Off Out in a few

And we are heading out to Caffi Iechyd Da for a come all ye Folk Night so relatively excited

And it was rather impressive, loadsa players etc, a good night

Gym

Then we headed to gym and I did so minutes on a walking machine, at 2km/h and 2 degrees uphill.

Then after we went there we headed to Morrisons where I bought the rest of my weeks shopping, then back home for a late lunch as Timmy was panicking about having too much on my diary for tonight, back to Iechyd Da for a folk night

...Pudding And Pie*

So today I have gotta go to Iechyd Da and pick up my first organic box from C&M Organics, they deliver it there then I pay them

*Orgy Porgy Pudding And Pie, can't remember where that came from but...... Aarg, recalling

Lordy, we were on the way there when I panicked, said "No, not Iechyd Da they must mean Waverley Stores" So we turned back, went to the other health food shop and asked for my delivery they said "What?". So we bought sum muesli there and tried Iechy Da again, yes, my veg box was waiting

Summer?

And I had to half close the curtain s'morning as it was shining sunlight into my eye when I was sat in the living room....

FESless

Then we headed into town, parked up, and I set off without my 'chair and without my FES on and we went for a walk that felt longer than it actually was

Slightly Better?

And I noticed today that when I had to take my shirt off to have some cream on that this used to really piss me off when I was wearing a shirt with buttons, it was too difficult and used to really p*ss me off, but nowadays as a) my hands have got stronger, more directable, b) my buttoning technique has improved, it doesn't p*ss me off so much nowadays, I just do it

Proper

And we need to just go to the pool today and do my normal exercises as Aqua Aerobics is off for a fortnight over the school holidays

Hooray

</sarcasm>

Rest Of The Day

And because Alex was so efficient s'morning we have nowt on for the rest of the day

No, we nipped out and I walked into my Docs alone as we left Alex ready to move the car if he had to to avoid paying for 2 hrs parking when we were only there for 3 minutes and I dropped off my piss sample

Sneaked To...

Then on the way home from the Docs we nipped into gym and I did my lifting exercises. Again it gob smacks me how much more capable I am now rather than a few weeks ago

To The Docs

And we are off to the Doctor's s'morning to have his opinion on how my diabetes is coming on. I am drinking a lot less than the last time I saw him so.........

Well when we got there she hadn't got my results (as they are having a major IT crisis) but she phoned the hospital and I could tell from her half of the conversation that it was good news. When she hung up she was really positive to me and said my blood sugar and cholesterol were as good as new.

Curry

And we had curry for dinner, that has been waiting in a saucepan since last nights dinner and it was equally delicious

ABBR

And I discovered how to hide things as abbreviations  in HTML s'afternoon so I was able to go back to a post of mine with an underscore and replace that with an abbreviation

Technicality

No Neil, spelling mistake then. Eating apple it is "bite", technologically it is "byte"

Yum yum

So as we are going to the 'wimming pool at about lunchtime I thought "Ah, snack" about 11AM s'morning. So I headed to the kitchen thinking of lovely treats etc that I could have but then I thought "No Neil, diet" and ate a fscking apple.

Which was OK but it gives me so much pleasure nowadays because I wasn't capable of eating an apple unless I took a knife to it and chopped it up for so long. Not nowadays, just big bite, big bite, big bite

And we went swimming s'morning. It was a "see how busy it is, we may have to go to gym" but no, it wasn't too busy. We did our exercises and at the end I did 6 lengths on the trot!!

It is getting easier as my right leg and my right arm become more obedient etc 

No Neil, leave it

So I was curious and I typed the 'after the @ bit' of someone's email adddress into a search engine and found the site. So looking around the site I thought "Looks like fun" then read that one of the instructors has been riding since she was 13 so obviously you don't need a driving licence for off roading so I thought "Perhaps I should get in touch and ask......." then I thought "NO". Motorbikes and me where friends in the past, just not again. There's too much happening in every respect..... just not any more for me

(Text in colour leave your mouse there for a min to see my ABBR)

Tunes From My Memory

"Oh, oh, oh"  Alex said today and that reminded me of a song, I sang about 3 lines of lyrics (Totus Florio etc) before saying "WTF, where is that from?"

Drat

Bother, it is closed today not tomorrow so I will have to carry on with my diary. Fscking swimming.....

