Do you ever look at your partner, wife hubby etc and REALLY see them. So often life takes over and we take for granted our life and how it has panned out but SOMETIMES I feel sure you must do what I do and really take a look at what you have to be thankful for. We are blessed that we have had Colin in our lives for 23 years. He took on me and my two kids and he has been a rock, the glue that keeps everything together, he keeps all the saucers spinning at once. Unlike me he is steady and gentle while I am or was the fiery one. I jump without thinking things through where he weighs up all the options and ALWAYS comes up with the correct solution. I never thought I would be the one that needed caring for but then again who does. He has taken it all on the chin and supported not only me in my fight but my family too. I just hope the rock does not crack but I don’t think it will somehow. I certainly was fortunate one when we met. Yes we have had sticky patches but pulled through it together. I am just feeling very blessed this evening.
Here we go again in lockdown wondering how to fill our days. Day five of lockdown and today I feel pretty good, After a few bad days I am contemplating going out for a walk. I have prepared a chilli beef lasagne (very hot) with a sour cream and cheese topping, a salad to take away some of the heat and an everyday fruit cake. Clearly I needed to stand for quite some time to prep for these and I still feel not too bad. Why is this - one day we can and one day we can’t. It’s no surprise really that those without ph think we are putting it on. I can assure you all that we are not. We would like nothing more than to go to sleep expecting a decent day to carry out our plans but this is just not in our remit. We cannot make plans so we must grab each opportunity to do what we can on our decent days. One day we will have a cure but not sure how much of my lungs will still be usable by then!
Present from Colin - a cushion with a cut out for my coccyx! Very welcome. This means I can now sit down and be more comfortable than before. My poor coccyx would scream in pain if I sat down for more than a few minutes but I feel much better now. Now I do not have to spend so much time lying down on the bed unless of course ph forces it. I never thought I would be so delighted to have a cushion for a gift but my oh my I really am. So until I get some fat on my body I can now join Colin in the lounge at night and not be a “ Billy no mates “ in my bedroom.
I read that the government is now sending the extremely vulnerable ones four months supply of vitamin d as there is a belief that it helps our systems maybe build a resistance against COVID. I think most of us already take VIT D, VIT C and magnesium so maybe that is why those that do catch COVID seem to do OK. It is already in their bodies. I have asked my family to please take Vit D, my daughter is asthmatic and works with the public every day. My son in law works every day too with people. I do get worried for their safety. My stepson seemed fine when he had a positive test, he just could not smell or taste for a few days and my grandson - though feeling unwell when his dad tested positive - was told not to take the test. We do not know if he had it or a cold but all is well and now back to everyday life. My daughter in law is a teacher so clearly around loads of people. Life must go on.
As usual Colin keeps very busy. He is putting chicken wire on our steps in the garden. He made them from the slices of the trees that were taken down here so we could build. They look really good and rustic but with the leaves now falling like mad they did become slippy. He has done one set in the side garden and is now working on the ones leading to the bottom garden. It looks just fine and now I have no fears of slipping. He has swept the lawn with his trusty besom brush and no leaves now until they next fall!
He cannot bear to sit still so must always have a project on the go. In his spare time he is either cycling or playing his organ which he loves. If he can’t get out he is like a caged bear. I don’t seem to have the patience any more for projects. I can tidy a cupboard or a drawer etc when the mood takes me but can’t sit and draw or paint etc. Whilst I used to spend hours doing my family tree I have forgotten quite how to do it now with my rubbish brain but anyway getting back to 1534 is pretty good I think with a huge possibility of it being 1200 and something. I do not want to extend the range so think I have done enough.
Despite having a slot at Sainsbury for online shopping it has locked us out! Now I thought it was me getting something wrong as usual but even Colin can’t get us back in. We have tried to change the password to see if it helps but so far nothing. My card is an ancient one and I have been trying for years to get a replacement and though they say yes it will be sent out so far nothing has happened. This could mean that tomorrow instead of our slot we organised last week we now have to go and shop ourselves. On the plus side I believe the vulnerable do not have to queue now. ( just imagine the comments going to the front of the queue) I think I will skip that and just manage with my own store cupboard and freezer until and if we get back to being able to get deliveries direct. If we really do need to shop ourselves at least we will get our choice of things and not what Sainsbury staff see as a good option. Sometimes they are really laughable!
I have been badgering Izzy to empty her money box to count it and see how much she has towards a premium bond. I believe the minimum bond now is £100. She has around three now and if she does not count out and exchange soon she will miss out on a month of being in the draw. Not sure if she is anywhere near though. She has to work for her money and did quite well when she lived here. She would tidy her room, stack dishwasher when it worked, even steam mop the floors, help me get in the bath etc so it was not easy money, it could be tough. Sometimes she could earn quite a bit but other times there did not seem to be many jobs for her. Of course now she does not live with us there are no jobs so would prefer to get on with it to see where we are up to. Anyway it is her money so if she misses an opportunity then so be it.
