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 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

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.

Still locked down

Adhisthana, July 2019

Here I am again, in my house, walking or running around Leamington's lovely parks, or at work in the Diabetes Centre. With a weekly excursion to a supermarket, that's it. But I'm thriving. I'm eating sensibly and losing weight very slowly, but unlike previous attempts at weight loss I think I can keep this up. While I hear most people talking about gaining weight at home, it's been relatively easy (after the first couple of weeks) for me to keep to my 1200 kcal limit, and even include chocolate every now and then.

I have mowed the lawn and pruned a load of shrubs, and then with the easing of the lockdown I have been in touch with the Lady Gardener to beg the favour of a visit (scheduled for June). I also contacted Ilf about external painting, and he's going to get back to me with an idea of when he might fit me in. Doors and Windows Ulf can do nothing about my front door at the moment because his suppliers aren't working, but Clf the Roofer may be able to help with my hall windows which he was so scathing about when he renewed the roof six months ago. Which then meant that I would need access to the pub garden, and the pub is most definitely still closed.

A sign in the pub window provided a phone number for the security firm responsible for keeping the site secure, and a helpful man even answered the phone. He disclosed a lot more information about the pub management than I was expecting, including the fact that the previous management is still responsible for the pub, but the interior has been stripped of all valuables and will need tens of thousands of pounds to restore it to a functional state. As well as this dire news he provided the combination for the padlock on the gates of the beer garden and told me that the lock is very stiff. So stiff that I haven't managed to prise it open yet - today I applied a load of penetrating oil and we'll see whether that helps.

Other activity at home includes jigsaws, games and socialising via Zoom, Buddhism three times a week at present (and a fourth time when I joined a thing at the weekend) and I re-started a tiny OU creative writing module online. I first started it about two years ago so had quite forgotten what I had done back then, and re-reading my own work after all this time was a delight.

So all is well for me in my little bubble, hoping for the lifting of restrictions on hairdressers while appreciating that such close proximity means I wouldn't be comfortable going to the salon even if it were allowed. The weather has been glorious with more sunshine to come, and the news reports tell of a reduction in the infection rate and mortality figures while warning of the seriousness of the recession to come. We certainly live in interesting times.

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.

Bureacracy

Cheltenham Pump Rooms, October 2019

I think I'm pretty much back in control again after that brief chaotic interlude. The tooth is OK, antibiotics finished, pictures, music and documents transferred to the new laptop and a start made on the podcasts and books, all the Buddhists are still happy as far as I know, and the house is behaving itself. I've even spent more time in the garden digging a trench and putting bricks in it between the 'beds' and the 'lawn'. I seem to have successfully employed a different Lady Gardener to help me maintain it - we'll see how that turns out. And there are daffodils coming up, and some snowdrops! It must be nearly Spring.

Things that have happened: I delivered the presentation to the Dietitians, which seemed to go down well although only four people attended apart from the two other Diabetes Dietitians. And I got paid for the session I did in November. Then there has been lots of hot Buddhist action. In the local group we have been delivering an introductory course for newcomers which has attracted more than 20 people, filling our small village hall to bursting. We had a team meeting in which I progressed with my plan for world domination by proposing to invite a lot of senior people from the movement to come to lead a session for our little group. And I went to the second meeting of the study group in Birmingham, via a different route which took 90 minutes during rush hour, so I'm not going that way again.

The most demanding task I have had to tackle this week has been the extraordinary bureaucracy involved in applying for a Blue Badge online on behalf of mum and dad. It was the longest and most complicated form I have ever had to tackle; way more difficult than applying for a divorce online. Each application took about an hour and required scanning and uploading documents and digital photographs, and when we had finished and successfully applied, the acknowledgement email required details that had not been requested within the application and threatened denial of the application if they weren't supplied. This is what the state demands of someone who has a condition requiring a Blue Badge.

See the bricks between the 'beds' and the 'lawn'? January 2020

Genuine Lady Gardeners

The Garden, October 2019

There's so much filling my days and weekends, but I'm trying to avoid making this blog into an online diary. What has been notable?

The gardeners. They comprise an older and a younger lady, whose leaflet advertising their services is headed 'Genuine Lady Gardeners'. Whether that indicates that they are genuine gardeners or genuine ladies is not clear at all, but anyway I had booked them to deal with my lady garden on Wednesday. They had expressed concern several times that they might not be able to park their van and trailer outside the house. So on the designated morning I kept watch on parked cars, went out to talk to my neighbours, borrowed a cone associated with the skip that has been in front of my house for many weeks and reserved a suitable spot.

The skip is there because the alley that runs behind the houses on the adjacent road is accessed directly opposite my house. Within one of those houses lives K, who very politely knocked on my door some time ago to let me know that his significant building project would require a skip, and was altogether very nice about the fact that it would need to be outside my house. Since then I have had several conversations with the builders and even loaned them my parking pass when I overheard their discussions about the parking enforcement, and K has offered to pay for me plus one to have a very fancy dinner (which I declined with thanks). Anyway, what has this to do with my lady garden?

The GLGs did not arrive as early as they had indicated, and K's builders were fussing about because they were due to have a delivery of screed, and I was constantly nipping out to see what was going on and to defend my reserved space. On one such occasion I discovered that a van had taken the spot, so I went to talk to the driver who was still sitting in the van, talking on the phone. He made no attempt to cut his conversation short, and at first denied having moved the cone before making it clear that he didn't care that I was reserving a space - at which point I went to get my phone to give K a call. Before I could do it, one of the builders stepped in and told the driver in no uncertain terms to move his van, saying that I'd been very helpful and they were happy to return the favour. That's how we do things round here.

