He's Back

At last, phew etc. I needed some attention....

Cycling Off

So I have another nearly 8km to go today....

And I managed, 10km in about 45mins. I was skiving for the first 7km and then went flat out for the last third

He Mended It

Then last night I said "Roy, can u...." and presented him with my now cleaned pair of trews with the separate button from the waste. He said "No, but....." as the button was broken, it hadn't just fallen off but he got a spare from round the side of the trews and got stuck in with needle and thread. So s'evening I will have to try them out......

Dinner

Then we had my bollock knees with baked potatoes for dinner and it was fscking delicious. But it's all finished now, until I make summat similar next week

Noisy

So there I was trying to have my nap and these disturbing buggers were disturbing me [Warning, noisy link]

To Pil

So then late morning we headed down to Pil to see Sara and do loadsa exercises. BUT I had said "Can we walk downhill this time" but the blinking machine only went in one direction so I did loadsa walking backwards downhill which wasn't the point but she did remind me that The National Botanic Gardens is all up and downhill so I think I will have to dig out my membership card

BTN

So back to normal today.

Today we have an earlier then usual appt with Sara the Physio in Pil where we have already decided that we are gonna work on some walking downhill on the scary machine

BT

A couple of hours ago I noticed on the phone next to my PC it said "No service", I looked at the main phone in the hall and it said the same, but the interweb was still working.

Puzzled, an hour later that had been replaced by it saying "Line 1" etc then another hour later it rang twice, stopped ringing before I could pick it up and didn't say "Call from...." like it usually does

Well Timed Visitors

So s'evening just after I had stuck 2 spuds in the oven to bake Sam&Emma phoned and said "R u in?" then popped round for a visit before setting off once more to their home. They came round and chatted for a bit then said "Tara". Then I put on the saucepan of stuff to accompany the spuds, heated it then the alarm rang saying "Dinner ready"

So a well timed "Tara" was had

Spring Bank Holiday

Oh what fun we had.......

Noisy link. Not too unacceptable.....

Off Out

And in a bit Sam&Emma are coming over, in a bit longer we are going out for a meal etc

Ooh, aren't they a bit special....

Theraputic

So after RoyGBiv cut the grass round the back today I took it upon myself to walk, over the gravelly stones across the front of the house, down the side to check upon his activity. No FES fitted, I can just walk on the stones now

Day Of Rest....

Well no. After RoyGBiv put cream on my legs he has followed my instructions and is cutting the back grass, which was about a foot tall but the new mower is doing it quickly and easily. When he has finished he will put the grass cuttings into the garage for someone else to take to the tip in a few days.

Then we need to pop somewhere else(1) and try to buy the Trug cover bits, we dont need to replace the trug but the bits on top are breaking.

Then we need to pop to Savers and buy more scrape between your teeth devices

Then we can have lunch and rest.......

(1) Where? Gord nose, he told me somewhere near McDonalds, gord nose

Wyevale Garden Centre it was called but they had none the right size, so in the end we bought it from www.RobertDyas.co.uk

What was in my head when I was sat on the loo s'morning?

Noisy link

Sorry

Feed Me Now

So we had a large plate of hippy tat and pasta for tea and it was delicious. The base was tin tomatoes and veg and lentils but even MM said it was delicious tonight. But Sam and Emma came over just before we are it and announced that we are all going out for dinner tomorrow so the rest can wait in the fridge for two days. They did ask me what Daddy Duties I will take on at their wedding. So I think I have kind of half agreed to read a reading but more detail will be sent in the meantime.

I was saying "How much better have I got?" and Emma said that 6 years ago when she first met me I was well different

Less Hot

And s'morning it is cloudy, bits of rain and *much* colder. I have considered putting my top on over my T-shirt, I haven't yet but I did consider it. It is that much colder today......

No still too warm as I finish my lunch

Lettuce Is Growing Well

In my trug, looks good, edible in a while

No Div

And I finally figured out how to get rid of the excess bit of text that was always added to my blog posts, visible in html version, div summat it sed. But I at last figured out how to get rid.

