Mender Curtains

So as I was getting ready for bed tonight I called Roy and told him what I have already told 2 other chaps to no avail and said "This right hand curtain is not attached to the wall, I can pull it the whole way across" so he pulled the chair over, looked, said "Look in the other room, compare" fiddled about for a bit and actually fixed it

Standing Doesn't Hurt

So as I stand up now it occurs to me that when I am pressing down on the armrests to stand up my right wrist hurts somewhat. So instead it just doesn't hurt at all.

I don't know if I am not getting better as it is a therapeutic press but........

Tommy Toes

And I went out to the greenhouse s'morning, watered it etc and had to pick 6 or 8 tomatoes. So they are waiting in the drawer in the bottom of the fridge now.....

Still Standing

And it occurs to me that I am doing it properly nowadays......

Cook Early

And I started cooking as soon as I finished my breakfast s'morning at about 8.15 or 8.20 or summat. Because it takes ages to cook yellow split peas etc and if I had gone to the 2 o'clock swim at gym there wouldn't have been enough time to have my nap then cook it afterwards etc. As it happens I didn't go to swimming but went to gym to go cycling so I switched off the pan of tinned tomato's and other veg then went to gym, when I came back I switched it on again and added yellow split and lentils and it is cooking away to itself.

In a bit I will switch it off again and have my bath/nap

No Swimming

So MM came into my room s'morning and said "As you missed the 10k cycle on Tuesday you can do it today if you want instead of swimming". I had to say "Isn't swimming therapeutic?" but he said "So is the long cycle. The choice is yours"

So I had to think for a bit, I don't wanna fscking do either but in the end decided cycling. So I had to pick up the towels that I had put in the hall with cream and the bag to put them in etc etc but we have a new plan. In a bit we will head gymwards, with a bottle of water etc

And "Oh what fun we had". After an hour I said "Right, home now" but MM got stroppy, sain "You only have 1.2km to go" *and* "But Denyse will be cross if you skive" so I pissing pedalled on

Conference T'other Day

And when we had to take the car back to t'dealer t'other day I spent a few of our spare minutes asking chap whether when I replaced it in a couple of years I would be able to go electric. He talked loads about how they were a pioneer in the electric car field etc but he wouldn't say I would have one in a couple of years but he thought the technology is getting so much better quick;e he reconed in 5 or 8 years it would be a worthwhile option

Emergency/Panic/Crisis etc

Then when I was trying to take the chips out of the freezer to make our once a week treat  the front of the freezer drawer came off in my hand and the drawer was stuck. GGtGG looked at it and said "Oodles of ice, needs a defrost". I said "But we won't be able to...." but I hardly use the freezer now. Every week some casserole is frozen and defrosted in a few days, I cook nearly all the food we eat here so we were able to fit the contents into my extra little freezer and the ice box of the staff fridge.

It is nearly finished defrosting a couple of hours later, we will switch it back on and then an hour later put the food back in

Busy Thursday Morning

So as usual on a Thursday first of all we headed to the veg shop in the market and bought loads of various veg. On the way into the market we came across a chilli sauce stall that was offering free tasted so I tasted and bought the medium strength version

*THEN* we popped into MoreReasonsToShopAt..... and did the rest of the shopping.

We brought that home and put it away then went to gym and got stuck into out Thursday ritual on the rowing machine and did 3.25km

Grab Rails #27

After Denyse was here t'other day and saw my new grab rails she made a few phone calls, tested the "under the lid" function and later phoned me to say she had phoned the folk who had done it and said she wasn't happy as I need symmetry on both sides as otherwise my learning to walk etc will be uneven or somesuch and they have agreed to come back and do it again in a couple of weeks

After Lunch

Then after lunch Roy ignored my protests and said "Gym class" so we went to Gaynor's class again which wasn't very busy but as good as can be expected

Then on the way back we popped to the post box to post a birfday card that had been addressed to Freya c/o me which arrived s'morning. I put stickers over the address and wrote the address with my right hand and it was legible and another stamp and off it went

What A Morning

So s'morning we popped into the Toyota garage for the service on the car. I had planned to stroll about town while that was happening but it was pouring so we sat there watching Toyota Telly which every few minutes said "We are sponsoring the paralympics" and showing film which upset me/made me impressed etc

But an hour and a half later they gave me the car back and at home I could replace the bag of "car park" money etc

And They're Off

So we are going out tonight to a Bowling Club meeting, where I won't be bowling but socialising

Lordy. Some of them are very good at this, some of them not so

Overheard

As I was walking past the kitchen door I heard some reference to this. Dunno what they were talking about, just the 3 seconds of conversation I overheard contained the name of this....

Long Way Round

And I went out to water the greenhouse but I forgot about shortcuts, I walked out the front door and around

Short Cut

I have just been out to the greenhouse to water it and it still seems odd, wrong in some way, being able to go out the back door after for so long I needed to go the long way round

Changing Colour

And one of the green peppers in the greenhouse has decided that is is actually a red pepper after all

Out The Back

I was just in the kitchen waiting for food to cook and I just went out the backdoor walked round for a bit then came back in through the backdoor

Because I can

Lifty Exercises

So we popped to gym and got stuck into "lifting and pulling things" exercises. On the lifting above your head that I do without any weight 1) I was able to lift both arms equally for the first time ever and 2) I was trying it with some weight, I managed to do 6 of the 20 scheduled lifts with 2.5kg. It's not very heavy but I didn't used to be even able to lift my arm up fully etc

Docs

Then we need to go back to the chemist next door to the Drs to fetch my script for sockings, the one that they gave me he note saying "Have none, come back" for on Friday

[Sigh] And they still didn't have any, she said "Come back later" but I thought "Nah, tomorrow" but there is a Team Meeting happening here tomorrow so hopefully they will have it by Wednesday

Crisis

And I was on my way to bed tonight, took my phone, tried to plug it in, tried again, called MM and sed "Help", took his advice to plug it in and bought a new cable.

