After The Angry........

 

We started this week being very angry with our NHS 111 service as it proved to be very unhelpful chaos. E had just tested positive for covid but thought she'd possibly had it for more than a few days already. She wanted to try and get the extra antiviral pills and as a severe ME/CFS sufferer knew she should ask 111 immediately as it was a Friday afternoon. An out of hours GP phoned her back, but not till the early hours of Saturday morning and they sent her through an electronic prescription at 4am which E sent through to us so she could get some sleep and we would see as soon as we woke up. After about three hours for Hubby and me and joined by Daughter and also Son phoning around almost all the chemists in East Anglia, checking online the pharmacy chains and even driving to our nearest we discovered nobody stocks this, not even the hospital pharmacy, and it could possibly be ordered in but that would take a week, and as it should be taken within the first five days it could do a lot more harm than good. 

E phoned 111 back to tell them we couldn't fill that prescription, was there an alternative.... another disturbed night waiting for the call back that didn't happen....... Sunday lots of different calls, one nurse saying the system is for the doctor to make the request to a special covid unit that will dispense and deliver and she gave E a direct number as E already had the prescription. E phoned that number who said they are an independent unit who can only deliver within the Berkshire area and have no idea who operates within Suffolk! E tried 111 again, each time having to explain the situation, her diagnosis and all her symptoms again, and then had lots of arguing with call handlers, nurses and eventually a doctor who denied the earlier call had happened as it hadn't been logged and one person on the phone argued with E that she had ever been diagnosed with ME as her records showed it as CFS which she thinks isn't so serious, even though the medical council have them categorised as the same. Finally a doctor phoned and said E didn't qualify and dismissed her. 

How can one doctor say she didn't qualify when another doctor had already issued a prescription? Do they know how much energy, lack of sleep and stress this has cost her? 

So enough is enough and when there's nothing more you can do you have to move on! 

I'm pleased to report that all three of us have now tested clear of covid. 

Did I ever tell you about my love of liquorice, never the bitter strong root flavour like the Pontefract Cakes, but the sweet Berty Bassets Allsorts type.

I could easily get hooked on them, and a large amount could clash with some of my meds, so I rarely get them and ration them when I do. 

Tuesday was our 53rd wedding anniversary. Congrats to us! 

I had my monthly blood test booked in the morning and Hubby had his annual check with the GP in the afternoon. We know how to celebrate hahaha

Bit of a shock when our neighbour/friendA called hubby in to help after a fall and called his daughter-in-law too, she took him to hospital and they discovered he'd had a stroke. He's being well looked after there and Hubby is looking after things for him here and has also been to visit. 

Wednesday evening it was nice to go out after being in confinement. Our usual pub had a music bingo event on, one we hadn't seen before, tickets were far too expensive so very few people joined it which I guess meant his cash prizes were going to be meagre. The music was only motown. Needless to say we didn't join in and had an early night. 

When E moved in she had already crocheted her favourite bag and brought with lining material for it but had no energy to make it and asked me if I would do it for her. 

My craft room got far too hot to work in during all those heatwaves and I finally started making it much more recently. It was slow going as I didn't want to use the sewing machine while E was asleep and then when I was nearly finished I had covid and wouldn't touch anything I didn't need to. 

I finally finished it and although you can't see inside clearly it has two large and two small internal pockets. 

Another make was Dolly Parton's Cuppa Cuppa Cuppa Cake.  

I saw it online after she died as then anything related to her was all over social media. She made this cake in the film Steel Magnolia. It's a whole can of fruit salad including the juice together with an equal amount of sugar and self raising flour. Mix and put in a lined cake tin. Oven 180°C for about 45mins. That's it. Amazing. 

I hope you've also survived another week, avoided the worst of the germs and storms. 

Bye for now.

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Sick of Being Sick......

 
Not the best start to the week, feeling as rough as I did it was inevitable that Saturday morning my second test was positive. 

Thank goodness Hubby was feeling fine now and happy to take on all chores including online shopping twice and organising meals, serving us both downstairs but to keep E isolated he was taking all her's upstairs and announcing it was there for her to leave her room to collect when Hubby had left. He's also changed our bed and done two lots of laundry.... he's certainly our super hero. 