The Green Party

And someone who is standing for The Green Party for the next Assembly Member elections is coming here for tea tonight.

Freya, my daughter

She was so young when I lived with her as a father, now she is how grown up?

But I was showing Freya my walking without stick and she said "With stick both feet are the same but without it your left foot only comes as far forward as the right foot which then takes over." So I tried a few steps with proper left/right/left movement and wow, yes, it's summat to work on

Bladder

So as my bladder was fscked in the past but is getting better now this occured.....

So yesterday I was cooking 2 dinners. The big pan of curry which was running so late yesterday that I had to make another meal to eat yesterday. So I was chopping and stirring etc, I thought "Gord, I need to go for a wee", then I thought "I will just do this first", then "this too" and "Aarggh, this needs doing" etc etc, so when I eventually went for a pee it was bladder crunchy hold it in, so I got to the loo, sat down, relaxed, and..... and..... nothing would come out. It was about 5 minutes between me actually letting go and my bladder relaxing enuf to actually go. I think it was because it had had to be clenched so tight it just couldn't relax

Busy

So as we were pissing about s'afternon, cutting my hair etc I got about half was thru cooking an enormous pot of curry when I realised that it wasn't gonna be finished for hours so I'd better make summat else to eat tonight too. Aargh, talk about being chaotic. It wasn't too difficult but as physically I wasn't even cooking at all for so long it seemed a bit much, chaotic. But our dinner tonight was nice and there is an enormous pot of curry for tomorrow and the day after etc

Luckily someone else was cleaning up afterwards too

Amateur

And today I had my haircut by an amateur. GGTGG did it for the first time "without Ed coming in tomorrow" to fix any errors and... he didn't do too bad a job

Jealous

And I am so jealous that this happened by accident apparently. I have for so long wanted to alter a loo door to say this with a screwdriver or summat

Posting

Then we had to nip to the post office (in the back of WH Smiths now instead of on King Street where it used to be) in order to post my passport off "special delivery" to someone who needs to check summat and they need the original but they have been warned that Neil needs it to get on a plane next month

Off For A Walk

And me and MightyMark are heading off to Mumbles for a walk (and an ice cream) later. It is well accessible and flat for most of it so I will be walking there

So when we got there I was thinking "Wheelchair just in case?" but I didn't ask for it, just got out of the car, walked for about three quarters of an hour, stopped for a pee and ice cream then walked back. It took ages to get there and back but it was a well good walk

Kindling Again

And I was just sat on the bench outside for half an hour reading on my Kindle. Oooooh, it gives me such pleasure. A lifelong talent that was taken away by my accident but I can read again

And I finished the last Harry Potter book s'morning too....

Hippy Eastragubbins

To one and all...

More Reasons To Shop At.....

Then we went to Morrison's and did my weeks shopping (2 trips worth) and (apart from chocolate) I only had to buy 2 portions of veg that were not organic, everything else was, so hopefully they will learn and increase the organic range

And I am fscking exhausted after big walking, so I will just sit here for half an hour and recover slightly before making dinner

Service

Then earlier when I was in gym I was listening to the radio that was playing everywhere.  Some advert said "Any service, Carmarthen" but I couldn't remember the phone number. As I was going to phone then up and say 'Can you find me a girlfriend, please'

That's My Blood

And I walked into the hospital today and queued for literally 4 minutes before being called in to the blood taker. Who was a plumber in his other life, done much of Llangain and sez its the same, stop pipes leaking in both jobs. So they will test that then post results to my Dr who I will see on Tuesday morning

Half Gym

So I went to gym with Timmy and got stuck into biking. I had gone half target (gone 5km) when I stopped and said to Timmy "Can I stop now", he said "No, because..." and eventually talked me into finishing, I started trying to cycle again and the machine sed "You have been stopped for too long, see you" so I did half of my hour cycling

Can't Watch It

Sorry, I turned on the news and they said "Brussels....... Brussels....... Brussels....... Brussels" and I had to turn it off, it was too upsetting

Wrist

Aha, I have just noticed how straight my wrist looks in this pic. I wasn't concentrating on keeping it straight, it just is!!

Aerobics

And then we nipped to another hour long Aqua Aerobics class. It *is* helping me, for nearly all of it today I was standing up, not holding on, which I wouldn't have managed a fortnight ago, especially the balancing on mu right foot things......

