...Across The Universe

Later I went to Aardvark and bought more organic food for the week. When I was there I bumped into Anne who was the owner/boss of it when I worked there which was nice. I did some shopping from my wheelchair and walked up and down aisles for the rest

'Wimming

Then we went off to the swimming pool where apparently I was doing better than good. I jumped in with no float around me and was able to cope well with that. I think that took it out of me, it was too much of an event but I managed.

McPhysio

First thing today Sara the physio came and got me doing all kinds of walking up & down, in my new splint. She said the old splint had worn out already and she can tell the difference in my walking. She said "Sorry, doing this again but you will learn in the end, it becomes automatic" and generally did stuff to piss me off with a good excuse

Out Tonight

And in a bit we are picking up Freya and heading to Iechyd Da for their monthly do

And it was good if a bit few musicians but good lord, I couldn't cut my quiche or the spuds with my knife held "properly" but I mentioned this to Timmy and he said "Try holding it like this", just wow, what a difference that makes

Team Meeting

So "we" have a team meeting s'morning so everyone including Denyse should be here by half past 10

One of my members of staff was here early as his car has died and he had a lift from his wife and another MOS isn't here at all as his car is dead too

Parroting

And I am going out to The Blue Parrot, in Carmarthen, to one of their "sing a song" nights

And nobody but Clive sang a song, there was only about 6 in the audience, hooray

Gyming

Another hard session in the Mobility Gym, but Sam commented on how far I am progressing, so I suppose I should be positive. Yes, I am getting better so fast but I have got such a long way to go before I am seen as normal

But a new chap came in half way through, using 2 crutches, he really couldn't walk, having come this far he was falling over etc. Ed had to ask my permission then push him back out in my wheelchair. Dunno how he transported but he really was f*cked. The NHS say he's well enough to cope and he can't even walk

Yboting

That Toby chap, who is just back in Wales, came round for tea. I think he is talking more sense than before, I think he now knows how he needs to find work and stop dreaming.

I think

Fixed Bird Feeder

Today me and Dicky nipped to B&Q and bought a spike and some cable ties to mend the "falling over" bird feeder. It all seems OK, standing upright etc

Pair

And I had for pudding the pear that I bought 2 of last week, so it was the first pear I have eaten in at least 9.5 years and it was delicious

Buying

So I was looking for summat else on Amazon and came across some of these which I felt the need to, I had to buy some

More Reasons To Shop At....

Then we went to Morrison's (noisy link) and did our weeks shopping, then we came back home for some lunch

Gymming

Went to gym today and as usual worked really hard and spoke really hard too.

One of the other students said she hadn't been there for 3 weeks and she could really see the difference, in how much better I was

A "complete stranger" telling me she could see how much progress I had made and how quickly

Unrested

But it didn't feel like Monday today, I had had no quiet days over he weekend.

But tra la lah I got up and ½ changed my bed s'morning and put it on to wash before I had my breakfast

Freyaing

And we had the second half of our Freya visit today. She slept as only teenagers can, then made lunch for me and her, then we took her back to her Mums.

All in all, I think it went very well

And when we went back to Julia's to leave her back we picked my old woodburner from about 15 or 16 years ago when I lived in a bender in the woods

M&F

And I think it has gone well with Freya today. When we first met her we were busy at cinema etc, then we went and had dinner together then we came back here. I was catching up on my BLOG and reading Ixion for an hour or so while she got stuck into a Harry Potter novel off the shelf because she had forgotten to bring her book with her. She has gone to bed now with the novel and a lamp.

We will take her home about 2 or 3 tomorrow, after lunch, so we will possible be able to pick up my wood burner too

F&B

Then we nipped to F&Bs and had a delicious veggie burger and Freya had the same

Gosh What A Day

So then we went and picked up Freya and took her to see Nativity 2 which was actually rather good, all 3 of us sniggered the whole way through.

Even tho I had a climb up 10 stairs to get to our seat and down them to get back to my 'chair

Tum ti tum

Oh I feel nervous and useless etc. Because in a couple of hours we are going to get Freya and bring her out in Carmarthen, then back here where she is gonna spend the night. It's the first time she has ever done that so......

And she has just been telling her new little brother that she is going to stay with Daddy tonight, apparently...