Ho hum 

So we ordered a new cable then later ordered a plug to plug it in with

Clean

So a couple of days since my jab off the Dr and my chest and back seem remarkably free of spots/irritation. Lets hope it continues like this

Yum yum

And at lunchtime I cut up the first of the new tommy-toes. Apprehensively I bit into it. Fark, it was lovely, kind of sweet, just well nice

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Then s'afternoon I tried making coffee in the last cafetiere as the old one isn't broken but the coffee is full of bits. It wasn't in the new pot so I transferred to it instead and popped out to the obscure cheap cafetiere shop and fetched a couple of spares. Afterwards MM said "You can take it apart and clean it like this" which I did try. I couldn't undo it or do it up afterwards but it is done now, so I will try it instead of the new one later.

(Confuser=me)

No, s'evening the newly cleaned pot put together (OK done) by MM was still a bit full of bits. Loads less than yesterday but still some

Oops

I forgot to close my curtains when I went to bed (in the dark) last night.

The light woke me up about 6 o'fricking'clock s'morning

Out

So last night I was thinking repeatedly "Lets go to the pub" but I managed to resist. Today MM said "Shall we go out...."

We popped to the pub in Carmarthen and it was actually rather busy. Like a pub used to be on a Wednesday at dinner time 20 years ago, the busiest I have seen a pub in ages 

Sore Ass

And every now and again, when I roll over in bed or change my position in my chair my arse hurts loads where it was injected yesterday. Most of the time I can forget about it then every now and again I wanna shout

Standing Up

And I have just recalled to stand up properly from the bench outside or my chair. Get my feet in the right position and stand up without using my hands to push, just standing up with my legs, like a proper person

Cooked My Veg

And I cooked the weekly "loadsa casserole" today and in it there was carrots, courgette and green pepper from my garden, that I had grown myself 😅

FESless

And I don't have my FES on today but it seems to have worked getting the muscle memory into my right foot, it keeps itself level most of the time whereas it used to be about 30-40º to one side every step

Improvement

And walking into the swimming pool today without my FES on, my right foot stayed properly flat nearly all of the time. I suspect that the FES is supposed to be teaching me muscle memory, so lordy it works!!!!

Ripening

So next to my reddening tomato is one that yesterday looked much yellower but today it looks twice as red, ripe

Forgetful

And I was having so much fun in the pool s'afternoon that I had forgotten all about having a jab s'morning but sitting in the car on the way home it suddenly hurt loads briefly. Oh yes, I recalled, there doesn't seem to be owt I can do about the pain, it just hits me briefly every now and again

Drowning

And I went for a rescheduled swimming session today and it was as much fun as ever. BUT I am still getting better at it, I was able to do more of the exercises, better, than last week

Jabbed

So I went to the Drs and had my jab s'morning. She was very good, it didn't hurt at all to start. But she had to keep squeezing to get the enormous quantity of enormously thick gloop into my arse and it did hurt a bit in the end

So afterwards we took the scripts we had just got into the chemist next door and they gave me one and said "Come back on Monday for the other"

And I am well enuf that I can't make any excuses for swimming, I will have to go later

Fun In't Morning

And tomorrow we are going to the Dr's early so I can pick up 2 'scripts and then see a Dr about the injection in my arse, testosterone.

Hoo-flippin'-ray

Thursday Dinner

Usually Timmy is working on Thursday so I have to cook for myself but it was MM today so we could have na'an bread pizza and chips for tea. Mmmmmm

Pant, pant, pant

So first thing s'morning me and MM headed off to the food market, where he has never been before. First of all we headed up the wrong street but I said "No, around the block" so then we came back to the place where us blue badge holders can park. It was full, so we drove past and turned around. As we came back one car had switched his headlights on so we waited for about 45 seconds and he emptied up the space. From there we walked in and got the veg. We are starting to form a relationship, it was the woman of the team working today and I said to her "When you said 'Lovely!' I thought you were talking about yourself" and as we were leaving she said "£14.06" and just charged me £14.00 on the machine

From there to MoreReasonToShopAt.... where I got owt on my list, including fly killer strips which we haven't needed to buy for a year or two

Then we went home and put the shopping away then headed for gym. As usual I have to do about half an hour cycling and it was pissing me off how my two arms react differently but half way thru the cycle (That Beautiful) Sam came past and stopped to react to my complaint. She said "When you started here that arm was as broken as a broken thing, you couldn't even put it on the bike to start with. It is getting better and better, it's just a matter of patience and keep up the good work you are doing and it will get better eventually". Which is really good to hear on one level but on another level it means "Keep working hard"

Stress Buying Online

Then me and GGtGG tried to buy some tickets to The Big Cwtch which is a festival type thing locally but you can buy "Disabled persons" tickets for less and you get an accompanier to come in for free but you have to prove you are disabled. We tried many times to but them with The Staff Card but it just wouldn't. No visible reason, just kept bouncing. So then we tried it with my card, no problem, and we have booked a disabled parking slot etc. And if it is raining we paid so little we can just not go

Shopping

Then after dinner we popped to town to buy a new clothes peg holder and some more anti fly strips. The clothes peg holder was easy but we went to 4 different shops looking for the fly killers. Most of them said "We usually do but there has been a run on them this week". So I have 1 more shop to try tomorrow then it is onto Amazon who are putting all these businesses out of business

Oh and we got more mixed seeds and nuts for the birds on the bird table, it seems quite popular these days

Different Plan

So as it is the summer holidays now today I am going to Gaynor's gym class instead of swimming and on Friday instead of gymming I am heading to the 2.30 swimming session which apparently they don't let kids in the pool then or summat

Refunded

Then we popped early to The Lyric Theatre as it closes early and my nap would get in the way. She said "Want a refund or new tickets for when they come back?". "Pardon, I thought they hadn't sold many tickets?". "No, it had nearly sold out, they were here setting up when the roof let in some rain and the drain flooded us with sewage, making the electrical equipment a bit scary"

"Lordy, yes, just give us 2 new tickets for that then"

So that will be why they didn't phone us to say "Cancelled" until a couple of hours beforehand

Then

Then after lunch we popped into town, drove along King St, no parking spaces, went around the block and second time passing there was a space outside the theatre where we were gonna go. We had to say "You said you would contact us on Monday about the refund from the gig last week?" but according to the notice on the door it will be closed 'til Wednesday. So either they phone me early or I pop in later in the day tomorrow.

