Good morning Micheal and all Gn's from a dry still morning, with sun coming up , but joy of joy we have had some rain in the night, and although it doesnt look as though we will get any more, there has been enough to make the ground look a better colour, and this will mean that if we get a downpour (please!) the water will soak into the soil and not run away on rock hard ground. So grateful for every drop!
It is not often I forget to put the rubbish out , but this morning, after another rotten night, I was really struggling to move about and was wishing for some human use WD40, came into the kitchen and saw it still there. I got it tied up and hobbled out to hopefully get it in my shed before the dustbin men arrived, but no, they have been and gone! A bit irritating but the wonderful dampness of things cheered me up, and I was back inside to hear blessed J S Bach before 7 on radio 3. So that was a joy in itself and good to be slowly getting back into some sort of normality.
Just wish I could have a decent nights sleep. Last night it was so close, I couldnt get off to sleep, and woke three times in the night, and I cant seem to get out of this poor pattern, so start the day weary already. Remember the three wishes the fairy godmother would offer you? When people would wish for treasure and a handsome prince or whatever. My wishes these days would be much simpler . 1. Not even asking for permanent freedom from pain but could I have a precious hour of my choice every day. 2. To be able to go to sleep when I needed to and to sleep straight through and 3, the ability perhaps once a week, to be able to make decisions, without constant worrying about them and to be able to take action and then go on to something else. Ah well very unlikely to happen so must just creak on and make the most of whatever good comes my way.
Was hoping for a better night as I was out and about yesterday, but my back didnt improve all day and was a frustration and a pain the whole day. But at least I did manage to get a few things done, that have been waiting for a cooler day to sort out. I had had a letter from the doctors, about someone coming to see me here, unless I cancelled it, or needed to change the time. Had already had an email asking me to make a double appointment for my years diabetes check up which also includes getting weighed, blood test etc etc, but I had been holding off in the very hot weather. So I tried to ring the surgery to book the diabetes appointment and cancel the other one. Tried 4 times , and every time the recording about ringing 999 if you were having symptoms of heart attack came on, but then the flipping thing went dead. Knew it wasnt my phone , as had used it for something else, and decided that I would have to go in person, before my intended trip out, and also then I could alert the receptionist. If there is an intermittent fault on their line, that could be causing a lot of hassle for people and yet if no one lets you know what is happening you may not be aware of the problem. Having been head of communications in various companies, I know how irritating that is.
So I gathered up my shopping list and bits and pieces , hobbled out to the car, and duly went to the drs., and sorted out the various things , got my appointment booked and then set off for Thirsk to try to carry on with my plans. First stop was at the Tesco garage, where I am able to hold up my blue badge and give a little toot on the horn, and someone comes out to fill me up. Standing still filling the car is always hard and painful for me, but yesterday there was no way I could have attempted it. The nice man came out with a smile and I asked him to fill it up, and I was struggling so much that I had only just got into the shop to pay, when he was back there! But I had the 5% off voucher to help. Not a lot but anything worth having. Then on to the bigger Tesco store, with fingers crossed that their disabled buggy was not out of order. I usually ask for the key at the desk and sort it out myself but had to ask the lady to get it for me and bring it to me, which she kindly did and I was relieved to be able to get on it.
They have another offer if you spend £60 for fuel, and so I set off round the bigger shop, complete with Clubcard, to take my time and get what I needed , but also allowed me to do a bit of browsing too. I got quite a lot of things that I needed and planned for , and a few other staples that can go in the cupboard etc. I put stuff in the basket but also take a small tesco bag to put things like yoghurt , bread and small items into. That means that when I get to the checkout, I can empty all those bits and pieces onto the conveyor belt easily, without attempting to scrabble into the far corners of the basket to reach the elusive bits, and saves time too. It was very busy and at least there were more checkouts, but again they have taken 3 checkouts to be a do it yourself, where a rather bored member of staff stood watching the one and only person using them while we had to queue for longer!!
I try to be very organised, with bags at the ready, clubcard offered first , so that they then kindly pack things into the bags for me as they go along and that way we get as organised as possible. So my turn came and we proceeded quite well, until we got to the end and she said " you are 82p short of the £60, do you want some chewing gum or something. I asked her to give me a bottle of water to make up the amount, and apologized to the lady behind for holding up the queue, but she was fine and so ,hurrah, shopping sorted and another petrol voucher.
I had to ask for someone to come out to the car with me, so that I could drive across to it with all the bags of shopping, and they kindly put it into the boot for me and then drove the buggy back. Felt absolutely shattered, and in such a lot of pain that I had to just sit there until it eased off a bit. Decided I couldnt manage to walk around anywhere else, so firstly treated myself to a very nice hot sausage sandwich , for lunch ,with the local good butchers sausage, and then drove around the car park in the main square until I was able to at last get a space, and hobble into Cafe Nero, and found a chair that I could sit in and had arms so that I could get out again!
The staff there know me quite well, and so I was able to wait until someone was clearing tables and giving her my china mug, asked her to get my coffee when she had a moment as there was no way I could have stood at the counter. So quite a successful trip, but I had had enough and other plans were ditched. Sat there for a good half hour, enjoying my coffee and recuperating, and watching the world go by. Then made my way home and left the shopping in the boot until I felt up to carrying things. Much too weary to do any cooking or standing up in the kitchen, but I had found a kipper in the reduced basket and that only took just over two minutes done in the microwave, and no standing about. With fresh bread and butter and some frozen peas, it made a nice change and no great effort. Watched the quiz programmes, I enjoy having a go at Only Connect, and the general knowledge part of Mastermind, and if I have any knowledge in the specialist areas quite chuffed if I can answer any of those too. So after that went to bed with hopes of a good night. Ah well cant have it all.