Before

After

My garden is now transformed. The GLGs removed everything that was not anchored into the soil except for the mint that I told them I definitely wanted to keep. There's nothing but shrubs and bare earth left, some stalks where the fuchsia used to be, and no sign of the decorative grasses, aquilegia, foxgloves and cornflowers that I quite liked, or the bluebells that I didn't. They found a wasp's nest, a large number of screws and building litter, and cleared much of the paving but didn't apply weedkiller, which they seemed to think was not part of this job. That's what you get for having no written quote, or invoice either as it turns out. These genuine ladies are all very much cash in hand. They assured me that it would all grow back and look less barren in the spring, and I could get in touch again and they'd come back to do the weedkilling. I think I'll look elsewhere.

The other LTRP project that I have just started is the downstairs shower, and possibly the whole of the wall that side which is showing signs of water damage. So far one company didn't phone me back and I had to phone them again two days later, and a different tradesman didn't turn up as arranged - he has since texted to apologise that he dropped his phone in a bath of water and it has only just dried out. It can't be denied that this is an inauspicious start to the project.

Genuine Ladies

Two days without WiFi

The Drawing Board, just now

It feels as though I've been living without a limb for two days. Actually, it's more like a sensory organ is missing. I have been living without WiFi for two whole days.

A massive electrical storm woke me very suddenly in the early hours of Sunday morning. I imagine there was a bang or a crack from very close by, perhaps inside the house. I listened to the thunder and watched the windows light up - it was probably the loudest storm I've every experienced. It passed. I went back to sleep.

On Sunday morning I couldn't make the radio turn on. This sometimes happens - it's an early DAB model and it sometimes gets confused. As for so many things nowadays, the remedy is to turn it off and on again. At that point I noticed that there was no power to the radio. Nor to the bedside light.

OK, adding two and two together, I bumbled down to the fuse box. I'm so glad that the old one was replaced (three and a half years ago already!) because three or four of the switches were tripped. This usually happens when light bulbs blow and it's just a matter of switching it all back on, but the kitchen circuits didn't return. Then I remembered that they'd installed a subsidiary fuse box in the new kitchen extension, and that had tripped as well, but unlike the main board it wouldn't reset itself. With everything turned off I could reset it, and switching things on one at a time it became clear that the problem was with the washing machine.

At that point I was simply relieved that the fridge freezer was working and that I could still boil the kettle and cook breakfast. I haven't yet got round to pulling the washing machine out to try and trace the fault, because after breakfast it became clear that there was no Internet. I can replace the three blown light bulbs and go to the launderette if necessary, but no Internet! Looking at the router it appeared dead, no lights coming on at all. No Internet! I couldn't find an alternative power supply to try, but I found an old router - I just wasn't sure it would be compatible with the new ISP and couldn't face the effort of trying it out. I could still get online via the data plan on my phone, and I had planned to spend the day at an event at the Birmingham Buddhist Centre, so that's what I did.

It turns out that I can manage for about two days without WiFi. Considering I've only just started using the new TV I was surprised to miss the facilities it provides, particularly BBC iPlayer for TV and Spotify for music (but I've got films on DVD and the old hifi for CDs so it's been fine). I didn't need the Internet for dressmaking so at last I've made a start on Lola's dress, although very soon afterwards I managed to break the fancy needle that I need for stretch fabric so that has to wait until the shops open again.

I listened to audio books, did a bit of work in the garden, replaced all the blown light bulbs, and went out to look at new lawn mowers. I inherited the mower from the previous owners of Lola Towers which makes it at least 15 years old, and although the motor seems fine, I don't think the blade has been replaced in all that time. Then I realised that I could just replace the blade - I don't know why I hadn't thought of it before. I turned the mower over to have a look at the blade. It is held on by a large bolt, and I don't have any spanners. Perhaps there's a tool? If there is, where would it be?

I'm not sure I can convey how astonished I was firstly to find within seconds the very tool I was looking for, and then actually managing to undo the bolt with it. I took the old blade down to the local DIY store but they didn't have anything that matched it. Using the magic of the Internet (thank you phone data plan) I have now ordered the exact part. I can hardly believe how well this is going so far and feel certain that there will be some insurmountable barrier to success when the new blade arrives. We'll see.

So  buoyed by success, I finally felt mentally tough enough to phone the ISP about the dead router. And it was fine! The nice man working in the call centre on a Bank Holiday immediately identified the moment when it died on Sunday morning, and asked me about the storm, but didn't raise any issues. He not only arranged for a new router to be sent out, but also encouraged me to contact them when it arrives so my days without Internet can be reimbursed.

That's when I decided it was time to seek out some WiFi. So I went to Pub Next Door and asked for a half of Saddleback and the WiFi password. Which was when I discovered that their Internet had been destroyed at the same time as mine. The beer was very tasty but my quest continued, and I have now been settled for a couple of hours at the second best pub in Leamington. They expressed the right amount of horror at my plight and have been very hospitable. I have bonded with the bar staff over an obscure track by The Cat Empire and with other customers over the Blue Peter annuals on the pub bookshelves.

So despite the WiFi calamity it's been quite a good weekend so far. I've got tomorrow off as well so still time to replace the fancy sewing machine needle and do a bit more dressmaking before going back to work.

I work a bit harder for a change

My life recently is contained neatly in just five categories: LTRP, Badminton, Garden, Buddhism, and Work. I don't think there's much else gone on in the past week except eating and sleeping. Note that Music and Running do not feature - Music starts again in September, but Running may never make a further appearance. Holidays, Camping and Travel are imminent though - I'm looking forward to several trips coming up soon.