Next Week

And I received some bumph about a night out next week which I think I will go to

Aardvarking

Then we nipped to Aardvark and bought loads of organic food

Pictures

Then we nipped into the cinema and bought 3 tickets for tomorrow, for me, Ed and Freya who is coming to stay with me tomorrow night for the first time ever. 9¾ years ago we lived together but ever since then she has gone home to Mummies, but not tomorrow

Little Old Lady

So Sarah Bailey (noisy link) came to see me today to discuss A)speaking more fluently and B)choking. She listened to me singing/talking/eating etc and in the end said "I will write a huge report with various exercises but first just bend your head forward when you swallow" which makes me say HOORAY etc as it seems to be the secret to me not choking, if I lean forward b4 swallowing it opens a tube while closing another or summat.

Re speaking she basically said "You know what to do, it's remembering it is the issue" and will write a report with loadsa exercises for me and the chaps to do every day

I can walk

And yesterday I was walking not very far, about 10 or 20m, but I was really nervous as I wasn't in a "Hold on (Or just 'Touch it...') with your left hand" position next to summat, but I could actually do it quite well. So I think my confidence is not sufficient.

Sarah OT is coming to see me to work on stuff like this next week

Mum&Dad

And my Mum (and Dad but mainly her) were on't phone to Paul for about 1½ hours discussing their Xmas visit and arrangements.

I wasn't ignoring Freya on purpose but stuck on't phone

Freyadumpkins

Then later on we had to go and get Freya from her school. She seemed really nice tonight, I can't quite put my finger on it but she just seemed more fun than usual

AND she is coming back to stay here on Saturday night for the first time since my accident

Shopping

And we went shopping today and bought loadsa Christmas hat's including one for me

21

So I was 21 in 1990 and I have just tried the 90's radio station that someone recommended on Ixion last week and all I can say is WOW

Gym

And I went back to gym again s'morning and it was evident how much better and stronger I am, how I was not knackered after 5 minutes like I was a couple of weeks ago.

And Sam, the teacher, said that, how much better I was and how quickly I am getting there

But I find it very difficult if folk say how much faster I am getting better, but it was nearly 10 years ago when I was injured, how ill was I back then

Rude-nosity

When we nipped into Morrison's today there were 2 women selling stuff in the foyer. They said "So in your house wadda u need, windows, doors" etc, Paul looked at them and said "2 Asian women in thigh-high leather boots...", one of the women said "What do you need Asian for when we are here"....

Well

So today Julia came to see me to say stuff about Freya being trusted grown up, and about Toby being a grown up etc

And she said some stuff about how ill I was when I was first in hospital, how the first time she came to see me that she was appalled by the number of beeping machines plugged into my body that she had to immediately leave the room, gather herself then try again

And we have no reply from the Grasslands Trust either

Right 1

OK. So at 11.15 we headed off to gym, which again was fast and I was walking about loads etc, just hectic and good

Right 2

Then we had a lunch, charged to the petty cash, at gym as we were in a hurry to leave there and head to Westward Ho! to go cycling. When we got there it was too busy with kids, so we sat in the car for half an hour, tried again and left without cycling

Right 3

Then we went to Morrison's supermarket in Westward Ho! to pick up my weeks shopping and apparently I dealt with Anxiety Management quite well, although I couldn't look at aisles they don't have in Carmarthen, too much

Right 4

THEN we nipped home for a bit, I had a nap then got up and noticed in my diary that it sed "Pick up cream script from Doctors" which we managed

Monday Morning....

So I have got up, taken the sheets etc off my bed, had breakfast now I am waiting to go to gym then off cycling then lunch, then go and pick up a repeat 'script from the Doctors then nap, and then if there is time go shopping

Full Again Freezer

Well, so s'morning we nipped out to Morrison's where I replaced all the goods from my little freezer so it is now FULL FOR BEING SNOWED IN again.

We got a couple of extras but I will still need to go there on Monday afternoon or Tuesday

Ugh, small freezer

And I went to the small extra freezer that's in the utility room next to the big fridge/freezer looking for some snacks as treats. And I discovered that it has been switched off for a number of weeks and the emergency winter food had defrosted and rotted.

Luckily I don't live alone so I shouted "HELP" and Dicky came to see what was the issue and had to clean it all up for me.

