Monthly Archives: January 2018

Recovery

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I struggled manfully with cold all day. “Manfully”, in this context means sniffling, sneezing and whining.

I also took a relaxed attitude to work, looking a few things up, taking some photos and dealing with customers.

On the way back from work I stopped off at Sainsbury’s, parked, decided to listen to the chapter end of my audio book, and fell asleep for 45 minutes. Considering I was in bed for 14 hours last night I was surprised I needed more sleep.

After taking pills and eating a large helping of fish pie I am now feeling quite good. Naturally I am trying to conceal this from Julia as she seems happy serving me with cups of tea and stuff. It would be unkind of me to deprive her of the feeling of virtue that comes from looking after me.

The man who parked on our forecourt yesterday seems to have taken the hint and parked outside his own house. As he can’t park on the road he is blocking the footpath. Some people really don’t have much consideration for others.

I’m now deliberating whether to go to bed early (it’s 9.45) just just fall asleep in the chair. The chair is favourite, as I stand a chance of Julia waking me up with a cup of tea,

 

Post Script

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Sorry, I meant to mention this in the last post but forgot.

Blood test results arrived today – the target is 2.5. I scored 2.3. That’s about as good as it gets. It’s also another on target result, which should stop those annoying phone calls about my results being inconsistent. (They aren’t inconsistent – it’s just that the way the anti-coagulant team does the calculation).

Next test is two weeks away. Fingers crossed.

Misery…

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We were selling some coins to a customer this morning when someone entered the shop demanding that we move a car to let him out.

The forecourt of the shop allows you to back a couple of cars upto the shopfront and then park one across. Normally it works well when we confine the parking to shop staff, customers and residents of the flats above the shops. Because we’re all in the same boat we tend to get on together and there’s no problem.

However, when someone across the road parks on our private forecourt, then comes in throwing his weight about when a customer is in the middle of a purchase, it doesn’t quite work.

We explained that the parking was for the shop during business hours, and he just kept repeating that he had two cars and only enough space to park one of them on his drive.

I’m not quite sure why he thinks he’s entitled to use our parking spaces but if it happens again I may have to suggest he buys a bigger house or sells a car.

Apart from that, I have a cold. It started yesterday in the car, abated overnight then gradually crept back as I spluttered and sneezed and coughed my way through the afternoon.

It’s just a cold and should go in a day or two, but if the man from across the road comes back I will do my best to infect him.

I arrive home at 4.20pm and went straight to bed. So far, six hours of lying in bed shivering and looking pathetic have produced very little in the way of tea and sympathy.

Quite clearly I need to work on my whimpering.

 

Lots of Errands and a Traffic Jam

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Big day today. Off to the letter office where five parcels were waiting for me. There was no queue today and I parked in a disabled space as my knee was killing me. I know it’s not a good thing to do, but there were three others left empty and I was having to use my stick.

It turned out there were six parcels, which was a bonus. While I’ve been at work the postmen have been taking them back to the letter office. The trouble is that everyone wants them to be signed for. There’s no trust in the world anymore and everyone wants proof. I posted over 2,000 parcels when I was dealing by mail order and I only ever lost one.

In general I like to believe that people are honest, and the proliferation of distrust on ebay tells you a lot about the way modern society is going. I also have my suspicions that ebay and Royal Mail are in league to take as much money as possible from us. Remember that ebay also charges commission on postage costs. I was happy with my purchases, but you’ll have to take my word for it as I haven’t photographed them yet.

After that we had breakfast and set off for Newark market where, noting the lack of customers, I did the old show business joke. It basically hinges round the phrase “there’s no business (pause for effect) like show business”. It tends to amuse us, though we don’t have high standards.

Then things took a turn for the worse. We stopped at Grantham for a toilet break and a drink. Julia’s coffee, in a paper cup, cost £2.75. We’re going to have to start taking a flask.

Forestry land in Brazil costs as little as $50 an acre – about eighteen cups of coffee. Makes you think, doesn’t it?

After that we joined a queue on the A1. The traffic spent ten minutes travelling fitfully then ground to a halt. In the next two hours we listened to a Terry Pratchett talking book, chatted, watched red kites and fell asleep. Well, one of us did. The other one recorded me snoring and sent an audio file to my sister.

It seems that a trailer had become unhitched from a car and emptied itself on the road. Nobody was hurt, which is good.

Finally we arrived in Peterborough just in time to miss a low key but photogenic sunset, visited my father for a couple of hours, wished him a happy 89th birthday for later in the week and returned home without incident.

All in all, quite a worthwhile day, with the bonus of a relaxing snooze in the afternoon. I know it’s generally frowned on to sleep on major roads, but I think it’s OK if everyone has stopped.

 

The Plan Falls (Mainly) Into Place

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Right, I’ve sorted out the debacle that resulted from this morning’s post. I’ve also confessed to another world-class senior moment. This is beginning to be a habit.

So, how did the plan for today go, I hear you ask.

Well…

Julia – dropped off at work on time.

Go home – read blogs and write one.  I think you probably know how that went.

Laundry – did that. Couldn’t get a parking space so  had to carry three nags of washing  round the corner and across the road. Managed to set one machine on a cold wash, which was annoying.  Apart from that I had the place to myself most of the time.

