Loose ends

Witley Court Gardens, May 2021

Vaccination

My last vaccination shift wasn't cancelled, and I discovered a little about what's going on. Because we're not a public vaccination hub our customers are all front-line healthcare workers. Nearly all have had both vaccines by now, so it was decided to close most weekday operations and open only on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So all my weekday shifts have been cancelled - the one that I managed to book was a 'late' on Saturday running from 2 to 8 p.m. so I'm guessing not a popular time for many.

The nurse in charge told me that there was an idea that we would try to become a public-facing local vaccination hub which would potentially allow GPs to return to normal business (it's shocking how many GPs have not yet restored their services). But until this happens, each time I look at the online roster system there are no available shifts. It may be that my short-lived vaccination career is about to come to a premature end. Before I even get paid. I was contacted this week to ask for a form that I'd already submitted three weeks ago.

LTRP

In LTRP news, Olf's mate the plumber came on round with his mate to have a look at the stain on the upstairs hall ceiling which is not growing particularly fast but is located underneath the water tank in the loft. They poked about for quite a long time before finding anything that could be the root cause, but eventually found that the overflow for both that tank and the central heating header tank runs uphill. This makes sense, as the stain would only grow in the event of overflow. They cleaned the ball valve nicely and Olf's mate said he would call to talk about a date for the rest of the work, which I chased last week. I haven't heard from him yet.

The builder (Glf) I've engaged to work on the pub wall isn't due to start until the end of June, but in the recent downpour one of the Velux windows over the (tiled) hall started to let it a few drips, and I noticed that the wall which I had thought was no longer damp was actually soaking. So I'm hanging on to see what he can come up with, but it looks like I'll be waiting a while to finish the downstairs decoration.

Parents

I took a trip to the Woodland Cemetery with mum and her friend. The cemetery is fairly new so trees and shrubs are not yet tall enough to shield it much from the noise of the M25 motorway, but I'm sure it will develop into a lovely site. We happened to meet one of the gardeners there. He was a youngish man, maybe in his 30's, and after a quick hello he looked at mum more carefully and asked, "Do I know you?" She was a little taken aback, but then he introduced himself and revealed that she had taught him to read from the Torah scroll for his Bar Mitzvah, presumably more than 20 years ago. 

Pub

The pub has now been allowed to open for customers to sit indoors. When they opened the outdoor area back in April they installed a speaker to pipe music out there, and although this is something that I have always managed to negotiate away with previous pub managers, I felt it was only reasonable to let it go while outdoors was the only place customers could go. When customers could go indoors, the music was still going outside with no customers there. 

I really don't mind voices, not even the worst kind (which for me is the screeching of drunk young women), but I find the 'doof doof doof' of amplified pop music that can be heard most clearly in my kitchen and living room most annoying. So eventually I decided to go round and have a chat, and the manager on duty was really nice about it and said that he was sorry and he had been told to keep the outside music turned down and he turned it off straight away.

Commonwealth Games

While I was in the pub I noticed that one of the most regular customers was in - a local man who is also one of the contacts between residents and the Council over the Commonwealth Games. In 2022 this event is being hosted by the City of Birmingham. Royal Leamington Spa, however, is the chosen spot for the lawn bowling events, which will be happening on my doorstep. Literally, from the sound of it. There is a bit of a fuss because the District Council (which owns and manages the greens) has been working with the relevant Commonwealth Games committee without consulting residents.

So I had a really interesting chat with him - despite there being just three streets and a park involved, there are three different residents organisations, and he's already had to withdraw from one of them due to a difference of opinion - how very British. I found out that the plans involve erecting large spectator stands which will displace at least half the residents' and park visitors' parking spaces, and also presumably block the view so tickets can be sold. There are a few other issues, and I do intend to read all the material online and comment if appropriate, but I haven't done it yet. There is a residents' meeting tonight, which I plan to attend.

Spring revival

November 2020

And with the spring comes snow, and tradesmen!

Somehow I regained the motivation to start on the LTRP again - perhaps it was because I had to do something about the ceiling stain. Olf's mate the plumber replied to my message saying he's a bit busy and I might need to look for someone sooner, but I pointed out that because he's a plumber he probably doesn't realise how hard it is to find a plumber, and the stain is growing very slowly so I'm prepared to wait until he's available. Of course if the water starts gushing through the ceiling I'll have to move a bit more quickly. 

New builder Glf has visited to survey the wall on the pub side, and seems like a friendly reliable type of chap (but I've been mistaken before). He even phoned back after the visit to check a few details. I've sent a list of jobs to Ilf as well, including general maintenance and decoration, asking for a date in late spring/early summer when I'm hoping the wall will be done. Setting myself up for disappointment as usual, but my next door neighbour wants some work done as well so if I'm not ready for Ilf then at least he can do stuff for her. And last but not least, the saga with the broken glass on the hob has moved on through contacting the original supplier (Ylf), establishing that the warranty period covered the work, a scheduled visit cancelled due to the part not having arrived, and finally the visit taking place and the glass replaced.

And the pub has opened again! They've put up a marquee in the garden with nine tables of six and an area for standing up that isn't under cover. The kitchen isn't open but they've got an arrangement with a local pizza place for delivery. I went over to say hello and ask them to turn the music down a bit if there's nobody there. I'll try and find some friends to go and actually buy a drink, so I'm not just the neighbour that complains about the music. It's been odd being reminded how quiet things have been for a year, or conversely, how much noise I had become accustomed to before the pub closed.

I also wrote a long time ago about how overdue the dress that I promised Lola is, and how I ironed a hole in it. Well, it hasn't progressed at all because my sewing machine kept breaking needles, and I eventually got round to finding out that a local shop was able to carry out a service despite pandemic restrictions. So it's had a service. Now I've got to find time between the diabetes, vaccination, Mr MXF, visiting mum and dad, providing tech support to Lola II (of which more later perhaps), the Buddhists and the LTRP to get down to some sewing.

Lockdown lifting

Riverhill Himalayan Gardens, September 2020

There has been lots of vaccinating, lots and lots. For one whole shift, six hours, I did nothing else. Usually we each swap around to do at least two roles, but that's not how it worked out on that occasion. There have been no particular highlights - I meet a variety of people who work in all sorts of different places, but now that second vaccines have started there really isn't time to chat - we're working flat out. One tip if you're planning to get vaccinated any time soon - don't wear a tight-fitting long-sleeved shirt. It's surprising how many people end up having to get half-undressed, and it's not just the men.