Posh Text files to Txt

I have been looking for a way of reading the txt messages from my phone that I have stored on my PC. I could only read one at a time and needed to click the mouse between each, no clicking next button. I have been trying for 48 hours to no avail, but tonight in the downloads folder I spotted the file I have been trying to download for 2 days now

I changed them all to txt files but they had no name, not from "Freya" or Dad" etc. I had another look under "properties" and found a keep full document name

Dull

And as we were bored s'morning we nipped to town, bought 3 boxes of gloves and £60 worth of petrol

Aardvarking

Then today at about 3.30 we went shopping in Aardvark. Gosh it was even better than last week, I got veg and fruit etc, in all I spent about £40 on my weeks shopping, apart from the few I will spend in More Reasons on Monday^h^h^h^h^h^hTuesday

But I want all their extras but way too much sugar there

Sharpening Scissors

So after lunch I opened a parcel with scissors. They were really blunt and not cutting well. I thought "Add a new pair to my shopping list" but then I thought "No, I am well too tight fisted for this, I wonder, can I sharpen?"

Then that master Google was asked and on the first result it said "Cut some tin foil" and a few other tips, so I tried it. I thought cutting summat as thick and hardpressed as foil would make them blunter, but I followed the instructions and then tried them on a piece of cardboard.

Just WOW, it is like a new pair of scissors

Quiet Day

Nowt to do, nowt on until I go shopping about half three

Fredumpkins

And that Freya came here and talked "stuff" today. She is soooooo much older than she was before. But quality.

Second Things Second

Then after he was finished fixing my 'chair Sara - the physio lady arrived. Good lord but she worked me. I was exhausted from the exercises we had done and it was lunchtime by the time she had gone

First Things First

So first of all s'morning the wheelchair fixer man came and fixed the issue with my 'chair

When he had left and I was putting the footrest in the boot of the car Dicky, today's carer, arrived

It's Broken

So Tim realised that the footrest off my wheelchair were broken late yesterday and asked Ed to replace it today. Ed phoned the makers to get their advice and they said that no-one must do any fixing type jobs as it's too risky for us users so sometime between 9 AM and 1 PM tomorrow an engineer is gonna come out and fix my 'chair

And by 10.30 in't morning it was fixed!!

Aargh

And I had no phone for a couple of hours s'afternoon.

Panic, panic, panic

But Ed knew how to plug in my mobile dongle and get a slow connection but it is properly fixed now

And by now it seems fixed more. For a couple of hours it was running at Not Very Fast Broadband speeds but it seems much better tonight. Phew

New Gym Is Old Now

So I think to myself that I need to go to my New Gym Class in a bit but I am wondering when it just becomes run of the mill Gym without additions describing how old it is to me?

I Had Forgotten

And me and Paul had a conversation about changing my shopping day to tuesday. I was protesting and he said "No, if you can only go there on a Monday after gym they need you to be doing more and more stuff to apply for more funding from your claim, so it looks like I will need to get my head round shopping on a tuesday instead

Out&About

So then me and Paul, my emergency coverer, nipped out. We went to a pub near Carmarthen where I had 2 Imminent Diabetes Whiskey and Water's

Poorliness

So I cooked dinner for Tim today, ate it up, he ate about 75% of his then threw up. A phone call later Paul is coming in to replace him

Anxiety Management

So yesterday Denyse said that I need to work on my Anxiety Management with the team. I thought "Pardon?" but Google did mention how large a subject this is, I mentioned this to Denyse and she said "Calm down, don't try and read all of this, concentrate on this" so... dunno.... will do

Lie In

So s'morning as I had no important stuff on I switched my alarm clock off last night. Lying in bed, dozing.... I didn't wake up until 9.03!!!

(sent from my phone)

Tobyless

And I txted Toby and said "What time shall I pick u up tomorrow?" and he replied "No, I am in Wolverhampton ATM" so....

Too Much Booze

Then tonight I tried pouring a whiskey thru my new measurer. It poured, kept pouring, kept pouring more until I turned in wrong way up to stop it. At a guess I am having a triple and ½ whiskey

Right, 2nd drink I called Dicky and showed him the paraphernalia sitting on the table, he nodded and tried to pour one. He held the bottle properly upside down and it poured a single and was filling itself up again when he stopped. So the measurer works fully upside down, not on 45° like I was holding it

Right, I didn't need another drink but I wanted one while the useful chap was here so.... I went into kitchen alone, held the bottle, looked at it then eventually turned it upside down. One whisk(e)y came out (Gosh, a single is really small)