LTRP

I met the kitchen man Ylf again, hopefully for the last time. I have selected and specified everything I can think of - plinths (I do love that word), units, doors, handles, worktops, 'upstand' (where the worktop extends a little way up the wall), 1 hob, 2 ovens, 2 sinks, 2 taps, 2 draining board arrangements, 1 dishwasher. I'm keeping my current fridge/freezer and washing machine. Ylf has provided a floor plan, a final quotation, and some computer-generated pictures of how it might look.

Meanwhile I have approved Ulf's chosen LVT (Luxury Vinyl Tile) supplier and he has partly broken down his quotation for me. We will have to talk more because (a) his quote for the flooring was supposed to be cheaper than the alternative Karndean but it isn't, (b) Ylf not Ulf needs to be responsible for the whole kitchen installation because Ulf doesn't have a fitter for my preferred worktop, and (c) I still don't have an overall comprehensive picture of what Ulf will be doing and how much it will cost. However, at this stage I can probably construct this for him, which is what I may do to save time.

As you can imagine, every other aspect of the LTRP is on hold until the kitchen project is done, except for trying to sell various unwanted white goods and the terracotta wine rack with capacity for thirty bottles that has never held more than about five. I'm not even thinking about what could be done next, although when the stairs are replaced (part of Ulf's quote) perhaps it will be time to consider the upstairs hall... so maybe I am thinking about what could be done next.

Badminton

Always evolving, my Monday club now only has three female members. I'm there for the full two hours every week without fail, and another lady regularly comes but for only one hour because she has childcare issues. The third lady turns up once in a while and swears that this time she will keep coming every week, then we don't see her again for months. So I spend a lot of time playing with the boys, which is fine, but it would be nice to have more women.

I tried to arrange a summer barbeque for the club. When will I learn? They all encourage me by saying what a good idea it is and won't it be fun, so I set a date and time and place and construct a welcoming and enthusiastic email, and just three people respond to say they can come, one of whom is bringing a child. So we abandon the BBQ and I book an Indian restaurant which turns out to be unsuitable for the mother/child combo and has to be un-booked, and we go to Pizza Express. At the last minute we did get three more, so there were eight of us in the end. It lashed down with rain throughout, so a good thing we didn't stick with the BBQ idea. And I so rarely get to eat pizza.

Garden

Nasty, thorny, back-breaking, stupid garden. I don't even spend much time sitting in it, not even back when the weather was good. Day 1: I hacked it back by at least a third and left all the debris on the lawn and paving. Day 2: I filled ten bags with non-thorny stuff (wisteria, forsythia, sage, spotted leaf plant whose name escapes me, other one with the scented white flowers), left the rest where it was. Day 3: took ten bags to the tip, returned and filled them again with the remaining thorny stuff (rose, berberis, pyracantha, holly, hawthorn) and more non-thorny stuff, took another ten bags to the tip. Another couple of bags still waiting, and the lawn needs mowing.

When the indoor LTRP is done I'm coming for you, garden. You'd better watch out.

During Day 3 a head popped up over the wall from my neighbour's garden. It is a gardener, who reports that he visits twice a year to hack back my neighbour's plants in much the same way as I hack back my own, except she has a much smaller space with much less in the way of thorns. I invited him to come and attack her overhanging shrubs from my side of the wall, which he did, and I now have his contact details. If this flirtation proceeds to full engagement then he may join the ranks of my named tradesmen, and I may never again have forearms that look as though I have been fighting with cats.

Buddhism

My Thursday badminton club doesn't play over the summer, and the Buddhist Centre in Birmingham has a Thursday night event. So at the beginning of the summer I thought I'd go there on Thursdays, except that I kept finding lots of good reasons not to. My local Tuesday Buddhist group doesn't happen in August either, but eventually I made it to Birmingham last Thursday. Conveniently, they were holding a Bake Off activity so there was a lot of cake, followed by a talk about how baking might complement Buddhist practice which didn't do much for me. But I enjoyed the cake a lot, and met some more new people who were also very pleasant and welcoming. I might even go again on another Thursday.

Work

There is a Health and Well-Being event scheduled for mid-September and aimed at staff at my hospital site, and the Dietitian who used to work in Public Health and 'cardiac prevention' has moved on to Weight Management. So I've been called upon to create the Healthy Eating stand, together with the two part-time ward Dietitians. (Almost immediately, and for reasons that are not connected with the Health and Well-Being event, one of them resigned.) I have made a few phone calls to a couple of organisations and with luck I'll receive a poster or two and some leaflets about fat, fibre, salt etc. in time for the event. It will not be an impressive display, and hopefully someone more competent will be appointed soon so I won't have to do it again.

I've also agreed to do an ante-natal clinic which is my least favourite clinic in the world, and I'm covering another clinic to help out the team because our Team Leader has gone, and I nearly covered another two clinics because of staff unavailability but I wasn't needed in the end. Look at me, volunteering for extra stuff. Maybe I am starting to work a bit harder than before. And my very least favourite patient of all time has decided that I can help him if he sees me on a regular basis, which is sufficient punishment for all my previous sins.

Purchasing decisions

Quince flowers, March 2017

As you can see from the floral photos the garden has started to bloom, with the crocuses as the main deliberate addition. There are some other leaves emerging that may turn out to be something I planted, but I can't remember at the moment. Also, for the first time in 15 years I have succeeded in pruning the forsythia to the extent that it has produced a decent display of yellow flowers. So far I have found no flower or shrub in the garden that has not responded to brutal treatment. The lawn, however, is in a terrible state following my attack on the moss.

