Monthly Archives: December 2022

Blood and Spuds

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Sorry everyone, I don’t know what I’ve done, but when I try responding to comments i am running into problems. I either try to type and the reply stops after a few letters, or it throws me out and I find myself having to open the comments and try again. Repeat. I’ don’t know what is happening, can’t see what has caused it, and don’t know how to stop it. So far, I am able to write this post, and will just have to hope that the other thing corrects itself. Perhaps it is WP’s revenge for my comments on the daily writing prompts, which now seem to have stopped.

Went for blood tests today. The first tube went to within a millimetre of the line but the vacuum gave up and we had to redo it. The lab won’t test them if thy aren’t full to the line. So with one faulty and one correct, I then had to give another three so they could test the progress of the drug I can never remember the name of. Five tubes. I won’t exaggerate, but it is most of a hand full, which seems a lot. It’s not much more before I qualify for a biscuit and a cup of tea.

After that, I had breakfast at McDonald’s and then went for another appointment. That’s three NHS appointments in one week. I calculate that with tests for anti-coagulation, tests for other stuff, the rheumatologist and reviews, I am visiting the NHS at least once every two weeks. And that’s before I’m actually ill. I’m there so often they really ought to invite me to the Christmas party.

I selected potatoes as the header picture as they are going to be a big part of the next few days.

 

 

The Instincts of a Magpie

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So soon after saying that I was rarely at a loss for a subject I find myself staring at a blank screen. The state of the screen is not mirrored by the jumble inside my head, which is as full as ever, but the mix of thoughts doesn’t have a single coherent one.

The visit to the nurse went reasonably well.

The ASDA grocery order has turned up and although there are a few substitutions they are fairly sensible. We are now officially provisioned for Christmas, apart from Yorkshire puddings. I seem to have ordered frozen batter rather than frozen puddings. They aren’t actually difficult to cook from scratch, but I’ve become lazy over the years. Plus they take up less room in our small oven. Five minutes before the end I tend to throw in the Yorkshires on top of the roasting veg and all is good. Cooking from scratch is a little trickier and you need a spare shelf in the oven, which I don’t usually have at Christmas.

I will have to keep them frozen for now (which is a nuisance as the freezer is already full) and juggle with the oven space somehow. Maybe I will cook them first then reheat them. Maybe just cook more things on top of the cooker.

Christmas is always a test of ingenuity.

Maybe we should just eat less.

A local fundraising flag

Meanwhile, despite a few setbacks on eBay I am still managing to buy. It really will be a nightmare for my family sorting all this out if I die without getting it organised. Latest purchase is a selection of Great War fundraising flags. There are some common ones in the selection, but overall it is good value. It’s one of those areas where I used to buy a few every year. Since eBay came along I could buy some every week, so I have to limit myself

The pictures are some I already own. The ones I bought today weren’t quite as nice as this. The titles are a bit random as they relate to a previous post.

Horses were popular too

 

Other side of the horse flag

Wednesday and an Uninspired Title

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It’s fairly early in the morning and it’s a day off. It should be a perfect time to sit in front of  a blank screen and stress about the fact I just said I was going to produce a book of poetry this year. Unfortunately I am off to be prodded by a nurse. That would have been quite an attractive prospect thirty years ago, but nowadays it is one of the worst horrors imaginable. The stress will be the same but the result will be less useful.

It will start, unless I’m lucky in my choice of nurse, with some embarrassing and condescending questions, then descend into bullying. The whole thing will be aimed at ticking boxes and at no time will I be asked about my thoughts on anything.

No, I don’t take proper care of myself, but on the other hand, when I’ve been sent to nutritionists or weight loss courses I’ve rarely learned anything and my respect for NHS Staff has gradually been eroded. As I think I told you, I was once told to eat ready meals from the supermarket as I should be eating earlier in the evening and coming home from work to prepare fresh ingredients meant I was eating too late.

I gave up smoking and drinking and now they want me to give up eating. The next step is clear as we move on t a sci-fi future – Logan’s Run, and Soylent Green.