Chopper Chopped

And Linda The Toenail Chopper came and chopped me s'morning. It looks and feels better.

And she got stuck in to that corn on my RHS bigtoe, it looks a lot less

And she commented on how I walk to open the door now. This is old hat to me now but as I only see her once in a while it is still a novelty for her. She remembers me coming to the front door in my wheelchair.....

Ooooh

Posh

Crisis For Alex

So in between building jobs etc today I heard loud crying coming from the office. I enquired and Alex said the printer wasn't handling colour properly. I said "Ink?" he said "No, someone has just changed the cartridge" but they hadn't used the expensive versions that we had to go to Tesco to buy. It wasn't seeing the ink or summat. So he did loads of PC repairing then got a new expensive Tesco's cartridge, fitted that instead and instantly that worked. So as Timmy has the same printer (and possibly brought the cheap replacement) he has a couple of cartridges to take with him and see if they work on his printer. How much should I charge him?

But it's all fixed now, so phew

'Wimming

And we went swimming after gardening and it was as much fun as usual.

But I did it and various exercises

Lordy, unexpectedly busy

So first of all s'morning MagicMark remembered to ask Alex to give him a hand and move my "growing things" container next to the greenhouse, while there were 2 people available to lift it, then I practised walking around while Alex went in the garage and got some stuff. Then we were able to start 3 plants growing in seed pots then we will put the other 2 out in that "growing things container" later after we have taken out the dead plants from last year etc

So my greenhouse has started big style, it was only put up a few days ago....

And later, after swimming, we got stuck in again, emptying out my trug and replanting it with onions and carrots

Fark

Political correctness gone mad? If you are not on the premises we can't help you?

Link from Bruce on Ixion

B*llock Knees

So the other highlight of the day was me making spaghetti boll*ck-knees for dinner. It was rather nice and I stood up the whole time I was in the kitchen

UnSwimming

And MightyMark just came in and said "No Neil, not swimming today, there is some swimming gala on"

So we will head over and do my usual Tuesday exercises today and swim tomorrow.....

The exercises went well, I am getting so much stronger better at..... etc so quickly, I can't believe it

What A Morning

Gosh. So today Alex put up (and attached it to the house on the side) the new greenhouse <pictures to follow> that we bought t'other day. Afterwards we popped out to Wilko's and bought some grow bags, some compost and a few planting trays

LindaMcCartneyRopess

So doing my hamstring exercises every day, I have been doing them for months and my right hamstring is still fscked. OK, I can now move it an inch further back than I used to be able to but it is still  6-8 inches less movement than in the left leg. So is that my situation now, I am mostly better so just struggle on with improving the rest so slowly

Mañana

So tomorrow Alex is working again and we are gonna do some putting up of greenhouse and path so hopefully we can go and buy some soil etc etc

Cheese Sauce

And part of the dinner that Ed made tonight was various veg in cheese sauce. Which was part of my "what shall we cook tonight" list before my accident but I haven't eaten it for fscking years, but yum yum I think I may have to try it again on summat soon

Leaving

And Ed is in to work today, he started 5 years and 2 days ago and he is leaving today, this is his last shift. He is becoming a nurse from a few days away.....

But what a change he has seen in me, I was stuck in my wheelchair 5 years ago and everything else.....

HTML CSS

And Rob Bartlett sent me a link s'morning that within an hour enabled me to put a strange webpage together with different bits than I was familiar with, links in different ways etc

More "I Haven't Had That For Years" Choc

So yesterday after my Caramel experience I opened another bar of choc that I haven't tasted for years and it was equally exciting. But I am succeeding at the not eating it all at one go, I started it yesterday and have eaten about 1/8

.... With Chips

And we had our weekly treat of na'an bread pizza and chips for tea tonight and it was as delicious as a very delicious thing. Again

What A Morning

Well s'morning me and Alex kind of looked at each other and said "Lets go". Before gym we first of all popped to Wilko's, walked in and bought a greenhouse (which looks tiny packeted up but apparently it is big), then we popped to B&Q, walked in again, and had to go the full length of the shop, out the back doors, another couple of hundred yards where we found some paving slabs, which weren't too dear (just dear, not too dear). Then I had to walk back into, through and out of the shop, almost perfectly timed. 3 minutes early for my gym class after which we stuck the greenhouse (and....) in the garage, 'til Alex is back on Sunday

But Sam was praising me in gym saying how much better I am, I am unable to think like that, I have to concentrate on how much further I still need to travel but she was commenting about how I used to come to a different class in a wheelchair etc etc

Oh What Fun We Had...

