktalk mail and my gmail account. The first was dealt with by 4.10 am and the latter by 5.55 am. I went through to the kitchen to take my meds and have some breakfast. I prepared Mike’s mug at the same time ready for his alarm going off at 6.30 am. I took my own coffee through to make sure I was still up to date with mail and to get dressed. As his alarm went off I was there with his coffee.I didn’t expect more than the neanderthal grunt I got and returned to my own drink pronto ! By 6.45 am I was up to date and I was dressed.

At the second ring of his alarm Mike sighed and got up. I heard him pad through to the lounge. I left him to it and had a search on ebay. I wasn’t in the mood for pushing him and decided he’d be ready when he was ready. He obviously wasn’t ready at 7.00 am. I should have been doing the bins but no, I wasn’t in the mood for that either. Somehow we were out of the house even earlier than usual at 7.20 am we were parked up in the Supermarket before 7.45 am. We’d actually finished the shopping by 8.45 am. One of these days I must remember to add food to my list. We were able to head for our coffee quite quickly.                                                                                                                     From there we headed straight for Flint and did a few shops before going to Temptations for our morning treat. This morning we had the pleasure of Ceri, Trudy and Sian, and those three had the pleasure of a bigger box of chocolates than usual. Mike had his usual breakfast. Trudy did our drinks which we enjoyed.                                                        Once finished Mike’s big question was what to do with ourselves for the rest of the day. He suggested my mood needed brightening (much like the weather as there’s a thick fog out) only he wasn’t anywhere near so polite.

I had no suggestions to make though wouldn’t have objected to the Tweed Mill. Mike would sooner extract his teeth via the door handle. As we left Temptations he turned towards Queensferry and then pointed out he’d taken the wrong direction for Broughton Park. I directed him another way. The place has changed enormously with the addition of 5 restaurants and a cinema complex, soon there will be three good shops to replace one that has closed.We parked by one of my favourite shops, Home Sense where I could get an idea about Christmas stocking gifts. We had a wander there, then in the ASDA home shop and finally Tesco where I picked up some more tins of sweets. That’s my postie and Temptations covered now. We went for lunch at a chain pub on the site but the service was atrocious today. The wrong things being brought though the orders had been quite clear. It’s never been this bad before.                                                                                                                                                                                                             We started what I thought was our journey home when Mike asked what there was between where we were at that moment and home. I casually said Buckley just as we passed the exit and I ended up having to direct Mike yet another way. We had a good wander there and I was able to get some nice clothes for Roobs and Nathan for when I see them tomorrow. We finally left and got home.

I was saddened to find a letter addressed to Ju on the mat as well as a card to say there was a parcel left next door. Thanks Darren. We put the shopping away then Mike went to retrieve the parcel from Dorothy and I took something to my room. I found a parcel on the mat behind the door curtain. That’s one more item I’ve been waiting for and the parcel Mike brought was Reuben’s Christmas books. Going to my room to work I was surprised to find as I left feedback that I’d been offered a second chance on a ring I missed. I missed it by quite a bit but am offered it at my offer. A five colour gold ring. It will serve as an extra gift sometime. I worked until Mike called me to join him for a quiz at 5.30 pm and stayed there until 9.00 pm when I came back to catch up on mail. At 10.35 pm I was able to start the blog. Five minutes after I publish I hope to be in bed.

I wish you all a Wonderful Week full of dreams come true and Hugs Galore.

Sunday

Sunday 26.04.2015

I wonder if life is returning a little more towards normality ( the start of my comic routine Ha!) today. I woke up at 5.24 am after turning my light off about 1.00 am, it felt much more right. Naturally my first port of call was the loo but then I was able to come and turn the infernal machine one. This is day one of my holiday from blogging and dealing with post and already I’m desperate to sign on. Be fair, it’s Sunday, whet’re the chances of Mike getting up and catching me? Oh, you think as high as one in a hundred, ha ha ha. At 7.00 am I took my morning meds and made a coffee then came back to work, by 9.15 am I’d more or less caught up so had a play with ebay. That’s always fun and I found an eyeglass repair kit that Muriel’s looking for. As I’m supposed to be on holiday and taking a week away from the computer I went to sit in the lounge to glance through a magazine but I was twitchy within minutes. I thought there’s a chance he might rise about 10.00 am so I risked until then and went back to the lounge to act innocent. I even turned a youngsters film on part way through to pretend I’d been watching from the beginning. A few twitches and snores but no movement. By 11.00 am I thought he might be dead so I turned the TV up a bit so any haunting wouldn’t disturb me. Bang on cue this apparition appeared. There were moans and groans but no chains.Eventually it spoke ” Mornin’ bro” it said in a voice approaching human.

By the time he’s had a second intravenous coffee he was a little more alert and because his team were p;laying this afternoon we thought we’d get out for lunch and back ASAP so he didn’t miss all the match. We left the house at 12.30 pm and went to the Ivy. Angie was the first one to greet us then Rob and a new youngster called Matt. We were sitting at the table when we saw Tariq for the first time and he was flying through doing some work on some frames.Angie did the drinks while we checked the menu. Mike was dithering between two specials as soon as I’d taken my pre foodie we ordered and went out for a cigarette. When we came back in we say Shirley who we haven’t seen for a long time and then even Shella was out and said hello in passing. We caught everyone today. Once lunch was over Mike had a conversation with Rob about fish and tanks while I paid then we left. He remembered I wanted something from town yesterday and went straight up there instead of going home and I wish we’d been out longer. We got home and he allowed me on the computer ( ebay only, yeah like that’s going to happen) while he watched what was left of the match. The news went from bad to worse as I could tell from the volume of his shouts about the ref being blind. His team lost 3-0 at the end, ouch. I sat with him for a while and fell asleep.

A little after 4.00 pm he decided to go home and woke me up to say goodbye and tell me to go back to sleep again. I said my goodbyes and offered my thanks and the moment he was out of the house I was back on the computer. There were little periods of guilt when I went back to my chair and there were moments of intense tiredness when I struggled to keep my eyes open. I was following a couple of things on ebay though so didn’t want to risk it. I won the one I really wanted. I even watched an Indiana Jones movie on TV till 10.00 pm before coming through for the night. I’ve done the blog as a reserve in case I can’t resist putting one out. But I’m going to get an early night anyway .

Monday.

Well here we are on day 2 of the non-computer holiday. A  3.53 am wake up and get up. A slow amble to the loo as being on holiday means I have all the time in the world. Of course that’s not such a great idea if you really need to go as the latter part of the journey really needs speeding up. That means stubbed toes and phone knocked off console table plus assorted debris from all the local takeaways by which I mean menus and not bits of food. I got back to my room eventually and booted up the computer.It was just for the sake of looking at ebay of course. For some reason there was much less post than usual and that was rattled of by 6.15 am so I went to take my meds and make a coffee.I sat in the lounge and enjoyed watching it get lighter and listening to the birds sing. They could do with a little more emphasis on the bass and maybe follow the conductor a little more closely. They are in the Land of Song after all.

