Shopping Inspiration.

Sunday.
The decision had been made yesterday that we’d go to The Tweed Mill today and see if there was inspiration for Christmas. Every little helps. As also wanted Afon Wen(White River) antiques centre we’d have a meal in one of the two places despite knowing they’re overpriced. Mike dutifully got up at 8.30 am and because I didn’t put our usual Sunday morning programmes on there were no distractions.
We were out for 10.00 am and on our way to The Tweed Mill at St. Asaph. We arrived at 10.20 am and found we could walk around inside even though it didn’t open until half past. There was a good display of Christmas gifts but the one gift I was concentrating on was for a minimalist. Not easy but I think I managed ( more or less lol).

At noon we went for lunch. I quite enjoyed mine though more potato would have been welcome so I pinched one of Mike’s. The thing I missed most in the steak, ale and mushroom pie was the mushroom….there was certainly enough room for some. After lunch and a cigarette outside, we hit the upstairs. Not a lot of inspiration there so we went downstairs to pay for things we’d reserved behind the counter. Then we headed off to Afon Wen.

At Afon Wen I was lucky enough to get a couple of coins I wanted before we needed to indulge in a drink in their restaurant. Another short waltz round then homeward bound. Glory be, I’m cruppered. I couldn’t hit the mail when I got back because Mike was still here so I waited round chatting until after he’d arranged Ju’s flowers. Once he decided to start for his home at 5.00 pm I was able to come through and start. Poor Joey had to do without company until 8.00 pm. Then he got an hour before it was time for my drugs and back to work.

Monday.

3.25 am seemed to be the time that attracted me today. My brain came to life to realise that it needed to play catch up with my legs that were already on their way out of bed. Luckily it wasn’t but a sparrow fart to the computer chair. I turned on and ploughed into the multitude of messages that were waiting. By 5.00 pm there were still a few to deal with but two thing were now a priority, the kitchen and my meds and a visit to the loo before I started  bladder leakage programme on the bedroom floor. I must have been jer, jer, jigglin’ for a while judging by the speed I had to move. Thing is, my legs are on  the move all the time sitting here so I can’t always tell what for.

I took my meds and had breakfast (Shreddies, no not the underpants kind) then took the antibiotic, the steroids (check out the Moobs!) Had my after meal diabetic tabs. I swear I rattle when I move. I put the washing machine on then brought a coffee back to my desk to carry on with the mail. At 6.20 am I was just about up to date so took my coffee mug back to the kitchen, turned the drier on and then sat with Joey and watched the news. I’m waiting for the day they say All wars are over, mankind is turning over a new leaf. Sometimes man needs a light to guide him towards peace, you have a choice to carry the light or be the light. I’m not holding my breath still though, maybe one day?

I alternated between periods doing messages, periods with Joey and periods answering the door to the postman and delivery men. Christmas is being whittled down fast. The day passed quickly but relatively peacefully. In bed for a read at 11.10 pm.

Tuesday.

I wasn’t very happy that after turning my light off at 12.15 am for sleep, I find myself staring at 1.47 am on the clock. I had slept but who knows for how long. I need to be on a bus at 7.30 am but this was taking preparation time to new levels. I did the only thing I could, no, not annoy Joey, I started on my mail and opened ebay.  At 4.00 am I’d just  paid for  a purchase (never miss a chance) then decided to go and take my meds and have breakfast. Today 2 rounds of toast, one with strawberry jam. I took my coffee back to the desk.By 7.30 am I was dressed for the rain, Joey’s door was open but the lounge door was shut and all lights were out. I walked up to the bus stop.

There were two more people waiting but they were kind enough to let me on first. I found my usual seat (not that it was lost but maybe a little misguided). Once the journey was under way I sent a text to Yvonne to let her know, then I closed my eyes as usual and pretended I was asleep. I was mortified to find out I really was asleep when I was pulled out of it by a voice asking where I was going today as we were in Chester. The driver had got out of his cabin to come wake me. I think he expected to find a corpse on the seat when he got close. I hopped off pretty smartish and went to find Yvonne and the kids. The first stop was for coffee to wake me up and a loo to get rid of the last one. After the usual argument about who pays I sat down defeated and put Amelie on my knee. She’s all bounce and made me feel like a tramampoline.

Needless to say we looked round shops all morning until Roobs began to show signs of being weary poor lamb. We walked to my bus stop and I tried to get them to go home rather than wait. It was like being escorted off the premises. Then Reuben was suddenly caught short so they had to dash off to the nearest loo anyway. They arrived back as my bus did so I got my final kisses. And yes, I did fall asleep on the return journey too but was awake in Holywell and stayed that way for the last three stops. A quick call in to Pauline’s and then the final dash to home hoping to open the front door before I went through it in search of the loo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday.

I woz robbed. I got up just before 6.00 am to go to the loo and was delighted to have slept so long. t was only on the return journey, now wide awake ready to face the day I found it was 2.52 am. I sat dejectedly on the edge of the bed for a few minutes to see if sleep could be induced but all I could sense was the laughter of Somnos ( the small god of sleep, see the Blog Cast List). So I started work and that seemed to go on and on. I took a break to annoy  sit with Joey from 6.15 am to almost 7.30 am then it was back to it. At 9.14 am I got dressed and I’m so glad I did as that was the time the postman decided to knock with my next batch of parcels. Once those were checked and stored I left feedback.

I’ve decided to be honest.After doing the post this morning I’ve seen that I don’t care for haiku very much. I’ve always enjoyed the richness of language employed in poetry and we have some excellent poets online, but the haiku with it’s minimalist emotion and starved format just isn’t my cup of tea. It won’t stop me tweeting them but the likes will definitely be more frugal.

I had a fancy for sausage and chips today but it was pouring at lunchtime so I settled on some micro chips and curry sauce. It’s less than I would have eaten from the chippy he cried. After lunch I stole an hour for sleep from 1.00 till 2.00 ish pm then came back to work to keep as clear as possible with Dil coming . Play went well and was fun but I’m refusing to say who won. After he left at 9.30 pm I washed the pots, wished Joey good night, took my meds and came through to work ( and grumble) until 11.20 pm when it was time to read in bed.

Thursday.

I’d like to thank my friend Debby Kaye for her intercession with Somnos. Last night she must have distracted him quite a bit as I slept between 12.30 am and 4.45 am, possibly up to a whole  4 hours. I don’t want to leave her having to be his new infatuation for long in case Debby decides she might need some sleep herself, but one more night would be fantastic, hint, hint.

I went through to the loo before going to take my morning meds and have breakfast. I just had a round of toast this morning because something happened last night at 11.20 pm which I’m not admitting to. Luckily no-one could believe that I decided I needed a chip butty at that time could they? Coming back there was plenty of mail when I signed in which was understandable given my absence away from the screen. It took me until 7.10 am to catch up and take a short break with Joey.

At 9.00 am I had to go to buy some stamps from the Post Office. I needed milk and bread from Pauline’s so thought I could collect my new lottery tickets at the same time. I got my stamps before realising I’d come out without my lottery  list. Damnation. I got my bred and milk then walked home to drop them off before returning again with my list. Lottery done it was back home and lock myself in until the postman comes. I was almost caught up with mail when the postman arrived with 4 new mystery parcels for me. I have to forget what I’ve ordered so I can be surprised and excited. Mind you, some take so long it’s almost true.

I watched the last of the three confrontations between the presidential candidates at 11.00 am. I came a way feeling how the hell could either of these people have the nerve to stand for this great office. Will Hillary Clinton be the next President to be impeached? She is by far the better of the two candidates but she has a politicians way of ignoring any inconvenient questions by answering with something that no-one wants to know. Having said that, she is erudite and quite calm while he is a mess. He talks with his hands but they seem to know few gestures and as for policy, who knows what either is promising as the battle before me was one of personalities. Throwing insults at your opposition seems to be an art form in the cult of personalities when you don’t have good policies to show. I’d say the big losers here are the American people.

I had a message from Mike to say he was on his way about 3.45 pm so I concentrated on clearing as much as I could to be ready for his arrival. That happened about 6.15 pm so while I heard the great sighs of relief after the journey I made a coffee to start filling him up again. We talked about our week as we watched TV and then he stuck his head in his tablet and watched his beloved Manchester United win  a game 4-1.  I came through at just gone 9.30 am to catch up on mail and was still here at 11.25 pm. It’s now 11.33 pm and I’m turning off and turning in for the night.

Hugs to all.

Friday.

I read until 12.30 am this morning then was pretty sure I’d get to sleep. It was correct, I did.  Morning snuck up on me without me realising it was a fraud. I paid a visit to the loo then came back ready and willing to work to find it was just 2.58 am.  I’d barely had time to reach a REM cycle,( I think I got as far as Everybody Hurts). Reluctantly now I started work and stayed there until 4.00 am when I went to take my meds, do my meds for the next week and have breakfast. I brought a coffee back to my desk at 4.40 am and started again. By 5.27 am I was up to date and went to see what the news had to offer. What it kindly had to offer was an extra half hour’s kip.

At 7.50 am I decided I’d better go play catch up again. Somehow over 60 pieces had appeared since I left the room so I had to work at it. The next thing I knew it was 9.10 am and I could hear Mike attempting to leave his lungs in the bathroom while he went back for a coffee. I went t see to the drink for him. We both sat quietly in the lounge waiting for the day to make an impression on us. It had already done so on Joey who was singing up a storm, only perhaps the word singing is a kindness too far since he sounded like a bag of cats.

At 10.00 am the postman had been and I’d started watching Homes Under the Hammer, I know I’d seen all three properties so it must have gone 10.30 am, but I was poisoned, drugged or time had churned a little too quickly. I know this because I suddenly came to and it was now 11.35 am. The TV was still on but I was all alone (apart from Joey) and by my side as another delivery. I couldn’t possibly go and start peeling hings with which to make my lunch now so I returned to work. I stayed there catching up again until 12.50 pm then made myself a sandwich to eat whilst watching Cold Case.