And me and Alex are off to my weekly gym class today then possibly looking at some greenhouses for round the side of my house

Sort Of Aardvarking

So because I am well skint this week Timmy took me to Morrison's first and we had to walk much further than usual but we got most of our organic list. Then we nipped to Aardvark and just bought the 3 or 4 items still on my list. Timmy said "Look how much cheaper it was, that's x quid a year" but my feet ache after I had to push the trolley so far

Walking From The Loo

So as I was sat on the loo s'morning I left my 'stick by the door, a room away, and when I finished my business I just walked there, no holding on to eg sink, just walked like a proper person

Mega Cycle

So we are off to gym for my weekly mega cycle in a bit. IIRC it's 10km target.....

And it used to take me just over an hour to do that 10km. Today I finished it in 45.0summat minutes. Talk about much better.

Back To Normal

Phew, my pooh routine was back to normal s'morning......

Summertime

And it is so much warmer today. After lunch, before Aqua Aerobics I was sat out the front for a bit, in the sun reading my Kindle.

Oh happy days.....

Panic

And I have just taken off my sockings etc b4 swimming but then I remembered that we need to nip to the Drs and the chemist to pick up some 'script items beforehand so GGtGG will have to put them back on me.....

Phew. So GGtGG did the handover, had a brew then we nipped to the docs. By the time we got the script, walked to the chemist, waited in there by the time we got back there was about 10 minutes to go before that early lunch

Earwigging

And as I can hear Alex doing the handover to GGtGG and he said "The gym was impressive yesterday, Neil worked really hard"....

Early To...... Lunch

So we are having an early lunch today as we are heading over to the Aqua Aerobics immediately after lunchtime

And what fun we had. It was as much fun as usual but... Now it seems a bit strange but I can actually see the benefits of having so much fun... (/sarcasm)

Radical

And I woke up s'morning and had my pooh before my breakfast

And I didn't require a second pooh, so that paranoia seems unfounded

Chaucer

Good lord, I said a quote, someone said "WTF?" so I looked it up. Geoffrey Chaucer, The Nun's, Priest Prologue And Tales, in the prologue it is line 3277, 'But cride anon, "Cok! cok!" and up he sterte'

WTF do I know that from?

Gymtastic

So we headed to gym at lunchtime and got stuck into exercising of machines then 4 minutes on the foottrainer. It was obvious to me how much better I am getting at doing various of the exercises, even a few weeks ago I had to complain and make the weights lighter but not any more.

I still don't fscking enjoy it but I am getting better

It was nice....

So last night I was sitting in the kitchen reading when I decided to take an enormous bar of chocolate out of the drawer and eat a quarter to a third of it.

But it was so nice (I haven't had this kind of bar for at least 14 years) that the whole bar just disappeared very quickly. 

Painted

And IIRC GGtGG had been out on Saturday fixing the paintwork on the front door, where it did get damaged when I had to ride my wheelchair in and out thru it. As I am no longer in need of that hopefully the paint will stay on the door this time. I didn't check it out yesterday but I was rather impressed with his work s'morning. There are no drips of paint etc etc

Only Fools And....

Then tonight MM said "Wanna watch your stick on telly" so I switched my Amazon Fire Stick and found very quickly one of the earliest episodes of Only Fools And Horses with a young looking Rodney and a still alive Grandad and it was well amusing

Cooked

So I had to cook a veg and RSL curry tonight, and it was a bit delicious. We have enuf left for tomorrow and... and I am pleased with it. I think it was a Balti paste I used with garlic etc

To The Pool....

So we are off to do loadsa swimming (noisy link) in a bit......