Nothing notable to report at the moment. A bit of brain stretch with Mr MXF, a bit of meditation and study with the Buddhists, and we've managed to start walking together now that restrictions allow up to six of us to gather outside. The variable weather makes scheduling a walk a bit of a gamble, though, especially the day after it snowed. I met Lola II and Mr M at mum and dad's and made a splendid trifle for the occasion, and Mr M brought a garden plant for mum, and Lola II cut my hair at least as well as the salon without any of the fuss. 

I have been watching many films, doing some cooking, cleaning, sorting out the house, but no specific LTRP projects completed although I noticed a growing stain on the ceiling in the hall upstairs. I finally got round to going up into the loft to see what was there, and unfortunately the stain is growing under a water tank, so it's back to Olf's mate - the plumber who helped out after Flf left me in the lurch. And I've been in touch with a new builder to help repair the render on the wall next to the pub, and he's coming round to have a look at it next week.

Plumbing news

January 2021

At last I have a working wet room! Olf's mate and Olf's mate's mate turned up to help finish the job so heartlessly abandoned by Flf.

First things first - they are only the second of all the tradesmen in the past 12 months to wear masks - the first was Dlf 1, the damp estimator who lives round the corner. I set up a DIY hot drinks post for them, complete with hand sanitiser and regular kettles of boiling water. I even bought biscuits for them, which was rather dangerous because they looked like really good biscuits. But unlike all the other contributors to the LTRP I didn't take any photos of them, not wanting to appear even slightly threatening in case they took fright and fled.

They started with the faulty shower, and with the help of the installation booklet that I'd found online they diagnosed a broken part:- 453.10, the Thermostatic Harness Assembly. A phone call to the manufacturer was surprisingly fruitful - the operator understood the part number, reported that it was in stock, arranged to send it out, and cancelled the manufacturer service visit which was due the following day.

Then they got stuck into the tiling that had run too close to the light switch, put the shower screen in, had a bit of trouble finding anything in the wall to attach the retaining bar to but found something in the end, and replastered the consequent hole in the ceiling. Outside they have adjusted some of the drainage and shown me what should probably happen next out there. They worked for the whole day until it was nearly dark, and the next morning the Thermostatic Harness Assembly arrived and they fitted it and finished the job. And Olf's mate took away both the biscuits and my Tower of Plastic Pots resulting from the over-supply of lunches, which I encouraged him to use for putting screws in or whatever.

So all that is left to do in the wet room is to join the light and the fan switches and decorate the ceiling which has taken some punishment over the course of shower transformation to wet room and a bit of tiling I discovered when I was up a ladder in there. I put off the celebratory shower for a couple of days to let the fresh plaster go off. It was brilliant. There is still a bit of work to do outside with rendering and drainpipe adjustment, but that's not urgent and I may wait for Olf to be available or look for another tradesman. It would probably be a good policy to look elsewhere, given that we're not going to be Covid-free for some time and Olf is retiring anyway, so I'll need a new tame builder.

More tragic LTRP news though: the toughened glass on the top of the induction hob has broken! Only in the corner, not in the main heating surface, but it will have to be fixed. So I got in touch with Ylf the kitchen, who told me they would send me the manufacturer's contact details, but I would need the serial number, which will be on a sticker under the hob. Except that 'under the hob' is a series of drawers. I got creative, sending a torch and my camera in on the drawer to see if I could locate the label and take a picture of it. It took a bit of fiddling about but I managed it in the end.

The Ylfs clearly did some back-room work because next day I received an email containing my warranty registration, except that it showed only 2 years warranty for the hob, not the 5 years I was expecting. So more delay while that is investigated.

I sent Flf one more email saying "this is the last you'll hear from me" and what do you know, he sent me an invoice! So he's not dead, he is the no-good low-life that I thought he was, and I shall be deducting the amount I've paid Olf's mate before paying him.

Annoyed

Munich Botanical Gardens, December 2019

When I'm about to moan about some aspect of my life, there's always a voice in my head reminding me that it could be so much worse. Of course it could, but still, I'm allowed to get annoyed about stuff. Even if the annoyances are very definitely in the 'First World Problems' category.

My colleagues at work are still very annoying. My wet room still lacks a fully working shower, a screen, a fan that comes on together with the light, and I have a whole lot of other water-related problems. A surfeit of food - that shouldn't be annoying of course, but I almost ran out of fridge/freezer space.

The food surfeit started with something that was entirely my own fault - I mentioned a while ago that I bought some groceries for mum and dad and forgot to take them when I visited. What contributed to this situation was that before Christmas I ordered some delicious vegan ready meals which come in 12 different varieties in a large box. Normally they deliver next day, but I asked for a date in January, which passed without any delivery. When I queried this on Monday they were quick to make amends and announced that I would receive my box on Tuesday. I responded very quickly to ask for it to be delayed until Wednesday because I wouldn't be at home on Tuesday, and was told that this change had been done.

Despite this, the box was left on my doorstep on Tuesday morning, and by the time I got home it was gone. The company was quick to arrange another delivery which came early next morning - and then my neighbour turned up at the door, with my box from the previous day which he had rescued from the doorstep. So I have had to find fridge/freezer space for 24 delicious vegan ready meals, which is no hardship really as they are very tasty.

The wet room situation continues. I find it quite difficult to go through the process of finding someone suitable, arranging for them to visit then deciding what to do when they do or don't respond with a quote. Olf recommended a reliable plumber, and I also had a visit from the company who service my boiler. It's a tricky situation for anyone to come in and finish a job started by someone else, especially now that most of the problems are not about plumbing - the light switch, the ceiling, the drains, water penetration through the wall. I had a chat with Olf as well, but he is shielding at the moment, and retiring soon.

The shower itself has been faulty all along, and I found a guarantee card and phoned the manufacturer. We have arranged for someone to come out and have a look, but if it is a fault due to installation, which it probably is, then there will be a fee. They will fix it at no charge only if it is a manufacturing fault. But since I owe Flf a good deal more than the call out fee I don't think I can lose. I've set a date for the call out that's a little way off, so if Olf's mate fixes it first I can cancel.