So we walked around the corner and bought 2 jars of coffee for the staff off RoyGBiv's Staff Cash Card

Which did my head in slightly carrying it back to the car. As I was concentrating on walking my right hand, carrying the bag, rose into the air, strangely

Back To Normal

So 2 days worth of Freya visiting so I had no gym yesterday and so on. But she has gone now, it is all back to normal etc so I'd better get my head round a really long cycling exercise today

Hooray, I only have 9.1km left to cycle....

Just another 4.5 to go

Seconds

And I was lying in bed for my nap 2day and thought "I wonder how long it has been so far?" and glanced at my timer. It said 23 minutes and 23 seconds, 23:23 left to go

Another Day

So I got up s'morning and had breakfast. Freya is still asleep but in an hour if she's not up I will have to wake her and say "Meet your family"

Well she got up and we spent another 2 or 3 hours together before we went out and met Julia and her 2 littl'uns for lunch. It was nice, and her 10 yo brother felt the need to give me a "Hello" hug which was nice, obviously he feels that I am family. Then Freya said "Tara" and took herself off, going to Canada at the end of the month, spending the intervening time in England

Wow

Robot Pouring Beer, but he doesn't pick up the lid!

(minimal, but some noise)

Visitor

So first of all Freya is coming here s'afternoon until tomorrow, staying the night, but when I txted her last night she suggested that we pop into town to meet them for lunch, possibly Freya, Sam&Emma, Julia&her new chap and possibly the 2 younguns so I can meet my youngest, oldst, their mother and generally show off how much better I am at socialising these days

Off in a bit, no I am not shitting myself at all. No

Wow. They was all really nice, s'morning and after my nap we cooked dinner then went off to the pub. It was all just pleasant. Freya has now gone to bed earlier than I managed. See her in the morning, when we are off to meet the whole team, including Freya's little bro and sister before we say goodbye

Chilly

And I have got my jumper on over my t-shirt for the first time in over a fortnight tonight. It is that chilly

And I have just taken it off again about 11.30 at night. Not doing anything different, the temp may have changed a bit. 

Crisis

And when I was in the bath s'afternoon someone phoned me and left a message. So I phoned 901 and got it. It was one of the folk who are supposed to be putting on the Pink Floyd Experience gig tonight apologising 'It's cancelled, we will get in touch on Monday to arrange a refund' with some feeble excuse but I think basically they hadn't sold enuf tickets and bottled it at the last minute

My Boy

Then after lunch Sam, my boy, and Emma, his beautiful wife of 2 months, popped over to see me for an hour. It was well worth it on so many levels, and they are off tonight to a Bro Myrddin school "we left 10 years ago" do. Then they are gonna catch up with Julia and Freya who came back from Mcr today and is off to Canada in a couple of days, after she comes here

Summertime

As it hasn't rained for a couple of weeks there has just been a flash of lightening, a clap of thunder and it is now raining very heavily

And more thunder....

Then the sun came out, 20 minutes later the rain had half evaporated, then it started raining again.......

Strange Day

So as I emailed them a couple of days ago and told them I couldn't go to the beach party and it is raining like fsck today I am not missing it. But the reason I am not going is coming to see me s'afternoon with his wife of 2 months and 1 day now which is exciting too

Then s'evening we are going to a Pink Floyd tribute band which will be a bit odd.

Then tomorrow Freya is coming to stay overnight as she is going to Canada for 2 months on Monday

Cooking

And this weekends cooking has gone all out of sync so I cooked this weeks portion s'morning, turned it off and went to the therapist then came back & switched it back on and added lentils etc. The spuds will be baked in half an hour, the lentils will be dun by then

Samless

Then today I can't go to Sam's class (Weeping) because I have to go to the Diabetic Eye Tester on the way to Carmarthen.

Gord nose how and why but there you are, every so often I have a check up I think

And my vision has been blurred ever since. It was about an hour ago and now is the first time I have been able to focus on my phone. It is still wonky but better

Fark. It stayed blurry for a couple of hours but I managed to finish cooking etc. So he said they will write to my Drs and to me in 6/8 weeks and tell him results. Dunno

Thursday Ritual

So we have to do the Thursday morn ritual, go and buy loadsa veg, go and do my More Reasons To Shop At shopping, then we need to pop to the Drs and pick up another 'script then get on with a normal day.

Then tonight there is an Iechyd Da folk club which hopefully will be as much fun as usual

Well that's the morning business done. First of all to the Drs, then got loadsa veg then got f. all from Morrisons, but it's all done. And I said to GGtGG "Shall I cook na'an bread pizza for tea tonight or should we go out and eat out" but then I said "No, because....." if we ate out t'other day, and I am taking Freya out on Sunday I can't afford to eat out tonight so pizza it is

Lordy, GGtGG isn't usually working on a Thursday so he doesn't have pizza very often and he was very impressed with it

AND the folk fest turned out OK too. It was a usual quiet day as it's the summer but some good muso's played

Not Swimming

So despite confusion about whether or not the swimming club was happening today (as it is now school holidays) we have given up trying and I am going to the 2 o'clock gym session instead. Also because I am off on Friday to see some diabetes Dr at the same time as Sam's class so killing 19 birds with 3 stones or summat

Well, but odd. She was comparing me with when we first met, when I was stuck in a wheelchair, the time she first made me walk a few steps etc, comparing it to now.....