I've kept check on our friendsL&K that unwittingly passed the virus to us and I've checked on neighboursT&S who Hubby unwittingly passed it onto at last week's coffee morning. 

I've since heard of others that have recently had colds so bad it probably had been covid they just hadn't tested. 

I'd virtually slept away a couple of days, realising after a tv programme had finished that I'd missed a large chunk and Hubby had to explain the outcome. When I was awake I was contacting people to cancel and rearrange our social lives. NeighbourA next door, offered to host coffee morning on Monday and I let my old work team know that we would miss our lunch meetup on Tuesday, a double blow as I would normally organise them around spring time but that was when I'd had surgery again so we'd not met since our previous Christmas gathering. Hubby also cancelled his Thursday arrangement and we decided with Son that next Saturday night still be too soon. 

By the end of the week another household in our Close reported two out of the four of them now have covid. That couldn't have come from us so it seems to be everywhere. 

Friday morning Hubby did another test and it was negative, yippee. 

I then did another test and mine was negative too, yippee. We were so relieved and when E woke and messaged Hubby for breakfast he couldn't wait to pass on the good news and the hope she could now leave her prison bedroom at last. She asked for a test kit and we were devastated when a short while later she said it was positive. How could we not have kept her safe! 

For now I'm grumpy as this cough is driving me mad and interrupting my sleep. Also heard today that R's bad cold has left her with a dreadful cough too. I feel really bad for E who hasn't seen another human in person for over a week and I'm sorry to you for being grumpy. Seems my immediate world is sick and all I can do is hope it gets better. So if you are sick of this grumpy old woman maybe stop reading, if you can stay hopeful too i'll see you back here next week.

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Fight or Flight....

 
We always have a lot of wildlife in our garden, until you want to take photos of them then they all disappear. 

This pyracantha bush is usually weighed down with at least 5 or more pigeons on a constant buffet, but this time just two. 

And we did get a rare visit from a Jay who seems to enjoy digging up what the squirrels have buried. 

Hubby has had a rotten cold all week, having gone to so much trouble to not pass on germs friendsL&M didn't come out with us last Friday but turned out friendK brought his gems which he didn't know he had and that turned out to be covid. I did lots more than my share and especially all for E as catching covid would make her really really unwell. By the end of the week Hubby was feeling so much better and felt he was past the contagious stage so went on a hunt for covid test kits which our local chemist didn't have. 

On Monday my nails appointment was due, I've been in the technicianM's diary for the first Monday of every month for years but this month was another hiccup and M contacted me to change Monday to Tuesday and then changed it again from Tuesday to Wednesday then just as we were about to leave home she messaged to change 11:30 to 11:45 gggrrrrr

Thursday evening I had an irritating cough, had a horrid night with shivers, pains and lots of coughing and Friday morning felt really unwell so Hubby phoned round and found a chemist with test kits. Yes Hubby tested positive but with a very feint line so it was obviously on its way out. However my test was totally negative but we still went into sanitiser mode, E took herself back upstairs and she phoned her mum to do a bit of shopping for her. We cancelled going to visit Son on Sunday and cancelled all the neighbours coming here on Monday. 

And that is definitely all the energy I have for writing this, so let's hope I can be a bit more entertaining for you next week.

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Ticking Along......

 
While I keep my eyes open for the perfect replacement clock I've brought this one down from my craft room to hang on the dining room wall. 

The one that smashed was really pretty, this one isn't pretty it's practical. 

I praised that one for surviving since Daughter was a young teenager whereas this one is even older, I earned an award while I was doing party plan direct sales, that was back in the mid 1980s. 

I have another working clock face in the craft room waiting for a frame of some sort and I nearly got all creative and gathered everything needed to make a frame with old wine corks (quite suitable for a dinning room I thought)  although the plan in my head wasn't so easy to put into practice so I put all the stuff away and this clock will do for now. 

Saturday Hubby finally found time to take his new car out for a drive.  He needed to visit friendG's to do some computer fixing and that's about 50 miles each way. He enjoyed the drive and succeeded with the computer fix so a win win. 

One of our neighbours didn't regularly join us for coffee morning as he worked in our local Asda but he loved chatting to the neighbours when we shopped and decided to come up when he had to stay home recovering from a serious op. Now he is back at work but a slightly shorter shift has made him get straight home and rush up the close to join us for the second half of coffee morning. I felt honoured he enjoyed it that much to make the effort. 