My daughter and partner just had a lawn laid yesterday. After months of work their garden looks great. We well remembered the foxes that ripped up our lawn in the night of the day it had been laid so we were very nervous for them. We made sure the gate was securely locked etc. They have high fences to protect their rabbit so all we could do was wait and see and hope. The relief today when we looked and saw all is well with their garden. We knew the foxes had been in ours as their prints were in our veg patch but it looks like their garden is safe. We are just a thoroughfare for the foxes on their way about their business now our grass is established. Nothing fun for them to play with now.
The issues we had in my last blog I will address. Firstly the car. The quote was £180 which actually shocked us as well as the person who bumped it and her partner. We sent them the quote and as it is our choice to have the repair done by this company well established and with full guarantees and kite marked approval etc. we did say we would go half. So far not heard anything back but we did say nothing could be done for a month so we are not sure if they will pay up or not, we shall see.
Not heard anything more from AEG. Though we had decided ourself we did not want one of their discounted machines they could have got back to us and answered our queries. I think they see us as just old codgers. The girl was very cross when Colin said he felt we were being discriminated against. That word sets people’s nerves on edge. We just felt that what difference did it make if we chose and paid for the machine and handed it to the kitchen fitter or the kitchen place bought and fit the machine himself. Because we did the former it invalidated our guarantee! We have had no communication with them since then, we are ignored. So we were surprised to receive one of those surveys about how well did they do. Colin being very fair told them he had no issues with the repairmen but plenty of issues with after care. They asked him if they could ring to discuss and issues and were told yes. Not had a word from them. My guess is they looked back at our complaint and decided not to bother to ring. Shame on you AEG. You will never have another penny of our money. After all this I was told that as we live in an area with extremely soft water we do not even need salt which is what ruined our machine in the first place. We have no issues with calc at all here. I shall remember when we do manage to replace ours. In the meantime the repair is on Colins list!
Colonoscopy have sent me a letter to say they are ringing me on August 23 2021 to discuss my procedure! Yippee, almost another year to go. Can’t get my head around what will happen if life is still the same with COVID, another years delay and worry perhaps - we shall see. Will I even be alive then. Remember on my last visit to my hospital I was told I should not really be alive now. We well know this and that my heart has deteriorated even more but I am blessed that the meds do still help as they do not work for all and many lose their lives. If I am spared and still around will this procedure go ahead or not, We just have to wait and see. Now please don’t get me wrong here. I have every sympathy with the NHS dealing with COVID. It must be shocking but we must get back to some kind of normality dealing with procedures or there will be more deaths, more depression from those concerned about their issues etc.
Going out for a walk now then back for lunch. 🚶🏻♂️🚶🏻♂️🚶🏻♂️🚶🏻♂️🚶🏻♂️.
Lunch over, ham salad sandwich. The walk was so lovely and so easy as my lungs decided to give me a break and work! When poor Colin got in for his lunch he had been bitten all over his ankles by little flies buzzing around the compost bin. Generally he is not bothered by mosquitoes etc when we are abroad but these little varmits have certainly done their damage. Job done now though and tomorrow he will be on to knocking more jobs off his to do list.
I will just give him another job and ask him to post this blog for me! Hoping you all keep well. Stay away from COVID for sure.
Warm love to all as ever.
Carole xxx
As it happened he did not have time to post this yesterday, he does keep busy. This morning he was getting ready to go on a long bike ride so I was taking Izzy to school. I was rushing around trying to do too many things. I got my meat and onions cooking away ready to bake a pie for dinner and I went to put my pastry in the fridge to relax as you do. I was busy watching the clock, moving things around in the fridge and planning ahead when wham ......... a whole tub of blueberries hit the floor rolling everywhere. I was so cross with myself. The drying up still needed to be done from breakfast and everywhere I looked I saw blueberries. I knew I had no chance of picking them up and getting Izzy to school. Colin walked into the kitchen and saw the chaos and told me to just go, he would sort it, what a diamond.
Took Izzy to school and I decided to park the car on the canal and take a walk. I walked for five miles which was good and had the pleasant surprise of meeting my brother on the canal walking his dog. I have not seen him for almost a year so it was a lovely surprise and I was shocked to see how like my dad he has become. Odd that I did not see it before. A very good looking guy indeed. He was able to let me know about one of my other brothers fighting cancer. I was so scared they would have stopped treatment through all of this mess but thankfully not. He says my brother is doing ok so I pray that he knocks this cancer for a six. I was able to tell Stephen, the brother I just saw on the canal to buy VIT D and he assured me he would. Now I am home and am having a rest before I do anything else. I think I deserve it.
Oh and just received my FOURTH notification that I am extremely vulnerable and what I must do. How much money does it cost to send all these out and what FOUR whilst I know some have not received theirs at all yet.
I will end this blog as I began it. There are so many issues in the world, illnesses within us or our families, politics going wild, viruses worldwide etc but let’s just stop for ONE minute and count our blessings. I think we will be surprised that in a world seemingly gone mad we still have much to be thankful for.
Carole xxx
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