Shopping

Then immediately after gym we nipped to More Reason's To Shop At.... and got loadsa stuff. So this week I bought some Diabetic No Sugar Sloe Gin and while looking for organic jam I found this too, no added sugar

So today after shopping I tried to fit the measurer to my whiskey, the one that arrived on Saturday. I tried, tried again, couldn't, it wouldn't fit. So I was looking on Amazon again for a replacement when I thought "Hang on", called Dicky and said "Help". He put one hand on the top, pressed down and it fits now

Up & At 'Em

So s'morning.... So I changed the bed before I had breakfast, well didn't change it, I took off my old bedding and washed that, then I am being a smidge nervous as I am going back to my new gym class s'morning

And it went well, I seem to be fitting into my new class and working much harder than I used to

More Rugger

And I am watching another game of rugby today. Scotland look OK, but well not as good as The All Blacks

Sigh

In the end the Scots scored 22 points, which would have been enuf to win many games of Rugby, but The All Blacks scored 51 for themselves

Can't Cook, Won't Cook!

Aargh, Ireland are in a rugby match against SA in about 8 minutes and I am supposed to cook summat.

We can have a really late dinner or.....

So Ireland were winning IIRC 12:3 so I thought "OK" and went cooking and eating. When I next saw a telly they were loosing 12:13. In the end they lost 12:16

(Sigh)

Shopper

Then we nipped to town and got candles and matches in case the power goes off. Looked all over town and couldn't find a gas heater anywhere, looked online and found several.

I also bought some more coasters for the table, the ones we had were worn out

Late Sleeper

And today I was awake loads in the night but slept in s'morning, I wasn't awake enuf to look at my clock until quarter to ten!!!!

Aardvarking

And then tonight we nipped into the new Aardvark shop, they have moved, instead of Waverley storing. And just good lord, it was late when we went there but they sell everything that I had put on my list for Morrison's on Monday and also wrote under "Organic Aardvark" to chance it. Everything.

It is well under new management since I worked there years ago but this new management seem obsessed with "Organic", like me

Whoops

And I have been getting my "How much did I drink" measurements wrong for a number of months. Cut in half the amounts of Sloe Gin I said I had

Scary Meeting

And I am having a scary meeting with Denyse and Janet, a care expert from my team s'morning

And it was a bit intimidating but went really well AFAICS. Apart from....

Narrow Leg

As usual I have had my left leg width measured every day and for the last 2 days it has been as narrow as my right leg, 6 inches or so narrower than last week

Sugarless Booze

And I had to get some sugarless booze tonight so I am currently drinking Scotch which apparently contains no sugar

Quiet Morning then...

Then that Freya girly came round, ate my hot dogs, complained there was no onion with them then spent ages redoing some photos in order to make it look as if she was somewhere groovy with a number 13 in it, she needs it for summat

The apple with number 13 on it was my idea BTW

Heating/Water

Strange, strange, strange.

So my central heating and hot water boiler aren't working properly. If I put the thermostat to usual levels the hot water works sometimes. If I put the thermostat right up so it's breathtakingly hot in here the hot water works fine. So until it's fixed I will need to put the heating full up in order to have a hot bath

We hadn't figured this out today so I had to boil a kettle and wash myself in the sink

Quiet Noon-er-aft

Not much on s'afternoon, I will nip shopwards again after my nap to fetch one item

Aargh, I couldn't find any long handled teaspoons (for eating my 3 days in the same packet yoghurt) but when we came back I bought some on Amazon (They are called Sundae Spoons too, apparently)

That hadn't worked so I nipped to Morrison's and bought more food

Still new gym

So I am going off to the new gym class again today

And good lord but it was hard work, less people there than Monday but still loads more than the stroke class. I was cycling today and I managed to put my bike up to 10 difficulty for the first 6 minutes, then I was knackered so I put it back down to 7.

Well, if they are trying their best to knacker me I might as well help them

Super Faster Broadband

On the same connections?