Anyway, my timer just went and I have to go for my appointment. I will post this to make sure I don’t miss another day and get on with my busy day of prodding and Christmas errands.

Correction – I didn’t get it posted and am now doing it after returning home and having breakfast.  Going shopping with Julia now, then off to see friends in their shop before lunch.

Fruit.

List your top 5 grocery store items

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The title is taken from the writing prompt WP has decided to start sending me every day. That’s just what I need, more spam. You’d think that human wit could develop a system where someone with over 2,000 posts on their site, and a record of almost daily (though admittedly erratic) blogging didn’t get a writing prompt.

If it said “Write better!” 0r “Eat less!” I would accept it, but I rarely feel in need of a subject to write about. And I certainly never switch the computer on with the thought “I hope I have more spam waiting for me.” in my head.

The truth is that I have enough, including the annoying pop-up that pops up to remind me that for a reasonable sum of money I can buy something to stop annoying pop-ups.

Ironically, one of my top five grocery items is not Spam. I need bread, milk, margarine and marmalade. I’m not sure about the fifth. Beans?  Bacon? Carrots? It’s difficult to think of a shopping list without them. Cheese?

It’s not as easy as it seems. The problem is that I need them all and if you buy them, you need pickle and parsnips too.

So many groceries, so little time.

Eggs . . .

The final list is bread, bacon, beans, margarine and marmalade. I will leave the pickle alone and can cut out milk as I forgot to order tea. The five things interlock nicely and, as an additional bonus, are also awesomely alliterative.

However, I have to point out that it is not a sensible way to eat and, if you were to follow this eating regime for too long you would probably develop scurvy, an a longing for variety.

I used a picture of cake, to remind myself of the need for a varied diet.

A Plan Postponed and a Parker Pen Left to Languish

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By the time I finish this post I will have just 120 more to do before I reach 3,000. I am surprised. When I( started I was happy just to0 get ten done. My previous two efforts had fizzled out after a handful of posts and I was worried that I would fail again. The aims about producing a popular and high quality blog may have faded. Fame and money have, yet again, eluded me but I am reasonably prolific, have made some new friends and have written enough to feel comfortable calling myself a blogger. The first few seemed quite an effort, but the 2,879 seem to have passed smoothly and I’m confident that I can follow through and spring will see me write my 3,000th post.

Last night I made a plan. I will not be attempting a Land’s End to John o’ Groats trip as I said a while back, as we need to get things organised for retirement and the big move. I really should have done it years ago, but failing that, will plan it for my first year of retirement. I should stop putting things off but I would rather do it right than rush it just to tick it off the list.

It is better to make a decision now rather than reach the end of the year and see it fade away by accident.

My new plan for next year is to publish a book of poetry. I’m not quite sure how I will go about it but will spend the next couple of weeks thinking and planning and try to com out with a plan. The main thing, I feel, is to have enough published poetry available to provide a framework. I do have quite a bit published, but it isn’t all good, so I ill have to make a selection. Apart from the quality question, there is the need for variety. It’s OK writing poetry and sending it off to magazines. When it is published you get a spread between magazines and across a span of time. But when you put it all in one place there is a danger that it will all seem too similar.

So, with one door temporarily closed, I will open another and see where it takes me. I’m hoping it won’t take me face to face with my own vanity.

Today, in case you are interested, saw a temperature of 15 degrees Centigrade on my car thermometer. Compared to last week’s low of minus 5 degrees this is the 20 degree lift in temperature they forecast. I didn’t believe them. It is nice to be warmer (we left the heating off tonight, though we are still using hot water bottles) though it is now raining so it’s a case of swings and roundabouts.

My Orange Parker Pen

I note with sadness that Parker still haven’t offered me money for product placement, or offered me sponsorship. I only hope that when the book comes out nobody’s career ends because they ignored a chance to be associated with it.

A Deviation from Perfection

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“The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft a-gley.”

It was one of Scotland’s greatest writers who said that. Not Tootlepedal this time, but Burns. As I said in a reply to a comment about the last post, things did not go to plan.