Fixed

And my computer in the bedroom which since I bought it has required a strange double switch on ritual, hold it in for 5 seconds then try again this time hold the on switch in for 4 seconds, for about 3 nights it has been just switching on. With no "holding switch" ritual, it just switches on properly when I press the button in

Back Out

And we are popping back out later to a quiz which is being held as it is Sam (the WWEG boss) 's birthday so I have already written her a card

And her cake was lovely, shared around, and we came second in the quiz, the best we have ever done

Far Away Physio

So today we have to drive for an hour to see the Physio in Bridgend, it's blinkin' miles away

Well that was strange. She got me doing stuff I haven't managed in nearly 20 years and told me about retraining my brain to ignore the protests from my muscles etc. And we did loadsa work barefoot to try and train the toes on my right foot which have been as wonky as a...... since my accident and by the end of 1 session the toes were bending twice as much as they were before so progress has been made. And she told me about footwearless exercises to do each day......

Imminent Disaster

And I stood up from the dinner table tonight and headed for the washing up bowl. But as I turned I hit my coffee brewer and it headed for the floor. I thought "Oh no, brush and mop", it fell the whole way down, bounced off the top of my foot and didn't break even one little bit. I shrugged, picked it back up and set in on the corner of the table again, this time slightly further back from the edge

Oops, I had forgotten to sort my pics

And 2 days ago I went to the Lyric Theatre to see the National Theatre of Wales NHS is 70 comedy show. Which I did rather enjoy but had forgotten that I had taken pics (possibly because I am not allowed to) but I found them on my camera tonight

Swansea

And we are off to the Headway meeting in Swansea s'afternoon to do f. all that I can see any point in but the alternative would be swimming in the pool

And as ever we had an OK time. I think the game requires too much thought so one can't be sociable but otherwise we would complain that we were bored so dunno what should be done

My Weight

I weighed myself today and it was down to exactly 14 stone. IIRC b4 my accident I only weighed 13½ stone, so I am down from over 19 stone to almost what I weighed before

Not Cooked It

And I cooked the weeks food last night then today I noticed some Broccoli and some broad beans still on the shelf. Oops, I thought "Shall I cook it, divide it up and add it to the frozen cooked food?" but then thought "No, just clean it, divide it up and freeze it, add it to next weeks food" so I did that

Off Out

And we are heading out in a bit to see the NHS 70 birthday comedians at the Lyric Theatre, we are gonna eat near there then head along

It's The Same

So I deleted the new uber-zoom function that I had d/led as it was not making my camera zoom more, it was still 4x zoom

Mañana

So tonight I put on spuds to bake and started cooking my weekly food. An hour and a quarter it wasn't even close to being finished so I cooked some "bake them" chilli&cheese bits to accompany the spuds and Roy actually complimented me on the quality of the dinner. So much later I was able to divide the dinner into freezable portions and some for the next few days

(SIGH)

Off to my weekly class @ gym in a few minutes.......

And aargh, there was no Samantha taking the class, today it was taken by Chrissie who if all else was equal I would fancy more than Sam but as a) I have history with Sam and b) She is a martial arts fighter which intimidates me....

Feeding Who?

And I cooked for me and Timmy tonight. As he will eat my pizza when I make that so he did enjoy it.....

Appointment

And when we came back there wasn't the parcel I am waiting for but there was a letter from the Functional Electric Stimulation saying "Review on......" so 23rd of next month I have to go to a hospital in Swansea so they can check out my FES device

Thursday Business

So we have the usual Thursday stuff to do. Although we are no longer going to Iechyd Da to pick up my organic veg, we now go to the market and buy it from the veg stall which isn't "organic" but they seem to be anti-pesticides.

Then off to MoreReasonsToShopAt.... to get the rest of my shopping

Well we did that, it went according to plan etc.

Drowning

And(1) we have an hour long swim s'afternoon

(1) (Oh what fun) 

And oh what fun we had. It was much more technical than a Mon session but we did it. Balancing exercise after exercise

New Meter

Then the "meter fixer" from the electric board came early s'morning, didn't phone me like they said he would, but came and changed the meter for a more modern version. He switched the leccy back on in about half an hour, he had quite an easy job apparently

Rob and him did have to move the trug out of the way but it was no hassle, the greenhouse got to stay where it was

Out And About

And so we had loadsa supported family tonight too.... so we went bowling....

Opening It

And I opened a new jar of pickled onions tonight. It was no prob. I just opened it. A year ago I would have had to ask my MOS for help

Cycly Wycling

So after waiting we popped to gym where today I agreed to do another 10km cycle.

Only another 6km to go ATM

Healthy, Wealthy & Wise

So we had to get up half an hour earlier than usual s'morning then at about 25 past 8 we headed off into town and went and parked at the Drs and went in to see him. He said "What are you here for" and I had to say "Because *you* told me to come in and see you about my repeat 'script, it is doing right" and he effectively said "Fairy nuff" and wrote us another script

Farmfoods

Then after dinner MM said to me "We need to buy some staff bogroll", so we headed out to Farmfood's. As I had just opened the last of my ice lollies it was time to get another 3 packets (they reduce the price if you buy 3) and I needed more "once a week" proper oven chips for my Friday treat and we bought more salad creme too

And I did it without my FES being fitted, just went and walked up and down the shop

Oh What Fun.....

And as I have no distracting activities lined up today we have to go to Aqua Aerobics for 3/4 of an hour later

It's Behind You

And I experimented again with taking pictures half in front of me and half behind, in Panorama setting on my camera

Forgetful

And I switched on my music then went and got in bed tonight. Then I remembered that I hadn't closed the (relatively) new curtain. I had to get back out of bed and close it, like I hadn't done night before and the light did wake me up about 5.15 s'morning

And I had a crisis, the lamp wouldn't light s'morning. I tried new battery in the remote to no avail. Timmy came in and had a look and said "It's switched off here" - pointing at the on lamp switch which I have never used. So gord nose what happened

Nipped Out

Then we nipped out before lunch to get some wrapping paper for someone's present, and some cash for in their birthday card and also we had to go to the cheap cleaning products shop and pick up some more mouthwash

It was all done before lunchtime, we came home and had some food &c

Wrong Day Cooking

As we were out yesterday afternoon instead of cooking the weeks casserole we had the last portion out of the freezer with oven chips last and I got stuck into frying some onion &c. It's all made now and cooling down, I will lift some out for the freezer later and put the rest in the fridge

Went Out

Then we went exploring, looking for a local pub that had some local residents within and actually we found summat like this, later.