By 7.30 am I was getting twitchy so went and got dressed then sat down at the computer again and read some more of a book I’ve been sent. I had to knock off at 9.00 am to go out. I really needed to get my prescription request in if I’m to stand any chance of getting the drugs tomorrow, even then it’s not a sure thing. I saw my young delivery lady in there while I was dropping the scrip off but we only got to say hello. I dawdled on the way back as the sun was out and it was pleasantly warm. When I got back of course I shut myself away in my room with no natural light to see to whatever messages had come in since I finished earlier. It seemed like a chore and not the usual pleasure so once I’d finished I got very daring and made myself a second coffee and did a little more reading. There was a knock at the door which I assumed was the postman but it was the warden come to give me time off for good behaviour. Don’t worry though, I only got 15 minutes. She was dressed for the sun and I hoped her shift would be over before the rain came. As she departed the postman arrived with a medal I’d ordered for John last week. That’ll please him. I’d much rather it was the leather jacket from China that I ordered for his birthday though.

I stopped for lunch at 11.30 am and put the TV on. I was shocked to find there was no Murder She Wrote, ah well there’s always my Bargain Hunt which I haven’t seen for a while. I took my pre-food tablet and made myself busy doing some bread and butter before I put my cottage pie in the microwave. I was a bit early and saw the end of the last programme as well when lunch was ready. I took the pots through and then settled to watch the auction part of the programme but didn’t get too far before Somnos visited. It was getting on for 2.00 pm when I came too again. Instead of going straight back as usual I checked the other channels and stayed another half an hour. When I finally got my act together it took a while to clear the post that had come in and that from the second email address too. I remembered something I was watching on ebay and wasn’t pleased to see it had ended when the warden had come. If I’d been in here I could have had it for £2.50. Still, no-one else bid on it and it’s gone back on so I hope it gets ignored again and I’m more alert next time. It’s very often the luck of the draw.

I stopped work completely at 5.00 pm and wandered back through to the lounge. I put my quiz on but where I’d normally come back at 6.30 pm I indulged myself and stayed away till 9.00 pm after another Indiana Jones film. Mail till 10.30 pm then the blog after which I’m off to bed to read no matter what the backlog is.I wonder if I can avoid going near it in the morning.

Tuesday.

I was in bed at 11.40 pm last night and stayed away from the backlog as I’d promised. I only read until 12.30 am and then put out my light. I was soon asleep. It may have been a prompt from my bladder or equally some other reason but I was up again at 3.15 am. After a visit to the loo I could have gone back to bed but the chances are I would not have slept. I checked out ebay and also made some changes on Ancestry.com before I could wait no longer and signed into my mail account. The backlog from last night turned out to be no more than a dozen pieces and they were soon dispensed with. Even doing the normal day’s mail I managed to clear it by 6.15 am and went straight to the kitchen to have something to eat. I was tempted by some Rice Crispies  but after taking my tablets with milk I didn’t want to drink even more and I couldn’t trust myself to stay away from jokes about cereal killers. I stuck with my cold toast- boring. By the time it was done I’d taken my tablets and it was 6.30 am, I had it in the lounge and having disposed of my plate turned the TV onto an old episode of Will and Grace before nodding off for almost an hour.

At 7.25 am I made my way back to the bedroom and got dressed. The sun was shining but it was cold with a breeze. Rain would come. I dealt with some more mail then decided to start reading the next section of the book I’ve been sent. It’s marvelous and despite mentioning a gaming world is not in the least boring, what’s more I found myself not questioning it at all despite it currently being beyond our capabilities. At 9.00 pm I got myself ready to go out. Firstly to the Post Office to send off some information to the DWP (Dept. of Works and Pensions) via recorded delivery so they can’t claim not to have received it as they did twice last year. I had a prepaid envelope and was surprised o see they reduced the cost of my recorded delivery by the amount of the prepay. That I thought was good. Then it was a walk down to Pauline’s. I got my new TV magazine and some fresh bread and a day’s worth of cigarettes as they didn’t have enough of my brand in. I did get an extra 10 for Matt on Wednesday evening. There were still no chips in curry sauce so I’ll have to remember of Saturday to go to the frozen foods place.

I came back home and was disappointed to see there was still no package from China. No tracking number for my misdirected parcel either that went back to the Herpes courier yesterday.Let’s see if they can find me this time. The postman didn’t call at all today so I concentrated on getting my mail up to date and then reading until lunch time. I had to time the lunch right today as there was a programme advertised on Carcasonne and region. Giving the history of the castles as they stand and then a fascinating piece about a village that was found which was certainly Cathar and which had been pulled to the ground after all the residents had been removed. Nothing and no-one had lived there since the Cathars which gave great insight into their way of living. There was also a castle built at the start of the Cathar presence in the Languedoc which only lasted until the Cathars were ousted. I know not what happened to the residents in either place but for the Cathars the choice was usually either recant the faith (Christianity) or be burned. Many chose the latter. The Catholics in some cases just burned whole towns without asking who was what so they may well have killed their own and maybe even Jews and Moors since the Cathars were known to deal with them and share information. The Catholic Church even called this a Crusade.

After lunch I had a little snooze as I’m on holiday. It only lasted 45 minutes but was welcome nonetheless. I came back to start doing some searching on ebay for a few different things. Ebay fascinates me. I sent some more money as a donation to the earthquake appeal in Nepal though I usually prefer to do it through paypal it wasn’t an option with this particular group. That unnerves me a bit sometimes but it seemed OK today. Finally I settled down to do a bit of work and answer the posts made today where possible. It may be that I was a little choosy but that’s not to denigrate any of the posts, it’s merely in the spirit of not spending all my time online. At 5.00 pm I felt peckish and went to have a bag of crisps. I settled down with my quiz, then with a little Big Bang until finally I settled on a horror film to watch from 7.00 pm. Yes, you can tell the quality from the time it was shown and to be honest I wouldn’t have classed it in the horror genre either. It was more a warlock coming of age movie. I did manage to glance through a few magazines while it was on. At 9.00 pm I turned off and came through. I even brought my meds with me to take a little later rather than walk back for them.

There as very little in my secondary post address for some reason, everything seems to be going to the primary one and not transferring. That’s OK as it saves me looking at the same ones twice even if I don’t action them more than once. But there are people who only use the second one and they need answers too. I dealt with those then went to the primary site to respond which included a process of changing a password to  access a site but first I had to allow them to create a password and then I could change it. I have no idea why I couldn’t have stuck with my original one. By 10.30 I was up to date and could come straight to the blog. I’m for bed after that. I need my energy tomorrow with a MuJo day then games night. I hope no-one expects any responses tomorrow or I’ll be up all night.

Wednesday.

Of necessity this is a very short post. I have been very busy all day and evening and it’s left me very little time.

I was in bed for 11.45 pm  last night and the light went off at about 12.30 am. I woke up as 1.56 am then 2.18 am before finally getting up at 3.15 am. Thinking I had all the time in then world I visited the loo then signed on. If I hadn’t been sitting down I would have had too. I even had palpitations. Thanks folks ! I don’t know where all the mail comes from unless I’m getting someone else’s in error as well. It was a serious session that was only halted at 6.00 am for my breakfast and my meds. As usual I went for my cold, buttered, toast. At some stage I’ll have to start eating my way through the gargantuan box of Rice Krispies I bought.