In between all these annoyances I spent some time on Zoom with Mr MXF, who shoved so much more stuff into my brain that I couldn't cope. We have started to record our Zoom sessions so that I can go back and replay them in short sections, which makes it easier to take everything on board. It's quite interesting and I like a challenge, but I had to take the rest of the day off.

And the most annoying thing - the pandemic. Or maybe it's Brexit. Or the state of affairs in the USA. Or the cold weather, or the rain. Almost nothing in the world is how I would like it to be, and it makes me sad. While I am cosy in my house (despite all my wet room woes) and have enough to eat and enough money to live on and no sign of plague, I am missing the life I used to lead, with badminton, and restaurants, and holidays, and festivals, and visiting people, and weekends away with Lola II and Mr M, and friends that I could hug. Not that I wanted to hug them back then before all this started, but I could have, and not being allowed to is annoying.

A burst of enthusiasm

Great Dixter, July 2020

I was on retreat over the New Year. Sometimes these online retreats are fairly short and easy, with perhaps one meditation together and another session with some teaching every day. This one was full speed ahead, three sessions and sometimes four every day for a week, leaving little time for anything else - which is the point, really. It helps to keep you focussed on the Buddhist life.

I did manage a couple of other activities - a second trip to the tip with all the horrible thorny garden cuttings, a walk with a new member of the local Buddhist group and his dog, and a Zoom get-together with all the friends who would have been in the house in Devon if we had been able to go on the planned New Year holiday.

So when the retreat ended and I had a whole week of stuff to catch up with, I felt glad that I'm not at work until next week. I have spent a lot of time on the computer with that New Year enthusiasm that wears off so quickly. But I'll take advantage while it's there...

It's official - Flf the plumber didn't respond to my messages in the timescale I gave him, which leaves me with a usable but not quite finished wet room. New Year enthusiasm stretched to making a series of calls and emails to try and find someone to finish the job. I had the great idea of contacting Olf and asking him for a recommendation, and then while I was at it I thought I'd start on the next idea, which is to rearrange the bedrooms upstairs. 

One of the necessary steps is to make the wardrobe in the smaller room into something more than a clothes rail. Being an organised kind of person I went back to find the paperwork for the company that had installed the wardrobe in the bigger bedroom, which was 15 years ago. Not surprisingly, the phone wasn't answered, but a quick enquiry via Checkatrade produced a response from a different firm.

Then I was notified that my request to set up remote working had been actioned. This is more a precautionary measure in case I have to self-isolate, to allow me to phone patients from home. I need access to three specific systems plus my stored files and email, and it took quite a long time to follow all the instructions, installing an authentication app on my phone, then using that to log into a remote connection, then working out how to launch the systems that I need. Two of them won't work at the moment, one because it requires a keyboard where you insert a smartcard, and another because it doesn't work on Microsoft browsers. But we're halfway there.

I also responded to a call for volunteers to assist the vaccination programme. This has now extended to Allied Health Professionals like Dietitians, but it's unclear whether I'll be trained to actually give the vaccine injections or just support the team at the vaccination hub, perhaps with paperwork or helping patients. Anyway, the first step along the path has been to complete two extra training modules on anaphylaxis and core knowledge for vaccinators, which I've now done.

Another outlet for my enthusiasm this week included a trip to mum and dad who are defined in this third lockdown as my support bubble. Each time I find my time there fully utilised, finding out the progress of our attempt to switch mum's bank account (in summary - a right old mess), helping with all types of computer things, and this time, listening to a number of dad's stories after lunch. These tend to start with plausible memories (the friend with whom dad played violin duets at a school concert, the inspirational English teacher) and then progress to less believable detail (the friend's body was dug from his grave by wild animals). But some of the medical anecdotes remain fascinating all the way through. 

I managed to forget two things, though - one was the shopping that mum had asked for, so not only is she short of the specified items but I am now the proud owner of more margarine and soft cheese than I normally eat in a year. The other, which I have only just remembered, was to change my own email address in their Contacts list. Either that will have to wait for the next visit, or we'll arrange a time to go through it remotely.

Bah humbug

Munich Botanical Gardens, December 2019

After I'd been to the bank and the supermarket I shut my front door on Wednesday 23rd December confident that I would not be in the physical presence of another human until Tuesday 29th December. On that day I have to go to work, then I'll go shopping again, and then it will be another period of isolation until, wait for it, Monday 11th January. I might need supplies before then, so my isolation may be broken by an encounter with a supermarket checkout person. And there's just a chance of a socially distanced walk on Monday 28th, or an Amazon delivery of a new umbrella and a floor squeegee for the wet room.

It is looking very likely that Flf has walked away from my wet room without so much as an apology, explanation, or invoice. I have been awarded a free wet room! except for the bits that haven't been done. Once I have found someone new to finish the job I will invite him to submit an invoice, but not yet, I'm still cross. As a celebration for my unfinished wet room Lola II and Mr M dropped by, Santa-style, and gave me one of my two Christmas presents - some shower gel! I now smell quite unlike my usual soap. They also brought trifle to share, and they saw my wet room, and we got quite cold, and it was lovely to see them but not like it should be. Damn you, Coronavirus.

In case you were wondering, the other Christmas present was from Mr MXF, and comprised a large number of different flavours of Chai - he deduced rightly that alcohol would not be all that welcome. Unfortunately they all contain caffeine so it may take me a year or two to get through them - the one I have tried was delicious, though. I suppose I should also mention the gifts I've been getting from generous companies who have donated them to the NHS - mostly toiletries, but on 21st December I received a Lindt chocolate advent calendar (along with Nivea and hand cream). I accepted (invented) the challenge of catching up to align the little window-opening and the calendar date, bearing in mind that the chocolates are incredibly small.

Both of my employers staged Christmas get togethers on the same day. At the Diabetes Centre there was to be a buffet lunch where each of us bring a component such as bread, cheese, fizzy pop etc. Historically I have attended in order to promote team spirit, but this year it was on a day when I don't work there and on the same day as Mr MXF's party, which took place in the evening via Zoom. Earlier in the week Lola Towers had taken delivery of a small bottle of Prosecco via Amazon, and a frozen meal from Wiltshire Farm Food, which we Dietitians tend to recommend mainly to older people who have had upper GI surgery or a brain injury and can no longer chew or swallow safely.