Tuesday was a Doggy day care day. Daughter organised us as she was leaving home at 7am and apparently M wouldn't have the time to drop the dog here so Hubby said he would pick up the dog at 9:15am as that was the time to take R to work. Then it got confusing as M and D arrived at this house while Hubby was at theirs, cos M was looking for some cables and connectors that Hubby had found so came to collect them even though he didn't really have the time for the detour. Thankfully people, dog and electricals ended up where they needed to be. 

Out Wednesday evening as usual. FriendT had a particularly stressful evening as she had tried to get out of their car too soon and while protecting her and not causing an accident himself FriendF grabbed her hands from the seat belt and FriendT remained really angry with him for the whole evening. Making things even more stressful was friendM needing to bring her dog to the pub as he had been left alone a lot during the day. 

Thursday wasn't a good day for me, I managed to have four migraine headaches one after the other but cleared enough to still manage our usual online quiz and E joined us too. It didn't feel like I had triggered it off but I'm staying on restricted screen time just in case. 

Friday Daughter came over with a cool bag full of home made vegan batch cooked dinners for E. Good timing as one dinner stayed out of the freezer as Hubby and I are out again to meet friends at a Turkish Restaurant friendK booked. It should have been six of us but friendsL&M had to cancel as they both have colds so just us with friendsL&K. The restaurant is in Witham in Essex and our first house was in Silver End a little village just outside Witham so as we arrived so much earlier than arranged we parked then walked up and down the high street for old times sake (we moved to Ipswich and this house 43 years ago!) The food was good and the service excellent just a shame it was so incredibly noisy in there I had trouble hearing what was said.  

Now suddenly it's October and room lights and closing curtains are happening early evening, the year is whizzing by. Catch me on the way past next week eh? 

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Silence Is A Luxury......

Sunday Son came over to admire the new car and go for a little ride in it. He came alone as fiancé hadn't been too well. The plan was for us to go over to see them, giving Hubby the drive and for me to have a ride too, but that was changed in the morning although we were still so pleased to see Son.

Inside for coffee morning this week so it seemed really noisy but think I'm so aware of E being asleep upstairs that I worry we've woken her. 

For my regular blood test we park in a small shopping centre and a very short walk to the clinic. This week the car park was really busy so we circled it twice and waited for someone to leave. Once inside I was seen quickly which was good but the fact it stung when he took the blood and bled a little and bruised afterwards wasn't so good. 

Blood test results come through quickly and I always phone Oncology to ask for my next prescription and for them to put another request on the system for my next test. This time I also asked if anyone had looked at my Scan results which I had received over a week before and nobody has told me if that changes anything for me. The nurse rang me, said she will speak to the consultant and call me back..... that was Tuesday late afternoon and so far she hasn't called back. 

FriendM and I met up again with friendJ for lunch at The Belstead Brook Hotel. Sadly friendJ had recently been told there is no more the hospital can do for her cancer and withdrawn treatment. Very sad but she's staying positive and trying alternatives that have been recommended to her, I wasn't convinced but as she said "I've nothing to lose".

We can always borrow a carpet shampooer from M but that turns it into a big job, doing large areas each time to make it worth the borrow so I bought the Deawoo Stairmaster which is the handheld cordless spot and stairs cleaner. When I discovered after spraying solution the attached brush is used with your own arm power and it's only switched on to suck up the liquid I was disappointed as it seemed no better than a manual scrub! Then when Hubby emptied it and the water was filthy I thought maybe it will have been worth the spend. Later when E told us she had been woken up when someone nearby was using what she thought was a strimmer I had to confess that it was possibly us on the sucking up bit. 

Wednesday was the booking for groundwork for the electric car charger, however Hubby didn't have contact details and no idea what time they were coming. Eventually he arrived and we discovered for here in Suffolk the company had booked their chap who lives in Monmouth about four hours drive each way!

It took him about 90 minutes of very noisy concrete drilling then he drove home, knowing he had to come back to Lowestoft in two days time. No wonder the company charge us customers so much. 

Nice neat job though. 