And on my PC and my phone it seems to be identical so I really didn't need that extra bit - "<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">, </div>" it seemed to add

Dinner

And for dinner tonight we had my usual Friday night dinner, na'an bread pizza and chips. It is just easier doing everything, from grating cheese to doing the loadsa washing up. I just did it tonight, no issue

Gym

So we headed over to Sam's class @ gym today. Dunno what to say, I am just a lot better at most of it than I was a few weeks ago. And Sam has noticed too

Iechyd Da'ing

So we headed to Iechyd Da tonight. It seems to be quiet in the summer but there was still a few good musicians there, including a newbie who played the harmonica which was nice, if a bit difficult to take pictures of as it was hidden in his hands all the time

The Doctor

So I watched the Dr Who that I missed last weekend t'other day, but it occurred to me today that I had missed it last weekend too so I watched that today, the oxygen story.

Wow, just wow. I am a big fan of the current series, it has got sum magic back

Gymwards, again

So we popped to Caffi Iechyd Da to pick up my organic delivery s'morning, said "See you later" to the staff as they will be working tonight to do an open mic folk night.

Then we popped to Morrisons and got very little shopping but I needed sum.

Then I brought it home and put it away etc then popped to gym for a 2.5 km cycle. 

Trying to get back into the routine is a bit weird but well possible

Weather

So now, at 11pm it is apparently still at 17°C

Out Around Town

Then s'evening, at MM's call, we popped into town for a walk. Around town and well uphill and downhill I led him. As I had to say to him, just "Lordy", how much better am I than even 6 months ago. We didn't have any destination, we were just out for a walk, it was a beautiful night

Hooray

And I am trying to get back in my routine today so... hip hip hooray.... we will head poolwards for an Aqua Aerobics session after lunch today...

And I have already changed into my trunx and clean clothes etc, washed the rest and hung them out to dry in an eco-sensible, environmentally friendly way.... (As the sun is shining today......)

Well we did it. It was as much fun as usual but I am getting so much better at balancing and walking, obviously summat is working

Miles

Then we headed gym-wards and cycled for 10km. In less tine than last week

Next

Then we popped to the walking stick shop and showed him all the broken bits on the handle and he said "Well....erm... marker pen to cover them up..." which I did try later and am pleased with. It just hadn't occurred to me but I am happy with it

FTF

Well first things first, today I phoned the toenail chopper to try and make an appointment for this week. The nearest she had was when I will be in Belfast for Daddy's birthday and the next will be ages in the future. Och well, she told me to make an appt a fortnight ago, but first of all we had to go to Belfast as Mum was ill then we had to go back for her funeral so it hasn't been on my mind

Garlic Ketchup

No, it seems that the walking stick shop was shut by the time we got it together to go, so that is further forward on the list for tomorrow but we did nip to Farmfoods to mainly fetch some more garlic ketchup but we filled up a bit more too

Back To Normal

So s'morning first thing we popped to Morrison's to fetch the rest of the weeks shopping. THEN we nipped to gym and did loads of lifting up exercises and 10 minutes on the rowing machine.

It felt so normal once again

I need to nip to the walking stick shop later and say 'Every time it falls over it chips really obviously and doesn't look like summat I am proud of any more' and see what they say

Gardening

And being back I was able to water the trug and the greenhouse last night and they are both growing well

Normality, Back To

So I need to make everything back to normal today.... seems very likely/easy

.... And Gone

So my mother has been cremated and we were all, loads of us, very sad

Back To Walea

So here we are sitting in the airport having had loadsa visitors s'morning some of whom took Freya off to Aldergrove airport whereas we are at City Airport. Dad and Gareth came out here to say goodbye then we had to come past checkin. A strange few days of stress is finished now

Goodbye

So we said goodbye to my Mother today as my Father waded out to sea and then poured her ashes into the water, followed by many small bunches of flowers one from each of her kids, one from me delivered by Freya and one from my sister, delivered by one of her kids

Crematorium

Well, so my Mum was cremated today. It was saddening and tearful but I met loadsa relatives I haven't seen for years etc

Nightime - That's Today Over

Phew. So most of today has been full of sad folk but I have dine mu thing. We popped up to David&Nora's and got my suit our of their cupboard etc. Tomorrow we are going early to fetch Freya from the International Airport then bring her to the hotel then get dressed up and head to the funeral

We Are Here Now

With loads of sad relatives etc

Waiting

So we are sat in the Airport drinking coffee and waiting

And we have flown over now, waiting for the queue to get out of the way

Phew

So s'morning I said to Timmy that my shoe device wasn't working (like me and yesterdays MOS had looked at) he said "Ah, the contact sensor, we have a spare" and it all works much better now. Cheers Timmy

Flying Again

So we are back off to Belfast dead early s'mornin'

Where Mum's Going Today

I wish I was there

Forgetful

So me & GGtGG headed out s'morning. We carried on past the gym and I said "Where are we going?", he replied "To the docs for your injection".