Ybot

Then that Toby chap came round for his tea. Being well surprised at my news from the doctor and then going off to clean his house before his lift to the Midlands arrives, but he did cook for us all

Diabetes

So I nipped to see the Dr this morning to talk about the results of my blood test. So I have got the early stages of diabetes - IFG apparently. It's not full on yet but I need to change my eating and drinking habits to reduce sugar intake. No more sloe gin then

Weight

And I was weighed yesterday and I lost 2lbs again, so my weight it coming down. Slowly but downwards

Really Shopping

So after finishing our hot chocolates we went proper shopping. Bought sink and drain cleaner as well as our normal shopping. It's all done until I Aardvark (and possibly Waverley) on Friday, possibly needing more Morrison's later in the week

Nearly Shopping

And as we nipped to Morrison's I was a bit saying "Can we?", we did and it was well worth it

New gym today

And s'morning, for the first time, I am attending my new gym class. "Mobility" this one is called as opposed to "Stroke sufferers". When I looked last week it seems a lot busier, like 30 or 40 attendees as opposed to the 6 we got on a good week at stroking.

It seems to be a lot more hectic but with a range of issues so if u r too tired stop doing it for a bit

And I went along, it went well but a bit exhaustingly. I refused to do the cycling thing but she said it will be less busy and more do-able on Wednesday.

But I still did stuff for the whole of the hour, I think it went well

Watching S4C

So I was looking at "What's on telly" but I thought "The only program that seems interesting is the rugby but it will be in Welsh, it's on S4C". Timmy said "Wait until it is fully loaded now press the red button" and an English commentary came on. Apparently it's only for sports but it is there

Weather

So at half six s'morning there was thunder and lightning, about an hour ago there was bare blue sky from one side to t'other, now it's raining heavily

Second Morning In A Row

And today is the second morning in a row when I haven't needed an Andrex Washlette to wipe my bum. For the first time in 9.5 years I have dun it two mornings in a row

Another quiet day

Then we had a Sunday, not much is happening, a restful day again

Aardvark

So I used to work in a Health Food Shop called Aardvark (out of date link) about 15 years ago. Since my accident I have found it not wheelchair accessible so I started shopping at an opposition store around the corner, but they have just moved to a bigger more wheelchair accessible shop, so I may have to go back to shopping there

Sandwiches

And today I was thinking about my lunch. Peanut butter and marmite on toast tastes a but odd, like I used to really like and it's just wrong now, dunno, then it occurred to me, sandwiches, that's what I used to like. I tried it and it's still delicious

Pink Hair

So I had to take my lapdog into the kitchen, switch it on and wait for Claire, Claire, She's Got Pink Hair to Skype me and reassess the conversation we had last week about me making a will, answering the same questions etc.

And I passed, she is gonna contact a solicitor for me who will help my write a will

Aunty Virus

And my antivirus software kept crashing about every 15 minutes to half an hour all day so I looked online, got a well recommended free antivirus downloaded, uninstalled the wrong-un and installed that in it's place. In it's initial scan it only found one piece of AdWear so hopefully the old one wasn't crashing as it had been corrupted

Waverley

And we went shopping in Waverley stores but didn't have as much to buy as last week

Not Swimming

Oops, no swimming today as it is half term, so loadsa kids go for free swims. Way too busy for me

Not In My Eyes

And I notice today that the sun isn't coming around the edge of the window frame to get in my eye. Apparently it has moved which I didn't know/expect

Camera Borked

So last night, when I was asleep, I dreamt that my camera was broken, the flash on it wouldn't fire.

So I woke up s'morning thinking I'd better take Paul to an expensive shop and spend a few hundred quid.

Then as I woke up more I thought "Test it", took my camera out, the bits on the bottom hadn't broken off and taking a test shot the flash flashed.

So I don't need one, it was all a bad dream

Fredumpkins

And after nap we went miles away to pick up that Freya girly (because it's half term - she was at home). We brought her back here where I was scarily trying to make Garlic Mushrooms on baps as a starter and pasta and stuff for main course. I think it worked quite well in the end but I'm glad I didn't have to do that much washing up.

Afterwards we tried both the games I bought to play with my parents at christmas and I actually rather liked them both, apart from loosing wildly

Farewell Gym

And I went back to Gym for the last session in the "Stroke" class, from next week I will be attending "Mobility" at a different time/day.

Shopping

Then we went out to (That Evil) Tesco's (Place) to pick up some "Happy Christmas" stick on labels and some bread making flour. I don't need the flour yet but I may try and make some baps tomorrow while I still have bread as an emergency route

THEN we answered a call from Toby as he was hungover (half term) and crying out KFC so we took him and I told him off big style

24 minutes past

So I got a txt s'morning saying "Your order will be delivered between 9.24 and 10.24 on" this day. So I understand why they can't be more precise, traffic etc but 24 minutes past?

And he came at 8 minutes past 9, I told him he was too early but...