It was 9.25 am when I finished the post and got dressed. I’m glad I did because it was only just gone 10.00 am when MuJo arrived. I passed John the medal he’d asked me to order last week while I busied myself with drinks.We chatted for a while and in all honesty I admit I dragged it out as much as possible so we didn’t go out too early. In the end it was almost 11.30 am when we did. We ended up in Holywell so I knew it would be the chippy today. Mu wanted the Post Office but John insisted on eating first. Just as well I’d delayed things. It was only 11.45 am at that point. We ate and as usual it was a nice though large and not very healthy meal, then we had a look round a couple of shops while Mu did what she needed to do.

We drove to Flint but Muriel said she’d go to Lidl rather than Aldi this week. We’d just left Lidl behind in Holywell!!!! I got chocolates for the girls in Temptations then we went for coffee and in John’s case a very big cake. In his haste to go to the loo he didn’t take much care and spilled both his drink and Muriel’s getting up which of course went all over me as then the floor. My trousers and a shoe were drenched and It looked like I’d wet myself. Incident 1. We left here to take a look at the new £ shop they wanted to see so incident 2 followed soon after when John tugged something off a shelf and brought the whole lot down. All he said was “It’s OK, I’m fine,don’t worry about me” before walking on and leaving Mu and myself to pick up after him. He thinks it’s the job of the staff. Incident 3 almost duplicated Incident 2. Incident 4 was when he picked up some crisps then moments later decided he wanted something different so just dumped the original crisps where he was. I picked them up and put them back where they belonged. He checked to see whether I was wearing a coat that said ‘Staff’ on the back.

When we finally left (Yay) we headed back up to Holywell to Lidl where Mu was able to buy John’s pop and a few other items including another big cake for him, and I mean BIG. Finally we went home. John wanted to see a figurine on ebay and Muriel went out to Pauline’s to buy her lottery tickets. It was 4.40 pm when Dil walked in very early. MuJo left at 4.50 pm and I was able to say a proper Hi to Dil and make him a cuppa. Matt had made a mistake last week over his driving lesson and it was in fact this week so Dil had come early and alone as he hadn’t had to pick Matt up. He said Matt was quite peeved at his mistake. We chatted, we watched the quiz and we played. For once the Yahtzee went to me 4-2 but Chase the Lady went to Dil. Horror of horrors Nomination also went Dil’s way. Fortunately the cribbage came back in my direction so we ended up honours even. I had a text from Lee partway through the evening to say Jen is late but the baby is expected anytime. I just asked for news. I also had a text from Karen telling me to look at a local paper online but giving no clues. neither Dil nor I could find anything. After he’d gone and I’d done the usual tidying and washing of pots I returned to my bedroom and looked again.Eventually I found a nice write up and a photograph of my niece Joanne doing her Hugathon in Llandudno. I did a little post with links to the article.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     At 10.30 pm after doing a little mail I stopped to do the blog. I may do some more mail before bed but midnight is my deadline this week.

Thursday.

As I didn’t stop reading until 1.00 am last night I was pleased that it was 5.52 am before I got up this morning. After a desperate dash to the loo I was able to boot up and log on. If I had palpitations yesterday at he sight of what was in my inbox, today was a full blown heart attack. 187 since last night. Cruel people, very cruel. I worked until 7.00 pm then stopped to take my meds, I couldn’t be bothered with breakfast today. Back to work with a coffee and I carried in until 9.00 am when I decided to get dressed. I wrote out a message for the Pensions Agency to let them know I have a whole 1.2% increase in my private pension. I hope this year they work on it before June or July before deciding they’ve overpaid me and start clawing it back. I decided to go and see my friend in the Post Office to send this new information by recorded delivery as I had the ones I sent yesterday. I took her favourite chocolates with me. Since I was last in the queue we were able to have quite a conversation, mainly based around politics as she’s a local councillor. Between us we put the world to rights. I did learn something there. Young Shawn who was drowned last week had been skinny dipping on the spur of the moment, having drunk alcohol it would have reduced his body temperature. At 2.00 am it’s not warm even though it is Spring. The person with him thought he was messing about when he got into difficulties. From the post Office I made my way to Pauline’s for micro chips. She didn’t have any with the curry sauce on but she did have some packets of the microwaveable sauce there so I got one of those.

Back at home I put the stuff in the freezer and then instead of returning to work I changed the big bed and set the bedding to wash. Then the postman called and brought my brown jacket. That pleased me. I did return to work until lunchtime as I’ll change my bed tomorrow. I had some corned beef and some of the micro chips and covered them in the new sachet of Chinese curry sauce, it was really nice. I’d happily buy that again. Whereas I’d normally have 40 winks after I’d eaten I decided to have a burst at the post again before it got too bad. It had just turned 3.00 pm when I came close to being up to date when someone knocked at the door. It was a huge YAY when I saw it was the driver from Herpes with the missing jacket. It fitted fine and again I was very pleased.I checked my phone which I’d left on charge in the kitchen wondering if there was any news on the birth of my new Great Nephew. Nope, but there was one I’d missed from Mike to say he was on his way. I realised that would be about 5.00 pm arrival and the only way he’s believe I’m not doing emails and/or the blog is if I’m able to spend time sitting with him. I returned to work immediately.

I stopped work and came out of the bedroom at 4.50 pm giving myself a little leeway. I prepared his mug and put the kettle on. It had just boiled and clicked off when he walked in. He found me, a picture of innocence, pouring his coffee out. We were able to sit and natter for a while and then during the quiz I must have zonked. It wasn’t for long but when I came to about 6.30 pm Mike asked me if I wanted something to eat as he was going to the chippy. I did have meals to offer but he wanted some fish. I asked about bread and butter and said I’d do some while he was out and that I’d have a small sausage. (Oi, you at the back, stop sniggering). The moment he left I must have gone straight back to sleep as the next thing I knew was ten minutes later he was waking me up to give me a tray. I felt awful, but I still ate the sausage , chips and curry sauce he’d got me. I did make sure I did the washing up afterwards though. Mike enjoys a comedy called Two Broke Girls which came on at 8.00 pm so I was able to slip away to do some mail while he had his half hour with them. Then I went back through to watch the new Big Bang Theory  followed by a documentary we both fancied about the Illuminati. At 10.00 pm I put another comedy show on for him and slipped away to work. So much comes when my back is turned. It was 11.00 pm before I could start the blog and at that time he thought I’d finished and was in bed. I was tapping very quietly. It’s 11.45 and I soon shall be in bed with my book. The work will have to wait until the morning before he gets up and after I’ve kicked him out to go to his Dad’s.

Friday.