Oh yes, I knew yesterday but had forgotten s'morning

So we are heading to gym after an early lunch has time to be digested some....

And here I am cycling 10km. I have about 1.5 to go...

Edgy

I am feeling a bit edgy and grumpy today.

I have just shouted at GGtGG because he tried to talk me out of refusing to go to Aqua Aerobics. He tried to insist that I did go and it all went downhill rather quickly....

Early Start Mañana

So I have had to set another alarm as we need to be up an hour earlier than usual tomorrow to catch the plane to Belfast for the funeral

Growing

And I have just been out to water the trug for the first time in ages (well 2 days) and it is looking good, loads of big shoots growing. But I couldn't stop and take photos as it is fscking raining.

Which means that I didn't need to water the small new plant in the front garden but trug and greenhouse are waterproof.....

Off Out

And we are going out tonight to a comedy night at The Lyric Theatre in Carmarthen that we bought tickets to a few weeks ago. S'morning I thought we would be way too busy and I wasn't looking forward to it at all. (It was a 50:50 call whether I would go or not). After Sara said "Don't travel 50 m to see me today" I feel the pressure has dropped somewhat and I feel a bit better about going.

I still feel a bit grieving but will try being cheerful

Well that was strange. So we had a total of 5 customers who had paid to see it, 3 of whom were sitting behind me and GGtGG. So I was the holiest of the holy but.......

Sigh

Well after jabbing we popped to gym where I got stuck into pulling/pushing activities. Today I was doing the push upwards exercise machine, the one that a while ago I was only able to do 7 or 8 pushes, today I managed 27 and I was getting my right arm all the way up

Jabbing

And we are on the way to the hospital for my blood test now

Less Busy

Then I got an email s'morning saying "Sara the physio is off today" which makes today slightly less busy

Hospital

So tomorrow morning we need to go have a blood test at the hospital so they can check my testosterone levels and see what kind of injection they will give me on Wednesday

Hooray.....

Summertime

Ah, lovely weather today

Early Busy

So s'morning first of all we went to the walking stick shop and picked up a new walking stick. Which I shan't decorate with loads of rainbow stickers (like my current one) which I have already bought but I will leave it until after Mum's funeral. Then we popped to Morrison's and picked up food for the rest of the week

Goodbye

I have just spoken to my father on the phone and my Mum died at about half past four s'morning.

Dunno what to say, just feel confused etc

And Timmy dropped in tonight and we booked flights to Belfast for Thursday

And Freya has done that Mrs Independant thing and is flying from Manchester to the International Airport to meet up with us there. AND Denyse has known Mum for years and she is gonna meet up with us there too 

Back Normalwurdz

So it is all "back to normal" s'morning 

Tara NI

We are just about to take off from the airport

Back To Wales

Right, so we said goodbye last night so we are off back to Wales today

Dunno

So we are heading over to the hospital to say goodbye to my mum for probably the last time

Well we said goodbye. Emotionally I feel a bit confused now

Cleaning

So when we came back for my wash & nap today they were still making up the bedrooms so we gathered my clean clothes together and headed down towards the swimming pool and went into the changing rooms and got stuck into a shower&changing area. By then they had finished the bedroom so napping was possible

Shopping

So I am going out shopping in a bit with David to buy myself a jacket to wear Mummy's funeral when it comes

Béal Fhirste

So me and David (without any of my staff) went to hospital to see Mum and then we had a drive about the bits of Belfast we used to live in. We came up to the house where Nora said 'Lunch?' so I am gonna have lunch with them and my Dad without my staff

Well

Well did it. Oh lordy but she is poorly but she sat holding hands with me and Gareth while David stroked her feet. Which made her feel better

Aargh

So we are in Belfast. Much chaos etc but we did it. We have just said "Hi" to my Dad and bruv, had lunch, came to the hotel, checked in etc, had a shower and am now in bed for my nap. Afterwards we will go to the hospital and see Mum

Gymming

So s'morning we popped to the gym to do loadsa exercises. Today I tried one of the lean back and pedal machines but after 5 minutes I had to stop and get on a proper cycle

First Things First

Then s'morning we popped into Caffi Iechyd Da to pick up the smaller than usual organic delivery as today is the only day of the week that they come down this way and we also popped into Morrison's to but some staff shopping so I got myself another wash towels and bedding washing powder but I will leave the rest 'til Monday.