The afternoon was spent catching up again though I had a break at 3.30 pm to 4.15 pm. Once 5.15 am came I was on the TV with my programmes. Poor Mike had sent a message to say he was on his way back and then another one to say he was stuck in a massive traffic jam. It took him until 9.00 pm to get back instead of 6.00 pm. His bladder must be cast iron.

At 9.40 pm I excused myself to come and work but when he came through to speak to me I caught him up in a problem I’m having in the hopes it would clarify things. I was also a little worried as Amelie is poorly and Yvonne seems to be under some strain. At 11.46 pm I decided to turn off and head for my book.

Saturday.

Maybe I  was sleeping on the wrong side this morning because it seemed to take a long time to turn over and get up. When I did so I sat on the edge of the bed for a minute to try and work out who I was and what I was doing there. The latter became of prime importance when my bladder tried sending smoke signals to my brain. I made it safely to the loo.

I’d been asleep since about 1.00 am as I’d felt tired all day yesterday. It was now 3.55 am so rather than start any work, I went to take my morning meds and have some breakfast. Cornflakes today if you’re interested. Actually, cornflakes today even if you’re not. Somehow that took me until 4.40 am so I took my coffee through and started the day’s mail. I knew I’d only work until about 5.30 am before breaking off to do the rubbish and recycling collection. Somehow, I did the last piece of mail in the early batch at 5.25 am so I was fine for a break.

At 6.00 am after the rubbish was outside for collection, I came back inside for the Battle of Alarm Bay. The first skirmish started at 6.00 am on the dot when Mike’s alarm goes off and I try to get his coffee ready before he ignores it and goes back to sleep. I didn’t quite manage it this morning and had to wake him with the news his coffee was on the table in the lounge. I thought the message had got through from the encouraging grunts I got. He went back to sleep regardless until the second alarm woke him at 6.05 , at 6.10 am and finally at 6.15 am when he went through to the lounge to fall asleep in his chair. We still managed with a bit of prodding to be out of the house by 7.30 am and it was exciting today as we were going somewhere different to do something different this morning. A secret mission with Christmas in mind.

We were successful and able to head back towards Flint in order to have a coffee at Temptations. Then we did a little frozen food shopping which we took straight home and Mike made me put it away even though it was his turn. Before we went back out for lunch I decided to leave feedback on a parcel delivered this morning. Bert brought it round when he saw the car. Only problem was, I lost it. High and low, low and high we searched. I knew I’d put it in a shopping bag to carry it but those were long emptied. At last inspiration… I told Mike to open the boot to see if it had dropped out. It hadn’t, but it was inside a shopping bag Mike was keeping in the car with his stuff. PHEW!!

We went into Holywell for lunch to the Top Bells. I had a mushroom omelette and chips, Mike had fish and chips. From there we went gift hunting and promptly forgot the other shop we were intending to hit and just came home. I worked hard on my mail while someone else went to sleep and ignored the bird who then gave him the bird. I went through at 5.30 am in the hopes of falling asleep too finding something exciting to watch. Both sleep and TV were hard to come by with the snoring from the next chair so I tried reading the TV mag and imagining what I could be watching. Typical, the minute I thought about watching a Sandra Bullock film, Mike woke up to play chaperone or to move in on he himself. At 9.00 pm I gave up and came through to work and find a way to hide the lottery millions I’m going to win away from him. Serves him right.

Have a Wonderful Weekend everybody. Masses of Hugs all round.

 

MuJo returns & Scratch the Verbal Abuse.

Sunday 31st Jan.
well I read until 1.00 am as usual buy as I turned my light out I found I wasn’t as tired as I thought I was. It took a while to get off to sleep. I woke at 3.30 am and was convinced I was fully awake. After visiting the loo I signed on and made a start on the mail. It must have been about 5.30 am I thought of going for my tabs but I suddenly found myself coming awake at the screen fifteen minutes after that. I was back at my desk for 6.00 am and started on a message. Suddenly the message wasn’t on my screen and it was now 6.15 am. And so it went on with me having little ‘blackouts’ at the keyboard. Sometimes the same message would be there to finish (yay) and sometimes it would be gone ( possible Oops). It went on like that until about 9.30 am. I really don’t know how I made any progress (  IF I actually made any progress) but after that I heard Mike try to Die by Coughing and get himself up. I went through to make a coffee.

I don’t think either of us was at our best and I’m sure we got by on part conversations and part telepathy ( spelled pathetically). We ascertained I wouldn’t mind a couple of extra birthday presents as I didn’t think my choices yesterday were very inspired. Struggling to stay awake we went off to get dressed. When he came out of his room later it smelled like a Burmese Bordello I wondered who he intended to meet today. About 11.00 am we went out and drove over to The Tweed Mill that I’ve mentioned before. It’s like an outlet village under one roof. I found a couple of things for Dil’s wife Lynn and put them behind the counter then we went in search of some lunch. We both settled on steak and mushroom pie with roast potatoes and veg. Mike had an egg custard pudding and I had a strawberry tart and cream. Afterwards we went outide and had a cigarette, the woman on the main tills must have thought I was running out on my purchases.

When we went back in I concentrated on something for Dil. It didn’t take too long to find, and Mike took it over to add to the other saves while we carried on looking in general. I had meant to get a ladies scarf but totally forgot so I may look on Tuesday. We looked upstairs at the leather jackets and outdoors stuff plus my favourite Brakeburn shoes but as Mike refused a coffee (gasp) we went back downstairs (via the lift) I paid for my goods and we left.                                                                                                    I knew things would be fairly bad when we got home but even so, I couldn’t just leave Mike in the lounge and disappear to work so I stayed with him and fell asleep instead. While I slept he did the flowers and was bringing them in when I woke. He sat down and fall asleep himself. I suppose I couldn’t complain. I turned the Simpson’s on instead to entertain me. When Mike woke we watched half a film before he decided about 4.00 pm it was time to go. Once I’d seen him off I was able to go to work.                                  The was Beowulf on at 7.00 pm so I intended working just until that time and then making myself some tea to have my second food tablets of the day. As it happened I was finished by 6.40 pm so I stuck TV on and went to the kitchen to do tea.

When I took my tea through there was a film on that had already started. It was called John Carter. I have seen it before but quite a while ago so I decided to stick with it instead of Beowulf. I can’t say how much I enjoyed it. I suppose it’s CGI but the aliens look thoroughly real and I love his interaction with them, Martians all. I was really entertained. I had another hour of TV until 9.00 pm then came through. I was working well on the mail when John got in touch via skype so I was with him and Muriel for ages seeing how they are. It was 11.30 pm before I was able to break away to do the blog. It will be late to bed but maybe I can have a lie in tomorrow.

Keeping watch

Seeing the joke.

Monday 1st Feb.

Well, it wasn’t too late to bed at 12.20 am. I still read to just 1.00 am though and then settled to sleep. It wasn’t too long in coming. Nor did it stay long as I woke first at 2.00 am and refused to budge. After getting back to sleep I was expecting ructions from the small gods and some spite by allowing my just half an hour. Instead I was in bed till 4.30 am. I didn’t mind moving too much then.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 After signing in I worked on my mail till 5.30 am then went to take my meds and grab some breakfast. Two rounds of toast slathered in butter was plenty. When I returned I couldn’t seem to make any headway and it took me a while to realise it was because every time I did one, more came in on the flood tide. I’d passed the 6.10 am marker. At 6.30 am I was so desperate for a cigarette I got dressed and went for a packet then came back and carried on.

At 9.00 am I went to the chemist to hand in my prescription request. I was lucky to keep my feet the wind was gusting so strongly. I was glad I had no further plans for going out. Once back I started again and by 9.55 am I was down to the last half dozen. They could wait as I packed up and went through to see Homes Under the Hammer. When I say see I use it figuratively since after the first 15 minutes I fell asleep until the last 5 minutes. When I woke I didn’t know where I was or even what day it was. I was sure someone was here with me and quickly picked up the things on the couch I’d dumped last night for wrapping. Realisation took a while this time, but at least the settee was tidier. I’d decided not to wrap today in case I managed to find a scarf tomorrow in Chester.  I returned to work.                                                                                                                      At 11.50 am I went back through to the kitchen to make some lunch. A cottage pie today which I ate with Bargain Hunt on the box.

When Bargain Hunt ended I returned to my room and any waiting work. I was chuffed to find it didn’t occupy me past 2.05 pm because I really felt like getting my head down. I retreated to my chair and did just that. It was 3.20 pm before I raised my head again. It was good to get it out of the way before my 4.30 pm Road Trip. I upset Joey by sweeping up around his cage, he plays the martyr by flying round the room as though he can’t land on his mirror yet I’ve passed closer without disturbing him. Anyway it’s his own fault for being a messy eater.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           I did a little tidying and then went to make sure any incoming was cleared before my programme.  I was there ready for the start. The show was excellent  as was Pointless which followed. Unusually then I didn’t have my second quiz but turned over for ‘Missing’ followed by ‘Bones’ and then a programme about pyramid cities in the Mississippi Delta. Then I had to call a halt and return to work or it would be a late night.

I was left feeling very introspective after a friend Judith B of New Zealand posted on her blog about telling people you love them. She mentioned when her husband who she refers to as the Architect was in a hospice and she relied on hearing being the last of the senses to go. It brought back so much about Julia’s time there too where our family gathered to say goodbye.

Tonight I thought I’d offer something different in the way of music. The first is not one I can claim to remember from the 60’s and as it’s classical music may not be to everyone’s taste. For those who prefer something a little later I offer a second option which I think is from  70’s and may suit better. Oddly enough it tells the same story.

https://archive.org/details/UnVelDiVedremomadameButterfly

Tuesday 2nd Feb

I read till only 12.30 am and out went the light. Sleep wasn’t easy but it came. Some humorist thought getting me up again at 1.30 am would be very funny but other than a trip to the loo I resisted. After a cigarette while sitting on the edge of my bed, I climbed back in and settled. My next time up was 4.34 am. None too shabby really I suppose. At 5.30 am I went for breakfast and the morning meds and brought a coffee back. I got dressed so I wasn’t struggling for time after. By the time I’d finished the amount of mail I had left was being multiplied by the 6.10 am rush. I was able to plough into them until 7.15 am when I had to get my coat on and set off.                                       There was a bit of a mathematical problem this morning. As I walked up the hill at 2 mph I was met with a gift of wind from the US (Thanks America) at 70 mph. What time did I get home? And yes, the answer should be, before I left. It was a real struggle but I made it to the bus stop. I did wonder if the bus might make it or not since the firm that runs them uses cast offs from some African nation that haven’t been worked on for years.