Us six were out together as usual Wednesday evening, it was open mic night at the pub and the room was full with standing room only. Thankfully friendM had pre-booked our table and we managed to squeeze in another chair when another friend turned up. It was so noisy that conversation was almost impossible so no choice but to listen to the performers (some good and some really not good).

Thursday it was 8am when the guy arrived to install the charger. This involved lots of drilling on and off for four hours! Poor E was my constant thought. 

Outside, around the house and inside the garage all looks very neat. 

Glad it's all over and hoping for some quiet time, and so is E who complained the constant vibrations of the drilling really went through her as she was lying in bed. 

Hubby had to visit the dentist and have a cap fitted to a back tooth (thankfully no drilling) all went well. When he got back and the installation guy had finished and done his paperwork and left we both sat down and heard a crash, Hubby had a look round but couldn't see anything. 

When E came down she noticed our ceramic wall clock had fallen and completely broken into pieces. I managed to find a photo of what it had looked like. 

E thinks it must have been the recent drilling vibrations that caused it to fall. I was quite upset as it had been a gift from Daughter when as a teenager she had toured Hungary with the Suffolk Youth Wind Band and it had been on my wall ever since, about 30 years. 

Lovely visit from Daughter and the dog Thursday afternoon when they walked over. 

It turned out really warm and sunny when friendKK and I had our day out, it was also quite a while in the car which is good catchup chat time. 

We decided to go into Bury St Edmunds. 

Parked and walked to KK's first choice stop The Nutshell which is the smallest public house in the UK.

This photo is the entire pub and if you can zoom lots to see what's written in the frame just above KK's head it says so. 

We did have some car park issues, where to eat lunch issues, getting lost because of diversions issues and not finding a tea and cake venue open issue but we had a really good day and have already reserved another date together before we both get too busy. 

At the moment no weekend plans but you never know!

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All About The Changes......

 It's taken five weeks and finally got my last CT Scan result which shows small shrinkage in two places and also small growth in two places, everywhere else clear, report ends "No Alert Required". Haven't spoken to Oncology team yet to understand if that changes any medication dosage.

As you know the Wednesday gang have a meal together most weeks on a Wednesday, however this week it changed to Tuesday as that was friendF's birthday, so friendM cooked for us all (not an easy task in her little cottage) Meal was great and the company fun as always. 

Only upset was her little dog when he was told he wasn't invited. 

She even got friendF a cake and candles. 

Hubby told friendP that our pond was ready for fish again. We've both missed having fish since the otters stole them all and that was a year ago almost to the day. FriendP managed to catch three from his pond and brought them to the dinner party (we had to keep the dog away from them). 

Now to see if the new grating keeps preditors out while we can still see in and doesn't keep Hubby out when he needs to get in! 

A quick slide down the black bag

And they seem quite happy in their new home. 

Hubby's new car was ready so Wednesday he left home in the blue Audi Q3.

And returned home in the pebble grey Audi Q4 e tron!

We went out for a ride together after lunch and it was very quiet as all electric cars are, interior very comfortable and the drive very smooth. Hubby is very pleased. 

FriendM took me out to lunch Thursday as a late birthday treat and she chose to take me to Kervan Kitchen a new-ish Turkish Restaurant in Ipswich.

A very pretty restaurant and a lot bigger inside than I thought it was. Food was delicious and although I can't eat big dinners I managed enough to not need an evening meal at all. 

Friday, after three days of only eating bland carbs and 24 hours of only clear liquids and evil tasting solution in two doses E had a medical procedure that she said went well. Now the wait for her of 3-4 weeks for results and the what's next. 

Nasty shock to end my week..... I've just received a tax bill and it's a big one aarrgghhh. I received a small assessment a few years ago and it said I owed money because of savings interest that went over my allowance. When I checked it all on the government website it said this amount will be recovered through my income tax. Now looks like it wasn't recovered and I need to pay it ASAP! Makes me feel like a criminal tax dodger. 

Paid now so I'll hopefully not get arrested and be back next Saturday, fingers crossed.

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Save The Date......

 
When did I get so busy? I seem to be spending so much time arranging when I can do things rather than the actual doing of things! 

FriendKK keeps reminding me that we must arrange another day out together and I kept delaying while we were having heatwaves. Towards the end of August when it seemed to be cooling down I messaged her to say I was ready and apart from avoiding Mondays and Wednesdays as usual I'm pretty much free in September. 