After posting the previous entry I did do a little bit more research into kitchen lighting, but spent the rest of Sunday looking for a tent to buy. Despite my enthusiasm for camping I've never owned my own tent. For ten years (thirty years ago) I borrowed Lola II's because despite possessing a tent she wasn't particularly interested in camping at that time. Then I was indoctrinated into Mr A's philosophy of camping, which was much more comfortable and included luxuries such as chairs and a table, so I used his selection of tents for the next twenty years. Meanwhile Lola II took her own tent back and then she and Mr M replaced it with a more up to date version, which I have also borrowed. Now it is time to become a tent-owner in my own right. I have reached a shortlist of two but am finding it rather difficult to decide which to buy.

I have had another meeting with the architect, and despite my minimal research I think we have now reached a conclusion for the kitchen layout and lighting that I'm happy with. I should receive some plans with more detail on that I can tout around for alternative quotes (if I'm brave enough). Buoyed by this success I turned my attention to the upstairs bedroom/office situation, and ventured forth in search of curtaining options. When I returned home after intrepidly buying curtain poles, I realised that a) poles that I already own are perfectly adequate for the windows, and b) it may not be possible to attach the other pole to the wall using the brackets provided. So one pole was returned the next day, and I have contacted the ever-reliable Ilf who I hope will be able to put forward a solution.

With my miserable cold (which still lingers on) I went with a colleague last week to deliver a presentation at the request of one of our diabetologist colleagues. It would have been nice to duck out of this given my health status, but I felt bad about letting my colleague down, and it was in a fancy hotel and I had high hopes for the buffet (which turned out to be only averagely good - the pudding choices were fruit salad or fruit crumble - where was the chocolate??!!?). The slight difficulty with our talk was that we had been given very little information about what our topic was supposed to be, and who exactly was in the audience. It turned out to be quite a small group, and we recognized a good few doctors, although we discovered afterwards that two of them were Dietitians and not doctors at all. I don't think we performed too badly, given that the topic of the expected talk was rather different from the one we had prepared.

The most surprising aspect of the evening for me was these doctors' attitude to our talk. Before we started they were discussing the most technical intricacies of endocrinology (which I think is one of the most technical and baffling specialties anyway). Then when we got stuck into our presentation they behaved like the least informed of my patients, speculating on what they'd read last week in the press about diet for diabetes. If we'd presumed to comment on diseases of the adrenal gland based on what we'd read in the Sunday Times we'd have been given short shrift, but they seemingly had no compunction about making similar presumptions in our specialist field. As usual I developed the most cogent and persuasive arguments and refutations of their assertions within 30 minutes of driving away after the meeting.

I have learned one other thing this week at work, thanks to one of the doctors. Occasionally we see a prisoner from the local jail, who usually comes with two prison officers and is handcuffed to one of them. The issues around having diabetes or other chronic conditions in prison are perhaps material for another blog post, but on this occasion the doctor mentioned that the patient was due for a scan on a particular date. "You shouldn't have told him that," said the prison officers. So if there had been any news of an escaped convict on that date, we would have known who to blame.

Tent update - I managed to make a decision between the shortlist of two tents, then discovered that the one I wanted is not available. This should have made the choice easier, but then I found a third option so I'm still stuck in decision-making limbo.

Curtain pole update - Ilf had to buy special drill bits but solved the problem by attaching the pole to the I-beam across the room rather than the too-small bit of wall above the I-beam. Now I need a curtain.

Spring

February 2017

I haven't been doing much reading recently, instead I've been listening to radio using iPlayer. And I've had another break from eBay, so I need to get started on that again. Even the LTRP hasn't moved forward that much since the spare room painting finished, although I have been slowly furnishing the room a bit more.

One thing has progressed - the kitchen architect paid a visit to talk more about the detail - plug sockets, light switches, radiators, that sort of thing. She thought my quote from the kitchen designer was a bit steep, so there may be some room for negotiation.

She gave me some homework too. I need to come up with a plan for lighting, because the building specification will need to take into account how the wiring will work, I have to talk to the builder about the type of flat roof I'll have, because she strongly recommends some sort of rubberised membrane, which is apparently the best type of roof and guaranteed for 40 years, but the builder will probably want to supply fibreglass. And she pushed back quite hard when I said I don't want a cooker hood, and I had to be rather assertive on that point.

She also encouraged me to go to the Homebuilding and Renovating Show at the NEC in Birmingham at the end of March, and gave me some free tickets. The show dates are when Lola II and Mr M are due to visit me, and I thought about asking them whether they would be interested in going too, and even started writing an email to them, before I realised that actually I didn't want to go at all. There's nothing about homebuilding and renovating that interests me at all, even though I'm having my kitchen homebuilt and renovated.

As the not-in-focus photo at the top of the post shows, the bulbs that I planted are starting to sprout. As I expected when I planted them I am delighted and surprised, having forgotten all about them. There are some crocuses too, and some daffodils (although I think I had the daffodils before). The wisteria is totally pruned - slightly over-pruned in my enthusiasm - but I think it will survive. Yet again I have a row of black bags full of prunings to take to the tip.

Speedy, healthy and fishy

There's been too much going on for me to spend much time enjoying my new expanded electrically-lit living space, but I have dipped into the upstairs room most days to turn the lights on and off just for the enjoyment of it. As Lola II pointed out, the downstairs door that was initially so exciting to open and close must be fairly envious now it's getting no particular attention (although I do still experience a slight thrill when I use it). My delight with the upstairs light will no doubt pass into normality eventually, like the door, and the door handles, and the other lights, and the garage, and everything else. But at the moment simply turning a light on and off is a treat. Planning permission for the kitchen has now been granted, so the fact that I've been able to cope with a few other jobs at the same time makes me feel like a superhero.

In the last week at work I managed to implement a development regarding Christmas cards, whereby I let everyone in my local team know that instead of giving them cards I would make a donation to Diabetes UK. I invited them all to do the same, but only two joined me. It worked well for me, and I plan to extend it to include more colleagues next year.