The bus came and got me to Chester a little early so I had a cigarette before I found out Yvonne was late anyway. We had a bit of a session trying to text each other till she left me a voice mail. I was listening to it through one ear as she was shouting into the other one that she’d arrived. We picked up a couple of things for baby from the chemist and then went to our favourite Chester store for coffee and breakfast (whether you want it or not). I had Amelie on my lap as I drank my coffee and she was as good as gold- fast asleep. I bought the kids a few things there then a pair of jeans for myself before going down to get the scarves that were the whole point of going  to that particular shop.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               We were on our second shop when Amelie showed signs of waking. There were a few subtle roars of hunger and a denunciation of her mother for not walking round with her boobs out and at the ready. We quickly hid our faces and scuttled out, well OK, I quickly hid my face and scuttled out. I suggested we go to a cafe over the road (appropriate yes) where they can settle down and where Yvonne and I can have a drink too. It’s very clever. They have like a rather large bib that drapes over Yvonne from the neck down and Amelie is hidden behind it. Yvonne just looks rather deformed and people do glance sideways at us when they hear her chest slurp and burp. The feed had just finished when I realised how close we were to bus time. We had a very quick walk down the sale rails and then straight out to my bus which was already at the stop.

I nodded off for some of the journey home but I was checking constantly that we weren’t pushed into any temporal time zones by the wind. I didn’t want to get back to a time before chips and curry sauce were invented. When I got off the bus I called into Pauline’s for some bread, cigs and my TV mag before hurrying to let an unhappy Joey out of his cage. Having had breakfast twice today I was in no rush to have lunch so I concentrated on work. It took me from 1.10 pm to 4.30 pm without a break to put most of the work away. I watched my usual Road Trip though didn’t hear most of it thanks to Joey complaining. I made myself some tea and took the appropriate tablets then settled to my quiz which I confess I fell asleep in. I woke up ten minutes into the news and Joey was still going ten to the dozen, he really doesn’t like his own company much. I found that Missing was on again as was Bones which until tonight I didn’t realise was a young Temperance Brennan who without looking is I think Kathy Reich’s heroine. I was a little surprised they played so much humour into it because I don’t remember the adult books that way.

Anyhoo, I turned the TV off at 8.30 am and locked Joey up again. I came through to start work. There was a lot of mail and the blog needed to be done too but I think it’s going to be an 11.00 pm night tonight. Aw heck, if only there was a woman here to occupy all this free time.

In repose.

I may be asleep Pops but you’re going nowhere.

Wednesday 3rd Feb.

I actually made the 11.00 pm deadline last night and was in bed as it came round. I opened my book to read and carried on until 12.02 am when the light went out. My gyrating mechanism must have been fixed as it worked very well in trying to settle until I must have been exhausted enough to sleep. 1.24 am was the first time I rose. A ciggie on the side of my bed seemed to settle me enough to try again.The next time and my up time was a fun 3.33 am.                                                                                                             A visit to the loo was in order before I came back and signed into my gmail account. Oddly enough I had 33 messages at that time. They were done and dusted at 4.56 am at which time my eyes started leaking copious amounts of water as I yawned, and boy did I yawn. If it was an Olympic sport I’d be winning for Wales.  There was a temptation to lie on the bed and sleep again but I decided to have breakfast and take my meds so I’d be awake for the daily deluge. Rice Krispies did the job of filling me today before I brought  coffee back to my room.

I finished the few messages that had come through since before breakfast and then signed into Facebook for the things apparently waiting for me which were said to include two messages. I dealt with everything that was there but could not find the messages which I’m quite sure I must have done before. I couldn’t put off the inevitable any more and went back to the deluge. Ouch, it hurt. If you think Joey was mad yesterday you should have seen him at lunchtime because thanks to you lot it was 11.35 am before I left my room this morning  and got to say good morning to him. OK, I’ll admit that maybe once or twice I might have nodded off over my keyboard but mainly it’s down to you. The post is usually only this bad after I post the blog.                                                                                                                                                                                                                      I sat in the lounge for 15 minutes telling Joey you’re not all that bad and you didn’t mean to deprive him. After that I had to give some thought to lunch and went to take my pre-foodies. I ate while watching Bargain Hunt which even Joey admits I’d be better at than some of the numpties they have buying things. Mind you, to be fair the premise of the show which is buying antiques at either antique fairs or antique shops to sell at auction is a little spurious considering that’s almost buying high and selling low as is so often proved.

At 1.00 pm I returned to clear up any outstanding ,ail and then at 1.35 pm allowed myself a sleep in my chair. I came to at 2.05 pm but stayed for Father Brown. I came back to work again at 3.00 pm until 4.20 when I wanted to be ready for Dil’s arrival. I put stuff in his mug ready and then watched the start of the Road Trip. Dil turned up 5 minutes later and I almost had his drink ready for him. After Road Trip we watched our usual quiz but I nodded off part way through and only came to at the end for the final. I felt awful about it. Dil was understanding though.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            As the TV went off out came the table and the first box, the Yahtzee. I had to dash off to quickly run some more score sheets off. First sheet of six was 3 games all but as usual we carried on for another sheet which I won 4-2 despite some people having more jam than Hartley’s where Yahtzees are concerned. We turned to Trivia. Though I was answering questions it just wan’t when I was on the square that gave me a piece of pizza. Dil on the other hand answered everywhere he landed. We both had all six slices but he got to the centre first and answered the question I asked with ease. Rats!! There was time for cribbage and though I made him suffer by beating him by a big margin in the first game he came back in the second game with a 20 score and two 16”s as well as a 12. He sailed round the board and was safely at home a full street ahead of me. The evening was a draw though I felt trounced.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Dil left and I set to tidying up and washing pots. I locked Joey in, took my meds and went through to my room where I’ve been catching up ever since. It will be midnight tonight. Tomorrow I think it’s MuJo at last. He seems better.

Yay, the winner !

It was this big, honest.

Thursday 4th Feb

I didn’t read for long last night and the light went out at about 12.30 am. Someone tried teasing me with a 2.28 am get up but I was in refuse mode today so I just visited the loo then climbed back into bed and turned over. Next thing I know it’s 5.03 am. That’s anything up to four and a half hours, wonderful. I went straight to the kitchen,had breakfast and took my meds. Coming back here I ploughed into the remnants of last night’s mail and everything till the time I got up. I was trying to have nil in my box before the flood started. I almost made it. But, when the flood came it could be handled. I had the time and the determination today.                                                                 Because I needed to visit Pauline’s before MuJo arrive, I worked on finishing before then. I managed it for 9.02 am, got dressed and went out. I hurried back as a priority was cleaning Joey’s cage out today. That involved new sandpaper at the bottom, new millet, seed and water  and I needed him out of the cage for some of that.

I was nipping between my bedroom office and the lounge, doing a message then trying to coax him out of the cage. He showed absolutely no signs of moving. At 10.00 am though when the mail was up to date I turned the TV on for Homes Under the Hammer and the little rogue came out. I was able to get everything done I wanted to even at the expense of missing my programme while he watched it. I’m sure he’s checking out auction prices before he moves. I only just finished doing everything before MuJo arrived at about 10.40 am. They came bearing gifts for my birthday and I had great pleasure in bringing all their Christmas gifts out for them. They wouldn’t open any though.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 We caught up on how everyone was, in particular John who has been ill since before Christmas hence the reason for no visits. I plied them with drinks and at 11.10 am Muriel asked if we minded going early as she needed the Post Office in town . That meant John and I would visit the first two of his charity shops before we met up and went to lunch. It was the chippy naturally. I had mince and mushrooms with chips and peas but couldn’t finish it all. (I left a chip). John had fish and chips and Mu had a piece of chicken (the breast) and peas. We all had mugs of tea. It was a nice meal right up until the delivery of the bill. I didn’t see it coming and Mu all but snatched the poor girls arm off to get it. As we left the place she was still cowering in a corner saying “Do you want gravy with that madam?”

We made our way back to the car. Next stop Flint. We called at ALDI first so Mu could pick up some shopping and I picked up chocolates for Temptations. That was our next stop and we even had another battle at the counter when Muriel got her money over the counter first in contravention to the rools, he who pays for lunch, t’other pays for coffee and cake. I should have bought stake for her black eye, and don’t bother telling me I’ve mis-spelt that, I know what I mean.                                                                              We had a short wander afterwards as John still can’t do distances but eventually he and I went to sit in the car while Mu went to get some clothes for Amelie. We drove home again and took our shopping in. Muriel brought the bag in with Amelie’s clothes and there as also a black fleece of MYOB size which wouldn’t fit her till she’s 80. Another birthday gift for me or some terrible idea of how a baby dresses these days. They left at 4.00 pm while Muriel still had sight in one eye.

I had half an hour to get as much work done as possible before my Road Trip started and I hadn’t even packed a case yet. I made a start and promised myself I’d give up the quiz and do some more. At 5.15 pm I duly reappeared and did some more till 6.00 pm then disappeared till 8.00 pm. ‘Missing’ and ‘Bones’ were calling out to me. I enjoyed both shows and then to keep my word I turned the TV off and came through. I left the light on for Joey as Mike would be along later and would drink his coffee in there. It was 9.58 pm when Mike arrived so I went to the kitchen and made his drink. I sat with him till 11.00 pm to learn about his week and he mine ( It’s been fine is what he learned from me). At that time though I needed to come and finish what I’d started and get the blog done. Midnight bed probably but no surgery in the morning.