AND I remembered to buy our Na'an bread so we had pizza and chips for dinner 😊

Lawks

So I was sat outside reading and GGtGG had a conversation with the next door neighbours. They are travelling to Dorset this weekend because her father is dying.

What a coincidence....

Dinner

And for dinner tonight I thought I would try one of the packets of "Don't simply heat this up" food and it was rather nice, although I forgot to take a picture of the finished article

Pool

So we had an early lunch after I got changed early and put my trunks on under my trousers so I can get changed quickly at the pool. Then we get in the pool and do various exercises which I am not in the mood for

Well I did it. It was OK. The usual teacher was off today so we had novelty exercises which made it a bit more interesting

To The Docs

So we had to head in to the Drs at the end of the King Street car park to pick up my 'script for Asthma medicine and cleaning scrub stuff. It was fine, we parked outside, GGtGG popped across and paid 50p to park, we walked in to the docs, back out via the chemist on the side and back to the car and home for an early lunch

Clever Clogs

And GGtGG impressed me with his turn of wit today. I thought that I don't wanna pirate eye patch for, for example, for my Mum's funeral. I looked in all the drawers in the living room, the kitchen and my bedroom as I am sure I did own some, somewhere. Then I asked GGtGG so he looked in all those places. Twice. To no avail, so I thought "OK, trip to Tesco's then".

Then a bit later he said "Turn it over, put the pirate patch against your face" which I tried and thought "Gord, and I have a load a pirate patches, will take a new one when we need to...." and stopped trying to head out

(A pic with the outside patch to compare) 

Headwaying

Then s'afternoon we popped down to Headway in Swansea which I so wasn't in the mood for. It was only the thought that he would turn aside and head to gym if I said "Don't wanna go today" that got me there at all but soon after we left again and came back home.

My family news was eating my head, that's enough for one day

Sh*t, sh*t, sh*t

And Timmy told me this morning that my Mum is very poorly and we(1) are gonna have to go over this weekend and see her in hospital 'cos thats where she is ATM

Just hoo-flipping-ray. We can't get a refund on the booking we booked for June but as we need to go now someone has put funds into petty cash so we have some cash to spend

(1) Me and Timmy and GGtGG will go

Right we have already booked flights, someone else needs to book the car (as they are driving) and I will pay them

Nearly Finished

And there is only a small segment of fence that needs painting now. MM has worked well

Weather

Good tonight

Single Plant

And I went out to water the growing veg tonight and the carrots and lettuce are still coming on but there is one parsley plant growing tonight

Dinner

So I was looking thru my pocket today and I found a 'Eat at pizza express for half price' token which is best before today. So we are popping there tonight

Golly, it didn't take long. We just had a pizza and a glass of wine and we were coming home in just over an hour. But it was lovely 

It Matters

Half Done

And the fence looked half done s'morning, before MM got stuck in again. But looks good what we have done

More Painting

Then as we bought more paint MM is going to get stuck in to painting the fence again. I am keeping out of his way today......

B&Q

So we nipped to B&Q last night to pick up some more paint for the fence and I carried one of the 5kg paint pots back to the car, walking and carrying summat in my right hand as my left was walking sticking. All the way and I didn't drop it or owt

The Doctor

Just watched it again.

Ooooooooh......

Happy Gardener

Happy Chappy today

Wrinkly

And I got an email off Sam telling me that on 27th May next year he is getting married.

Lordy, a bit emotional......

Changed

And on Saturday I got changed into sum old clothes (Well, as old as I have now) and got stuck into painting the back fence.

In the area where I had to lay some floor tiles as I used to have some trouble walking there.....

Off Out Now

And we are off to see this artist tonight

And we got here, walked in, someone said 'There are loadsa stairs, lift here' but I just went for it, walked up one floor realised we had to go up another and just did it

Gosh, well the support act were well impressive

And she was even more impressive

Samwards

And we headed into gym for Sam's class which was as hard as usual but I did it

SALT

So the speech and language therapist is coming in today to have a meeting with me and my staff (team handed, they are all coming in s'morning).