Shopping

Then we popped out later to The Range, a big shop just outside town. We looked at the saucepan sets and bought a set of 3 medium sized pans. We looked and made sure they were non stick surface and the one that I washed then used to make dinner has cooked well and not chipped etc

Gymming

Then we popped to gym class and it was nearly empty, hardly any attendees but it went well as ever

Rhia

And Rhia, the OT woman, came and measured my back door etc. She said "It will be in a week or two" which surprised me loads as I expected to have to wait 6 months or so. But the measurement is done

And she was a bit brunette beautiful but as she was pregnant I don't think my chat up lines would have gone down very well

Busyish Morning

So first of all I have to have an extra early lunch because first some OT woman is coming in to see my about putting a rail by the back door so I can use it to go in and out.

Then we have to go to the gym class, Pulse, then I have gotta cook the weeks food after my nap

Scary And Confusing Computer Issue

So one of my computer pages had disappeared t'other day. After much hunting I fount it in My PC/Downloads and was kind of half using it from there but it was only partly working. So I had to ask Timmy and he said "Yes, do these 2 obvious things to move it back to where you want it" and "Oh yes, it works again". Dunno why I couldn't think of the obvious things to do, but I did them and all is well again

Dunno WTF it had moved but I moved it back

New Veg Supplier

So s'morning instead of picking up the organic veg we are heading to the market to the shop that I checked out last week, while they do not have Organic Certification I get the impression that she is anti weed-i-cides. So we will see how practical it is and how well it works.

Then we have to shoot to Morrisons (noisy link) to get the rest of my shopping and any veg they didn't have

And it went well. We took a box with loads of paper bags in it so they had to give us almost no bags etc. We got everything off my list and I like being able to look and go "Summa that" or "This one" and we got a parking space right outside. Yes, I am a fan now. And we popped to Morrisons and bought very little too

Oh What Fun

Then after lunch we had to go to aqua aerobics which was as much fun as ever. BUT today I was able to do some 'moving legs' exercises and make my heels touch the ground after my toes. So summat is getting better.....

Toenail Chopper

So we have to go into town s'morning to see the toenail chopper who is gonna cut my toenails.

But it's hard because I fancy her summat rotten but even if I say "Can I take you out and buy you dinner" it will be me and a MOS taking her out for a date

And Later

Then after my nap Timmy said "Wanna go out anywhere?" and I said "Yes, because....." and I said "I need a new curtain in my bedroom, it is just too light early in the morning." So Timmy suggested we try Shaw's and there, even tho we arrived half an hour before they closed we still left 10 minutes before they closed. Helpful staff etc, we found what we wanted dead quickly

Oh What Fun

So today we popped to the Drs to fetch my 'script then we headed to gym. After discussion about what to do today I am trying a new exercise. Instead of normal, cycling dead fast for some time I am on easier settings. We will have to compare distance etc when I finish

Yeah, I did do some distance further

Working So Far

And I have been about wearing my proper shoes again today and they seem to work, no blisters etc, so I just needed to take the insole out of one shoe

And I was wearing them today at Headway Swansea because I didn't fit my FES as there seems no point to go to an indoors function like this

More Reasons......

Then we popped to Morrisons and I picked up the items off my organic order which I won't be able to pick up in the market when we go in and buy my veg on Thursday

We are gonna try that instead of having a delivery, we called in and had a look, they grow most of the veg on a not organic but not full of chemicals farm apparently

No Swimming

And this week there is no swimming class as we are off to Headway Swansea for the usual "What's the point being here" meeting

Actually there was more of a point today, we didn't play a distracting game, we just sat around the table and bonded with one another

Then when we were on the way home someone about 3 cars in front of us crashed. A van hit the back of a small car which then left the motorway and came up resting across the fence to the left

Didn't Know HOW

So I was trying to change summat with regards the background and colour of txt on one of my webpages. In the end I figured out how to do it, then realised that I needed a different colour. How did I do it last time? So look again, did it again and put the page together.

And afterwards I thought "So how did I do that?" I have no idea, so I need to learn how to learn from my actions, there is no point "just doing it"

Nearly Dry

And I did a load of washing s'afternoon and hung it out. Less than an hour later I was passing and reached out to touch it. Most of it was nearly dry. Just lordy, most of my washing line isn't even in the sun in the afternoon

Fark

So I have just exchanged txt's with Julia about what I was doing for a living when I had my accident and just FARK, it's a bit emotional hearing about what I was teaching and studying at the same time

Out For The Night

And we popped out last night, got into car and said "Where shall we go?", hummed and hawed then went to The Friends Arms which was the pub I used to electric wheelchair to from the Leonard Cheshire care place. But I have never seen it as busy as it was last night. But by the time I had finished my last pint most of the folks had left, the footy was finished.