Tuesday suddenly got busy, I usually have my nails done on the first Monday of every month, however my lady knew she would be away so booked me in for Tuesday at my usual 1:30pm

E was given a blood test time of 1:20pm and Hubby can't drive us in two different directions at the same time. 

I changed my time for nails to 2pm

Then Hubby was given a dentist appointment on same day, but thankfully that was in the morning.

All appointments met on time! 

FriendM suddenly remembered we hadn't had our usual lunch out together for my last birthday and insisted we sort that, we managed to both be available on the 17th.

It was made more difficult as we were also trying to sort a lunch date for me, friendM and friendJ. After lots of back and forth we agreed on 25th until her husband reminded her he was out all day and she was going to her Son's, so back to the calenders and three way conversations and finally agreed on 22nd.

That led to another conversation between me and friendM about venue as she didn't want to eat twice in the same place and friendJ had wanted to go to the place M&I normally go! 

If you're still reading this you've more stamina than I have, but I didn't have the option to stop. 

Having had no reply I'd messaged friendKK again, this time saying I was now only free a few days let's book in quick, so we now have 25th on the calender for each other but no plan for what we'll do yet. 

Ironically x-work friendR (who had offered to organise our next get together) chose this week to message me and say they were back from their summer travels and was organising as promised, so when was I free!!! 

Add amongst that lot blood tests and other medical appointments and it's a very busy September. 

Changing the subject, which I'm sure you'll be pleased about hahaha

Hubby has been making a preditor-proof grid for the pond and hopefully when we have enough water to fill it and the pump is back on we can have fish again. We've both missed having fish. 

Wednesday was our usual six friends having dinner in our usual pub (creatures of habit) when an old friend turned up at the pub, with his wife who we've never met. FriendV had been a lorry driver working out of Felixstowe Dock and we'd often meet up with him on a Wednesday. He finally retired over two years ago. This week he was having a holiday with his wife in a caravan at Felixstowe and guessed we'd all be here as it's Wednesday. Lovely to see him. 

Wednesday lunchtime(ish) I decided to message nieceL as her first grandchild must be due any day now. She replied amazed at my timing as my great-nieceB was actually in labour and in hospital since Tuesday evening with her mum and B's-partnerN with her. I'm psychic! We kept in touch and I got all the updates but it wasn't till Thursday morning before B&N's baby girl arrived. Mother and baby both tired but fine. No name yet though. And now I'm a great-great aunt :-)

And finally something to make you smile, it made me smile. 

Friday is our bin day and it's usually early morning. When they hear the lorry Hubby and neighbourA both change into daft little boys and they race each other to get the bins back. This week I also jumped up to hopefully get a photo of them and saw neighbourA coming out from another neighbour's drive having put her bin back for her and Hubby grabbing A's bin along with ours and doing a cheeky pretend run up the drive as if to steal them. I laughed and took a quick pic through the window but mainly succeeded in getting my own reflection doh!

It's now the Jewish New Year or Rosh Hashanah 5787

L'shanah Tovah!

Wishing everyone a sweet new year with happiness and good health!

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Keeping Up The Fight........

 Saturday Hubby came in from the shed and showed me this picture. He said "There are a lot of things inside the humane mouse trap, the door is still open and I didn't put them there. I think a mouse is playing games."

Quite a few months ago Hubby had caught two about a week apart and released them into some woodland a reasonable distance away. After this long silence and a good clear up of the shed and most importantly reboxing securely the stored bird feeder supplies we thought we were clear. Now a cheeky lodger was setting up home and building a nest inside the trap hahaha. Of course Hubby cleared the trap and reset it, caught the mouse and set it free where others might be to make friends with. 

Hmmmm was it a third or was it in fact just the one that keeps managing the long walk back home? 

When we get the early morning sunshine our front door's patterned glass sends designs up the walls or across the carpet and ceiling. One morning the refraction sent a beam from the hall and through the lounge and right into the mouth of this ceramic fish. It glowed so brightly! 

I was thrilled to get a good photo as I've never seen it do that before even though it has sat there since E made it for me about 14 years ago! 