Well, I made bed by midnight, read my book until 1.00 am then settled down. When my internal ( or infernal) alarm went off I was ready to get up. It was 3.03 am so I shot to the loo as quick as a bullet.( Sorry,  I know it wasn’t very punny but it’s all I had). Coming back I booted up the computer and logged into my mail. Not as many as yesterday but still almost 100. Of course in the time it took me to deal with one, two more would come in because there are people who just won’t go to sleep at night mainly in the U.S. or the land of Oz. I’ve heard all this mumbo-jumbo about different time zones but night is night so there. In truth of course I actually found it funny that whatever time I’m on the computer there would be someone I could contact somewhere if I wanted to talk, or could. I worked till 5.30 am. I’d sort of made myself a promise today that I’d look at my WIP, only there hasn’t been any progress in such a long time. I sat in the lounge with it in my hand ( stop it back there, no tittering allowed) and tried to think of what came next. After half an hour I gave up and went through to take my meds including a pre-foodie. I put two slices of bread in the toaster and set to refilling the tablet box. This job always takes a while because I have to refill the tablet drawer from new stocks as I go along. Next Friday I’ll do the same but also make out a prescription request for some more. I do half every two weeks.

Once that job was out of the way I buttered my toast, made a coffee and went to sit in the lounge. I was thinking about the book as I ate. Part of the problem may be the way I was writing this one using real people and their towns/cities as a backdrop and using their skills as an aid to solving problems. In the previous Queen’s Envoy I’d made up the characters and chosen a location to suit me. Of course I know it isn’t the only problem and I know what stopped me writing in the first place so this may be a psychological problem I need to overcome. The other option is that my muse has done a runner and I just have no more stories in me. If anyone knows of an author in North Wales or within reach of North Wales who’d be willing to come kick me up the proverbial or even co-write the book with me I’d be pleased to hear about them.      Alternately if someone just wants to say “Give up you talentless hack”maybe I should just look in that direction.

I decided to put the TV on and watch some American sitcoms starting with Will and Grace, but about 7.50 am I decided to go through and get dressed. At 8.05 am I’d just fastened my shirt when I heard a voice ” Want a cuppa” it said. I went through and it really was him. Not only up but unfortunately awake too. I was shocked. No alarm, no calls, it’s never been known. I sat down next to him for a while to study and see if the real Mike had been abducted by aliens who left a simulacrum in his place. No, it was him alright and the more his bottom spoke the more convinced I was. I’m sure no alien could have recreated that. I disappeared to make my bed. When I came back Mike was also watching US comedies so I stayed in the kitchen to regain my breath and put the washing machine on, then sat with him for an hour. Knowing the Mother’s Mafia would have left Pauline’s by now, I went to get my lottery tickets. (I know none of you will read this for two days but I still hope you had your fingers crossed for my lottery win for tonight.) I’m avoiding looking at the results until the last minute. I’m sure I’ll stay awake all night planning how to spend it.

Mike finally left to go to see his Dad in Manchester. His sister from Canada is over so he’ll see her too and perhaps spend a bit extra time there in her company. As soon as he was out of the door I came back through to work on incoming mail and also checking my ebay account. I spent my holiday watching a house buying programme at 10.00 am for an hour.Then went back and started on Ancestry.com hints.It would be easy to get carried away with all the hints they send but the family tree just gets spread so much thinner and the relationships to me more and more distant that sometimes it isn’t worth carrying on until you forget the next time. At 11.30am I was going to break form lunch but I found some mail I consider important in my other mail address and started doing that. So, it was 12.05 pm before I stopped and made my to the kitchen to take a tablet, stick something in the microwave and go put Bargain Hunt on screen. Both teams made a loss. At 1.00 pm I returned to work on a catch up mission but I knew it was only for an hour as I was departing again at 2.00 pm to see an episode of ‘Who do you think you are’ featuring a UK newsreader called Natasha Kaplinsky. It was a sad story where some of her family escaped to S.Africa as the war began but most of the rest were murdered by the Nazi’s in Belarus. One son, a doctor did get away and fought with the partisans. His son came over from Australia to help his cousin piece together as much of the family history as she could. Very very sad.

Then back to playing catch-up again until 4.10 pm when I went on holiday again for a while. Get out my sunglasses and the lotion please. I was channel hopping to find the funniest things or quizzes, I found both and stayed watching the box until 6.30 pm when I decided to go for a shower. Let’s just say I managed and I’m temporarily clean. I took my dirty clothes through to put them in the washing machine even though I wouldn’t start it tonight. I found I’d forgotten to unload this morning’s lot so did so then and put it to air. I grabbed a bag of crisps and some dark chocolate biscuits and went back to my TV watching. There was a film on I actually found quite good. Mike arrived back about 9.15 pm as I was watching a satire programme we both like so I made him keep schtum till it was over. He was able to talk again when it was over and one of his favourite programmes came on. When he told me all about his day I left him to come through just before 10.00 pm. I managed to clear most of the post before doing the blog. I shall just see if I can clear what’s left before midnight

Saturday.

3.22 am on the last day of my holiday. I had no problem getting up despite having less than 3 hours sleep. No pressure from the bladder means I can take my time this morning though when I get there I know my bladder will take it’s own sweet time anyway and try to fool me with it’s stop-starting so I’m not sure if I’m finished or about to water my feet. My feet were safe. I ambled back to the bedroom and powered up the computer and logged on. My mind is going ten to the dozen trying to decide if today will be the last post on my last blog. I could in fact be playing the Last Post as my last featured piece of music. The problem is, aside from the feeling of deep sadness in my soul, I find I enjoy the blogging and can’t be trusted to keep away from it even when I’m only supposed to be away for a week. I can’t help but answer mail and comment on blogs or twitter when I’m supposed to use the computer for ebay and little else. There should be an AA of some kind. My name is David and I’m an Internet Cheat. I open my email and start work on last night’s stuff which takes until just 4.33 am. A short break to enjoy a cigarette and a drink like post coitus then into today’s mail. That takes until almost 6.30 am when I get dressed while listening out for Mike’s alarm which he tells me he’s reset for 6.30 am now to try and get out of the house by 7.30 am. I’m really grateful that he’s trying to please me and keep me away from shopping crowds but I do wonder what it’s going to be like trying to get him up this first time. Having said that, look how the so-and-so surprised me yesterday. Maybe he’s trying to kill me with kindness. I find I don’t mind.

This was not a successful action. It was an A 3 C2 day. That’s 3 rings of his alarm and 2 calls from me before he shifted himself. At least he was up for 7.00 am and with a couple of sledgehammer hints about me putting my coat on while he was still in his night attire we actually got out of the house at 7.35 am and reached the supermarket at 7.50 am. It’s funny what a few minutes difference getting there early makes. The car park was emptier, no queue for the cash machines, and there was still money in them. On the negative side the staff were still filling shelves and there were no small peeled new potatoes in herb butter for me. We got Ju’s flowers though and wended our way round the shop as usual. Once we’d been through the tills we went to get our cup of coffee and that was very welcome. We decided on no detours this morning but made one anyway to let Mike find a 40th birthday card for his son. We just had to nip into another shop while we were there- Home Bargains. It was a partly successful side trip. We got back aboard his chariot and made our way to Flint. The first stop was -Home Bargains where we actually got what we needed. One more detour through another shop then over the road to Temptations for coffee and Mike’s teasted toecake. The was no Ceri this morning so poor Sian got the teasing instead. Before we left Kyle got  bit too for saying his favourite sweets were Ferraro Rocher. I don’t know how we’ve never been banned.