And we went and did loadsa exercises. But I did notice when swimming how much more powerful my legs have become, they can well push me thru the water

No Longer Crisis Worthy

And the improvements that Timmy made yesterday seem to have (not entirely but enuf) fixed my PC

PC Crisis

So I had a PC crisis just in time for Timmy to arrive today. Basically he reinstalled Google Chrome interweb browser and McAfee anti-virus. He deleted it first then reinstalled it and generally the PC is behaving a bit better now, I can click without an ad opening etc

And it does seem better tonight, we downloaded another "clean it up" program and it seems to have helped

Biscuits/Cake

So I really wanted some biscuits or an enormous cake s'morning so I went to the kitchen and got a banananana instead.

It was nice but it wasn't chocolate cake

Rugger Buggers

So we watched the rugby this afternoon. For about 70 minutes England were well in charge, 25-0 IIRC. Then Wales got into stride, and in the end England won by 25-21 points

So near in the end.....

More Reasons To Shop At...

So GGTGG is working today, earlier he said "Morrison's today?" I said Naah then remembered that it is Timmy working tomorrow and he really doesn't like Morrison's so I said "Actually..." and nipped to Morrison's and bought the half dozen things I need

Friday Dinner

And as Timmy was here not eating my food after I shopped yeaterday I got to make a traditional Friday dinner on Friday and we had na'an bread pizzas and chips for tea tonight. I don't care how many weeks I make this, it is fscking delicious, lovely

Friday Morning Gym

So I went to my weekly class @ gym today. It was as strange as ever, possibly more so. If I am careful to keep my right knee bent slightly it doesn't hurt at all.....

Memoire

So I think my memory is improving. So I have got my inhaler chart to mark down when I have taken some, but I have noticed that my memory is correct every time I take it out, I can tell you whether or not I have had my inhaler eg tonight

Surprise Timmy

Oops, Timmy was a bit puzzled at the sight of me beginning to put my FES on tonight. "Ah" he said "Aardvark!"

And there is was at about 6pm when we arrived tonight, everything was ready and waiting...

Biking

So we headed over to gym today with a prepared drink of water because I was cycling long distance today. It took me 55 minutes to do my 10km, it used to take me over an hour

Hooray Again

And we are having an early lunch today then later heading off to an Aqua Aerobics session at t'gym so......

And it was as much fun as... But this week she had a load of different exercises for us to do - very strange but acceptable 

Dinner Tonight

So as I am cooking some form of "spaghetti bollock knees" for dinner tonight I got stuck into peeling the veg just after lunch. I will leave it in a pot of cold water while I have my bath/nap then I can get stuck into cooking it

Yes, I stood up to chop etc and even I can now smell it a bit....

And it was a bit delicious, RSL and yellow split peas in.....

〈Sigh〉

So I am off to the gym s'morning to do loadsa exercise machines, we have to bring a card full of instructions etc etc......

Double sigh. And we did it. It is getting surprisingly easier to lift heavier weights for the whole 30 lifts etc. 

Grammar

So I posted summat to ixion.org.uk today and I used a word that I knew what it means etc. I think this part of my mind has fully recovered.

The word? Inordinately 

Hoo-fscking-ray

And we are going off swimming today..... not aqua aerobics today (that's Wednesday) but proper swimming.

And I did it, 8 lengths and various exercises. It is easier just generally than it was a month ago but it still fills me with such joy

Aurora

So on the news as I was eating breakfast s'morning they said "the aurora borealis may be visible well south today...." and my immediate thought was "How can I take a picture of that".... Not that I am obsessed but.....

Isn't The Interweb Useful

I came across someone's animation today. Some people have gone to such trouble to make...... WHAT?

Bought Sum Art

And while I was in bed after my bath I sort of bought a piece of art, for less than a tenner.

WTF??

Weight Off

I have just had a bath then weighed myself. Another 3lb lighter this week. At this rate it's about a stone every 4 weeks, that will do nicely

More Reasons To Shop @.....

And we popped over and did the rest of my weeks shopping just before lunchtime. We couldn't find the blue-fscking-berries, they had moved them out onto a big display which we had passed before we were on the "blueberries" stage of shopping

Works

And when I got up s'morning my PC was still working, so much relief

Bottom

And I have just watched the first ever episode of Bottom on my Amazon FreeTV Stick.

It wasn't bad

And it worked

And my PC stopped working when we were out last night. I switched it on again about 3.30 today and it all sprang to life.

Dunno who or why but it works again. I have a few emails to catch up on....

