I woke early, felt full of enthusiasm and set to work. You’ve heard it all before so I won’t go on, but I often feel that a good start leads to a disappointing finish. In this case, however, it lead to some useful work and a very nice lunch (even though I say it myself) of cauliflower soup. Actually it was cauliflower and leeks with garlic, black pepper and nutmeg and a few shavings of cheese thrown in from the Christmas leftovers.
There is enough to do lunch tomorrow too.
I’m not sure if I mentioned this before, but I’ve been looking into buying a mobility scooter. I need to get out. I don’t remember the last time I went out except to drive to either Nottingham or Peterborough. No, now I’ve typed that, I do remember. I went to the Military History Meeting – drove straight there in the dark, parked, walked 200 yards to the museum, sat, listened and then did it all again, but in reverse. It’s hardly surprising I have little to write poetry about.
Blackcap – the Northern Nightingale or John Clare’s March Nightingale. Times change and we now have them all year round.
I’ve narrowed it down to two models from different companies. One has solid tyres and a a lithium battery, which are both good things that I want. The other lacks the tyres and lithium battery, but has LED headlights (the other has an old-fashioned single lamp, which has attracted negative feedback for being difficult to replace). The final complication is that one company seems to offer better customer service than the other, though I have just been talking to someone at the one that is supposedly deficient, and it seems OK to me.
It’s very difficult making decisions sometimes, and it isn’t made easier by the amount of information that is now available on the internet. The feedback for one company is freely available on Amazon – both good and bad. The other doesn’t seem to sell anywhere apart from its own website, and the feedback is restricted to glowing testimonials from happy customers.
I’m going to sleep on it and decide tomorrow.
Meanwhile, it’s the Garden Birdwatch this weekend and we are planning on doing it tomorrow, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed for some good bird sightings.
Blackbird.
The soup looks grand and the scooter a very positive idea. There will come a time when I will be giving it some thought myself
Such a tricky decision – I have gone for a reasonably robust one, but it’s a compromise between off-road capability and portability. I’ve ended up with a choice of two that are robust, but reasonably priced (the cost of some made me feel faint).. They won’t go in the car, or off-road) but will be good for nipping to the shops/doctor/library and going round the lakes in the country park.
That would be good use. When the time comes for me there are a number of local outlets nearby
I started off quite ambitiously but soon realised that weather, 8mph limit and battery life were going to restrict my adventurous ambitions to a bit of local shopping and library books. 🙂
My late sister got great value out of her rollator when she was finally persuaded to get one which she should have got much earlier, so I am very pleased to see that you are thinking positively of the benefits of mobility. I share your buying doubts. It is really hard to make decisions when making the wrong one may be very bad, and you don’t know which is the right one. Good luck.
I was fortunate in having a number of conversations with a neighbour in Nottingham. He had special boots and a variety of sticks and walkers depending on how he was feeling. He was always cheerful, always trying to get out and, more worryingly, nearly 20 years older than me. 🙁
I am relatively able on my legs but a mobility scooter is quite a common sight in my area. And all the old blokes on them look very comfortable. – Except for one old curmudgeon who blast his hooter at everyone who looks to be anywhere near his path.
I’m trying very hard not to be a hooter user. 🙂
Good luck with the mobility scooter. In addition to good customer service, I might also check to see where you can get it serviced, if you need to.
Yes, I keep forgeting about servicing. 🙂
Your robins are so much cuter than ours!
It is hard buying big items online without being able to try them out. I was fortunate, Allan bought me a big wheel rollator for Christmas, which when we get done with a plumbing crisis that has interfered with everything (replacing a sodden floor), I look forward to trying out on the beach.
Plumbing, floors . .. oh dear. I hope it all gets fixed. I am already thinking of you and your rollator on the beach. Nice to hve freedom, isn’t it. I didn’t notice it slipping away. 🙂