We left there and Mike asked where we were going, the onus was on me to make the decision as it’s my day. Normally I’d argue the day belongs to both of us and he should go where he likes. Instead I just asked him how he felt about the Tweed Mill  expecting him to say he hates it and lets go to A or B instead. He caught me out by saying “Fine, let’s go there.” To be fair we have made some good purchases there in the past, shoes at a humongous discount or a sports jacket from £290 to £29 plus various gifts for others. There was no intention today other than to look round. The next question was where to eat. Mike said we could go to the Dragon’s Rest and down the expressway so I countered with an alternative of going to the Bells of St Mary’s, going through Prestatyn to St Asaph and then on to the mill. The distances seemed the same so I left the option to Mike. We went to the Bells and had a great carvery. I ate a week’s worth just in case I don’t get the chance to eat next week. Well you never know, I might forget. Afterwards we drove on to the Tweed Mill. The weather is typical Bank Holiday weekend fare, rain interspersed with more rain or possibly sleet. Naturally all the parking spaces nearest the door had gone so it was a bit of a trek but we made it. I’m sure some of you will remember from previous posts that The Tweed Mill is like a clearance village but under one roof and much smaller. Often the heavily discounted stuff is still four times the price of what you’d normally buy elsewhere but you do see things you don’t usually see in local shops. For instance they have a selection of cummerbunds with bowties in harlequin like colours or the old striped boating blazers you’d expect to see in Victorian films where the men wore straw boaters when messing about on the river. Mike loves those blazers and would love one but he can’t quite bring himself to spend that kind of money.

We had a really good look round all the different sections and then ended up at a little coffee bar upstairs.I wasn’t really paying much attention when Mike asked what I wanted so I just answered I’s have the same as him instead of my usual latte. Mike had an Americano so that’s what I got. Small cup, double shot. It was thick enough to chew and strong enough to coat my vocal chords before taking an hour to slide down them and Arnie would have lost out in a strongman competition.talk about strong. We should have gone to the cafe downstairs and had a coffee from the machine. Neither of us actually bought anything on this outing which is unusual but I enjoyed it nonetheless for the change. We went home via Trefnant and then up to Caerwys, along to Holywell and down again to Greenfield and got back about 4.30 pm. Mike made himself a drink while I came through to answer some mail and then let him watch his beloved Manchester United in peace. There wasn’t much peace really as they last again.He came through at 6.30 pm to check out some things on ebay then I went through at 7.00 pm with him to watch some TV. I gave that up at 9.40 pm and came back through. There’s obviously been plenty of mail to go through as well as the blog to do. I started the blog at 11.00 pm and intend to go to bed once I’ve published it

R I P Ben E King died 01.04 2015 aged 76  Another great lost to that party in the stars.

My thanks to you all. Have a wonderful New Week.

 

 

Book of Northern Humour & The Big Bong Theory.

Sunday. I woke first at 4.30 am but decided I deserve longer. I had a quick wee, refilled with some Pepsi, sat on the side of my bed to smoke a cigarette then gave sleep another shot. If it didn’t work, I was prepared to reload and try again. It did work and I managed to remain there till 5.35 am. It being Sunday when I usually have plenty of time I didn’t rush my mail, rather taking longer to enjoy some of the comments from last night’s blog.  At 7.00 am I went to the kitchen, fed the fish, took tabs, had breakfast made myself a coffee and almost died of shock when Mike’s alarm went off. The rhythm in my chest restarted when there was no movement and the clock went quiet. Oddly it didn’t even join the other 6 in the bin that have been thrown against a wall. I took my coffee through to the bedroom and sat down. That was the moment Mr Awkward decided to make his move . I had to dart back to the kitchen to put the kettle on. I took the drink to the lounge where I found him sitting in his chair folded in half and snoring again. “Don’t forget your coffee” I warned him as though I hadn’t just that moment put it there. It doesn’t hurt to keep him on his toes.

As I went back towards my coffee I knew there’d be no way I could do many more messages so decided to get dressed. Having ascertained Mike was up in case we were going to a car boot and seeing the sun was shining I decided to dress for comfort and in a short sleeved shirt. Not that the sun ever sees my arms as I like the pockets a jacket affords. I swear if I ever holiday in Barbados I’m getting a man-bag. Now now you lot, keep those thoughts to yourselves please I have enough problems with Mike telling me he already has a man-bag nudge nudge wink wink.

I’d just finished the last of my drink when Mike’s voice came telling me to put my jacket on. I hadn’t heard a thing but he’d actually got dressed too. We were out of the house five minutes earlier than yesterday. When he opened his mouth to ask which car boot I told him to decide and he drove to Chester. We could see from the traffic it was quite big today. Mike parked up and we started walking round. Down one side of a row and back up the other side of the same row. We were on the scout for books for me mainly but also a Welsh Dragon broach he still wants for a friend. On the first side we managed to pick up 3 books and an unexpected timer for a game of Trivial Pursuit. We were on our way up the other side when Mike suddenly asked me to take the bags as he needed the portaloo and he dashed off. As I took my time and eventually reached the top of the row I stood waiting for him. It was odd, people seemed to be coming and going from one of the little cabins but not from the other. Then I heard the door and expected Mike to appear but unless he’d grown 6 inches and taken to wearing dresses it wasn’t him. I was puzzled. Two loos and he’s in neither, and he hasn’t passed me on the row. The only thing I could think was that he’d started on the next aisle thinking I was ahead of him. I gathered the bags and started down the next row.

I was about half way when Mike appeared and he told me he’d found a nice cafe in the hospital grounds and used the loo there. I’ve been going to that car boot for years and never knew of a cafe before.We were on the return journey up the row when the first of my chest problems happened. The pain was not pleasant and of course I wasn’t carrying a nitro spray. I was so glad of the crutches to lean on. Eventually I was able to move again if only to get away from Mike’s nagging. I was determined to carry on. I did so and a while later I had a repeat attack. Mike was carrying all the bags at this point so we finished the last row and went to the cafe to give me chance to recover. I had a tea and Mike his usual coffee. He also had a breakfast and forced me into a bacon sandwich to keep him company. Fried food must be helping a lot. After the food we finished the drinks in the sunshine on little tables in the garden. It was lovely. Yes, I even removed my jacket.