Recently I have started ordering pies from the supermarket because it allows me to do my normal roast veg and throw a pie in the oven at the same time. Adds a bit more variety to the menu and still keeps things quick and easy. Unfortunately, this week, I ordered frozen pies and Julia didn’t notice as she put them in the fridge. I had selected on price and not noticed the blue snowflake that denotes a frozen item. There is a lesson in this.

Instead of being 20 minutes or so, this meant that pie took nearly an hour to cook, despite being thawed. We ate late and we had a pie with floppy pastry. Not my finest hour and yet another lesson in links between price, convenience and not reading the details.

Tomorrow will be pasta bake (prepared this afternoon) then pie and veg again on Tuesday (will try to think of a way to cook the pie properly this time) then vegetable soup for Wednesday lunch using leftover roasted veg. Wednesday night we will have vegetable stew then on Thursday night I’m not sure. Number One Son will be home that night and I have run out of ideas at that point. Then we have a delivery on Wednesday night (I missed all the good Christmas delivery slots and we should be good for the holidays – just need a bit of bread and milk, and thanks to part baked baguettes, long life milk and the freezer we can probably stay indoors until 2022 if we are careful. A nice low maintenance Christmas.

The Learning Journey

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I currently know more about the plot of Silas Marner, the filmography of A Christmas Carol and the life of Sir Alec Guinness than I did before I started writing my last post. None of this knowledge will enable me to earn money, which is a shame, but it will enrich my life and conversation. Probably.

There was a programme on University Challenge recently, as it reached its 50th year or something, and it featured some of the question setters. I’m not going to be rude about anyone but it did seem to me that the setters, at least in one case, were not the high powered academics I had been expecting. It has been noticeable in recent years that the questions were less difficult. I had been congratulating myself on my increasing intellectual ability, but the truth was slowly dawning on me – the questions were getting easier. Ah well . . .

The rest of the day proceeded much as predicted with food and TV, a few chores, a nap and some aimless rambling round the internet. I could call it “research” and dress it up as an activity or I can admit that it’s just a cover story for browsing.

This reminds me, one thing I do need to do (before producing a delicious dinner of roast vegetables and chicken pie) is order my pills for the coming months. The prescription date falls inconveniently in the middle of the Christmas holiday close-down. I’ve been meaning to do it for the best part of a  week but switching on a computer is a surefire way of diverting my attention from important jobs.

Simon Wilson, Nottingham Poet

Dickens, Deafness, Disappointment

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I am sitting in the back room wearing a woolly hat, several layers of fleece and a pair of fingerless gloves which my sister knitted for me. The general effect, in my mind, is the same as the one achieved by Alistair Sim in A Christmas Carol.  However, I can’t find a picture which fully backs this up. Over Christmas, when I will be spending all day (all week if I can get away with it) in a nightshirt and dressing gown I will, from what I see, look more like it.

Victorian Miser Chic is likely to become my winter default look in years to come, as layers of fleece and flannelette replace profligate spending on heating. Keep looking, you may even see me depicted in various life-style magazines as a trailblazer in the New Scrooge Movement (Bah, sugar-free humbug!)

The way things are going I may well be employing an ear trumpet too. I knew I was going deaf when I found myself saying, “Stop mumbling and open your mouth. Nobody speaks properly these days!” This is a direct quote from my Dad. He started off being deaf in one ear, something he didn’t even realise until he treated himself to a stereo record deck and headphones.  No, it’s not retro, it was all we had before tapes and CDs. He took the headphones back to the shop because one side didn’t work and after a little checking the shop deduced he only had one working ear.

I, at least, am going deaf in both ears equally, which is easier from a practical point of view. I have to turn the TV up louder than Julia and I complain to both her and one of my workmates about their habit of muttering to themselves. It’s very irritating for someone who is hard of hearing tom have to work with people who talk to themselves, as you feel you may be impolitely ignoring them. On the other hand, it does allow me to ignore them without feeling rude, so it has its good points too.

And that, as far as it goes, is my Sunday morning.

This is the Ambition phase. It will soon be the Breakfast phase and that will rapidly transition to Sloth, then Disappointment. Sundays are, in so many ways, a microcosm of my life.