Hubby's sister-in-law phoned, they don't chat often so they had a little catchup. Her main reason to call was to let us know that she had been diagnosed with dementia. She said she gets lots of local support which is good to know. 

Gosh it's September! Well that's officially the end of summer and it's now autumn! 

It was sunny and still warm when friendL and friendS came here for afternoon tea/coffee and they brought cheese scones and cakes. Hubby helped me carry the garden table and chairs to a sunny spot, he pinched a cake then left us girls to it. Too many health issues between us and our families. All still here though! 

I've been a background support for FriendJ who has been fighting cancers for the last four years and this week her oncology consultant has told her they can't do anymore and are stopping the chemo. She is planning on making memories while also looking for alternative treatments including trials. FriendM and I are hoping to meet with her soon for a lunch. 

Hubby is still in debate with the company that needs to put the car charger in. They quoted for doing the groundwork and it was a silly amount which Hubby has asked them to justify. 

Daughter came over with O and D and the dog. Lovely to see them all. R is on holiday with a friend in Slovenia and when I asked for a photo she sent one of them in front of a waterfall saying "this is where we are right now". R never takes many photos and rarely replies to messages that quick so I felt very honoured. 

Some weeks we have to count our blessings a bit more and acknowledge our supporters.

Thank you for dropping in.

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All About The Timing......

Daughter came back from her Tudor time travel Saturday night and came here Sunday to unpack her tent to lay out in our garden along with the waterproof layer and ground sheet so they can dry completely and then get swept and repacked for storage. 

She also filled our washing line with clothes and towels which helped her catch up a bit. 

Meanwhile after testing each new surface for lying on comfort the dog found a shady spot and just watched. 

Monday afternoon Daughter came back to unload the rest of the car, return the top-box to its garage space with Hubby's help (strapped to the loft beams above my car) and then fill it with tent and stuff.

R and O had come with her and while chatting to them they recommended a film.  

Hubby and I watched it Wednesday, warned that we had to allow plenty of time, it's 2h 36m! It's a really good film with a story line that's not a repeat of anything I've seen done before which is great. Hahaha not easy writing this without spoilers. Hubby really enjoyed the Sci-fi and I enjoyed the interactions between characters. However I've never had film staying power so found it far too long but glad we watched it. 

I think I mentioned a while back the finding which supermarket sold a vegan garlic bread was tricky so I now make and freeze our own to go with a pasta meal. E likes to snack late in the evening and sausage rolls are a favourite, again finding them ready cooked and vegan gets tricky so I made, froze to thaw them two at a time for the fridge. So far so good. 

Now for the back story for what happened Thursday. 

Straight after putting down the deposit on his new car Hubby contacted the company that Audi use for installing electric charging points to ask for a quote. He had to use that company as Audi are paying most of the cost as part of the purchase deal. A guy came out to do the survey and agreed with Hubby that if he got the groundwork done in advance it would be cheaper. Hubby was planning to do the groundwork himself. Over the next few weeks Hubby made a start taking out some of the motor joints on the slabs that the cable would be going under.  Then Audi said Hubby couldn't go direct, the dealer has to send the request for the electrics to go through their books. This guy came out and did the survey all over again, then he told Hubby it would invalidate the safety certification if they didn't do the groundwork! So Hubby told him to quote and book for the whole job. 

As we should be getting the car next week the charging point installation had to happen this week. Booked for Thursday but not given a time, about 2:30pm this guy arrived, the same one that had done the survey. He was surprised the groundwork hadn't been done, said he can't do it and drove off! Hubby has sent some emails and made phone calls. I haven't asked what's happening so as not to upset him further. 

Friday cheered him up when he was in the right place at the right time to see the Red Arrows fly over our house on their way to the Clacton Air Show, and he got a photo. 

In reality they were very loud but very little dots in the sky, so I zoomed the photo for you. 

I tried a vegan sponge recipe I'd not used before. Really easy and baked looking good. The round one was sandwiched together with home made quince jelly and butter icing. The cup cakes have raisins in. 

My first bite was an instant memory of Farley's Rusks mmmm.

Conclusion is not bad but room for improvement. 

Oh look I've run out of time so will post this now and see you next week.

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Confusions and Frustrations.......