Most of the other folk in there were well pissed by the time we got there, they had been watching sport all day, but friendly. One or two folk made some "pirate" comment about my eyepatch

Mending Footwear

As well as buying some new footwear I got stuck into the relatively new (a couple of months) ones that had caused my blister and removed the extra thickening extra insoles and just left the original insoles in. I then put them away but when it is colder I will try wearing them again

Get Rid

Then Timmy and I went into the garage s'morning and sorted out the rubbish before Timmy left. Most of it he said "Yeah, ditch it" but there were a few pieces of txt that he brought indoors to shred as it had important info on it and there were 2 files that he said "Legally you are supposed to keep there for 10 years. The date on them is 8 years ago so I will take them and put them in the office"

Then me and GGtGG came outdoors later and put all the "Throw it away" stuff into the boot of the car having sorted it into "metal" and "rubbish" etc then took it to the tip and ditched a whole boot load of stuff. What's left seems to be mainly various floor tiles and loads and loads of tools. Hammer, screwdriver, spanner, more spanners etc etc. I didn't think I did so much mending but they were all mine

Drying

And I washed my bed sheets after I got up s'morning at about 8AM. Washed then for about an hour and a half then hung them out on the line. By 12AM they were dry and I brought them in

Multi Cooking

As we were out so late for our walk around town there wasn't time to cook veg casserole, so I cooked baked spuds and cheese bites for tea. But I also cooked the casserole and it is cooling and all cooked now. In a bit I will divide it up into a few days worth in the small saucepan and the rest divided up into the freezer

No Gym

Then today we looked at one another and said "No gym" so we decided to head into town for a long walk. We parked on Lammas St as usual and headed up the hill until we reached the posh coffee shop, The Old Market Sq Deli, at top. We stopped there for a hot chocolate and I was very upset as Timmy said the smell of freshly baked bread was overwhelming and I couldn't smell owt. But they are baking loads of small loaves and they had a veggie/vegan "we support" even tho they sell meat too.

We finished the chocolate and headed along to Iechyd Da street, headed down then went into Market and had a look at the veg stall. While they are not labeled organic the woman I spoke to seemed anti chemical and they grow most of the goods on her farm.

Well More Comfortable

So as my feet are so much better today I think that yesterdays buying might have been the right thing to do. Obviously the shoes, which are a couple of months old, don't quite fit me properly. Dunno if they will be more comfortable after the wounds has gone away, dunno, wait and see

Feed Him

And because he is here today and tomorrow I kind of thought that it will start to have gone off if I don't use it 'til Saturday so I said "Want it?" to Timmy and then fed him Na'an Bread Pizza and chips for tea. And it was fecking lovely again

Let Off

And Samantha (my gym teacher) txted me today and said "No gym class tomorrow, sorry" so dunno what we should do instead

Tension In My Arm

So yesterday while doing the scary climb up the hill my right arm was as tight as a very tight thing

Thursday Morning

(Sigh....)

Well that's the first load done. Picked up veg, shopped at Morrisons came home, put it away, paid my bill, now waiting for Timmy to take me to gym. Then I can get on......

Where?

Then tonight GGtGG said "Lets go out. Where shall we go?" so I said "Paxton's Tower". So we set off and I had to say "No, it's this way" and when we got there it turns out that I was heading for Dryslwyn Castle instead, just to see how far up it was etc. So we looked then said "Try it?" and headed off uphill along the path. I switched the FES off as it was all uneven and just carried on. We got almost all the way to the top then GGtGG was starting to panic about it getting too dark to see on the way back down so we turned back when almost at the top.

I just can't believe how my much fitness is changing, just getting better and better week after week

Frozen Food and Oven Chips

Well I put slightly more into each days food to freeze and we finished it all this week and had to eat some frozen from the shop food. In the past it was lasting about 9 days but it just lasted 6 this week

Further Right-handedness

And I took a bit longer lifting the dinner tonight as I lifted all the chips with my right hand. From the oven tray to our plates, the sweet potato oven chips were lifted properly. It is the first time I have eaten them this week, and the first time for some years that I lifted them with my right hand

Was I In Charge?

And I found this document from when I was a computer teacher amongst tat yesterday. I have no fscking memory of this but.....

Click to look

Stress BUT Fun?

So we are heading to the swimming pool later for an Aqua Aerobics session......

"Oh what fun we had, but......"

And didn't we do it. And again I did the whole class on my own two feet, not having to hold the side of the pool at all

WTF?

And I was going thru the box of "stuff from filing cabinet" and there was an opened envelope in there. Where The F*ck was I staying then?????

Right Hand

And I have noticed that recently I am using my right hand in ways that just wouldn't have been possible last week. I went to loo to have a pooh tonight, put my phone in the right hand side pocket of my trews and took it out to read with my right hand.

And put my electric toothbrush back on it's stand with my right hand.

These just wouldn't have been possible a fortnight ago

Feels Odd

And the towels that I washed yesterday then dried outside on the washing line feel different than usual, more rough kind of thing. More effective at drying tho...

Cycl-fecking-ing

So we came to gym s'morning and I have another 8.5km to go.....

Hooray...

Only 7 now.....

Three quarters of an hour after starting and now there are only 3 km to go....

Well I finished it in about 56 minutes, not my fastest time but it was too fecking hot for exercise

Early Walkies

And s'morning I nipped out and did a Helena Style walk down the path to the left and back up. With no FES fitted, it just feels so much better, I kind of can't describe it, trying to move my foot by the knee, not trying to lift my hip or summat

Sentimental

So I took MM out to the garage and looked thru the filing cabinet. About ⅔ of the contents is in the "check with Timmy before throw it away", a couple of boxes have come indoors with us and there is about ⅓ of a drawer full of precious sentimental stuff whereas before there were 4 drawers full of tat

I will have to go back out and sort out the "Neil's old stuff" pile in the corner, perhaps when GGtGG is working next

Aargh

So I said to MM "Right, lets go swimming", he looked at me a bit oddly and said "We don't have to go for a hour Neil, it's at quarter to 3"

Well I just did the whole class without having to hold on for balance. Hopping on my right foot for example

Glug

As there is no Headway distraction today we are fecking off to Water Works at late today, 2.45 pm

But today I have gotta wash 2 loads, I recon the first will be dry by the time I have gone to the pool then washed the second

It was dry before I tried to go swimming an hour early, well warm today

WTF

Then GGtGG said after dinner "Lets go out and practice your proper walking" so I said "Good idea" and headed out. Parked up on Lammas St as usual. We walked along Chapel St then up the barricaded off bit of Little Water St and turned to walk back along King St. Outside The Parrot pub was a man I know who often plays mouth organ at Clwb Iechyd Da, he said "Hiya, coming to our gig here tonight?". WTF?