What we are talking about I have no idea.....

And yes, she came but just to see them, without me, talking about various kinds of Brain Injury.... 

Watering

So now I have a new chore. Every evening late on, near sunset, I go outside and water my trug and in the greenhouse.

And just how much more mobile am I these days?

Stickless

And tonight at bedtime I stood up and held my walking stick horizontally off the ground and walked out of the kitchen washed my teeth etc then walked to bed without using my walking stick.

And yes I was being careful to tread with both feet etc. I just walked like a proper grownup

Defrag

So I had to defrag the PC in my bedroom to make Google Chrome (the browser) work. It wouldn't work last night and as I have music url's etc it was a bit tricky

Timmy Dinner

And usually Timmy is working on a Thursday, but not this week. As he won't eat any of my cooking we were able to have the usual "Friday night dinner" of na'an bread pizza and chips tonight

Predictive

And I had to ask MM that on my old phone it was predictive txting, eg making "i" into "I" and correcting misspellings when I typed but my new phone isn't and I have no idea how to switch it back on. He looked for 5 mins then said "Do this..... and this..... then this" and I am a bit happier typing messages now

[sigh]

So MM said to me today "Right, gym" and we set off. He said "So mega cycle today", I said "No, surely....." and he replied "Ah, you were with Sara on Tuesday so it's a YES" so I got stuck in. I did the first 7km in about half an hour but was so rough then I had to stop for ages, so the last 3km took about 15 minutes. But I did it.

I was thinking "Right, I am so rough after that 7km that I will stop when it says 8" but I didn't ask (nor on 9km) I just struggled on and did it

First Things First

So first off we headed to King St, had to park in one of the further away spaces but that is no longer an issue for me so we walked along and down to Caffi Iechyd Da to fetch the organic delivery, loaded it into the boot and headed off to Morrison's for the rest of my shopping. We took it home and waited while I put it away and paid the organic order via my PC then we headed off to.......

First Things First

Then me and GGtGG headed into town and went to Cantre Mobility to check out 'sticks. They didn't have any suitable ones in stock but he did order a couple of probably suitable ones which I can look at on Friday week, when they arrive. BUT he wasn't going "Ordered for you" so if I do like them I will buy them, if I don't I won't

THEN we popped into the Lyric Theatre and bought 2 tickets for comedy this month and next month and a ticket for the entertainer who is playing in Ammanford this Friday

No.....

And trying to do some research then this page of results came up. BUT no, not paying any attention.....

Drowning

And after an early lunch we are off to the drowning pool for an Aqua Aerobics session.

It fills me with such joy.......

But possibly before that we are heading to Cantre Mobility in Carmarthen to see if they can sell me another walky stick device as mine is looking a bit tired now.......

Well I have dun it. It went well. And I did notice that all but one of the 'standing on your right foot' exercises I managed, stand on your right foot and move your left leg thus ...

Afterwards

And after my physio walking trip I feel exhausted/as rough as a....... Hopefully I will feel better after a nights sleep. goodnight

<waves>

Physio-ing

So s'afternoon we have to pop to Pil to see Sara the Physio.

And I do need to ask her where to buy more groovy coloured walking sticks as mine is starting to wear and the NHS grey ones look a bit too sad for someone in my position

Well knackered. She (as well as looking wonderful) got me on the treadmill thingy. I walked for .91 of a km in half an hour (which is still well slow but almost twice as quick as last time she measured me. Then I did some walking sideways and walking backwards, some directions were much harder but I managed all directions without holding on too. Then we did a walking uphill exercise where I was walking at 11% up and I managed 15 minutes of that. For some of it I was walking faster and more uphill. So I think next time I will practice walking downhill too, but that is harder

And she did say re walking stick that she can't get one for me and this buying online is a nightmare but check out the mobility shop in Carmarthen so I will

And my phone recognised where we were passing then where we were

More Noise

Lordy they were well noisy today

Drizzling

And we are supposed to head into Carmarthen to see a gig in the park s'afternoon but it is kind of drizzling on and off so far.....

Well we went there and it held off the rain for the 3 hours until we came home, by the time I had my bath and got into bed it was very noisily raining

No Pool

And we didn't go swimming today as it is school holiday/day off so they will mostly be in't pool