I’m keeping an eye on you.

First trip to the dentist. Where’s the FEAR?

Friday 5th Feb.

I read until 1.00 am though Mike maintains I only look at the pictures and risk going blind. I took a chance on one eye. I’m not sure how long exactly it took to go to sleep but I was still awake at half past. As I was trying to sleep on my stomach around then it was difficult to look at the clock. I contemplated getting up gain and having a cigarette but it was too much effort. When I woke up I was on my back again and it was 4.57 am.                                                                                                                                                           It was loo time then signing onto the computer and getting gmail up.I decided to work until 5.30 am and then go and take my drugs followed by preparing my drugs for the next week. My first management decision of the day was not to have breakfast as I’d either have to time the taking of my pre-foodies for sometime during the tablet sorting or after that which meant I’d be in the kitchen at least a further half  hour. I did what I had to do and made myself a coffee to bring back.

I checked my mail again and I just had a few to finish from earlier. Part way through them the deluge started. I was still sitting there at 9.50 am when Mike’s phone went off. I headed for the kitchen to put the kettle on and I opened Joey’s cage at the same time. He just sat and sulked. I took Mike  coffee through to the lounge as I heard him up and about, then turned the TV on to Homes Under the Hammer. When that was over I returned to work and Mike prepared to go off to see his father. He said goodbye about 11.15 am.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                It was about 11.40 am when I finally managed to get up to date after which I had to go straight to the kitchen to start peeling sweet potatoes. I had my bangers and mash day today and made myself onion gravy to go with it, and it was definitely more onion than gravy. I ate while watching Bargain Hunt with it’s third or fourth different presenter this week. Reluctantly at 1.00 pm I went back t check on work. A miracle occurred as there wasn’t too much so at 1.50 pm I decided I needed to nod off. I took to my chair. It was a success, I nodded until nearly 3.00 pm. I watched the last  one of What’s it Worth then checked my mail again. This time it caught me unprepared but I would only work till 4.30 pm anyway. Mike had said he was calling in on friends in Manchester and didn’t know when he’d be back so I knew he wouldn’t join me for Road Trip. I started watching it and hoping Charlie was going to catch up and win but I didn’t fancy his chances.                                                                                                                                       Ach, I’m a disgrace, I never saw the end of it. I fell asleep again. The next thing I know is I’m waking up and Pointless is on then a voice from beside me said “Oh hello”. He’d forgotten his friends are abroad this week and had come home early. Damn, caught out! I can’t say how hard I’ve been working all day now.

At 6.30 pm I went for my shower and a verbal abuse session from Mike while he washed my hair about scratching. Once I’d recovered from the hurtful shock, I made myself something to eat for my second set of tablets then watched an episode of MASH with Mike before Question of Sport then Mastermind. The next programme was a comparison between three differently priced items like food processors to see which gave best value for money. Finally we got to the latest serial to grip us which is Shetland. It’s really good though sometimes we need a translation from the Scottish accents to the English. They might as well be speaking Gaelic.                                                   Finally at 10.00 pm, to my great delight -of course- I was able to return to my much missed post and blog. Hmmm, do I detect a faint whiff of sarcasm round here?

I like the joke…….

….but I love the punchline!

Saturday 6th Feb.

1.00 pm book down, lights out, wriggle and wriggle and wriggle. Sleep overcame me at some point. Have you ever had a night where you just can’t get comfy in bed? It’s a pain. I woke at 2.10 am and was tempted to stay up rather than go through the wriggling again but after a cigarette sitting on the edge of the bed I thought I’d be OK. I was. Next time I woke was 4.50 am and this time I didn’t mind staying up.                                                                                                                                                                                                                After a visit to the loo I signed into the computer and headed for my gmail. First I encountered a message to say I won’t be receiving updates any more as my version of Windows won’t be supported. In gmail I was pleasantly surprised by how few emails had built up while  was asleep….or at least away from the computer. I was clear by 6.00 am which gave me chance to get my meds, have breakfast and make a coffee all before Mike’s alarm goes off.

I was just leaving the kitchen with my coffee when I heard his alarm. I made a drink  and took it through getting the usual grunt when I told him it was there. After that I was safe to take my drink back to my room and start work. There would be at least 4 repetitions of the alarm before he moved. It was 4, and I’d finished my drink and washed my cup out by then. And yet he can move like a well oiled machine when he wants, well perhaps more half cut than well oiled. His coffee finished, dressed and ready to go by 7.15 am despite having only got up at 6.50 am. We were at the supermarket for 7.40 am.                                                                                                                                          Unfortunately there was a sale on children’s clothes again which delayed me a while but at least it kept me from some other shelves and away from the gent’s department too ha ha, of course it didn’t but there was nothing to interest either of us. By the time we actually hit the food part of the store I could literally sail round. We know those aisles like the back of our hands. Soon we were through the checkout and into the cafe. While Mike got the drinks I bought some cigarettes. He didn’t enjoy the first couple of sips of his drink and said he was leaving the rest so naturally I carried on with mine and enjoyed every mouthful.

Leaving there we went to another store where Mike was still looking for a specific shopping bag for his sister, he found it in this one and we were able to continue our journey to Flint. Because of the disaster with his last coffee he wanted to go to Temptations first. I agreed just to get him to stop crying. Kyle was in the process of making the drinks before we reached the counter and Ceri had put a teasted toecake in for  him. We sat and enjoyed the drink then took a walk round the shops including Argos for a change where I picked up something I think Roobs will like given his fascination with penguins currently. Mike specifically wanted some innersoles in leather and we were able to get those.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Eventually time started running away from us and we decided we had to go for lunch. It took another twenty minutes to decide where and given that we selected The Dragon’s Rest again which still may not be open, we had to have a list of contingencies. It was open. I rejoiced in the fact no more discussion was needed. We both had a roast lamb dinner though I was very indecisive at first as bacon was on the menu. Still, we got a cloth and wiped it. The meal was nice and after it settled a bit we decided to have pudding. I selected rhubarb crumble and custard and Mike said treacle sponge and custard. Ten seconds later they came out to say they had no rhubarb crumble  but they had rhubarb and apple. I had treacle sponge and custard.

Eventually we were able to leave our seats and stagger to the car. We were home in 20 minutes. The car was unpacked and the shopping put away. I took my courage in both hands and let Joey loose. He was very subdued for a change. At 2.00 pm I started work leaving Mike in the lounge with the TV and the bird. About 3.00 pm he came and said he wasn’t feeling well and was going back to bed to lie down. He was asleep in no time at all. I worked till just before 6.00 pm when I finally got up to date. I joined Joey in the lounge and put the light on so he could fly about again. I was watching a quiz when Mike came back through. He thinks he should see a doctor next week which I’ve said he should do this last two weekends. Finally he’s put batteries in his hearing aids.                                                                                                                                                                        I stayed there until 10.10 pm before taking my meds and coming through to attack the mail again and the blog.

Fluorescent

Sleepsuit.

Wishing you all a fantastic new week full of dreams come true and Hugs Galore.

 

Arseinthis descends & Open Rebellion.

Sunday 27th Dec.

I know I said I’m feeling somewhat better. I improve daily and return to normal. I just don’t need to rush to normal as quickly as I seem to be getting there. Are you listening Somnos? Over the Christmas period going to bed late isn’t strange, so turning my light out at 1.00 am last night after the first two chapters of my last Terry Pratchett book is normal. There was no real need though to be up and about at 3.12 am. The same messages would have waited until a bit later, until a fair bit later in fact. No-one can be surprised should I have a snooze later.

As it was, I took the opportunity to deal with my post which included kind comments on the last blog posted just last night. So hard to  believe this new blog will cover the period of a New Year. As I wasn’t having breakfast today there was no rush on taking my tablets so I hung on until I found it was almost 8.15 am. I took  everything I needed to and then carried a coffee back to my desk. As soon as the mail was clear I joined Joey in the lounge. Mike got up about 9.50 am and I made him coffee then sat aghast as he fell asleep in the chair and ignored it. How can anyone spend ten hours in bed and be tired?To be fair he wasn’t well and couldn’t bring his breathing under control. I remember being told about breathing into a bag helping   so I stuck him in a back bin bad and kept breathing till the air had gone. Didn’t seem to help so that’s one old wive’s tale to ignore in future.

There was no urgency to go out for dinner today so I made something at home and tried to get him that way. At least while he ate the lamb and sweet potato mash I managed to eat the rest of the Titterton’s Pork Pies before he announced he was peckish again. We even had a pudding of syrup  sponge and custard  just to be on the safe side. We both relaxed after lunch until Mike announced it was time he was on his way. I know he had to see his Dad before travelling back down to Rugby and home. He brought the car to the front of the hose and I helped him load up. I knew he had a bag of washing ( which I would have done had he been staying longer) so I added a bag of mine since his machine would be on anyway. That means I just have to hoover tomorrow.

I found myself watching an unusual film called Beautiful Creatures which I quite enjoyed. The ending was left open enough for a sequel I think. I’d love to see it as I like a happy ending and it showed promise. After it was over at 9.00 pm I closed Joey in , turned everything off, took my meds and came through to work. There was quite a bit of mail to cope with but I’m under no pressure.

Monday 28th Dec.

I  read until 1.00 am last night then lights out. When I woke I lay there on my back for a minute before getting up. It wasn’t that I couldn’t move, rather that I was waiting for the right moment. It appeared the right moment was 2.22 am. I laughed, ha ha at the whimsy of the gods as they must laugh at my naivety and oft times stupidity. This felt a little spiteful and way outside the capabilities of my usual crew. Given that it’s been a while since I saw them even though I have felt their capriciousness a few times, I wondered if they’d been able to learn these new skills. No, this definitely had another’s touch. Should a fresh name be added to my Pantechnicon of the gods?