Two weeks ago the evenings were full of mostly badminton - one club night, one match, one tournament and one Christmas meal, and - unusually - we won the match. The other weekday evening disappeared into the longest working day ever. I got caught up in a conversation with the doctors at the end of the day, which was interesting but not particularly important, and gave me no opportunity to extract myself gracefully within a reasonable time.

Our concert went well at the weekend given that I was sight-reading second clarinet because of a player dropping out at short notice with a broken wrist. Playing the tenor saxophone has been pretty good but I'm going back to the baritone sax next term, and looking forward to it. That weekend I also baked a gluten-free lemon drizzle cake and a dairy- and egg-free chocolate cake because Monday was the last club night before Christmas at the other badminton club, and there are players with dietary intolerances.

Tuesday started with a Speed Awareness course. In November I got caught by a mobile speed camera on the way to work doing 37mph in a 30mph zone. That was actually because I was going to work later than usual; at my regular commuting time the traffic is too clogged up to go that fast.

It was an interesting morning in a large group being reminded of speed limits for various types of road and types of vehicle, and spotting hazards in a short video and still photos. Rather than dry figures for stopping distances at various speeds they used the stopping distance at 30mph as the comparator, and told us what speed we would be doing at that point if we were driving at higher speeds, because most of the speed reduction is achieved in the last few seconds of braking. I found out that there are only 35 fixed camera sites in the whole of Warwickshire and not all of them are active at any one time, while there are 60 mobile locations but only three vans (and generally only two out on the roads at a time). I also know now about gateway signs and repeater signs, which are different ways of telling you what the speed limit is.

The key things are that by attending the course I have avoided getting three points on my licence, and I have to avoid getting caught again for three years because in that case prosecution (i.e. points) is unavoidable. Certainly at the moment I'm being much more attentive to speed limits, especially in the spot where I was caught.

That wasn't the only appointment on Tuesday. I followed up with the routine NHS Check that's offered when you're my age in order to estimate your risk of cardiovascular disease. They measure height, weight, BMI, activity, alcohol, smoking, blood pressure and take a blood sample for on-the-spot cholesterol. My results were as I would have expected - very good level of activity, great blood pressure, BMI not bad (borderline overweight, doh! I can't seem to shift this), very little alcohol, no significant family history. My total cholesterol is higher than is desirable but includes a high level of HDL (good cholesterol), so that the ratio of total cholesterol:HDL is well within the ideal range. Overall my risk of having a cardiovascular event (heart attack or stroke) over the next 10 years is 2.7%. The average for my age and sex is 2.6%. I am considering doing something about my cholesterol level. I could certainly cut back a bit on the saturated fat and I haven't been eating much oats, fish, soya or pulses recently - but making up for it over Christmas with fish at least.

There was more to come on Task-based Tuesday - kitchen shops. Now that I have planning permission and an agreed outline plan of the new kitchen, I thought it would be easy to get some help from people whose job it is to design kitchens. How wrong I was. The two shops I visited (one large chain, one small independent) absolutely refuse to do anything for me without detailed architectural plans that define every measurement of the new layout, including location of utilities such as gas and water. They agreed that it was a Catch-22 situation - in order to get help in designing my kitchen I need to give them a detailed design of my kitchen. I have investigated briefly, and there appear to be a number of online tools that may help me.

From Wednesday onwards there were no more appointments and commitments outside work, my evenings were free, and then four days off for Christmas. I planned menus and put in an order at the fishmonger. I actually went for a run on Thursday! and it wasn't bad at all. Work was very quiet as nobody really wants an appointment on the last working day before Christmas, and it gives me a chance to catch up on clearing out the pile of stuff that I've accumulated over the year. Some interesting items in there!

I followed up my Thursday run with Parkrun on Saturday, picked up my order of fishy treats from the fishmonger, then a few jobs in town and then Christmas arrived. The oysters were surprisingly enormous and almost defeated me - they definitely defeated my oyster knife. I was planning to eat half a dozen in each of two meals, but they were so huge that I went with just four at a time and it was plenty.

Now Christmas is almost over and I have to motivate myself into greater activity. I was going to prune the Wisteria but the online gurus seem to be saying February not December, so I'd better wait. I need to get rid of the compost bin and carry on tidying away the various items like flower pots, buckets, planters and such which have seemingly found a permanent home in the garden. There's always something to do, although sitting and reading or watching films has certainly been significant in this household over the last few days.

Work, play, the usual

Krakow Botanical Gardens, July 2016 

Last week was exhausting but I don't quite know why, because I did less than the usual amount - not going to badminton one Thursday for example, spending the whole evening reading and listening to the radio instead. I did go into Birmingham on one of my days off, because I'd gone and bashed the baritone sax somehow and bent one of the lower keys out of place, so I took it to the menders. This also gave me the opportunity to have a lovely day in Birmingham, where I went to the cinema and to my favourite Cafe Soya.

I also spent one day of one weekend at a Buddhist 'retreat', which was actually just four hours in the village hall where we go on regular Tuesday nights. The person who was due to lead wasn't even able to come so it was shorter than planned, mostly meditation, with a bit of help from an online recorded talk. I discovered it's much better to meditate when not falling asleep at the end of a day tramping round Birmingham or chopping down shrubbery in the garden. There wasn't a lot of overt Buddhism, just a bit of a discussion about how we are responsible for our own feelings. To be honest I haven't disagreed with much that Buddhism has to say, it all seems very sensible and I've reached many of the same conclusions through my own reflections. And I still enjoy sitting quietly trying to rest my mind in a room full of like-minded individuals.