 
Thought we were having the dog last Saturday so dog proofed the lounge, put food and water and her bed out in the dining room, then it turned out we weren't needed so put it all away again, then told Tuesday onwards this week. 

My brother put this tribute to our parents on fb as 15th August is the anniversary of VJ day and I have his permission to share it here. 

Thanks Bruv.

Sunday was a lovely visit from Son&fiancé with their dog

They came with birthday gifts and cake. 

Although their vase did look a little worried by my other new vase. 

This visit we did manage to have the Chinese takeaway that didn't happen last time. E doesn't enjoy Chinese so I cooked her a dinner just before ours arrived. 

After eating we had all just settled back in the lounge when Son got a message from another family member who was parked on their drive while he went abroad. The message said they were back in the UK and heading back from the airport and will be with them in 10-15minutes! Panic stations as Son lives nearly half an hour away from my house and knows his clever parking means two cars need to move and nobody has both keys. So mad pack up, hugs, kisses and gone. 

Monday morning and the neighbours all laughed when greeted by the new coffee club sign. In the afternoon Son suddenly arrived (I'd forgotten he was coming) he'd arranged with Hubby to bring over his pond frame as he's filling in his pond and our netting wasn't enough when the otters came and took all our fish. Son had taken a charity day off work and sat in on M's games week. M has gathered a lot more retro computer and console games for his school holiday event and Son couldn't resist especially as some of the games had been his.   

Tuesday morning more dog sitting confusion. Yes we had dog proofed but weren't needed. Got an apology and the message that we were definitely needed Thursday. 

E has had a nightmare getting an NHS booking! GP did the referral for a test, E got a message to phone the booking team which she did. The booking team are an outsourced company that are remote and couldn't answer E's simple question but said they'll ask and someone will ring her back, they didn't ring back. To cut a very long story short this has taken a month of chasing, lack of responses, a booking and cancelling and emails getting lost and finally found for E to now have an appointment for a test she needs another month away and E having made 14 of those phone calls! On her records all medical staff will see her condition is made so much worse by fatigue and stress. 

As we are on the subject of medical frustrations I chased for my results of the CT Scan I had two weeks ago and was told they are now taking 6-8 weeks to come through aarrgghhh! I'll be due another scan by then. 

I have to say that all the hands-on medical staff I've had contact with are efficient and caring however the NHS is very broken on its systems, recording and communications side! 

This is the last week for Theatre in the Forest after which Red Rose Theatre Company takes a very well earned break and shuts for a few weeks. R has a holiday with a friend booked. I told R we'd get her some euros to take, they will mostly use plastic but things like bus fares or buying a coffee might need cash. I did the research and found the best deal was order online then pick up in person from the Foreign Exchange inside Sainsbury. As always Hubby does the shopping and would pick up after a hospital appointment, so I gave him my passport and the bank card I'd bought them on as requested. He was refused the euros as I needed to be there with my ID. He argued but they wouldn't budge. So in store he still ordered online in his name and collected. When he got home I went to cancel my order then discovered there was a £10 cancellation fee which made me cross so back with Hubby next day to pick up my order. Not sure that was the most cost effective way to do it, but the spare euros will sit here with our spare US dollars for someone's future trip. 

Hubby has been playing with bits of frame to see what works and what extra bits he needs to order. He's also cleaned off some of the slabs. 

While over there he disturbed this little chap and managed to get a good photo. 

Sad seeing the pond so short of water but it is helpful for Hubby while sorting it out.

We did dog sit on Thursday and warned it was till late as M had included a parents evening. When M and D came to pick up the dog they said their version of parents evening was actualy nearly all of the dad's who came to play the retro games they remembered hahaha.  M's son D is now working full time there as Uni is finished. 

Hubby got a couple of hours with the guys playing pool on Friday which he hasn't done for ages. 

Very unpredictable weather with the lightest of showers and a few heavy storms all short lived but so welcome. Did mean coffee morning was a shall we sit inside or outside debate, we chanced outside and was OK. Still quite warm so doors and windows open, then a storm means a mad dash closing them and starting the day with the optimistic t-shirt but the cardigan nearby. 

Ended the week with a late message from M can we have the dog all day today while he holds his final school holiday BBQ. So I'm off now to Doggy proof again. 

Enjoy your weekend.

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