I wasn't going to mention this during the Zoom call, but it turns out the Mr MXF was aware of the situation but he had left the order so late that WFF was the only supplier still offering Christmas dinners for delivery (and it turns out that by the time the orders were placed, these were no longer available). Other employees joining the festivities were the entire MXF family plus a girlfriend, and two young people who do web coding and accounts. Mr MXF had also arranged a quiz where I achieved a score no better than chance, but I contributed to the fun by embarrassing him with ancient pictures of him as a twenty-something shared via Zoom.

My plan to join a three-household Christmas get-together in Nottingham was scuppered only days before it was due to happen. One of the party is more of an introvert than I am, and even she was disappointed that we're now meeting on Zoom instead of in person. All my progress towards welcoming human contact has evaporated, so when we start being able to meet people again I'll have to start at square one. This has certainly been a year like no other. 

Socialising

Munich Botanical Gardens, December 2019

What has happened? Have we been left high and dry? Where are the regular outpourings of trivia that we have come to expect about once a week?

Well, the effect of lockdown is to prevent me doing anything except things that I've written about again and again - work at the hospital, work for Mr MXF, Buddhist stuff. And Flf the plumber has now stopped responding to my emails and texts and I suspect that he is cutting his losses and leaving me to it, so nothing on the LTRP front at the moment either. Although I did manage to chop up ten bags of thorny green stuff from the garden and take it to the tip in the pouring rain. That's the trouble with now having to book a fixed time to go to the tip - you can't wimp out just because the weather is inclement. There's probably another ten bags still waiting on the lawn to be chopped up.

We had a games night on Zoom with Lola II, Mr M and old friends from long ago. We had been doing this regularly in the early days of lockdown but it had tailed off a bit, so nice to see people again, catch up, and make plans for a New Year's Eve get together. On that occasion the attendance will be augmented by all the people who were supposed to be together in person for our holiday booked in Devon so long ago, and it now seems very optimistic even to be thinking about it for next year.

I also met some people in real life at the Birmingham Buddhist Centre, where six of the women I've been studying with had their Mitra ceremony. It was a lovely event, and I took away a number of points where I would want to replicate their ideas (e.g. recorded mantras as we're not allowed to sing or chant) and other points that I would want to do differently (e.g. the people on Zoom never saw the people in the room and we in the room were never told who was on Zoom, even though there was a screen, but it was too far away and I couldn't see it well enough to make out faces or read names). We're going to be experimenting soon with tethering tablets and laptops to mobile phones in our own hall, so maybe there will be progress to report at some point.

Until then, there's nothing much to add unless something exciting crops up between this draft and pressing the 'Publish' button.

Tier 3 lockdown shower

Munich, December 2019

The electrician came! And wired up the shower and the extractor fan, but couldn't hook the fan in with the light switch because of the tiling. If Flanders and Swann hadn't written their famous song I would have thought I'm the first to encounter this sort of difficulty. The electrician also told me a very interesting fact that Flf had neglected to mention: the cable to the shower was not incorrect and hadn't been replaced after all, because it was only powering the pump and not heating the water because the hot water comes from the tank upstairs.

There's no shower screen yet, but I had a careful shower and it was wonderful, but while the water is coming through OK, the knob that ought to adjust the power of the stream isn't working. Now all that needs to happen is for Flf to come back, sort out the power setting, the screen, the ceiling, the drains outside, and the tiling (which the electrician could probably have done himself but didn't) so that the electrician can come back and finish that bit of the job. But now that I can have a proper shower standing up he can take his time and finish up whenever he wants to be paid.

Doors & Windows Ulf came! With a sidekick, and we all climbed up to the roof of the kitchen, managed to avoid falling off despite the frost, and discovered that the leak is probably caused by moss prising apart plastic layers that oughtn't to be prised apart. So I'm going to need to get up there once or twice a year to scrape off the moss, which means I'm going to need some better ladders. But with luck, no more indoor rain.

I have done some more work for Mr MXF at last, and it is still as mind-stretching as before. But I can detect some progress in my understanding of how email works, and managed to send and receive email from an address using a domain that belongs to Mr MXF. If this makes no sense to you, and there's no reason why it should, then all I can say is that I have achieved something quite difficult and am rather pleased with myself.

It has definitely been a problem-solving week: the next problem to be solved is in connection with the bank switching service which failed to switch an account that I've been helping mum with. We think we may have tracked down the problem, but that is a long way from solving it. 

And the long confinement of Covid-19 continues, with Leamington in tier 3 lockdown, and nobody knowing exactly what that means, and the weather turning proper chilly. I keep myself pretty busy with the Buddhism (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday in the past week) and watching films and writing blogs and family Zoom meetings and cooking and cleaning and 'gardening'. 'Gardening' means chopping everything down to shoulder or waist level and leaving it all on the lawn until I can be bothered to cut it up small enough to pack into sacks and take to the tip. Running has had to stop for the moment because my knee has started to complain.

Working at the hospital has been a bit hectic as I have been allocated a student for two weeks in succession during all-day busy clinics. I have also been given some 'instant' Covid testing kits that work a bit like pregnancy tests but with nasal swabs, but I haven't had the chance to try one out yet. Apparently a negative test can be accepted at face value, but after a positive outcome you have to go and get a proper test to confirm the result. I'll have a go next week.

Tantalising

Adhisthana, July 2019

Flf the plumber did offer to continue work on the wet room during the week that I was away helping Lola II, but I'm not comfortable with that, not because I don't trust him with my house but because I don't trust him with my wet room. He has a tendency (as I have noticed with most of the tradesmen) to make decisions on my behalf without properly consulting me. So far I have put things right, but who knows what I would come home to if I were not constantly popping my head round the door offering tea and checking on progress.

Then he stopped responding. I sent a text at the weekend, then left a voicemail message, then another text, and a little bit of me wondered if he'd decided to cut his losses and not come back. At last I did get a message, and he was there with another Flf on Thursday, and he was spectacularly grumpy. I ignored the scowl and cheerily engaged in chit-chat and offered the usual tea, and I could see in his face the competing desires for tea but also to turn me down because of how cross he was. He accepted in the end and relaxed a bit, and I discovered that he's had a bad back, and sympathised.