At home the LTRP continues with plans for the kitchen upgrade being completed and submitted for planning permission, since there will be extra glass and a wall is being moved. This won't progress any further for a number of weeks, so my next indoor project has to be emptying the loft so that the lighting in the room below can be fixed. I've also been in touch with a damp investigation company because of a couple of patches that need looking into.

My ongoing garden project has taken so, so much time. The lawn is still looking ropey but I've planted a million small bulbs and some baby plants that I enthusiastically bought thinking that the garden could do with some spring and summer colour. The effort of weeding the beds and planting everything was probably worth it, but I'm really tired of having to spend so much time keeping it under control. Astroturf and concrete has never seemed so attractive.

At work a new 'junior' nurse has started, and interviews have taken place to replace the other nurse who is now retired. When we are fully staffed there may be scope to move forward after the long hiatus, and improve services rather than just keeping up with what we can manage. The newly recruited nurse will have to work three months notice, and that will start only after all the formalities of the criminal records check and the formal job offer, so we won't be seeing her actually working with us until well into next year.

Now I have to go and pack because I am having a Holiday. Pip pip!

Everyday tales of Not Much

Borough Market, May 2016

It's been a bit rough at work - not so much for me, but the main nurse has had a bad time. There have been two premature deaths, a stolen mobile phone, the start of a new Type 1 education course, conflict (there's always conflict) and we are all quite glad when the weekend arrives each week.

A couple of weeks ago I did a foolish thing - I attended a badminton training weekend at the National Badminton Centre with a group of Young People (and one other Old Person) from another club. This entailed arriving on Friday night and having a bit of a play around, then six hours coaching on Saturday followed by another six hours on Sunday. The coach was a very pleasant young man who was once in the GB squad playing men's doubles, and he did a pretty good job. I was pleased with my level of fitness and managed not to fall behind right up until the final hour, when due to a serious misjudgement I ended up having to play two games of singles against the youngest, fittest, strongest man in the group. But until then it was fun, and I learned a few things too. I don't think my badminton is going to improve much, but it's good to keep learning.

The unexpected benefit of this extreme weekend was that I was amazed to find that my frozen shoulder improved quite a bit. I have no idea why this should be - it's not my dominant arm, but badminton does put demands on the non-racquet arm for counterbalance, so perhaps this was what helped.

Lola II came to visit on a school night because she had to go to an event in Birmingham. We went out to a restaurant that I've had my eye on since they had a stall at the Food Festival, but the food wasn't as good as I'd hoped (and I accidentally set fire to the menu). After our main courses we reviewed the dessert menu, but it just didn't hit the spot, so we went to Tesco and carried out a thorough assessment of all possible options before realising it was 10 minutes to Bake Off. Making our final choices at great speed I then packed them into a carrier bag with a hole in it and managed to lose one of Lola II's choices on the way home. However, we not only made it in time for Bake Off, we sneaked in an episode of The West Wing and marvelled anew at how good it is.

The only other news of note is that I decided to treat the lawn with feed including moss killer. It turns out that the lawn is about 60% moss and is now looking a bit brown and sad. I also have some seedlings and some bulbs to plant, and while preparing the ground I ended up chopping down a large pyracantha. So that's been another trip to the local amenities site with a car-load of bags of hideous thorny branches.

Long weekend

Krakow Botanic Garden, July 2016

Since the brief flurry of activity my social life has dwindled to its usual state, although I made an exception for Lola II and Mr M's garden party, which was lovely as always.

The long Bank Holiday weekend was extended even further for me given that I don't work on Tuesdays. I started on Friday night by shopping for the week, then making one of the Polish soups that Mr M gave me - chłodnik. It needed Google Translate to work out the extra ingredients needed and the cooking method. I finally finished watching Schindler's List, which took three sittings because of both its length and its intensity. There were a few locations that were recognisable as Krakow.

I had made a bit of progress on the patio weeds before the long weekend, but managed to strain the muscles in my legs and crippled myself for two days. The rest of the weekend contained much, much more work on the patio, which is now fully weeded without further damage to my legs, and the ivy is gone. I wouldn't bet on it being gone for good; it's been astonishingly resilient to everything I've thrown at it. Now I need to return to the wisteria.

I did some more Polish cooking (gołabki since you ask) and watched about three quarters of the opening ceremony from the London 2012 Olympics, only four years late. The only reason I've watched three quarters of it is because it doesn't all fit on one DVD - it goes as far as all the performances about British history and then all the teams coming into the arena, but not as far as the lighting of the Olympic flame. No wonder the Queen didn't look very amused; that will have been about five hours of her life she won't get back even if everyone did love that she agreed to be in the James Bond mini-movie.

There's been a lot of other stuff to do which isn't worth reporting, mostly online research about one financial commitment or another - a joint account, the best mobile phone contract, best buy ISA, hard wheeled case and stand for my baritone saxophone, how best to sell on ebay, and more. Mr M would be proud of me - I've started making use of different offers on various current accounts, but it's making my head hurt a bit.

At work I've presented the website I've created for the Very Low Carb Lifestyle to the relevant Dietitians. They have all been very complimentary about it, which is very pleasing. It can pretty much do without much attention now, except that I hope to put up a new recipe every week or so. This won't be sustainable, so it might have to be once a month to avoid raising expectations. Next will be to introduce it to the new Dietetic Manager and a few potential customers, to see what they think.

I have a social life

Paris, April 2016

The trouble with socialising is that it makes me tired. That's pretty much the only disadvantage, so I'm trying to do it a bit more. Matters beyond my control meant that last week I had three evening events on three consecutive days, which was more than I would have liked, but I have survived.