On the way home afterwards we made  a short stop in Flint to visit Home Bargains. Mr Sarcastic said he was worried about me as I hadn’t shopped there yesterday. I made sure I got something- a pad of shopping lists ! We decided to have a coffee at Temptations so I bought chocolates for the girls. Today it was Trudy and Sian on duty as Ceri is away for the weekend. Later at home we unpacked and Mike immediately started reading a book on Northern humour ( like that’s going to help him). I rested a few minutes then answered some mail. At about 1.00 pm it was time to eat. Decision time, where? It was back to The Ivy in the end. It was nice to see everyone though Tariq was making something for his daughter so we didn’t see a lot of him today. But what we did see was nice. After the meal Mike dropped me off at home and left on the next stage of his journey. I’m afraid I got straight on with the mail till I finished about 5.30 pm. I went through to the lounge and just as I got the BFG out that I would have to eat to save wastage my bloody chest went again and it was a baddie. No problem, spray handy. The thing is the headache after using the spray means you can do nothing till it’s gone ( I know, any excuse). So I rested some more and eventually got to eat the BFG so the story has a happy ending.

Monday. 6.30 this morning on my second attempt to get out of bed. It didn’t give me long before it was time to head kitchenwards. Duty and custom done I took my coffee through to start answering mail ( I was going to answer it, not the coffee). An early treat was a blog post from the delectable ACFlory ( whom I adore) saying she’s had her first con-man letter. She reproduced it for us to peruse so for anyone who missed it here is a warning……Don’t believe the FBI wants to give you money.                   The proof of the pudding as they say…….   http://acflory.wordpress.com/2014/06/02/omg-i-finally-received-an-fbi-scam-d/  .                                           There was also a post from ThePinkAgendist who was the first across my bows this morning with news of the abdication of King Juan Carlos of Spain in favour of Prince Felipe. As an ardent Royalist I’m happy the Monarchy in Spain is to continue and hope Felipe can restore the popularity of the Monarchy there after Juan Carlos has done so much to dent it recently.

About 9.30 an I took a short stroll while the rain had ceased. I needed cigarettes from Pauline’s and also picked up a Twix while I was there. I couldn’t stop myself chomping it when I got back and I was delighted to find inside the wrapper a coupon to get one free. Unfortunately I was so full I couldn’t dash back and get one. There was quite a bit of mail this morning so I wasn’t really able to get away from the computer for long I thought. ………until I woke up leaning over the keyboard, fingers still twitching. I’d been out about half an hour I think. I went through and had the other half hour in a chair. It was getting on for lunchtime so I came back and caught up again before heading for the microwave. I had some Jersey Royal potatoes, a small piece of brisket and some garden peas. I enjoyed eating it in front of the TV while an early afternoon Antiques show was on. Once that was over I washed the pots and headed back to see how the post was doing. I spent an hour catching up then decided I deserved an ice lolly which I had while watching NCIS. It’s just as well it didn’t take long to eat as I dropped off almost straight away and could have frozen my assets. I slpt for almost two and a half hours so NCIS was history by then and the next programme was well on it’s way. I saw the news which confirmed Pinkagendist’s story but also showed the King . I didn’t realise how old he’s begun to look nor how bad his health is, walking using two sticks as he was.

I watched my Antiques Road Trip and managed to get every price wrong but at least I got my choice as winner of this section of the journey which was in Scotland. When the quiz came on I ran through to keep up as much as possible with the post then ran back as soon as Law & Order came on. I even managed to stay awake to watch it. Then for some reason I turned over to what looked like an early episode of Murder She Wrote. They were talking about 32 mb and 64 mb computers which kind of gave the age away. Once over it was time to come through and attack the mail and perhaps get an early night. With luck and if I feel better I’m going to spend time with Yvonne and Reuben tomorrow. It should at least make the post a little less boring for you.

Tuesday. On parade at 4.35 am this morning though I didn’t have my hands on my socks as the Corporal used to bellow down the room. I turned the computer on as I passed by making my way towards the loo. Given the hour I thought the post quite manageable today and a quick glance through didn’t detect any messages from dusky maidens, bent bank managers or very wealthy fortune tellers. Much of it was notification of blog posts and tweets that I was able to read and then tweet about or re-tweet.  I worked until 6.00 am and left the last few messages until after breakfast. Naturally the fish got fed first then I had my meds, placed a bap in the toaster and made a coffee. Once breakfast was done I trooped back to the bedroom with my drink, got dressed and finished of the last few messages and refreshed. Ouch, that was a mistake but still, I have time…..

I finished the last message at 7.15 am and decided I was too much the coward to refresh the post again. I went to pack a few things in a bag for Reuben, paddling pool, bop bag, for Ugo, beer and beer and for Yvonne a candle and a kit to paint a glass photo frame. I made sure my backpack was closed properly. I left the house just about half past and was at the bust stop at the same time as the bus. The driver greeted me with ” Not got anything to break this time?” and I shook my head and smiled. I nodded off quite a lot on the journey but probably for not more than 10 seconds at a time as we hit every pothole going and stopped at every stop. When we arrived in Chester I stood as the bus pulled into the bes station. I always let others get off while I get my crutches on and today my backpack. Before I could move further the driver pulled off again. I thought he was just moving further down the row but no, the beggar pulled into the road. I moved up towards the door and pointedly pressed the bell. He knows where I get off. ” Where d’you want to get off?” he asked. Forcing myself to respond I told him “The first available stop” as I knew he couldn’t let me out on the road.  ” I’m going into town but will be back here later” he told me. Knowing that could take a long time I repeated “The first available stop, I’m meeting my daughter.” It probably only took just over 5 minutes to get to where the first stop was but it was a lot further away from the cafe than the bus station is. Once he dropped me my little legs had to pump. I reached the cafe and sat down trying to get my breath and probably looking like death warmed up, my bags weren’t light. It was an uh oh moment as Yvonne wasn’t there. I checked my phone and sure enough there was a message. “Dadddeeee wherefore art thou?” or words to that effect. A sort conversation later showed she was at the bus station and I was at the cafe instead of the reverse. I went and ordered drinks and Reuben’s toast while she hurried on down.

When Yvonne arrived, she let me sit down and took over at the counter for me. I got Reuben out of his pushchair and stood him on my knees. I’m sure he recognises me as he tries to run away screaming. Actually he was full of smiles so there! We put on the ‘I want to be a Knight when I grow up’ apron and gave him some toast. He sat on the seat next to me quite happily as Yvonne ate hers. When it came time to go we nearly had to ask for a hoover but I surreptitiously swept the crumbs off the seat to the floor. “You can come back again since you tidy up” said the waitress who’d obviously caught my efforts. I hid my face so she couldn’t ban me. We walked up town where Yvonne bought me a picture frame ready for fathers day( and she reckons I’m not helpful eh). We did some general shopping and I was able to stock up on balls for Reuben’s Birthday Ball Pit and a few other things. This meant a typical row at the counter about who pays.Children are so difficult these days, I tried to force her but no, she reckoned I should  pay as I bought it. Actually we got a few good things for Reuben in there and she was adamant I shouldn’t pay. I’m lucky enough to have size on my side. We went to a large clothes shop who’s name I can never remember but unusually I didn’t buy anything. I wish I could say the same about someone else who was determined to put the family in penury in order to buy father’s day gifts, not all for me I hasten to add.