So together the two Flfs installed the new towel rail, and put back the sink with new taps and the toilet with new innards and put the shower up on the wall and connected it to the water supply, and left me tantalisingly close to being able to shower standing up for the first time since July. But not quite, because he'd forgotten to arrange for the electrician to be there.

So now I have to wait again for what I hope will be the last visit for all of the wet room bits to be completed. And in the meantime Lola Towers is continuing to have small tantrums when it rains particularly hard and lets water drip into the new kitchen. Ulf would rather I didn't get an independent person in so I have invited him to come and view the scene of the crime himself. We are both being very reasonable at the moment and I hope it stays that way. 

And to add to the stress of the LTRP there are the three bank accounts that I'm switching (with one more to come) - not all mine, but each is going to a different place and they all have different requirements for activating cards and online banking and mobile apps and how much has to be paid in per month to get the full benefits on offer. And Mr MXF has been tied up with other matters for a while but is now back, and I had another hour of mind-stretching conversation which has left me limp yet enthused. Until I tried to put into practice what we had discussed, and it was mighty difficult. So I'm off for a cup of tea and a sit down, and maybe have another look soon.

Tech support

The wet room, July 2020

One of the things that I thought I would do more of when I reduced my Diabetes working hours was volunteering, alongside all the volunteer work involved in the LTRP and the Buddhist group. And it remained no more than a thought until last week, when I supported Lola II and her co-trainer as they delivered their Community Mediation Skills course.

Lola II puts a lot of work into these courses, and I'd heard a lot about them over the years, so I had suggested that I could help a while ago. I imagined running around getting people drinks, moving them between rooms, ordering lunches, that sort of thing. What with one thing and another it turned into quite a different role, which was mainly tech support. And a bit of making drinks and getting lunch, but only for the three of us.

The challenges began for Lola II before the course started, not counting all the work she put into the migration from a face-to-face to an online course. The main reason she had chosen to deliver from a venue rather than from home was to make sure that the WiFi was reliable - there's nothing worse than dropping out in the middle of assessing someone's mediation for a qualification. A few days before the course was due to start the venue got in touch to say that their WiFi had been hacked and had therefore been taken down completely, but they had some sort of solution that involved dongles. They tried it out, and thought that it would work.

It very nearly did work except for some difficulty with passwords, but thankfully all was in place at the point where it was needed. The first three days of the course ran last week, and I got a lot of practice in some of the more arcane aspects of the Zoom program - while I'm familiar with the basics of Interactive White Boards and Breakout Rooms, I found out some of the more advanced features by means of ticking various checkboxes and seeing if it worked.

We were just starting to relax into Day 1, with technology that seemed to be working for the participants and for us, when the fire alarm went off. Thankfully it was a test and it stopped quite quickly, but that was certainly something I hadn't anticipated. By the end of Day 3 all was running smoothly, and the best part was that the participants seemed to be fully engaged and enjoying themselves. I'd learned a bit about mediation as well. 

October 2020

Then the second lockdown happened. Thankfully, the team at the venue are still prepared for us to continue with the second three days of the course, and I'm hoping it will go even more smoothly. There will be a fourth person in the room which may create a problem of noise leakage from one computer to another, but we've been promised screens and we'll have to hope that it works.

My abiding memory is sitting with Lola II and her co-trainer in the room with each of them talking to participants in a separate online Breakout Room, and feeling like I was in the Matrix - I could unplug either of them and they would fall limply to the floor.

Flfs 3 and 4

Lots of other things have also happened, including Flfs 3 and 4 coming to tile the wet room at long last. It looks great. Despite having known about my availability for months, Flf 1 is unable to come back and finish the job this week and I am back with Lola II next week. I am not happy with the delay, but it will make it all the better when I can finally stand up to shower.

At work I acquired a telephone headset and also a telephone compatible with it, which has made my telephone clinics much more comfortable. We have continued to collaborate on the Diabetes Structured Education courses intended for delivery within our NHS Trust and also the adjacent one, and it has become clear that an online option has to be created since this Covid thing isn't going away any time soon. I'm very glad to say that I'm not involved in the education side of the diabetes service any more but I have to remain on call in case of non-availability of other members of staff, so I will have to find out more about all this.

And I attended some online training in the use of the Libre Flash Glucose Monitoring System which was arranged so long ago that it has had to be postponed twice. It was finally delivered via Zoom, and was surprisingly good - I learned quite a lot about the Ambulatory Glucose Profile, which is a longwinded and misleading name for a diagram that shows glucose results for the last two weeks in an easily interpreted graphical format that has been standardised between all the different devices on offer. I might write more about this if I have the strength, but I've had just one day off in the last nine days so I might save that for another time.

November 2020

Slow progress

September 2020

The highlight of the year so far has been a visit from Lola II and Mr M, bringing not just themselves but gifts - home grown edible nasturtiums from Mr M, Lola II cooked delicious vegan gyoza dumplings, and the fun and games that come with any visit from those two. I had planned Sunday lunch at a pub that is a significant walk away, which turned out to be a bit too significant because I broke both Lola II and Mr M and we had to stop on the walk back a bit earlier than expected for coffee and cake.

Apart from that they survived the privations of my cold house (luckily the weather was still very warm) and the shower situation, which seems to be scheduled to continue until the end of time. The Flfs returned, and Flf 1 was Not Happy about the state of the wall, even though the damp man had guaranteed that it would be OK. They put in the floor tray and did the first stage of the floor levelling, and will come back next week to level some more and put the board over the wall that Flf 1 is Not Happy about. This is all taking an age because the tiler can't come until the end of October and there will be more finishing off to do after that.

And my Lady Gardener has left me - she said she was sorry but her other responsibilities mean she has to give up some of the gardening. I am going to have to 'prune' the wisteria myself - I might just take it down to waist height and see if it survives. In fact I'd be perfectly happy to do that to every shrub out there if it wasn't so much work.

On the positive side (at least I hope it's positive) the pub next door is about to open up again. The beer garden gradually filled with junk, and then all the junk went and tables appeared, and there have been signs in the window saying 'opening soon' for ages, and then I discovered via Facebook that it's tonight (Friday). So I am obliged to show my face although I really don't want a drink because I am starting a week's Buddhist retreat tonight.