So me and GGtGG walked all the way back to the car, jumped in and headed back to park up at the end of King St. Went and listened to the support act then The Low Down Dirty Dog Blues Band who were actually rather entertaining

Insults

dictionary.com The Best Old-Timey Insults We Should be Using Today sound, but not necessary

Imminent

So when I got up s'morning I put my bed sheets in the wash. It takes about an hour and a half to wash so it finished at about 9.30. I thought I'd better put it on to tumble dry as they said it was gonna rain s'morning on the news but the weather still looked fine so I put it out to dry on the line. An hour and a half later I checked and it was fully dry so brought it in, surprised at how quickly it had dried. An hour after that it was raining heavily here

Clearing Out The Garage

So GGtGG got stuck into clearing out the garage today. There is lots of stuff that came from The Leonard Cheshire Home and hasn't been looked at since, now it just needs binning etc

And when we are rid of the tat we can actually organise, put the rest of the stuff on shelves etc

Walkies

So we headed into town for a Helena Style Walkie and parked on the turn in Lammas St, walked all the way thru town, up past Debenhams and sat on the warm from the sun bench at the top of the hill. Walked back down and headed up Mansel St to take us further walkies then headed back to the car.

All the way trying to teach my brain that this is the new habitual way of walking with my right leg

Drying Time

And the washing was dry an hour and a half after I hung it out today

Farmfoodsing

Then we popped into Farmfoods s'afternoon and bought more chilli and garlic 'ketchup' and I bought a few other items that we didn't really "need" but they were nice

Helena's Advice

And I took myself out for a walk down the footpath to the left of my house s'morning. I had no FES on but was trying to take Helena'a advice about bending my knee rather than my hip and for the whole couple of hundred yards of my walk both my feet stayed flat and level. This is just a wow in the extreme, my right foot used to be hitting the ground at 45° sideways at it's worst.

And I went out for another walk s'morning. It feels really odd. For some years I have been trying to lift my leg at the hip, but actually as Helena said to do it, it feel so wrong and low, but I just swing my knee forward and pick up my toes. It just feels all wrong compared with how I have been trying to RElearn how to do it, but my right foot stays flat and it feels more stable/better etc. Aargh, learning......

BUT by fark but it is easy to forget what I am doing and start to get it all wrong. Carrying stuff or any other distraction and it goes back to "my traditional" style. I have got to change what my brain thinks is traditional.....

A Bit *WOW*

So I just walked from the kitchen to the living room and it occurred to me, yes I am walking slower than I used to because I am trying various things, but as I walked my right foot stayed flat to the floor every step. That is just a WOW, it used to turn over nearly half way. Just by jasus, the improvement might be happening in small ways but it is even impressing me

Missed Her

And we missed Sam's class at gym as we were along the motorway at Neuro Physio Wales where we did loads of practicing moving my right leg properly. Which I do feel I learned from but I have to walk much slower until I have RElearned the habits

And we stopped off in Asda and had a cheap lunch on the way back, we would have been much too late to eat otherwise

Out Tonight

Then we are off out tonight to the monthly muso do at Caffi Iechyd Da (noisy link) in town

And there was a WTF but quite delicious dinner too....

Lunch

Then we came back and I ate my freshly picked veg and a bread roll for lunch.

Then I did an early wash up as we are going to Iechyd Da for a party tonight, so no dinner here

And is it just psychological or do I really feel better for eating such fresh vitamin-c?

We're Off

Then s'morning me and Timmy are off to fetch the veg from Iechyd Da and then go shopping in Morrison's

Which "we" did. There were no parking spaces on King St and there was no-one following us so Timmy parked mid-road and ran down to Iechyd Da. While he was away I saw a big red van coming behind us, it stopped about a hundred yards away, put on it's hazard lights and started unloading summat. Phew

Then we did Morrison's and came back, put it away then went back to gym to do my 3.25km row. And it was still too hot to do it fast, even in the air conditioned gym

And again I went to gym with no FES fitting because when I am there I don't use them and they would be sitting on my leg making me sweat and be uncomfortable so better off just not wearing them

A Bit Emotional

Looking thru some old photos s'morning and the odd one makes me a bit emotional. They are all so young.....

Off Out

And we are heading out to a meeting with WWEG in the ten-pin bowling centre just down the road from here. I won't be bowling, just socialising

Oh What Fun

And we had a fun session in the pool with an instructor s'afternoon. But it's finished now

And I did feel at one point when we were doing standy up exercises that I could actually get both my heels down, one foot in front of the other. Yes, it's harder, slower but it was progress

Nipped Out

So as it's a "have an early lunch" day before swimming class we nipped out to Home Bargains s'morning to fetch some toothpaste, some tooth cleaner heads and some birdfood. While we were there I noticed that Mansize Tissues were 50p a pack cheaper than anywhere else so I bought loadsa them too

NOT Quizzing

And I decided to not go to "the pub quiz" tonight as I am going out to hang around watching folk bowl tomorrow and going to Iechyd Da Folk Night the next night. So actually spending a night here is worth while

Hanging Out

And I did another load of washing and hung it out today.

When I was much iller I used to just tumble dry it. When I was healthier but still not very mobile so I couldn't walk on the uneven stones below the washing line I used to hang it on a clothes horse and dry it indoors. Now I just hang it out

And it was dry three hours later when I checked

Heat

And I was lying naked after my bath today with the window open. Not under covers or anything, it was blinkin' hot

Too Hot For Exer-fscking-cise

And today it is much too hot for exercise but I am @ gym cycling. I have done over 1km already but there is another 2.259km to go

Oh what fun we have...

And I cycled 3.25km and sed "Done" to RoyGBiv and he said "No, up to 10km" so it is not going as quickly as I thought at first

Knackering

And I am knackered already but "we" "need" to head to the gym and do 3.2510km on the bike today

I am looking forward to it already.....