Without a doubt. Arseinthis seems to have stepped aboard the bus and is looking for new worshipers to give the adoration she craves. So far that adoration seems to consist of a sewer rat that got in the way of her mental thrust and a very small budgie. As yet she’s barely 6″ tall and is hoping to catch some of the weaker minds to help her grow in stature. Small but perfectly formed as they say. Perfect if you’re an opera star I think, as that seems to have been her model. Not just any opera star though. Swathed as she is in a bedsheet with one shoulder showing, and with a bosom you could rest your teacup on. Her vanity shows through as she asks, ” Does my bum look big in this?” Immense might be a better word though already lacking sleep I hesitated to use it.

By 5.30 am I’d had enough of hearing how Arseinthis deserved to be adored and thought she was doing such a great line in self-adoration that she wouldn’t miss me. I escaped to my chair in the lounge and promptly fell asleep until 7..45 am.  It was wonderful. I went through and took my meds and had a small breakfast before bringing a coffee back to my now unoccupied room.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            I worked until I was clear about 9.15 am then got dressed and went to Pauline’s for bread. It was strange to see the road so quiet and though there was one person chatting in the shop, I didn’t meet another soul outside. I bought some crisps, bread and my cigarettes to keep me going a couple of days. I know things will be back to normal tomorrow but I won’t be taking my bus to Chester as Yvonne will be in hospital why they check her and the baby out to make sure they don’t need to operate again. She actually has her fingers crossed as it will mean 3 days complete peace and quiet in hospital. I’m hoping it will be a natural birth this time.

I returned to work until 11.00 am then went to keep Joey company and turn the TV on. We (I) watched the absolutely terrible UK version of buying lockers which haven’t been paid for. At 12.30 am when Bargain Hunt came on I had lunch. Back to normal meals Yay. After lunch I came back through here just to keep up. There was a constant stream of post from across the world. One thing that affected me deeply was the outpouring of love for my friend the beautiful Jo Robinson who lost her husband suddenly on boxing day. She’s been supportive of so many other people it’s nice the support is going in her direction now.At 4.30 pm I went back through to the lounge  until bedtime. I watched the first part of The Hobbit which though good, didn’t grip me in the way the LOTR films did. But it was the same with the books too. It was a pleasant few hours though. I was ready to turn off at 9.00 pm as usual when Joey decided to come out, hedge hop my forehead and go land on the mirror to argue with himself. I had to wait for him to go in so I could lock up, turn off and go through. That was about 9.15 pm.

Since then I’ve dealt with my post and coped with arguments with my daughter about my birthday. I want to slip a £10 max budget on a gift and limit it to a shirt. She has other ideas. I don’t want a fuss or I’m going to start believing the hype that I’m getting old. I still have an 18 years old’s brain and damn him he says he wants it back.

Cat allergy.

A life on the open road

Taken in hand by a Beautiful Woman.

Tuesday 29th Dec.

I turned my light out at 12.30 am to get to sleep sooner. It didn’t work too well as for some reason I was tossing and turning. Eventually I was away so I’m not sure I gained any sleep time. I woke at 2.17 am to a screeching in my head “But they must believe”. I saw the one with the super bosom for her tea, and tray for those behind which I hadn’t noticed somehow yesterday. She was about 4″ tall giving me hope that the sewer rat had reached the end of it’s short life or the budgie had found a more suitable recipient of it’s belief. A short time with Somnos could do that. Whatever the reason Arseinthis sounded desperate. I have to hope that there are no weak minds about. I’m so glad Mike has gone home since he’s susceptible to the siren song of a woman. Their chances with me are strictly limited since I can barely( pun intended) remember what a woman looks like. So yet again I’ve been woken for nothing.

One night last week before Christmas arrived I was just nodding off when a woman came up behind me and encircled me in her arms. The soft feeling I had in my back was enough to startle me awake. The whole thing lasted about 20 seconds which might be a record for me. Getting back to sleep proved difficult. Getting back to sleep this morning was proving just as difficult. I turned to my mail and dealt with that but it was soon done so there I was at 3.45 am with nothing to do. I got back into bed and started to read hoping that would help me drop off. All it got me was a few chapters further on in my book.                                                                                                                                      By 5.30 am I realised I’d no idea at all what I’d just read and it would be tonight’s reading again. The thing is I know what day it is. Yes it’s Tuesday but it’s also the day everyone is back in work. Under normal circumstances that would hold no fear for me but today it does.

I got out of bed and went through to the kitchen to take my meds and to have breakfast. The last few days have been no fun with the meds as I’ve wanted to vomit every time I’ve taken a drink to swallow them. I think my head is fixated on a what if scenario if the milk was off. Anyway today I decided to take the meds using Pepsi max as I usually do with my pre-foodies. Ugh, that was awful. Pepsi Max doesn’t mask the taste of tablets that start to dissolve ………… milk does.                                                                        I had two small rounds of toast that had gone cold and made a coffee to take the two after food tablets. My coffee I took back to the bedroom and has just finished the four pieces of mail in my inbox when the daily deluge started. It didn’t worry me at all today as I had time on my side.                                                                                                                         I couldn’t remember whether the DWP (Dept. Works and Pensions) started their phones from 8.00 am or 8.30 am. Normally it wouldn’t bother me as Yvonne makes and takes my calls for me but today she’s in hospital being monitored….or she was at the time. They’ve since sent her home saying they’ll start on 31st but today the head isn’t engaged. So,it falls on me to make my own phone call scary as it is. I chose to try at 8.15 am and after the usual push button 1 a few times got through to a human being. The call centre is in Scotland and I got through to a very patient person. A call that might normally take 5 minutes took 20 minutes of stuttering that annoyed  even me. The young man on the other end didn’t try to finish my sentences, allowed me plenty of time to answer his questions and was generally very helpful. I explained (again) that I NEVER answer the phone so he’d have to leave a message if he wanted something. I came off the phone a nervous wreck and totally drained but I’d claimed my state pension to start next month (January)

I returned to work for another hour or so and then at 10.35 am got dressed and went to Pauline’s to collect a free lottery ticket, my new TV magazine and a meal which for a change was steak cottage pie with mini roast spuds and veg. Pauline said it was proving popular. When I ate at noon I could see why. It did make a difference to the usual microwave dinners you get. Even Joey thought so, or at least that’s what I imagine he was saying when he sat on top of the cage bobbing up and down and squawking. Either that or he was testing the springs in his legs for a high jump and was egging himself on.

After lunch I caught up on the mail that had come in before returning to the lounge and my chair. The intention was to do an internal examination of my eyelids but despite having the TV on it seemed one of the small gods was hovering nearby, It may have been Somnos or one of his brothers or perhaps Arseinthis still smarting about some of my earlier thoughts and seeking sweet revenge. Never let it be said that the gods are benevolent, they’re as vengeful as can be. I opened my eyes and sat up attempting to take an interest in the goggle-box but it couldn’t grip me. It’s lucky I think Joey’s brain is small enough to be missed as nothing stopped him providing the entertainment I needed. At 5.00 pm I had a light tea which was good considering the amount I’ve put away over the holiday period. I watched my quiz, some film or other then turned over to watch the last hour of Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather during which he appeared in the final scenes.                                                                                                                                                    At 9.00 pm I turned off, locked Joey away and went to take my meds. That done I turned the lights out and came through for a last go at the mail and to do the blog.

I can’t find my legs. Anyone seen em?

Portrait of innocence.

Wednesday 30th Dec.

My light went out about midnight, remarkably after the antics recently of Somnos I slept until 5.17 am. I don’t know whether I dreamed the rumour that (My) Brother Jake has fixed Somnos up with Arseinthis to try and increase the stature of both. Though I’m nor sure Arseinthis could manage a change in stature without falling over. I’m not sure if goddesses get bra fittings but I’m sure hers will contain at least 3 x’s and I’m sure I’m talking kegs here. Anyway the sleep having been enjoyed it was time to get up. A visit to the Palace of Piddle first then through to  the kitchen to take my meds and have breakfast. Breakfast being a necessity today as it’s games night and no time for tea. I had a message from my friend Charlie last night that she’s made me a cake and Lis, her Mum, will be playing messenger with it today. She herself will be over to see me during the first week in January. Apparently it’s a walnut and banana cake so anyone of you who want a slice and a cuppa feel free to pop in.

Once breakfast was over I nipped a card round to Bert next door who is 70 today. He doesn’t look or act that age. He’d be out of the house to pick up his morning paper at 7.00 am. One of the best neighbours it’s possible to have, Bert collects my bins and recycling bags after collection on a Saturday and makes sure they’re safe on my porch. I started to work on my mail which this morning was way over the 100 mark with more coming in all the time. At 7.15 am I pause because the sky has just descended with a clatter outside my front door. When I checked it was the bloody wind throwing my big wheelie bin and little food waste bin around like toys. I had to fix the lid of the food waste bin. As I was finishing Bert appeared with his paper and thanked me for the card. I told him to drop in for a cuppa and some cake this morning.

In the end I didn’t see Bert because his family picked him up but Lis came with the cake. I think she remembered I’m not a fan of cake as she suggested I give it to visitors. She left about 11.30 am after a coffee as she was going out for a birthday lunch with her daughter in law. I did myself some micro chips which I had with cold meat left from Christmas. I didn’t tell Joey I had chicken on my plate. We watched a double show of Bargain Hunt together then I left to return here to work. More emails to go at. At 2.00 pm I’m intending to watch a film with Nicholas Cage who I don’t rate at all, but some of the films he’s in are good. National Treasure today.                                                                  When we reached 2.00 pm I got a text from Mike to say he was on his way. That meant about a 4.30 pm arrival. I started watching the film and at 3.30 pm Dil arrived unexpectedly. I made him a cup of tea and we chatted about Christmas as we watched the film, Dil having said to leave it on as he enjoys that type of film. It finished about 4.00 pm but we left it as the film Monsters inc was due on which would bide out time till Mike arrived.