First there was a delayed birthday party for two of us at work, held at the house of the other birthday girl which contains a fully equipped games room with pinball, pool, space invaders, a boxing machine and goodness knows what else. It isn't actually her house; it belongs to her daughter and son-in-law and their three children, but she and her husband live in the annexe. The rest of the family was away on holiday, so we used the games room, ate takeaway curry, and I even had a tour of the house. I can't begin to describe the contents - bling, glamour, expense, and Things Everywhere You Look. Artifacts. Pictures. Murals. It was enormous, extravagant, over-the-top. I can barely manage to maintain Lola Towers; thinking of all the work that would have to go into keeping this mansion in good condition made me slightly faint. It was extraordinary.

The second event was the badminton club BBQ which had been planned for about six months, but on the scheduled day everyone was on holiday or busy and only four players plus one partner were available. So we ditched the BBQ idea and the five of us played pool instead, which was actually great fun. I haven't played pool for many years, but I wasn't too bad at it. All but one of the games I played ended with a foul shot, so I wouldn't say any of us was particularly skillful.

Last was a birthday party held by old friends whom I hadn't seen for some time, with a pirate theme. For a change I put in a bit of effort to create a pirate costume. It was a good do, although I think they suffered from everyone being on holiday in the same way as we did for the BBQ. The live band was tremendous - as the third evening out in a row I would have left well before the end if it hadn't been for the music.

The LTRP has paused briefly, although I'm still trying to make the garden look a bit better. I ordered some perennials (6 random plants of 4 different types for £5) which turned out to be foxglove, lavender, aquilegia and echinacea. They came as tiny plugs and before they all died I've managed to pot them up, They're on the windowsill to see which survive, then they're going into the garden and if they die, they die. It's survival of the fittest out there. [Subsequent note - all the lavender plants seem to have died already.]

The other project I've embarked on is to try and manage the amount of food I'm eating, which has drifted into 'out of control' territory. I spend all day helping other people to manage their intake, coming up with all sorts of plans and ideas, but I can't seem to implement anything sensible for myself. I may or may not write more about this, but it will depend on how successful I am.

That reminds me - I've been working on a website to support people who want to cut their carbohydrate intake to almost nothing (less than 40g carb a day), and it's going really well so far. I've been lucky to have had a bit of time recently to spend on it (because everyone is away on holiday) but I've still got a few more ideas. A few people at work have seen it and they haven't ordered me to take it down, so that's good. There was talk of incorporating it into the main hospital website, but when I initially asked the IT department if they would help they said 'no' so I'm reluctant to relinquish control now that I've done all the work.

Brief car update - since the main dealer pronounced the air conditioning unit to be a terminal case due to stone chip damage, it has been working perfectly. I took it to my usual garage anyway as arranged, and they agreed with me. We concluded that the affair made no sense, commented in a British fashion on the relative uselessness of air conditioning with only one or two warm days a year (although that day happened to be one of them) and I took myself and the car off home.

Moûtiers town square, April 2016

I am absurdly delighted about a car in a garage

Compton Verney, July 2016

A few events stand out over the past couple of weeks - my birthday has been and gone without too much fuss, although the presents I was given by Lola II and Mr M are outstanding. I received six different packets of Polish soup, four different nut butters, decaffeinated Darjeeling tea, the piano music for the song 'Let It Go' from the film 'Frozen', and a pack of letters that I wrote to my family in the early 1990's. I've read about half of them, and it's been quite a tense experience. I'm hoping that there might be some suitable material to reproduce in a blog post, but not so far.

Lola II came to visit (and to deliver my presents) and we wandered around Leamington and tried a new lunch venue - a pub called The Drawing Board recently taken over by the same manager who used to run the Red Lion at Hunningham. I'd go again. Lola II went to the optician and we browsed in various shops and ate large slabs of cake before coming back and watching a DVD.

On Sunday we visited Compton Verney Art Gallery and Park and enjoyed most of the collection. We were guided through the Folk Objects and Folk Art, which I think I liked the most - objects and art created by ordinary people rather than professional artists. I am most scornful of a 'sculpture' on the lawn entitled 'Untitled Boulder' which is... a boulder. It isn't even a very interesting-looking boulder. The most that the 'artist' contributed to this 'art' was to decide which way up it should go; he couldn't even be bothered to give it a name. But the rest of the visit was fine.

Compton Verney Folk Objects collection

After Lola departed I mowed the lawn and chopped down even more of the garden, and managed to take some of the debris to the tip on Tuesday. And Olf (the garage man) finally completed the work on the garage! The door to the street now has a working lock, and I can now use it as a practical garage. In fact, I have now put the car in it! This is seriously exciting. There is a yellow sign that suggests the road is going to be dug up and resurfaced next week, so parking is likely to be disrupted and having a working garage may be handy.

I cannot begin to explain how exciting this is

Since that happened I've had a bit of a busy spell, not least when I forgot about some patient education I was supposed to be delivering and received a phone call asking where I was. Very embarrassing, and not an experience that I care to repeat. Entirely my fault, too, because it was clearly in my diary. I was only a quarter of an hour late, but still.

And then I went to Carlisle via Manchester where I visited H+B who are as well as can be expected (and thank you very much for lunch and hospitality). I was hosted in Carlisle by H+G whose converted barn is being re-thatched, so I have learned a bit about what that entails (4 weeks, 4 Polish workers, a LOT of money).

Thankfully the weekend weather was glorious, and we walked dogs and went into town to eat at a new Italian restaurant which had been recommended as 'authentic' by a number of people. It was not what we were expecting - in the basement of a converted church, it was a surprise to find it carpeted, with waitresses in smart black outfits and white gloves to deliver the food, which was very tasty. But still, white gloves? Then we danced the night away to Alabama 3 at the most sweaty gig I can remember - Carlisle not being known for its sultry summer weather, the venue really had no way of making things any cooler.