That T Place

So we nipped to Tesco s'morning to pick up sum ink for the staff printer. And while we were there I picked up sum frozen food. Before we went in I said to Alex 'bout pushing my wheelchair behind in case I got too knackered by he said "No" for various reasons.

So I walked in the front door, right the way to the back for the ink then about 2/3 of the way across to the froze food at the other side. Then walked and paid and walked out. It actually surprised me with how far I can walk

Out To Pub

And we headed out later to my local pub and there were actually 7 people in there tonight!!!!

Dinner

And as usual on Friday I made na'an bread pizza and chips for tea.

Just yum yum

Bath

Lordy, I have just had a bath. I use one type of soap for my face and bits, another type for my armpits and a third kind for my chest and back.

3 flippin' kinds

It's Friday today....

So I will be off in a bit to my once a week gym class then later I am cooking na'an bread pizza and chips which is one of the highlights of my week....

So we went off to gym. Again without my wheelchair. So I did what Sam told me for an hour (and wanted to sing loads of the love songs on the tape to Sam)*. Then I got stuck and cycled 2km in 10 minutes

* And did try it a few times, but there were too many other folk listening....

Telly

And I actually tried and succeeded to watch summat on my new Fire TV box. I am a bit ashamed to say that after 2 mins browsing I came across a Faulty Towers episode which I did rather enjoy

Aardvarking

So we nipped out to Aardvark s'evening and Timmy thinks I spent far too much on...... 'Tis done

Mega Cycle

So me and Timmy went to gym s'morning for a mega cycle. After a third of the distance I paused for too long trying to sort out my headphones and it stopped. So Timmy took the key over signed me out and in again. I did another third of a cycle and got fed up and left.

We did realise that as GGtGG had put the FES on the back of my knees without enuf springyness that was why it was hurting my knee, so Timmy will try a replacement later

Garlic

And I had to reheat some frozen stuff for dinner tonight so I went for some cheese garlic circular thingies, they were very nice, that wasn't the issue but the fact that I could taste the garlic off them, I think I would have said "That's garlicy" if someone else had fed me with these. Now they weren't overwhelmingly strong, but I could still taste them........ dunno why, perhaps my sense of smell/taste is improving....... dunno

My Watch

After I came out of swimming pool I put my watch back on, next time I wanted to know the time it had gone, disappeared. Dunno where, GGtGG has been to look in the car, dunno where it has gone

And 3 or 4 hours later my arse was itchy, I reached behind to scratch and thought "WTF's that?" I could feel summat behind half way down my arse. There was summat that felt odd, I pulled it out of my pants and it was my watch

Early Lunch

So we have an early lunch today (half an hour/an hour before normal lunchtime) to give it a chance to get out of our tummys before a just after lunch time aqua-aerobics class

And it was as much hard work as usual but I did it. The tutor commented on how much better I was being than GGtGG

Stormy

While I was starting my breakfast it was all stormy, wild wind and rain. I finished my muesli and started paying attention again and the wind has almost entirely gone and the rain has gone too

About Fscking Time

I have been trying and failing on and off since breakfast time s'morning, I have just sucked seeds, it's after 9 o'clock at night

Dinner Time

And for dinner tonight we are having 1 portion of curry and 1 portion of bollock-knees. Should I just mix them or use 2 pans to heat it?

No, neither. Alex had brought with him loadsa leftovers from home which he had with a packet of crisps for tea. So I ate one tonight and I will eat t'other in a couple of days when Timmy is here with his own food

Off Out

And after my nap we are heading to Wilko's to look for some (organic) seeds to plant in my new (soon) greenhouse.

While I am there I may as well pick up sum cheap mouthwash & chest washer etc

And we went, got soap goods, went looking, looked all the way along the seeds aisle and the next, no, there were no organic seeds. So we came home, on Ebay, a seller that Alex used last year and purchased 5 bags of organic seed

(sigh) More Exercises (/s)

And before my bath & nap today (same as every-fecking-day) I did my Linda-McCartney-string exercises

Quiet Morning....

Quiet morning....

So we'll head to gym over lunchtime and do my exercises.

And we did do exercises. Gosh, it is still difficult at times but generally so much easier than last month. My fitness and strength are both getting on so well

And Alex took another load of photos of me, that we will add to the "instructions" leaflet