Dil heard the door about 4.30 pm so I went and put the kettle on. Someone walked in wearing Mike’s face but carrying fruit so I knew it wasn’t him. These aliens are devilish clever. Anyway, we needed the third player now so the TV went off and out came the Yahtzee.The first 6 games I was swindled and bamboozled as the pair of them got Yahtzee after Yahtzee with no effort and I just played wallflower round the edges. I think Mike won 4-2 over Dil and I just got nowhere. The second set of 6 started badly I recall but then I felt the tingle in my throwing arm. Once we realised it wasn’t a stroke I threw and actually got a Yahtzee. Huh, I made it look so easy as to be criminal. I won three games but only drew the match.

Out came the 20th year Anniversary edition of Trivia. Surely I could show my mastery here. But no, as the game came to an end, despite me having answered lots of questions, some of them even correctly, Dil had 5 pieces of pie, Mike had 4 pieces and I was drowning in the shallow end with just 3. Like I said, swindled and bamboozled. Dil went home at 9.30 pm and I sat with Mike to watch 2 episodes of Would I lie to You. Believe me, they would. After that I was able to come through to do the blog and answer my outstanding mail which was at 79 at that pint. I will be in  bed for midnight though.

Thursday 31st Dec.

OK, this morning I was in open rebellion, I just wasn’t sure who against. I got to bed around 12.15 am. I started to read but was visited by Mike who wanted to show me something(s) on his tablet. It turned out to be shoes, wingtip, co-respondent, two tone call them what you will. He finally left me about 1.00 am which left me smoking a cigarette and half way through a chapter. I read on. The book went down and light went off at 1.15 am.                                                                                                                                              I was sitting on the edge of the bed wondering why I was awake at 2.44 am. When trying to go back to sleep didn’t work I fired up my poorly sick computer and visited the bank to check my money had gone in (it had) and then to gmail to see what was waiting for me.

At 4.12 am I was still wide awake but currently finished. I decided to sit in my chair in the lounge and see if I could nod off there. Maybe Joey could keep at bay whoever it was who delighted in keeping me awake. I did manage it and didn’t wake until 6.25 am when I just went straight through to the kitchen for my meds and a coffee. I didn’t linga longa for breakfast as I knew there would be plenty of mail to have a go at. I wasn’t wrong and just ploughed straight in. I had no idea what time Mike would get up or when we would go out so I needed as little work as possible waiting for me when I came home. Plus, Yvonne was going in hospital this morning  and I didn’t know how long everything would take,

Mike’s alarm went off at 7.30 am which was a big surprise. It only took going off three times to get him up too. But first I took him a drink through and made sure I woke him as well.  We left the house before 8.30 am with the intention of going to Chester and I hadn’t at that time made much of a dent in the mail. Part way into the journey I suggested we detour slightly and go to Broughton Park . If we couldn’t get what Mike needed there we could just pick up where we left off. There’s a shoe shop Mike is quite dismissive of but I persuaded him to look anyway . Lo and behold he was lucky and for a lot less than we’d looked elsewhere. He wanted trainers to start a weight loss programme next week. Personally I think his heart will explode and that’s the only way he’ll get rid but watch this space as I may be forced to eat my words. While we were out we visited a farm shop cafe for a sausage sandwich breakfast. Very nice it was too.                                                                                                                                                                              We had a really good look around Broughton Park and I bought a few gifts. Then we move on again heading for Chester but this time detoured to have lunch at a big Supermarket. The fates intervened.

We’d just started lunch when my phone went…..I missed it. It was Yvonne so Mike rang on his phone. Long story short as most of you will know is that my new granddaughter was born at 12.20 pm after Yvonne had a section. Amelie Rose was 9lb 3oz. It was just before 2.00 pm so we said we’d be over to the hospital in a flash. I was able to buy a beautiful bouquet, some chocolates (though I’m sure wine would have been more welcome) and some cards. We wrote the cards in the car with the rain bouncing off the roof again. We were at the hospital by 2.30 pm and went to the ward where eventually we were told Yvonne hadn’t been brought up yet, just sit over there till she’s here. We did and it was 5.00 pm before she was brought up looking tired and in pain. The baby was beautiful, well, ugly in the way most new babies are ugly but beautiful nonetheless.

A beauty all of her own.

It was 8.00 pm before we got home and brought some light to my budgies life. I started work for a while, Mike watched TV. Eventually I took a break and had a sandwich but when a film came on Mike wanted to see I left him to it and returned to work for the rest of the night. It’s been non-stop. Late in the day now but close enough for me to wish all of you a Happy New Year. I hope it’s to be a fantastic year for you all.

Friday 1st  Jan.

Well, here we are on New Year’s Day and we’ve survived another year. I didn’t stay up last night to usher in the New Year but I got to bed just before the midnight moment. Mike stood outside and watched the fireworks for a few minutes then came in and wished me a Happy New Year. After he’d gone I resumed my reading till 1.00 am. Lights off I found sleep. Wakefulness found me at 2.10 am. I went through to the loo and found that Mike was still awake and playing on his tablet. His meds weren’t helping him find sleep , mainly because he had forgotten to take them I found. I went back to bed and read a little more until about 2.45 am I tried again for sleep. My wish was granted and I slept until 4.04 am. I checked on Mike and found him well away and using his buzz saw.

I worked on mail until 5.00 am then it being Friday I went through to take my meds and to prepare my drug trays for the next week. When I came back it was with coffee in hand. It was only 5.45 am so I had 25 minutes before the onslought. Because I’d caught up with last night’s mail I was able to mess about on ebay looking for the shoes Mike wants. On the subject of last night’s mail, I don’t think another post has had the response of last night’s announcement. Even when Ju passed I don’t remember such an outpouring of kindness. It was like the switchboard lighting up in a very large hotel there were so many comments. Thank you everyone.                                                                  The influx at 6.10 am brought 117 messages to deal with. That was OK. I was in and had the time. At 8.40 am when I’d caught up I took a walk out to get new lottery tickets only to find Pauline’s wasn’t open. I knew I’d have to ask Mike a favour and see if he’d pick them up for me or perhaps nip me somewhere before he had to leave to see his Dad. I came back to carry on working for a while.

#CHAMPIONSAWARDS    When I returned to the mail  I was surprised and delighted to find I’d been given a new award and had been sponsored by the founder Seumas Gallacher.. I haven’t been accepting awards for some time but accepting this gives me the ideal opportunity to pointedly recognise some deserving people. This is part of thr reason for the award’s creation……………. there are already gazillions of splendid Awards, recognising the goodness of so many of our fellow scribblers and readers… supporters all in their own way, worthy of a thousand special ‘thank you’ nods… the intent of these CHAMPIONS AWARDS is to differentiate those fine people who go that extra special mile for others… my fervent hope is that this will circulate and ‘viralise’ (new WURD, Mabel, settle down) and trigger your own CHAMPIONS AWARDS for those you know deserve it :                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         The rules are simple.

Recipients, if you choose to accept and wish to propagate the CHAMPIONS AWARDS, please do the following:

1. Post this Award Sticker on your blog, with the hashtag #CHAMPIONSAWARDS
2. Acknowledge the sponsor of your Awards.
3. Choose at least five of your own nominees and advise them accordingly, attaching these 5 guidelines.
4. Keep it simple… no need for explanations for the Awards… we know how great these folks are.
5. You are free to give out these Awards as frequently as you wish.

My Nominees are. Paula Acton of paulaacton.com/   Fiza Pathan of http://www.fizapathan.com/    Rob Goldstein of http://robertmgoldstein.com/    Laine Anne Jensen  of http://frommidnighttodawnlight.com/  and Melanie Marttila of Writerly Goodness at http://melaniemarttila.ca/  The list is not an indication that these are the only worthies as those are too numerous to list now but each of my friends above occupies a little niche that helps others. There may be more to follow.

At about 9.15 am I was straight again and went to sit in the lounge. It must have been just minutes before I was asleep. At some point Mike was there. I got an hello in before I was off again. I was expecting him to be off to his Dad’s today as usual but through the fog I heard he’d changed his mind and would go on Sunday instead. When I asked about lunch he said that’s why he was waking me up so I climbed my way back to consciousness. We settled on lunch in Prestatyn at the CookHouse then on to look at the sale at the Tweed Mill in St.Asaph.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Outside the CookHouse we saw a sign that said O.A.P.s got a reduced carvery Mon to Fri. We joked and said we wondered if today counted as it’s a Bank Holiday and also whether reduced meant the price or the quantity.  It turned out we got the reduced price today so Mike treated us to lunch , it also turned out the quantity was less (the meat) too but not enough to matter.

We had a ride to the Tweed Mill where Mike got a nice fleece for after the gym, I think he wants to look sporty. We had a good look round and stopped for a coffee in the tower coffeehouse but as time was getting on we decided to come home to Joey. We were back about 4.30 pm and obviously I had to come to work straight away having wasted the morning. I still managed to get some TV in during the evening, watching Judge John Deed with Mike. Then it was back here again with plenty to do.

Saturday 2nd Jan.

It was almost 12.45 am when I finished my Pratchett book. As always I was sorry I had, though this time I think there was some story missing compared to the usual Discworld books. Lights off ready to sleep. I was up for the loo as early as 2.20 am but managed to settle down again afterwards. Then it was 4.38 am and up. Not an unreasonable time compared to recent nights. Mike thinks that 7.00 am is still the middle of the night so perhaps I should complain more. He still doesn’t believe there are two seven o’clocks in the same day.Then he surprises me. His alarm went off at 6.15 am. I waited until it went off the second time before taking a coffee through thinking the second one may wake him a bit. It was the fifth one that finally forced him out of bed to fall asleep in his chair in the lounge.  I just turned the overhead light on and left him. He’s be ready when he was ready. Blow me, by 7.25 am we were on our way.

I bought flowers first in the supermarket, then bedding in the form of sheet and pillowcases then a beautiful little pink frilly dress with matching knickers and with pink roses sewn on all round. My bill was rising even before I got near the food. At the till eventually Mike’s grin got bigger as the bill did. We went for coffee. I bought a couple of cube photo frames on our way out into yet another day of rain.                                                                                                                                                                                                                          We headed for Flint and had a look round a couple of shops for some particular style of joggers Mike wanted but the legs were all far too long for him. We headed for Temptations and our friends where we got New Year hugs and kisses and thanks for the watches I got as Christmas gifts this year. They were liked. When it was time to go we headed off towards home then Mike detoured ti have lunch in Holywell. We settled on the Chippie so he could have fish. I settled on sausage and chips with…you guessed it….curry sauce. Very nice too.