Buddhist retreats used to be where you got away from it all to some remote place without a phone signal or wifi and concentrated on other things for a while. The program was always fairly minimal - meditation before breakfast, a short morning session, a short afternoon session and sometimes an hour in the evening, sometimes not, and in between you could sit, walk, read, ponder, all in wonderful peace and quiet.

Now the sessions are online and I'm at home in between sessions, so I'm going to have to find some way of recreating the feeling of 'away from it all' despite not having taken time off work and having a few other necessary responsibilities. So I'm only going to check essential email once a day, phone messages and texts twice a day, and on the computer only for working. At least I'll be at home for the plumbers.

A short break

Badgell's Wood, September 2020

Well, the damp man returned and reassured me that the plumbers could proceed, but for the next 10 days I was due to be at work and then away for my last camping trip of the season. Then the plumbers notified me that the tiler they recommend can't fit me in until late October. I've asked for them to finish everything else as soon as possible in case of more hitches on the rocky path to wet room bliss. No word of response to my plea so far. This has become a familiar pattern, but I'm getting very used to showering in the bath.

My camping trip was a response to the lack of other holiday options, and once I'd settled on the dates I invited others to join me, but they weren't available. I also chose the campsite to be in the home locality of a friend that I hoped to meet, but said friend was also away at the time. So I prepared myself for one of my solitary holidays, and spent a lot of the time reading meditation books and doing meditation, and walking and a bit of cooking and eating. The weather was absolutely perfect throughout, and the campsite shower was better than my shower options at home. I did meet a friend for lunch, and went to the cinema for the first time since Covid - on Friday just after lunch there were only 3 of us in the screening, so it didn't feel too risky.

Badminton still hasn't started up for me, although other clubs that play in a leisure centre have returned. Both my clubs meet in school halls, and schools are just trying to work out how to keep their students safe and manage all the requirements without wanting to worry about extra people on site, so there's no sign that we'll be back for a while yet. I continue to run for about 35 minutes up to three times a week, so I won't be completely unfit should we ever play again. I arranged a socially distanced picnic at the weekend with the Monday club, so at least we still recognise one another.

Trosley Country Park, September 2020

Damp men

Dlf 4, August 2020

It seems I've done quite a lot of stuff since the last update - been on a train, borrowed a library book, met the new pub landlord (or tenant), spent time with Buddhists on Zoom, spent time with family and friends in real life... and a whole lot more LTRP activities.

The train experience was not too bad, except that about half the people on each train were not wearing masks - at one point I moved away from a particularly rowdy group. Borrowing the library book involved browsing the catalog online, choosing the book and then being telephoned by someone from the library to arrange a time for collection, when it was there waiting for me. The pub landlord, or possibly tenant, seemed like a nice chap and was happy to talk but there has been no visible activity since we spoke, so the pub remains closed.

I drove over to see mum and dad and set up a computer for dad to use, and then drove on to Cambridge with Lola II and Mr M and we camped in the garden of our friends. The weather was very wet and windy on the first night - my tent was fine but Lola II and Mr M's tent is poorly designed and some water got in, making the night a little uncomfortable. The second night was better. We did a lot of walking and had lunch outside a pub and played board games and watched a film, and it was nice to see friends again even if we had to bend the rules with four households sitting indoors.

The LTRP is not going all that well. The front door replacement was fine though, and I now have a doorbell again, a fancy door number attached to the wall, a chain, and a spyhole at a height that allows me to look through it without having to jump. They also replaced a broken hinge on a different window, and were generally a delight to work with.

Less delightful has been the water-based activity. Dlf 4 applied the damp-proof membrane to the inside of the walls and then came and rendered on top of it, which produced a powerful and obnoxious smell in the porch for days. He was back a week later to skim the final plaster surface, and then Dlf 5 was the last damp man to turn up to replace the skirting on the newly plastered and skimmed wall in the porch.

The plumbers are having a more difficult time, what with the lack of any straight edges or right angles, and accidentally running into a gas pipe, and getting some decorative tiles that are not the ones I asked for, and having to find a different electrician when the first one disappeared on holiday. Then they peeled back a little of the damp-proof membrane in the wet room and found that the bricks behind it are saturated - not just the sort of damp that you suspect so you check using a damp meter, more the sort of damp that fish enjoy. So the Flfs aren't happy applying plasterboard over the top of it, and so far the damp men have not called me back to arrange to come and take a look, and Flf 1 has had to put off the tiler twice so far, and I am still showering in the bath.

A bevy of tradespeople

Sidekick and Doors and Windows Ulf hard at work

You wait for ages for quotes and availability, and then they all turn up on the same morning.

To be fair, my Lady Gardener's date was well established, and she's no trouble at all. She generates a few bags of green waste in a couple of hours, and this time I'd booked a slot at the tip the following day so I could get rid of it straight away, as well as a few other things I'm getting rid of. (I'm still trying to empty all unnecessary stuff out of the house, and took a big bag of books to the Oxfam book shop, but neglected to phone ahead as I should have. Thankfully they took the bag anyway, because it was pretty heavy and I wouldn't have fancied taking it home again.)

The others to arrive at the same time were Doors and Windows Ulf and Sidekick to replace the front door, and Damp Man Dlf 3 to treat the walls in the wet room and the porch. I'd put the order in for the front door a week before lockdown, and then manufacture immediately stopped in the place abroad where the doors are made. When the door was finally available we struggled to find a suitable date when I would be at home. The damp treatment was needed before work could continue in the wet room and it was just one of those things that the date we arranged clashed with the work on the front door.

Dlf 1 was the damp estimator who lives round the corner, Dlf 2 was the damp man I called to make the arrangements for the work to be done, and he sent damp man Dlf 3 to do the first stage of the work, which is to remove plaster up to 1 metre from the floor and then inject some sort of gel into drilled holes along a mortar line just above floor level. Except that the quote had stipulated that the wet room plumbers would remove the plaster in the wet room, and they hadn't removed quite enough of it, and Dlf 3 said if it wasn't in the quote he couldn't do it. I gave him some cash to do it, so he did it. The next stage is to add a membrane and then replace the plaster, and I checked with Dlf 2 who said that damp man Dlf 4 would be coming to do that part next week.