I am still struggling, and so not making any plans for the day. It will be doing a slow sorting out of the kitchen as and when I am up to it, but I have my fold up chair by the door, and if we get another lovely shower, I shall wait for it to finish and then enjoy just sitting out and enjoying the fresher air and looking at the perked up gardens. Just seen the squirrel doing his normal running along the fence and up into the tree. With the heat we have had lately haven seen any sign of him for some time.
Slightly perturbed as I have sent a couple of emails to my son, and had no reply or phone call for a few days, so I will try and think when he might be having his lunch and see if I can ring him. If the weather change is improving we might be able to arrange a meet up somewhere, as I havent seen the family at all for quite a while, with their plans and the hot weather combining to stop us organising anything. Would like to see them for a day before the holidays end as it is the big change over this year for my grandson, who is moving up to secondary schooling. He is actually going to be going to the school that my son was at, but will be missing many of his present classmates and will also be starting to go on the school bus etc etc., so it is that big step for him. Even if they know where they are going and like the idea, there is always so much to get used to. Not sure what the school does now, but the other big change from junior school, was always having to carry bags with your books etc around with you to different classrooms, and getting use d to that new routine, not having your own desk in one room, so lots to get used to, more independance, more self reliance and of course a longer school day with further travelling too. It doesnt seem that long since I was waving my son off on that first morning himself. I think I shall route around in my photos and see if I can find one to show my grandson when we meet. He might like to see what dad looked like in those ancient far off days!
So glad to hear you are feeling a bit better Mick and hope you have a successful trip out.Mernice, welcome to the GN group. Take your time and you will soon be joining in . You will find many people on here , who have had similar experiences to you, and there are always many kind people with good ideas and happy to offer help and support at any time of day. I live alone, and the good morning posts make me feel that I have friends to share good news or problems with, and I enjoy following their lives too. This is my main thing I join in on, and when I am having a tough day physically, I can con my brain into thinking I am choosing to write and read the posts by choice, and not that I am frustrated that I cant get moving about yet. Then during the day , I look at other posts and add my two pennorth to whatever I am interested in. You will find all sorts of things to read on GN.
The other day I had seen a short piece on tv about an exhibition in I think it was Lymington, of Mr Benn drawings etc. I used to love that and so rather sad it was too far to go there myself but put it on here to tell others. It started a lovely lot of memories of wonderful childrens tv that we loved and so if you look that post up, there are great reminders of Bagpuss, Postman Pat, Noggin the nog and the clangers and so many more. Some lovely things to think about in this time of bad news fire and earthquakes So come and join us. There are many people who enjoy reading the posts but dont normally post themselves, and they will sometimes send you a private message, if there is something that they either were pleased to read about or to offer you some possible solutions that they have used over a problem you have written about. There will be a huge range of views and differences of opinions on here, but I find it is all done with respect and we dont get that horrible Trolling as far as I can see. Mind you at our age and with our experience we would make short work of any deliberately unkind and nasty posts!! Dear RosesandLilac, please take things gently , you have done so well so far. It is that horrible stage where you know just what you want to do as you sit there, but not yet up to doing it. Can I suggest that you might get two notebooks. A little one to jot down anything that comes to mind , small jobs that need doing, letters that need writing etc., and then if a friend kindly asks you if there is something they can do for you, you have a few ideas. I used to find that the minute someone asked me what I wanted doing ,when I was just out of hospital, my mind would of course go blank, and the most important and irritating thing that I needed help with , would only occur after they had left!!
Then perhaps you might get a bigger , but easy to handle book with either blank pages or lines on. That can be your "planning " book. So as you look out of the window, you might sketch one or two ideas for a change round in the borders, look hard at the plants that are there now, and after the summer we have had, look to see what has survived and what has gone, and think what you might need to change in the future. You will be able to see which area in the garden did better or worse, and take some photos of it as it is now, so that later on you have that to look back on. Then you could have a look at plants for specific areas and drier conditions or whatever and add to it , whenever something catches your eye on a gardening programme or out and about up your own road in neighbours garden. Do you have a water butt? If not, you might look at getting one for the future, with one of those attachments to the drain pipe, to save as much water as possible. There are quite a lot of different types of water butts now and where once you could not fit one of the big ones in, there are some slimline or taller thin shapes on offer. What about looking around your rooms and try to see it as a visitor would, for the first time. If you can be bothered faffing about with it, I have measured all the furniture and then got graph paper and cut out little bits to scale, and written the name or niitial on each thing. Then get your graph paper of the room to scale with doors and windows drawn in, and then have some fun, moving the bits of paper about and trying things out. Sometimes if we have lived for quite a while in one house, our needs change and we might find better solutions to where to store things etc. What was once an easy reach, now is a stretch, and the old idea of having all the tins in one store cupboard , might be improved by having one or two of everything put up in an easier to reach place, and then you can ask family or friends to get some things from the depths of the store cupboard for you as and when. I am probably suggesting things you have already thought of , or are in that contrary mood where, you dont want to do anything you are able to, but are fed up that you cant do what you want.!
Well I need to move about a bit, we seem to have picked up a bit of breeze. Hurrah, I might put the chair outside, struggle to make a coffee and just make the most of sitting outside in shorts and T shirt and enjoy it. I do hope everyone has been lucky enough to get a shower or two and a cooler day to enjoy. Hope your plans work out for the day, and that you all manage to make contact with a friend or family and enjoy whatever you can.
and welcome to this good morning thread, it will be good to get to 'know' you.