Once the meal was finished we came home to unpack the bags and let Joey out. I was a wee bit annoyed that the recycling hadn’t been collected as I didn’t want to bring the bags which were now soaked through back into the house. We put the shopping away and tried to encourage Joey to say hello but his back was turned to us for hours. Mike settled with his tablet to watch his team play while I came to work and tried to made a dent in the 65 I’d left behind this morning plus what had come in between times. I did pretty well and was through with Mike by about 5.00 pm. When I say with him, I mean more in body than in spirit since I put a film on TV for us and promptly fell asleep. At least I was awake for the end and to turn over for the Iron Man 3 movie which I slept through as well. He didn’t complain too much as it seems I’m far noisier with the coughing when I’m awake.

At 9.00 pm I came back through away from the temptation to sleep and started work instead. I hope by the time I get through in here I’ll be tempted to sleep again, just in the right place next time.

The Wee One

Beautiful Grandbaby

 

 

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.

 

 

You need Hands

Sunday. After the flooding of yesterday I knew I could get into no further trouble today if I sat quietly all morning and did e.mails and designed a few Christmas cards. The mails were mainly from you  lovely people who’d commented on the blog and in some cases left me with a large smile. There were however two other messages that piqued my interest, one to tell me I’ve won a book in a rafflecopter draw and asking me what format I’d prefer it in ( what’s a rafflecopter?) and the other one from a Nigerian business man who’s found a way to bilk the British Government in some complicated scheme to have me send them some goods and claim an allowance before they send them back and get a refund from the person we bought them off. I may have got this wrong because in all honesty the Zzzz’s were drifting in front of my face before I’d finished reading. What’s the equivalent of the chalk marks tramps and gypsies used to use to mark the pavement outside a gullible nice person’s house. I swear someone has marked my computer only it’s more like the way a dog marks it’s territory.                                                                                                                                                                                                          Yvonne, Ugo and Reuben were picking me up for lunch about eleven thirty. The morning’s rain had stopped and so I put my shoes on ready to step outside and watch for them. I don’t use the crutches just to stand by the door so I opened up, went to clasp my hands behind my back and wallop I hit something. I half turned and saw a T-light candle holder in the shape of a pair of hands sail past my side. The relief was palpable as they landed on the carpet and my sigh was accompanied by an inaudible chuckle as they bounced, hovered on the lip of the step and dropped to smash into more pieces than I had glue for. I don’t understand why the Gods hate me, I sacrificed an apple to them only ten years or so ago. I swept up dejectededly as I really loved those hands. Such character they had. The car drew up outside so I grabbed my jacket and sticks, locked up and went to lunch. Yvonne reminded me I’d suggested lunch and a visit to the Tweed Mill to see their Christmas shop.There’s no way we’d eat lunch there as it’s very overpriced for a simple cafeteria area. We ate at the Dragon’s Rest ( sorry Mike, I know it used to be ‘Our’ place) where Reuben came to life and watched every mouthful I ate giving me a terrible conscience, probably as intended. The food was great and as soon as we finished it was time to move on. The Tweed Mill was crowded. Yvonne walked round cursing me for taking her there, (like I even drive), while Ugo and Reuben walked round looking bored. After the Christmas shop Yvonne and I left Ugo to have a cuppa and a cake while she and I walked round the gift section. Being good the only thing I bought was a picture frame for them about being married to your best friend. We caught up with the boys and headed home where I gave them the clothes I’d bought yesterday, some owl wall stickers and the books that had come for Yvonne. I gave them chance to read while I held Reuben up to the mirror to be fascinated by himself. They left about 4.pm and I dealt with mail till it was time to eat then I settled down to watch the last half of one of the feelgood movies that are on around now. Back to emails because tonight I’m staying up late by watching a film that doesn’t start till 9.pm.’ The Book of Eli.’ After that it’s an hours read and then hopefully some sleep. Bet you all wish your life was this exciting.

Monday. Monday morning brings a curtain of rain first thing. I looked out of the window to see if it was snow and the predicted Arctic from had arrived, but no it was rain and everything was still pitch black. I dealt with emails fairly quickly because there were no marriage arrangements to ponder but I did check my bank account and don’t understand why the millions haven’t arrived yet. Mind you, my account was still intact too but that could have been my accidental slip in providing a completely bogus name and account number and directing them to the fraud office of the bank. I had half an hour on ebay looking at gadgets and was very impressed ( I’m a child) with the finger lights that look fantastic when you wave your hands around in the dark. The light seems to follow behind so it looks like you’re writing.                                           At about 9.0am I tried dodging raindrops as I dashed ( har de har) to the corner shop for bread. I was soaked six feet from my front door. It’s just as well I’m shrink proof. It was odd while I was  there and noticed a bottle of Lucozade.-for those who don’t know what it is, count yourselves lucky. A friend(?) and I had also discussed this in emails and I was reminded that as a small child of about 5 years, I won 6 small bottles of this drink for singing Nellie the Elephant on the pier at Hastings. I think the prize was one bottle and the other five bribery to make me stop singing the chorus. I always wonder if the people have ever returned to Hastings since then. Another memory that slips into replace that is of the ‘penny machines’ where you’d flip a lever and propel a steel ball towards a set of metal chutes above. If it went inthe right hole you could win a cigarette, Woodbines or Players I think. How times change. On similar machines ( for those in the UK- anyone else STOP READING) you could also win a packet of Spangles. If you’re about my age you may remember them. The Old English with a peculiar brown one that tasted of cough medicine, or the fantastic Acid Drop ones that I still yearn for today. Where was I? Oh yes, Hastings Pier. Believe it or not but I had a fine singing voice when young, it’s the Welsh blood. I was selected to sing in the choir at St.George’s Church in Stockport when I was about eleven but we moved away soon after and I’m assured there was no connection. I remember having a tape a  friend and I made when I was in my early twenties where we sang Beatle’s songs to backing music. I’m quite sure Yvonne never believed it was me.                                   More Christmas parcels arrived during the day and I’m getting quite smug now.                                                                                                                                                                                            Doing emails this evening I came across one that had a music video of Men Without Hats- Safety Dance. That set me on a music of the 80’s evening while I finished my comments. So, just to copy the idea,I leave you with one of my favourites ( of Oh so many) of that era. Enjoy !                                                                                                                             http://youtu.be/OvMoRVrqx_I

Tuesday. I’m not sure if it was even worth going to bed last night as I was awake at 3.50 am. I’d woken up gasping for breath as in the dream I’d last had I’d just finished making a strange kind of surf n’ turf meal with a moules marinieres sauce which I’d then tasted knowing how allergic I am to seafood. I’d hate to have my dreams translated as I also remember last night a sequence where for some strange reason I found myself designing and making a ladies nightie with a matching housecoat. It was in some kind of black lace and quite sheer. If anyone in Prudes United ever hears about it, I’ll be drummed out. The rain was lashing down outside doing a continuous drum roll on the roof. This is on of those times to regret being in a bungalow as you don’t have an upper storey to shield you from the noise. Obviously it was pitch black outside still so abandoning custom I made an early coffee and settled with my mail. No proposals, no cons today ( at least so far) though all the world want to sell me insurance and an inordinate number of businesses are now following me on Pinterest.                                                                                                                                                           COMMERCIAL BREAK- For any of you authors interested in getting your books on any of my Pinterest boards, check here   http://www.pinterest.com/lorddavid/   and let me know what board you want. If a particular Nationality like New Zealand writers for example isn’t there for you it can always be created.                                                           The rain has ceased by the time it was getting light at 7.30 so Yvonne and I agreed to meet at  Broughton Park for a day’s shopping. ( She’s a terrible influence on me). We met by Tesco’s at 9.30 and headed straight for the escalator  up to the cafe. I parked Reuben by my table while Yvonne went to the counter to order. He was happily asleep. Yvonne told me he’d had a nine hour night and instead of getting some rest she’d stayed awake worrying  about him not screaming at feed time.I hope as Reuben starts to get into a sleeping habit, she will too. Coffee over we mooched round the clothes section but amazingly bought nothing.Then back down the escalator ( no, not the same one) to the Christmas gift , decorations and food sections where we – by which I mean I- was well controlled again.  Outside into the very nippy air I managed a cigarette before looking round British Home Stores  admiring all their house wares and their unusual Christmas gift section. They had some lovely hampers.With the lack of movement of the pram- though not a lack of movement from him, phewee, Reuben started to wake. We started a brink walk towards lunch an baby changing facilities. I hoped a burst of speed might confuse people as to where the smell was coming from but really I was more concerned they didn’t think it was me. Costa provided the light lunch and a drink we needed and the information centre where they’re based gave Yvonne the chance to change Reuben though the swap she got still looked suspiciously like him.  You can see what you think if I decide to post any pictures this week for his fan club, my exes.                                                                                                                                         Before leaving today I’d put on my patented super slimmer vest  with the reinforced, armadillo-like plating.There had been a fair amount of screaming and swearing, some of it from me. As I was walking round the shops I noticed it wasn’t doing a very good job of holding my stomach in. What  it did do however was reduce the small band of fat just above my hips. This was a problem as that was all that was between me and a degree of embarrassment if my trousers fell down. Keeping a steady walk with the crutches and attempting to raise the waistline of my trousers was an art form in dexterity I don’t want again.                                                                                                               I shan’t bore you with details of other shops we went round and a period where Reuben decided he wanted to be carried and then put in the baby sling but needless to say a few bags somehow got filled.  By the time it came to depart I had a full backpack as well as two large carrier bags trying to hinder my walking.  The Christmas shopping may be going well but it’s certainly no doddle. I was home in time to catch an old episode of the Mentalist and have a meal, snake and pygmy with mashed potatoes followed by some tinned pineapple- out of the tin for the sake of my teeth- an then into battle with the day’s messages. There were 139 but crying didn’t help so I got stuck in leaving just 6 when 8.55 pm arrived and a new episode of the current Mentalist. I relaxed and enjoyed myself with a bar of extremely nice totally diabetic friendly Cadbury’s chocolate. 10.00 pm and it was back into battle. The 6 were now 42 which kept me up till 11.30 when it’s time to relax with my book for a while. The very excellent Conn Iggulden’s Wars of the Roses. Goodnight all.