I was feeling quite weary when we came out of that shop and we decided to go for lunch . In the end all I could face was a coffee. Oddly enough the cafe was opposite where the bus had dropped me off this morning. I told Yvonne I needed to go home and rest even though she said Ugo would run me home at 4.00 pm which was only 3 hours away and I could rest at their house until then. I had to turn er down and she waited at the bus stop with me for the 30 seconds until the bus arrived. I stepped on the bus and turned to wave at them both and Reuben burst into tears. Even the bus driver was heard to say Awww. When I was home Yvonne texted me to say he always cries when I go. At home there was a small parcel which proved to be the case I ordered for my phone….only it doesn’t fit. I’ve no idea whether the fault is mine because I listened to Mike say the Wildfire and the Wildfire S are the same size or whether the trader made an error Anyway I’m disappointed and had to send it back, the postage cost me more than the bloody case did. After I’d sent it back I kind of flaked out for a while.My feet were grateful. OMG, I’ve become a part timer with no staying power. My daughter is now better at shopping than me!!

When I revived a bit I had a ham sandwich for lunch and looked at my emails. Aaargh 132. But the worst news is that I’ve been notified that Asufat and her daughters have been picked up again and taken to the airport for deportation tonight. No-one will say what flight they’re on or with what airline. Frankly I’m disgusted, I think the border agency have been most underhand about this. The only hope left since the judicial review isn’t ready is Nick Clegg the Deputy PM. Though I wouldn’ t trust the man personally ( and neither do most of the country judging by the election results last week) he has spoken out against female genital mutilation and some of us have tweeted an appeal for his intervention. Maybe he can redeem himself in my eyes.

Well, a little bit of TV this evening but it’s time for concentration on clearing the mail and getting the blog done before midnight turns me into a pumpkin.( Yes Mike, I know the shape is already there).

All grow’d up.

 

Then it was gone, ‘Just like that’!

Wednesday. Now don’t all cheer at once but this will be a short piece. It’s late and I’m cream crackered. I was up at 4.35 am and hard at work by 4.45 am. At 6.15 am I decided to lie down for a minute that lasted until 7.55 am. We have long minutes in Wales. After that everything seemed to be done in a rush. Even the fish got a one word conversation ” Eat !” This was also one of those days when I had an extra post when I read the story of a wee girl with cancer who needs treatment in Germany as the options here have run out. I don’t exactly understand that since surely we share knowledge in the EU? But it’s a story I needed to share.

About midday I had a visit from my friend Lis whose going on holiday Sunday and wanted to see me before she left. She tells me the weather forecast in Cos isn’t mush better than we usually get here so I don’t envy her too much. The subject of Rob came up who’d died just a couple of weeks ago. His funeral was on Monday and it was apparently a sad and very moving occasion. Charlie ( Lis’s daughter) was there when a poem Rob had written for his wife was read out. Very touching.

When Lis left about 1.15 pm I made lunch , ate it, washed the pots and had half an hour in the chair with a chorus of Zzzzzzz’s after which I went back to work. Things were really going well and I’d even managed to fins what I think is a good present for my friend in America. But, with just 16 messages left to do the front door opened. It was 4.40 pm. I looked out of my room and there were Dil and Matt. ” Twenty to five, what’s this have you gone part time?” Dil responded with ” No, it’s twenty to six as usual, your watch must be wrong.” There was a moment of panic until I realised I was looking at the clock too and that said the same as my watch. He keeps a very straight face when he’s lying to me which is probably why he does so well at Balderdash. I left the messages and went to make drinks. Dil’d walking much better so the treatment for the gout must be working.

I’d had a message to say Lee couldn’t make it tonight so we got straight into battle. Matt was battling with a box of biscuits anyway. We had two games of scrabble which I won convincingly but mainly because poor Dil ended up with 7 vowels twice. Then it was a game of Trivial Pursuit which Dil said would leave us time for some cards. We started at 6.30 pm and finished just before 9.00 pm and BTW I won that too though we all had full discs. We had time for a swift game of Crazy 8’s where I was hammered. My final score something ridiculous like 249 and Dil’s 27 with Matt somewhere in between. They left at 9.30 pm as usual so I tidied up, washed the pots and came through to deal with the 16 messages….and the other 82 I’d accumulated. So as I say, it’s late now so this has been short.

Thursday. Another 4.35 am day though I had been up an hour earlier to go to the loo. I swear my bladder shrinks at night. I worked till 6.30 am, got a smirk from the fish as I fed them early and then went to sit down promptly falling asleep till 7.15 am. Back to the kitchen for my meds so I don’t kill anyone today and had some toast for breakfast. After that I took my coffee through and finished my messages before getting ready and going to Pauline’s to get my lottery tickets. Though it isn’t very far, it dos take me a while to walk there and back so once indoors I refreshed my emails . I realised I’d forgotten to buy my baps but didn’t feel like the walk again so I used the emails as an excuse. I was working through them when a knock came at the front door. It was my nephew David and I’d forgotten he was coming. He brought some first day covers and some coins for me to look at and advise him of values. I couldn’t help with the first day covers as I know nothing about them but was able to help a bit with the coins. I got my laminating machine out and let him seal some of the covers for protection.They’ll display better on his stall that way too.

When I can I like to donate things for his stall as he raises money for the hospice Julia was in. This week I was able to find some badges and other things from various orders. While looking I found a very chunky silver ring I bought some years ago emblazoned with the Prince of Wales feathers and his motto Ich Dien. It was a very large size. I gave it to David after we found it fitted him. I also found a doll for his daughter, my great niece which came from Japan and is in a beautiful costume with an obi. David hates to accept gifts and went out to his car. Despite my objections he gave me two boxes of metal badges depicting the Royal coats of arms of the English Monarchy, 30 beautifully enameled pieces in all I think. I know there are more to the sets so I’ll have to look out for them. David left about lunchtime to go and help someone decorate so I flew in here to bring the mail up to date. Then it was a late lunch of Irish Stew ( Oh why did I forget my baps?) a little TV then more work.

The afternoon flew by and wouldn’t you know it I didn’t have a cage handy so it was teatime before I knew it. I didn’t bother eating with lunch being so late but I did get to sit and watch my Antiques Road Show. It’s very tight tonight so I must be sure I don’t miss the culmination tomorrow. I also watched Law and Order, stayed awake through Murder She Writted and then saw a new episode of the Big Bang Theory. Poor Sheldon couldn’t decide which new games machine to buy and Raj got to date two women. There’s genuine comic relief in that show. After that it’s back here to work . Lift that barge, tote that bale and crack the whip.

Mischief Planning.

They’re not Cadbury’s fingers but I’ll eat them.

Friday. 3.54 am today and the scriptwriter of that particular comedy has some explaining to do. It’s getting so I’ll be rising before I’ve even gone to bed soon. Anyway, it did give me chance of an early start on the mail.  Among the batch this morning were two messages to say my account wirh Barclays has been suspended, one to say my account with Santander has been suspended and two purporting to be from paypal saying they haven’t been able to make payments to paypal on my behalf and I need to verify my bank details. I was so happy to see I haven’t managed to offend all the con artists out there yet. I swear though. the pages are more professional looking and the spelling has improved no end. Can I just make it clear to all you donkeys, it wouldn’t be worth your while attacking my bank accounts. Save yourselves the effort involved and just leave me alone.