Meanwhile Doors and Windows Ulf and Sidekick were getting on with the front door, ripping out the old door and frame, fitting the glazed panel at the top, putting the new door in and adding architraves and generally making it nice. It's actually a very dark blue, although it looks black in the picture. They didn't do the final sealant because Dlf 3 was about to generate a whole load of dust which would stick to the lovely fresh sealant and make it look bad, and they have to come back anyway because they need to fit the spy hole. We agreed that it was a good thing the spy hole hadn't been factory fitted because it would definitely have been too high for me to look through. 

I have also ordered a new door number which they offered to fix to the wall for me as part of the job. The only thing that was forgotten was the doorbell, and the sound of knuckles rapping at the door can't be heard beyond the hall. Luckily I happened to be in the hall this morning when there was a parcel for me, which was a very lucky coincidence. If I do happen to have any visitors they will have to phone me for the time being.

I had stocked up with biscuits and even remembered to buy some instant coffee (so in a couple of years it will turn into a solid black mass and I'll throw it out like the last jar). D&W Ulf's Sidekick made good headway with the biscuits, though. I'll be taking any of those that are left over to work.

Dlf 3

The wet room

Flfs 2 and 1

This is turning out to be a classic example of the Lola Towers Renovation Project genre. You open the lid on a bit of house that hasn't been touched for 20 years or more, and the job turns into something a whole lot bigger than expected.

I had an inkling that all was not well in the corner of the house where the shower room is. My idea was to replace the shower and all the tiling on the walls and floor and create a wet room. When I estimated the job budget in order to find a contractor, the firm that got the job told me they expected it to be less than I'd suggested. At the end of the first day's work Flf admitted that I might have been nearer the mark.

Flfs 1 and 2 arrived in the morning to start ripping out the contents of the shower room, and in no time the toilet and sink were out in the hall and nothing remained of the shower enclosure. However, at the base of the wall the bricks had turned to sand. Wet sand. And when Flf had chipped off all the tiles and some of the render, there was quite a lot more brick missing.

Just the previous day I had arranged a visit from Dlf, a damp expert, who turned out to live in the next road. He had come up with a plan to treat another separate patch of damp on the same wall in the porch, so I phoned the company to see if he would be available to drop in and see this extra bit of work, which he did, and agreed to include it in the quote. Which was pretty enormous.

Flf 2 continued the work of destruction: the wall tiles disappeared, then the floor tiles too. When it came to ripping out the shower, Flf 1 conveyed the bad news that the electrical supply was wholly inadequate and a new cable would need to be run from the fuse box. He showed me where the current cable showed signs of heat damage, and didn't say what he was probably thinking about fire and electrocution. Meanwhile, the other Flf had been pondering the pattern of the damp and traced it back to a possible cause on the outside of the wall. There was discussion, sucking of teeth, poking of fingers into gaps between crumbling bricks, and a plan was devised for the following day, given that the main project is held up until the damp issue is addressed.

[While all this was going on, I had a Zoom call with Mr MXF to try and establish what I might be doing as part of the employment Revelation. There were many complex notions which I had to grapple with, and it was not helped by being called away two or three times to have a look at the latest finding in the ex-shower room. I got to grips with the task a little better in the evening, and although I understand only about a quarter of the work that Mr MXF has scoped out for me, I have a good feeling.]

Next day the electrician turned up to have a look at the electrical issues: extractor fan, shaver point and now the power to the shower itself, and he will bring back a quote for the extra not included in the original plan. The Flfs returned to work on the outside of the wall in the pub 'garden', where they are installing a gully and repairing a bit of render as well as chopping down a coping stone. I got in touch with the pub management company again to make sure they were aware that we would be on their territory for a few days, and made some not-so-subtle enquiries about the future of the pub. While the guy wouldn't tell me exactly what was going on, he did suggest that if current legal processes are completed satisfactorily, a new tenant would be opening up the pub for business by the end of August.

So the outside work continues, the damp treatment is scheduled, so is the electrical work and the shower refurbishment last of all. I'll be washing using the shower attachment in the bath for at least a month, but as with everything involving the LTRP, it will be worth it in the end.

Several types of progress

Brompton Cemetery, September 2019

Lockdown is ending, and my drive to work twice a week is clogged again with other traffic going about its business once more. More shops are open although I have no desire whatever to go inside them, nor will I bother with pubs, restaurants, theatres and cinemas. The easing on restriction about meeting other people in real life is quite exciting, so I went for a walk with a friend on the hottest day of the year so far. And camping is about to be possible again...

The main bonus of fewer restrictions has been my ability to get started on the LTRP again. Ilf finished painting the front of the house, garage door and gate - I decided not to bother repainting the other sides of the house, which meant we managed to use up the last of the specially mixed paint from 10 years ago without having to buy more. I've had a couple of plumbers in to have a look at turning the shower room into a wet room and solve some of the associated drainage issues, so I hope that will go ahead soon. My gardener returned, and I even managed to find someone to have a look at the damp at the base of the pub wall. The garden is still as wild as ever, but with fewer weeds, especially in the paving. I took the bags of excess greenery to the tip, which now requires online booking for a time slot. All went smoothly.

There have been all sorts of attractive offers in the last three months for your 'heroes' of the NHS. I feel a little guilty given that I have done none of the heroic jobs; all that's happened is that all our consultations are being done over the phone, which is difficult but by no means heroic. Yet I have succumbed to the lure of 10% off shopping in Morrisons with an NHS ID card, and another offer of £10 off a box of 12 different vegan pot meals from The Soulful Food Company for anyone with an NHS email address.

I've had indifferent experiences with various 'meals in a pot' before, but these ones looked so good on the website that I thought I'd have a go. Because there are 12 different types I decided to note down any that I particularly liked in case I wanted to buy them again. The first was delicious! I decided to give it the full five stars. The next was just as good - also five stars. By the time I'd had six of the meals I'd had to introduce a sixth star, and so far only one has fallen short and even that one was still delicious. I'll be buying them again, even without the £10 discount.

I had a bit of a blip with the weight loss plan when a friend came round and we each got a takeaway wrap from my favourite brunch spot in Leamington. It was delicious, and just proves that without the lockdown I would never have achieved my current status of 4.6kg (10lb) lighter. I'm back on track again, and finding it much easier to plan meals than I did at the start. It's still a pretty restrictive diet though, and I don't see any way round that. But I can fit into clothes that have lurked in the back of the wardrobe for six years.