Pongy Nappy

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Wednesday. Early morning, rain, rain and more rain. Someone loves me again and wants me to look after her inheritance since her parents died in an horrific plane crash ( easily verifiable she tells me) and they always wanted her to  marry well. She just needs to get the money out of the clutches of her wicked guardian and she’s going to need a lawyer and my bank a/c details. …….. At 9.00 am the rain stopped and I went to the post office to send a phone flip case to my niece. I think the postmaster kept his finger on the scale when he told me the postage would be more than the case cost and they’d included postage in that. I lightened my wallet considerably, wiping the tears from my eyes as I did so then I headed back home. The first message I opened on my return was from a crook. I hope my bank manager isn’t like this…………………

Assalamu alaikum,

My name is Mr. Hamzaki Mourad, I am a staff working with the Bank Of Africa here 
in Ouagadougou,Burkina Faso. I want you to help me in receiving the sum of 
Twenty Secen Million Two Hundred thousand Dollars ($27,200,000) into your Bank 
Account. This fund was deposited in the bank here by a foreign customer who died 
accidentally alongside with his entire family members many years ago. Nobody had 
asked for this fund till now.

If you are interested, you have to provide an account where the fund will be 
remitted because i am highly interested to secure this money from the Bank. 
Please you can contact me immediately to start the transfer process. Further 
details about the fund and this transaction will be given to you upon the 
receipt of your response.

Please understand that we have to hurry-up our actions because the bank 
authority here has plans to redeposit this fund into the treasury of the Central 
Government as unclaimed fund if nobody applies for this fund after the next bank 
audit which will begin here soon. I await your urgent reply.

send me the information’s
Your full names.........................
Address,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Age,,,,,,,,,,,,,
profession,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Your photo................

Mr. Hamzaki Mourad
Bank Of Africa
Ouagadougou - Burkina Faso

I’m not sure  how much twenty secen million is though. The day passed pretty much without incident except maybe at lunchtime when I had a Shepherd’s Pie ( I just hope he never catches me). I was so eager that when I bit into it I burnt my tongue and my lip. They naturallly swelled a little so when Dilwyn and Matthew arrived for their game early I had to regale them with my brave struggle against the mystery assailant before we could play a game. Naturally it’s the fault of my damaged lip that Dil started his Scrabble game with a seven letter word on a double word score and got something ridiculous like 156. I went next with a brave and challenging 12 followed by Matt who’s barely old enough to know any words who hammered me again with a 28 or something. All I’m going to say is I fought hard and lost. The second game Dil started with just 24 but even then my tongue only managed 12 and Matt a 24.  Matthew won. I called a break and made a drink. After that I pulled out the new but original game of Trivial Pursuit I’d bought on Ebay. My faulty reasoning was Matthew wouldn’t know the answers to questions set back in the 80’s and Dil would only be able to answer the ones he was interested in then. Within minutes my tongue and lip were aware I had a game on my hands and those two begg my brother and nephew had two portions of pie each. Even an afternoons’s swotting wasn’t helping ( joke). I took it up a gear and showed my age class by winning the game. Honours even.

Thursday. Horror of horrors. I opened my emails this morning and received an invitation to have a woman at my side as soon as I wanted. Young, nubile and ready to ‘swing’ into ‘action’, she didn’t offer marriage or millions of pounds. Does she think I’ll sell myself so cheaply on the alter of ‘Nookie’?( Probably). Someone recently offered to let me read The Perfumed Garden and I had to explain I’ve not graduated from the allotment yet. Anyway, after I’d sobbed my heart out at being thought such easy prey, I went out to the shop. The cash machine was empty and I was reduced to pulling the fluff out of my pockets to find enough cash to pay for my lottery ticket. I’d not been home a few minutes when MuJo arrived. I made coffees and opened my morning post that had nearly hit John on the back of his leg as it shot through the letterbox. I’ll have to tell the postwoman to ease up on those steroids. We chatted for a while or to be more accurate I listened for a while as John was very enthusiastic about some Christmas Cards I’d designed and printed for him. I can understand why his came out fine but when I tried to do mine the printer wouldn’t take the good card and on the card it would take, the ink soaked in. We went to town. I got cash from the bank machine then left  my watch at a market stall to get a new battery and headed off to lunch at Kassidy’s. Roast pork dinner today with crackling but I know Christmas is getting close as my plate was adulterated with sprouts. An abomination before me on my plate. Ugh! I made a formal complaint to the management and left hastily before he heard me. With all three of us claiming to be full to bursting we headed off to Flint. MuJo wanted to look at box freezers in case they get snowed in this year. They’ve already had their first snowfall so it’s entirely possible.We went in at least four shops that don’t sell freezers where I was able to get a few bits and bobs ( very useful things are bits and bobs) before we headed for a coffee. At least I had a coffee while those two had a chocolate indulgence which is like another meal with all the cream and marshmallows on top. John added a scone to his list. Finally we went to a shop that sells freezers via a catalogue ( Argos for my UK friends) and bought one for delivery next week. By the time we got back it was getting dark. I showed John how to adjust volume on computers and they left for home. I had twenty minutes mail before watching my Mentalist. Between 8.oo pm and 11.05 pm it’s been emails and this post. Time to read my book now I think.

OK, I’m just being needlessly cruel now.

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Friday. I don’t know why I woke so early this morning but I know I was never happier to see seven o’clock as by the time it arrived I was down to my last two cigarettes and they’d last me till about five past the way I was feeling today. I suppose you could call it On Edge. One email I received told me that a gift I’d ordered two weeks ago isn’t in stock despite showing as being in stock at the time of he order. Two emails later I’m informed new stock won’t be arriving until about December 12th. This is a main present and as such is very important and not easy to replace. I have no choice but to wait and see but I’m not happy at being let down at this stage.                                      The in appears my popularity has taken another nose dive as there are no marriage proposals today though I suppose it’s possible that Nigeria is currently empty of women all flying off to get married….yeah, right !  The postman called with a parcel I’ve been looking forward to, a pair of the most ludicrous slippers I’ve ever bought and believe me the competition has been tough. The joy I’ll get out of seeing the recipients face when their parcel is opened. Why, I’m even thinking of gift wrapping it to build the tension.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Half past eleven I received a text from Mike, “On way” it said. Knowing he was over two hours away, probably over three if he drives within the speed limits, I was able to have a liesurely lunch and then for pudding eat all the loose chocolate biscuits he might otherwise pinch. I feel sick now. I must have nodded a little because I just heard the front door opening and it made me sit upright. I might as well pretend to be alert now I’m in this position.                                                                                                                                We had a good afternoon’s natter till I applied his gag so I could see The Mentalist. Then I made some sandwiches for tea after which the gannet ate my last two Christmas puddings with custard. He was kind enough to come through to wash my hair then I had a shower and made coffees.( Not in the shower, I made those in the kitchen). We talk a lot Mike and I, generally throwing insults at each other but friends don’t generally come much closer than we are. After 40 years we know each other inside out. It therefore pained me to tell him I could no longer have him coming at the weekends if he keeps telling me he only eats my chocolate because he doesn’t want the loose bars to get lonely. About 11.00pm I came through to finish my mail before bed. Shopping in the morning so I’ll need to be up early.

Saturday. Early rising as predicted. I hadn’t thought it would be as early as 4.40 am but it’s not like I have a choice. I turn the computer on and walk down the hall towards the loo. It’s not an easy journey as Mr ‘I don’t snore’ was breathing heavily with accompanying noises. Every time he breather out I was pushed back the way I’d come, when he breather in I was able to make some progress. Eventually I lowered myself to the carpet where I thought I’d off er the least resistance and made it before I wet myself. I just finished my mail at 7.10 when I almost had a heart attack after hearing Mike get up without an alarm and without me using a crowbar. I made us both a coffee and while he sat in his chair looking like a mini Buddha, stomach resting on his knees, I collected the rubbish to put out for collection. When he spoke I put him back down again. Despite having managed to drag himself from his pit we were still late going out at 8.00am.                                                                                                                                Shopping didn’t take too long as my list was short today. We drove to Flint where he could have a coffee and leer at Ceri in the cafe. Daniel told me his brothers, my friends Adam and Richard are singing the anthem at the Australia-Fiji match this afternoon. I’ll miss it unfortunately but I’m looking forward to the release of their Christmas album soon. After a lovely hug and a kiss from Ceri we took the shopping home and unpacked. By now it had gone mid-day so we set off for Colwyn Bay and lunch, a visit to a specific shop and also to meet our friend. Mike and I had actually finished eating before Brian arrived so we took the chance to look round a charity shop . They’re all so dear now and far from the old days of all donated things, there’s so much new stock in them now. Brian finished and joined us we all had a wander round a little of the local market and through the shopping precinct ( Mall) until Mike went to get a sim card from the car for Brian’s phone. That done we said our goodbyes and headed our separate ways. We stopped off t look at a Christmas shop in a garden centre on the way which was a chance of a drink and I enjoyed a milk shake for a real change. It was only after we got home I remembered we hadn’t been to the shop we’d traveled to Colwyn Bay for.                                                                                                   An attack on emails, some tea and then a relax with the TV alongside the usual insult sessions filled up most of the evening. Time to finish off here now so I have time for a read. But I must just remind you first that when sending your fan mail some of you think my name is Reuben.  That’s OK. I’ll accept it under any name now as I appreciate your efforts.

Huge Hugs and I wish you all A  Great Week