At 7.00 am I went through to feed the fish and have some breakfast. Unfortunately I’d taken my before food tab when I realised I needed to fill up the drug case with another week’s supply. I had to move a lot smarter than usual to get it done and get my main tabs etc within the prescribed time limit, 15-20 minutes after I’ve taken the tab. I got washed and dressed before making my coffee today which I took through. There were only 6 more messages dammit so I was done pretty quickly. I’d run out of excuses why I couldn’t do some I***ing. I got the board out and started. A pair of pyjama trousers for Mike, 8 shirts and a pair of jeans for me. I’d had enough. There was a twinge of sciatica there. I left the instrument of torture out to cool but put the board away. The damn thing never seems to want to go back where it came from. Anyhoo it was time to sit down for a while. I put the clothes away ignoring the still overflowing basket and took to my chair. It wasn’t long before Old Ma Nature was tugging at my eyelids and I was well away.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    I came awake with a start when a loud Boooong sound echoed through the house. I had time to wake up and think about it while my heart stopped racing and decided it was the I***ing board fallen over. I went through to the kitchen cursing under my breath. The board was still in place. I checked the cupboard and there were no signs of anything else that could have mad the sound. I visited each room in turn looking for something that had fallen but I came up with zilch. My latest theory is that some aliens have got it in for me because I won’t go and be harvested. It’s either that or I’m going mad and I’m sure none of you would believe that for a moment.

It was 11.00 am and I hadn’t heard from Mike so thought maybe he’s not coming this week. I checked my phone and the email in case he’s been in touch and brought myself up to date at the same time. I was just going to put the phone on charge when it tinkled ( NO, not like that). It was the usual message.”On way”, as it was 11.45 am I allowed 3 hours to make sure I was free when he came. I had a quick lunch while watching an antiques show and then went back to my home office ( sounds much better than ‘The Pit’ doesn’t it). At 2.30 pm I filled the kettle and set it to boil and readied Mike’s mug. It was 3.30 pm before he arrived because the traffic was bad he told me and because he’d stopped to eat on the way. Right, he won’t be wanting his main meal now then. We sat and chatted until about 5 pm and he decided some sandwiches later would be nice. I went out to the shop for bread and some meat and picked up some small cakes for him too. When I got back we watched a couple of quizzes, being very hit and miss with our answers tonight then decided to have a shower. Mike saw to my hair first so I didn’t have to raise my arms above my head. After the shower I made the sandwiches and we enjoyed them watching NCIS.  After that I excused myself for a while to come and attack some of my mail so I could be free for the new series of Law and Order. It’s such a different programme without the sardonic policeman Lennie, played by Jerry Orbach. So far I’ve only ever seen the episodes with him. I was shocked to see this series has Linus Roache starring as a deputy D.A. the son of our very own Bill Roache of Coronation Street.

TV over for the night ( my night anyway) I wished Mike goodnight and came through to work. It’s a late one but worth it.

Saturday. It was 5.10 am when I woke this morning. I was sitting in my chair  in the lounge. I’d woken at 2.04, found myself unable to go back to sleep where I was, had a cigarette, tried again and as the old saying goes, If at first you don’t succeed, beggar off and try elsewhere. I had a touch of sciatica and the cushion on my chair was heaven. So, 5.10 am and it’s getting light. I went to the kitchen and tormented the fish by pretending to feed then and then remembering it’s Saturday- diet day( fish only). To add insult to injury I had my breakfast, took all my meds then carried my coffee back to the bedroom home office. There was plenty of mail to keep me going, my friends in the Americas and the Antipodes having been busy overnight. Any number of great blog posts to comment on. When 7.00 am rolled round I was so smug with my progress I was almost whistling. Mike’s alarm went off. Obviously no need to worry or rush, I heard the thud as it hit the wall so I went and put the kettle on.

When the kettle boiled I made coffee and took it through. Knowing it would worry him and annoy him in equal measures I was cheerful. ” Coffee’s up Bro” quoth I. I left the room and came back to finish what I was doing and heard Mike pad pad along to the lounge. I finished the last message and pressed send. Then I sauntered into the lounge myself and said ” Good morning. Looks a bit grim out.” “Then put it away before someone sees it” he spat back casting a blacker cloud with his frown than the sky outside held. Minutes later, following a grim silence I heard “I’s awake now”. All I could say was “Oh dear!” We didn’t leave the house until 8.00 am at which times the heavens were opening. Just a little different from the forecast Mike mentioned last night of a great weekend. And even though the heavens had opened both out phones showed the forecast now as overcast. We had to give up plans of a visit to Llandudno and instead shop locally. Surprise Surprise we found ourselves in Asda. I was surprised to find a rack of really nice trousers ( men’s) for £2 the reason for which soon became apparent. They were either 32 waist-short leg, or 34 waist regular leg. I’d need two pairs to go round me. I did manage to find something for Reuben but at twice the price.

The main shop didn’ t take long but when we’d finished I was as usual parched. We got a drink in the MacDonald’s  cafe Mike having his usual and me having the stupidity to go for a mocha frappe. Have you ever got brain freeze and tried to keep your face as normal as possible so someone else doesn’t know. It’s damned near impossible so it wasn’t long before he was in stitches. “You never learn” he told me with obvious relish. We decided to stop in Flint on the way back to look for another bop bag for Reuben. The shop where I   bought the last one had run out and another place I expected to be lucky, I wasn’t. We picked up some chocolates and went to annoy Ceri in Temptations. Business was brisk but there was no way she and Mike weren’t going to trade insults. Ceri is one of those people who makes you smile just by seeing her. I left Mike there and went next door to look for the bop bag and I found some. I did get one but Mike reckons the face on it is likely to give Reuben nightmares.

We took the shopping home, unpacked it and put it away.I had a session back on the mail again, opened a parcel from the real postman which was the case for the phone and then looked at a catalogue until Mike was ready for lunch. We decided on- guess where- and I took a picture frame with me that Tariq is going to fit glass in…on the understanding he lets me pay him. We were halfway there when Mike asked if I’d remembered sweets. I hadn’t so I had to grovel an apology when we went in. This was another busy place. Tariq was helping cook as well as serving as Shella isn’t well. That’s a shame and we sent out best to her. Mike managed to chat Angie up as usual and was throwing double entendres out like there was no tomorrow. It was a really nice break. We took to the hills after lunch coming home the roundabout way to avoid Coast Road traffic. I had the pleasure of another couple of hours in here while Mike watched the Grand Prix jockeying for positions on the grid. I managed a couple of hours TV with him which included the last ever episode of the Tomorrow People. I swear they’re here today after having seen some of the current magicians on TV like Troy. Amazing.

So, Mike has the football now and I have chance to clear the decks before tomorrow. I hope you’ve had a nice week and wish you a Great one to come.

I’ll see if I can get it all in Mummy

Can you see my teef everyone?

Dribbly Tiger.

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.

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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.