Photographs – went to Arnot Hill Park. Didn’t get many as there were a lot of shadows on the water from neighbouring trees, and the bits without shadow had glare from the low sun. There was a cormorant – originally diving for fish, then drying its wings. It took some stalking after I first saw it, but once it decided to dry its wings it stood and displayed itself shamelessly. Nobody else seemed to notice. It’s the first one I’ve seen on the duck pond.

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Tufted Duck male on the duck pond at Arnot Hill, Arnold, Notts

From there I went shopping, met an old friend, and spent a happy hour catching up on the news.

After that it was back home to cook and plan blog posts.  However, first I had a sit down and cup of tea. Shall we just say that no cooking or blogging took place, as I moved smoothly on to the final element of the plan.

Fortunately I had set the alarm on my phone, and was  woken in time to pick Julia up from work.

We’re now waiting for a Chinese delivery, as it’s too late to cook. Well, that’s the excuse I’m using.

Only two photographs today because the rest won’t download. The card reader isn’t working and the lead for connecting the camera directly seems to have disappeared. They do that if you don’t keep a constant watch on them.

 

Should I Read or Should I Write? (2)

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Well, I tried to do both, whilst humming a song by The Clash.

After an hour and a half of reading, which leaves me not quite caught up, I decided to write a quick post and go washing, in order to keep to the plan.

When I came to publish, WordPress was playing up and I couldn’t enter a category or tag. I pressed “Publish” anyway and can’t see the post on the blog, even though it appears on the list to link to.

Ah! I just linked it in and had a look. seems to be a page. I’ll have to sort it out later. It looks like I must have pressed page instead of post when I started it.

So WordPress isn’t playing up. I am.

What an idiot.

More haste, less speed…

Here is the original. As you can see, it’s more or less the same. This loss of a post, and subsequent loss, may qualify as an epic senior moment.

Should I Read or Should I write?

I decided to read, and I’m nowhere near catching up after over an hour of reading and commenting.

I was going to post a link to Should I Stay or Should I Go by the Clash to mirror the title but I can’t switch the audio on the computer and don’t like posting links to clips I can’t hear myself.

It looks like bits are dropping off the computer all over the place. It’s a feeling I know only too well.

WordPress seems to be playing up too, but I’m going to publish and see what happens.

Time to get the washing done now if I’m going to stick to my plan.

See you all later.

 

Sunset Today and Plans for Tomorrow

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I have a busy day planned for tomorrow. Drop Julia off at work, read some blogs and then head off to the launderette. I’ve searched out every scrap of clothing in the house and managed to last almost a month, but we now need clean clothes.

I also have to go shopping, take some photographs, research some posts, start the cooking for next week and sleep in front of the TV. That last one isn’t so much a plan as a statement of inevitability. Like white hair and wrinkles, it’s an unavoidable part of becoming an elderly gentleman. Women are different. Women are more industrious and less likely to snore through an entire episode of Bargain Hunt. Women are also more likely to spend their time in front of the TV rustling things during the quiet bits of programmes and talking over plot points. Well, I know at least one who is…

I tried taking pictures of sunset. As I left the supermarket the sky was quite dramatic. As I reached the car the light was fading. And as I started photographing, the camera “corrected” the sky despite me using several different settings to compensate. It may have been because there was so much light in the car park. Whatever the reason, the clouds should be darker, with fiery red showing through the cracks.

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Sunset over Basford

Ah well, time for bed now – back to our routine of early starts tomorrow.

Bits and Pieces

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The featured image is included as an example of what can go wrong in photography for ebay. A highly polished medallion can, for instance, act as a mirror, as you can see from the image of my camera lens.

The case, as you can see, is also a great way of reflecting fluorescent tubes.

I clearly need to add some non-reflective techniques to my repertoire. Some photographs I took of cased coin sets actually reflected my face, leading people to believe that they had been taken by Santa’s less cheerful brother. I didn’t preserve any of them.

The photographs shown below are what the weather looked like on Sunday. It’s difficult to believe when you look back, as wwe had a bit of a heat wave yesterday, with temperature up to 12 degrees C (or 53 degrees F  for those of you who use it).

Snow in Nottingham
Snow in Nottingham (2)

I’m struggling for inspiration tonight – I think it’s leaking from the holes in my arms, as noted, here, here and here. And here too.  Or I may just be looking to increase traffic around the blog by linking to recent posts.  I really should stop reading those articles on Search Engine Optimisation…

 

Stuff and Nonsense

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It appears that the repeat blood test was because the previous one had been “unacceptable”. They usually use the word to describe a tube that wasn’t properly filled. I promise you that from where I was sitting there seemed to be plenty of blood in it.

That’s a coincidence, as the word “unacceptable” also figures in my view of events.

They managed to get a sample in only two attempts today, one attempt less than yesterday. As a result my cubital fossa is rather sore. That happens when the tests are close together.

Looking on the bright side, I’m not ill, the test is now done and I have learned a new word.

My next post will be more cheerful.

 

Blood Test Friday

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I’m hoping this isn’t going to be part of a trilogy as two tests in two days is a lot of tests, particularly when they took three attempts yesterday. I’m hoping they will get it in one today, but history suggests otherwise. The insides of my elbows are already aching at the thought of it.

I could probably go down to the Queen’s Medical Centre for a test if I insisted. They have a machine that only takes a spot of blood from my finger tip.

Have to go now as I have an errand to do on my way to the test. Wish me luck.