Stasis

Adhisthana, July 2019

Very little going on again, making it difficult to rustle up blog content. The world continues in its crazy state where there is only one topic of news, and we muse over which politician and which country has got it right in the balance between economic disaster and mortality. Actually, since some police officers murdered a man in America there are briefly two topics of news.

I am still fine. All of a sudden, blood testing for Covid-19 antibodies appeared within the Trust, and even reached the Diabetes Centre. The result came back via text message a few days later to say that my test result was negative - no evidence of exposure. Obviously this makes no difference at all to anything, but the latest government guidelines allow for meetings of up to six people out of doors, so I felt a little reassured having driven down to meet Lola II and Mr M in mum and dad's garden.

The weather was not as warm as in recent weeks but we escaped the rain. We brought our own chairs and lunch and face masks and gloves and hand sanitiser, and wiped down the toilet when we used it. The best part of the day was borrowing dad's clippers and taking my hair down to a gentle fuzz, which delights me.

I have managed to get started on a couple of LTRP jobs. In the pub garden I excavated the footings of my adjoining wall. The pub had installed decking some time ago, and laid down gravel around the perimeter as well as putting up hanging baskets with an irrigation system on my wall. Having explored many other avenues I came to the conclusion that there was a strong possibility that this was attracting damp into my wall, and that now would be a good time to do something about it, given that the pub is not only shut because of lockdown but has no functional landlord or manager at the moment, and therefore could not object to me sorting things out for myself.

I also invited Ilf to start work on painting the roof-level woodwork (I can never remember the proper term for the fancy bits hanging from the gable end roof) and the front brickwork. It was a slight misjudgement to call upon Ilf, because he assumes that if he's asked to do a job then he'll do it badly rather than suggesting it's actually unsuitable and I should find someone prepared to utilise scaffolding. The ridge of the roof is beyond the reach of his ladders, so he has basically painted over whatever state the woodwork was in with a brush on a stick or some such device rather than washing it down and checking for rot etc. It will do for now, but I must remember to choose a different tradesman if I want that particular job done properly next time.

Other than that, there really isn't anything new going on. The doctor continues to bring amusing games with him every fortnight; I play online games with Lola II and other friends; I join in various events with the Buddhists; I observe the world going by on Facebook and the news and in satirical comedy shows on BBC TV and radio; I read and listen to books and podcasts. To be honest I am not occupying my time very productively at the moment, and each week I tell myself things will be different. Perhaps this week really will be different.

Swollen and bruised

Munich, December 2019

The main thing that is preoccupying my thoughts is the stupid front door. Despite Ilf's attentions it swelled up again so I had a go at shaving some more off - there won't be much door left once it gets dry again. Having had enough of this game I gave Doors and Windows Ulf a call and he came round to talk about replacing it with one that a) won't swell b) won't need repainting c) will fit better and reduce drafts and d) will be more secure. So I know a bit more about different types of door than I did before (timber, uPVC and composite) but have still received no quote at the time of writing.

The same swelling problem has happened to the timber side gate, so the new Lady Gardener had a bit of trouble with that. Yes, I've got a new Lady Gardener! She spent two hours weeding and while she was working I finished the brick border and we talked about how she's not a teacher any more, and what I should do about my herbs. I think it will go well.

And the eighth Gulloebl Film Festival took place and was a success as ever, although I had a bit of a problem with some of the films on Saturday, which were Blades of Glory (not my kind of humour), The Apartment (a classic movie which is unfortunately so full of sexism, misogyny and let's call it 'an old-fashioned view of a woman's place in the workplace and relationships' with just a touch of racism at the end that I didn't enjoy it as much as I should if I had ignored all those things and just imagined myself back in 1960), and Sexy Beast (which made me so tense that my jaw ached). All the other films were lovely, though, with my favourite (aside from my all time favourite Marvellous) being The Sting.

On Wednesday I had a Ladies badminton match, and Thursday night was a match for the Mixed team, and before it even started while I was warming up I tripped and had an enormous comedy fall, bouncing off the wall and landing on my side. I was fine apart from a grazed knuckle and a huge bruise on my hip. I'm glad I'm still tough enough to bounce rather than break. And we won both matches, so I suppose it was worth it.

Water and mud

November 2019

Last week we endured lashing rain, which caused flooding in more unfortunate parts of the country. Here it only caused my Thursday badminton to be cancelled because the roads around the school were impassable. But on Wednesday it started to rain inside the kitchen again.

This has happened before. The dripping came from around the roof light, so when I phoned Ulf the builder the first time he sent Doors and Windows Ulf round, who couldn't find anything obvious but added some sealant. It happened a second time, and even though Doors and Windows Ulf came round again, he declared it wasn't his problem and it stopped raining so the dripping had stopped. At that time I hadn't worked out how to connect my hosepipe to the outside tap (don't ask) so I just left it. One can only worry about a certain number of things at a time.

This rainstorm was different. The dripping came from the edge of the roof light again, but this time the flow was faster and it was clear from staining on the ceiling that the roof light wasn't the problem. I contacted Ulf and he sent Son of Ulf and his mate to see what was going on. They arrived looking as though they had been swimming - they had been working outside - and finally agreed that the problem must be their responsibility. Those poor boys spent another hour on the roof. I offered them refuge inside and a hot drink, but they refused despite their teeth actually chattering as they spoke. They have added some more sealant - I must get up there and have a look some time - and I must also get back in touch to see where we go from here. Wait for another rainstorm, or play a hose on it and see what happens? (I have very recently worked out how to connect my hosepipe to the outside tap - still don't ask.)

Random Run Forest Runner

In other (slightly) weather-related news, I went along with Lola II and Mr M to support Run Forest Run, the 10k run + obstacle course event that is staged by our friends in Surrey. Highlights included the family friend (with the lovely photogenic dog pictured above) who I would like to adopt as my son (the friend not the dog - although I wouldn't rule out the option of the dog not the friend), Lola II being given a flashing yellow light to put on the top of her car (her life is now complete), and the returning runners who told me (as I supervised the kitchen activities producing hot drinks, cake and bacon butties) that it was the most fun event they had ever participated in.