The header photo portrays me in my glasses and beard phase. I may try a Victorian Miser Chic shot over the holiday.

Cold, Customers and Contentment

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All I did this morning was scrape three windows and two mirrors and my fingers became so cold that I couldn’t get the safety belt on until I’d beaten my hands together to restore the feeling.  That was probably the worst bit of the day, because it took a distinct upturn once I got to work.

We have been arguing with a customer and were expecting eBay to find in his favour despite his stupidity and unreasonable behaviour. We sent a parcel to the USA and the USPS tried to deliver it. Nobody was in and they left him a note to tell him. He claims they didn’t. We hear this a lot from customers and, based on experience, tend to disbelieve them.

He then said he didn’t know what to do and we would have to sort it out for him. We said that we couldn’t and he would have to sort it out himself. I don’t see this as unreasonable – what can we possibly do from this distance? I advised that he should contact his local delivery office or ask the postman. They would be able to tell him what to do. He refused.

He told us that he has 100s of post offices within a 20 minute drive and couldn’t visit every one. We said he didn’t need to as one conversation with his postie or on the phone should reveal all. And so it carried on. And on. He clearly had no intention of collecting it. or making any effort, and finally told us he didn’t want it and opened a case with eBay to get his money back.

They took the logical view that as it was at the local sorting office waiting for him it was his responsibility to pick it up and they would not issue a refund. This, to be honest, cheered us up after a  three week exchange of emails.

The parcel should, eventually, come back to us, and we will issue a refund, but we don’t have to refund the postage, which would have been annoying.  And that, minor as it may be, was enough to cheer me up fro the day.

It then improved even more. Someone had wanted a parcel delivering by Christmas. He agreed to pay for Guaranteed Delivery and we made a special listing for him to buy and then made an extra trip to the Post Office with his parcel.

It went to the post office at 3pm, was in London by 10 am and was delivered at 11.20am. Not bad for a postal service that is hampered by strike action. I not only have the beard of a Santa, I have the instincts too.

I tell you this story as most of our customers are fine people and most of our interactions are good. Unfortunately I always moan about the bad ones and this may not give you an adequate picture of my sunny disposition and my love of humankind.

Tea and Cake – British Penicillin

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I’m feeling creative again. Sloth and low temperatures put me out of the game for a bit, but an extra layer of clothing, a little heat and some reading has put me back in there. Mainly the reading. After a lazy month and a few weeks of experiments with hibernation I opened up Blithe Spirit when it arrived yesterday and felt something happen. Sparks danced from synapse to synapse and ideas seeped from cell to cell. Ideas appeared and if my life was an early Disney cartoon, bluebirds would have flown around my head.

It wasn’t just the reading of course. I have a couple of tanka and a haibun in there. They will appear here in due course. There’s nothing like seeing yourself in print for getting you going again.

We had a delivery from a charity shop yesterday and one of the lots is around 250 envelopes addressed to the Elvis Presley Fan Club. The main Presley man in the UK in the 60s was a man called Albert Hand. He only lived about ten miles outside Nottingham and this was a selection of empty envelopes he must have either kept or given to a local stamp collector. It’s an interesting lot and it enabled me to open the sales by asking “Are you lonesome tonight and wondering what to bid on eBay?”

Botham’s Whitby

It’s not quite ready for going live yet, but if say I managed to get another half dozen song titles in you will get the idea of the good humour, not to mention puerile glee, that filled the shop this afternoon. Unfortunately, none of the envelopes have been marked “Return to Sender”.

Meanwhile, customers continue to be irritating. One has refused to collect a package from his local post office in the US and it will soon becoming back to us. eBay will, of course, take his side because they always side with the customer, and we will lose the £15 postage fee. Another is claiming that his parcel hasn’t been delivered, despite the fact it was delivered and paid for a month ago. We will win that case as we have proof of delivery, but why should we have to spend time proving it? Time is money and in the case of a £20 sale the profit probably isn’t worth the time we spend on it.

To lift my mood I will post more pictures of tea and cake. Tea and cake can be very uplifting.

Tea and Eccles Cakes at Bempton Cliffs