We'd both walked quite a long way

Then back home via Tebay motorway services (the best in the country) where I bought far too much artisanal goods (meat pie, cheese, crackers, sausage, brownie) and then to Ikea to have a look at their kitchens. And finally on Tuesday a trip to the car dealership so they could diagnose the problem with the air conditioning in my car, which they declared to be terminal. I have made an appointment to get a second opinion from my local garage, but it's not looking good. Thank goodness we only get one or two hot days a year in this country.

Gradually getting older

June 2016

The narrative of my mundane existence has been interrupted with the academic treatise about exercise and Type 1 Diabetes, but rest assured there is still excitement going on behind the curtain. I'm breaking down the fourth wall for you, go ahead, take a peek at the state of my life, and don't forget to be thankful for your own.

I have recently been incredibly unenthusiastic about running and have thought seriously on more than one occasion how nice it would be to retire. Not that I dislike my job, I reckon by previous experience it will be another five years or so before I start getting bored and then I'll be closer to 60 than 50. When I was growing up, retirement age for women was 60 - although back then 60 was an incomprehensible age, and has only become solid and tangible in the last couple of years. State retirement age for people of my age is at least 66 now, and I expect it will be 70 by the time I get there. But I digress - I have just been a bit more tired than usual, less motivated to get moving. I hope it's a phase that will pass.

It's possible that some of the lower energy levels relate to the effort of the LTRP, which I have been shoving forward inch by reluctant inch. Olf returned to work on the garage and the roof is now done, but he had a lot more trouble with the lock, and has gone away again to think about it. Ilf also returned and did a couple more jobs, and now we have to wait for me to empty the loft so he can do the electric lights in the room below, and for him to find some suitable wood to make a little house for the outside tap to keep it insulated and warm in the winter.

I have spent a tiresome afternoon up a ladder in the garden trimming the wisteria, after watching Alan Titchmarsh and another fellow on YouTube showing me how to do it. As I reached the top of the ladder I discovered that my neglect over the past few years has resulted in the wisteria making a bid for freedom and heading off for at least 10 meters along the wall between the gardens behind mine. To think I used to worry about killing plants in my garden. I've probably got another two carloads of vegetation to take to the tip, and the grass badly needs mowing again, but the rain has been fairly persistent.

Surprise foxglove

I have had a lovely crop of unexpected plants this year, all self-seeded. I don't know what most of them are, but the cornflowers are doing well and a surprise foxglove has appeared. The rest are 'pink flower', 'yellow flower', 'blue flower' etc. Last year I had an aquilegia (I think) but I may have damaged it too much for it to reappear. There's actually a strawberry plant growing between bricks in the paved area, but I'm not prepared to spare the weedkiller even for a strawberry plant. I have also declared war on ivy. It will not be allowed to re-emerge in my garden ever again. Sometimes I think I would like to grow plants of my choosing, like poppies and hollyhocks, but it doesn't look like that will happen any time soon.

Some paving reappears

I have also escalated the LTRP by contacting two architectural designers - I think that's the kind of job title they use - to come and have a look at the kitchen, living room and stairs in order to recommend how things might be altered. The first one came one week and the second one came a week later. We talked about the kitchen, which was fairly straightforward, then we talked about the living room and stairs, which was rather problematic, and when we reached the subject of heating/insulation my head exploded. Too much, too complicated, couldn't cope. So it looks as though the kitchen redesign could happen, the stairs may have to stay as they are but may change, and there ain't nothin' goin' to happen 'bout the cold, cold house. At least not in the near future. Unless I wear a diving helmet for head protection while talking to the second architect.

The loft emptying project proceeds slowly with a couple of boxes of books at a time along with some of the redundant paperwork that has bafflingly been stored up there. I have also given away the trampoline. This was a bit more difficult emotionally, but I look back fondly on its value during exam revision and accept that I'm unlikely to erect it again. I advertised it on Streetlife (which I have mentioned before) and had a most intriguing selection of people who were interested. I sifted through them trying to evaluate who was most worthy, but my first choice of recipient very weirdly decided that if it was stored in the loft then it couldn't possibly be big enough for their child because if it were then it wouldn't fit through the hatch. I responded to say it's a kit and you have to assemble it, but they weren't having any of it, even when I said that you can get quite long poles through a loft hatch as long as you don't try to fit them through sideways. The second potential recipient didn't respond at all, but the third collected it as agreed and gave me a bunch of flowers, which made the transaction rather pleasant.

I have continued going to the Buddhist group, and I'm still enjoying the meditation and the tea break, but the discussions are more difficult. Actually, even the meditation was difficult when we had a guest leader who extended the duration to 40 minutes. Another inexperienced meditator agreed with me that this was pretty heavy going. The discussions focus on some aspect of Buddhist practice, and I struggle to translate the concepts into something I recognise and then struggle further to establish how the information might be helpful in any way. I'm just not cut out for abstract thought, let alone philosophy. But I quite like sitting quietly trying to extend goodwill to my fellow humans.

I have had an interesting time trying to arrange for my saxophones to be serviced - one independent chap was recommended so I sent an email, left a telephone message and sent a text and received no response whatsoever. So I phoned a shop and spoke to a delightful woman who thinks she might be able to service the tenor sax in a single day and have a look at the baritone as well. The downside is that I have to spend a day in Birmingham, but I'm sure I'll find plenty there to keep me busy.

Lastly, I went down to Bristol for a weekend because an old friend who plays in a band had a gig and another old friend who knows us both suggested we meet up there. I stayed in a lovely room courtesy of Airbnb, met the friends, went to the gig and came home via the falconry centre where despite the weather looking very promising the birds declined to put on much of a show.

I can't let this opportunity go by without mentioning the referendum. So there, I've mentioned it, let's move on and see what the future holds.