Good morning Michael and all GN's on a cold dark but still morning in Yorkshire. I am having a rough morning moving about at the moment , which is very frustating as there is much to do, but I am rather struggling , and on top of the usual problems I seem to have put my head in some odd way, so that my neck is quite painful. I am busy sorting things out but hopefully the joys of the shower will improve matters and I will loosen off a bit more. At the moment no sign of any wind or problems here and I will be checking things carefully and making sure I have all sorts of extra things spare torches etc with me before I get off today.
Yesterday was a mixed day, with a lot of bits and pieces that added to the hassle of the day, but at least there were some positives. I had got ready to go early to the meeting at the library, but it was so wet and horrible I went in the car, and so had to go very early , to be sure of getting one of the two disabled parking spaces. But they were doing the NHS App, and so I reasoned that if I got there very early I could park up and be at the front of the queue with the people and get the app done safely and properly. Huh! Yes with quite a bit of pain and creaking I did manage to go with my plans and hobbled firstly up to the room with our group in and chose an appropriate seat and put a bag there to "claim" it and then got myself back to the lift and down to the app people. Only to find that they were not starting until the afternoon, which was somewhat frustating, but I was lucky as a gentleman heard me ask if there was a queuing system etc as I would be up at the other course etc and said that he was actually free if I wanted to do it then. Hurrah! A winner for once. There was quite a lot of noise as there was a childrens group there doing an activity, so we took ourselves off to a quieter area and I produced my phone, id with my driving licence and nhs number etc etc. So we began, but no, despite him sitting next to me and our checking every step of the way , the wretched thing would not go through. Well the library is not the best of signals and of course there had been all this about the problems with the internet and people rushing to reorganise their safety, so it could have just been the extra work going on. After 3 efforts which didnt work, I suggested that we go up to the next level, where my other group was based, and it would mean that I would be there for when it started and anyone came, but we might get a better chance there. We duly went up and tried again and by this time people were beginning to come in. The one good thing was that I had the expert with me and he wasnt doing any better. That is always my hassle when doing something on my own and it goes wrong or wont work as I tend to think it is my fault. So I then agreed to come back to him after this group and he went off a bit frustrated , and was saying he hadnt had any problems like this before! (I just thought , well you havent had me to deal with before. If anything is going to go wrong it will be with me!)
I was glad to have picked the best chair for being able to see around, and told the young man that I was in quite a lot of pain, and therefore would be joining in , but that I would have to stay in the chair and wouldnt be able to get up and down easily or reach for things easily. Pleased to see that he had brought the curling, which I much preferred and with the stick would be able to have a go.
There were fewer people in the group that morning, but we got on well, and I am learning the level of "push " you need with it a bit more. We had several good different games in teams, and I was able to use up some of my frustration from the phone hassle, in looking carefully and getting quite good at sending the other teams stones flying off the mat, to their annoyance, but definitely calming and fun for me as I got my eye in for the distance. At the end of one game he then moved the mat further back and so we had to recalibrate our levels of strength and working out the amount of speed needed to get the stones to move over carpet.
I then went back down to the NHS app people but had quite a time to wait to see anyone, so at and went through some of my various papers and then the same chap arrived so we went off to find a quiet and hopefully better signal and had another go. There was still quite a bit of faffing about but at last hurrah it is done, safely and securely. I will be chceking it out a bit more today, but glad to have it sorted and thanked the man for his patience and help and he said it had been quite useful for him to see the problem areas , which he expected to find with others, and that the problems with the internet and safety stuff meant that they had had quite a lot of problems themselves so it was not just me.
By this time I was very hungry and had various other things I needed to do , and so got back to the car and set off down the town. The plan was to park if there was a space near where I wanted to go, and if no space to come home and get something to eat and then go back out. So no space, came home and was feeling very creaky and began to put stuff away and plan what to do next, when suddenly thought that I must get fuel for today and fill up as the weather was going to be poor, so shot off to the garage and did that and it seemed half the afternoon gone by before I even started looking stuff out for today. Typically fell asleep in the chair, annoyingly and so gave up and went to bed.
So now here I am checking on the weather, what I need to take, spare this and that, and then deciding my best route to go and meet the family. After all the problems my son got to the hospital yesterday for them to say that they had sent a message to him to cancel the appointment, which he hadnt got!! So I had been worrying for nothing all the day and he had had a very frustrating day of course. The one thing is he said that things seemed to finally be improving a little, so fingers crossed. He wont be driving today, and his partner willbe doing the driving and none of us have been to K Lonsdale for some time, so it will be good to meet upin our old haunts and trusting that the good cafe will be open, even if the weather is poor we shall have a warm and comfortable place to meet in. We have been there quite a few times and we sit up in a corner out of the way, and they are fine with us. If the weather is really awful we often just stay there if it is not busy. We usually start with coffees etc and then a bit later we get some lunch there and end up buying bread and perhaps cake on the way out to take home, so we are an occasional visitor but a quiet and reasonable group, and so especially when it is winter and not so many tourists about I think we are seen as a group they are pleased to welcome. We have gone there so often that the waitress will come and tell my son if his favourite things are on the menu! Long may they remain there!
If we keep the decent weather we may have a short walk along the river and go and investigate whether the army/navy kind of store is back up and running. We wont stay too long though with todays forecast, but at least if things turn out that we cant meet up again before christmas we have had had today and more importantly I shall feel much better to see my son and hear all about the way things are going. Emails are fine but seeing them all in the flesh is really the best thing to calm anxious thoughts and I will be able to hear from my grandson how he is settling in at his new school and to be able to give them all a hug! I shall then come home and be glad to just stay in tomorrow, batten down the hatches, and have a day of finally getting the ironing all finished, the rest of the summer things put away, and sorting the clocks out so that fingers crossed I will be able to face next week in a better state. Well we shall see what happens, the weather will be the main thing that rules what happens.
I hope that your trip to Bicester goes well Mick and the clock sorting is easy. You dont always realize how many clocks you have with various things like the heaters and the cooker timers etc to alter. I still havent found my watch, despite checking in all pockets in cots and jackets so hope that turns up tomorrow in the great sort out. GrandMattie glad you managed with your hob in the end. Maybe the general hassle going on added to your problems, Hope you get a good few to your cafe today, and get safely home . Wishing all GN's a safe day, with no loss of power or damages to precious things. If you have any tallish standard roses I would be inclined to prune them down a bit so that the wind cant wreck them. Keep safe and warm folks