Early

So I closed the curtains in my bedroom last night to see if that was why I was waking up so early but no, I was still awake at 6.45 s'morning

Headway

So we went over to Headway in Swansea and the 4 of us that were playing together, with assistance from MM, won one game each

It still baffles me but it's better than swimming pool

Don't Know How It Got Fixed

And for some reason the mailing list that I read suddenly started sending my mail to hippyweb@ again, which it hasn't been doing for some months. So I have demoted the gmail account that I had to use as a substitute but it is still subscribed as that is the email I use from my phone and some days I am away from PC

Early Drs

So we had an early trip to the Drs today to pick up my script then a trip to the chemist next door to change that to a bottle of cream and a brown inhaler

Then we have a quiet hour then have an early lunch then head to Headway in Swansea for a meetup

It seems a bit pointless but the substitute would be swimming at gym so I am not toooooooo grumpy......

Quick Drying

So I put the washing on s'afternoon then jumped in the bath. By about 4 o'clock I was rested and dressed again so I hung the washing out on the line to dry. By half past seven it was fully dry and I brought it in and put it away.

3 and a half hours and it's not even in the sun that time of day

Right Hand

My right hand is getting so much better. So I had to write two brithday cards and addresses on the envelope today and I just used my right hand. It's not the best writing but it is legible.

AND for a few days I have been able to do the zip on my trousers up after going to the loo with my right hand. 

Walkies

Then s'afternoon we headed into Carmarthen for more walkies. This time we went reverse of yesterdays route. So we had to walk up the steep bit at the end of Little Water St but again it just isn't an issue now

And I tried to go somewhere else too, end of King St, turn left towards the castle instead of right and downhill. Except the castle is only open Monday to Saturday and today is Sunday

Surprise Visitor

Then I was asking GGtGG what the plan was for the day when my mobile phone rang. I answered and it was Brian, Julia's Dad. He said "We have been down for a few days, can me and Rita come and see you s'morning?"

And he knew how I am busy napping in the afternoon so called me in the morning

A Smidge Impressed

So I showed RoyGBiv the photo album that I had just finished making from the photos Julia sent over t'other day and he was quite impressed with some of the photos, he praised my technique etc

Walkies

And we popped out for a walk about town tonight. Parked on Lammas St, up on the RHS of the old council building, along King St, down before the library and along Woods Row/Chapel St back to the car.

It used to wear me out, walking a mile around town, not any more

Ink

As I had to use the last of my ink for the printer we headed into Wilko s'morning. And left in discust as it was so dear there. So Amazon didn't help the town but it did help me. Then we popped into Savers and Roy bought loadsa cleaning products etc

To-Nite

Then tonight we drove past the local pub (as it's closed) and went to the pub down the hill, my new local, and had 3 pints

Pizza

Then tonight it was time to cook na'an bread pizza again but Morrison's still couldn't get any na'an bread. So for the second week I had to substitute Garlic & Herb flatbread but this week I only bought one flatbread and cut it in half and it was still enuf pizza

Stroke Class

Then I went to Sam's class at 2pm. It kind of hurts my brain how much better at the activities I am getting. Today I did all the exercises with my walky stick lying on the floor next to me and wasn't panting&sweating when the class was over

Marginal Panic

So I was typing an email and the keyboard stopped working. Aargh, batteries. Have I got some more? Evidently (tho I could do this on my phone which I am not) it worked

Shop Trip - Wilko

Then s'morning I cancelled the order I had ordered on Amazon last night and tried to keep businesses in business and went to Wilko and bought a large photo album, so I can put some of the old pics that were mine from years ago that Julia had been looking after since my accident and dropped them off with me last week. I printed out loadsa labels and tried to stick them in the album that has been in the cupboard here for years yesterday but that would only hold 6x4 photos one way round so it was no good to me. So I ordered a replacement last night, cancelled it s'morning and went and bought summat

There's no time now (early lunch followed by class @ gym) but I will stick them in later

Friday Sigh-ness

So we have the usual Friday feeling today. Early lunch then to (I think it's called) The Stroke class at gym, then....... dunno.

Friday night, my local pub. Except it is closed for business

No Na'an

And in Morrison's today they had no na'an bread again. Dunno, I bought the same substitute as last week (Garlic & Herb flatbread to share) but only one this week - I suspect one cut in half will be well manageable as opposed to the two I bought last week which just made a dinner that was too big, too much cheese etc etc

Rowing

Then we popped to gym and tried to row faster. I failed but did a quick 3.25km

I was about 40 seconds from setting a record for time taken

Thursday Business

So first thing s'morning I had to pop to the Drs and say "The interweb wouldn't let me order a script" and then we had to make an appt so I can see a Dr and tell them why I still need my script.

Then popped to Iechyd Da and picked up a smaller than usual box of veg. My freezer is getting full of already cooked veg casserole so I bought less veg so we can eat loads of it this week

Then we popped to Morrisons and bought the rest of the shopping

Out & About (again)

So we went out for walkies in Carmarthen again tonight. Parked up on Llamas St, walked uphill past the old council block, along King St, down the little side street just before the library, turned left and walked along looking at the back of all the shops.

Thera-fscking-putic 

Jungle-tastic

Well I popped out s'morning and watered the veg. Lordy but it is growing fast. And the tommy-toe plants are starting to flower which will lead to tommy-toes growing and half the rest of the veg have started growing edible veg, peppers, sprouts.....

Hooray for swimming

So it is an early lunch as we are going to the 'pool for a swimming class s'afternoon.

Hoo-fscking-ray

Well that wasn't as intense as Monday's but I am still glad when it's over. But I did say to the instructor lady that I noticed today that I wasn't having to hold on at all, my balance is getting better week after week

Quizzing

And we are off out tonight to The Castle Inn in Llansteffan as they run a quiz every Tuesday

And we didn't take part in the quiz, just sat there socialising, drinking some local beer

(And I drank 4 pints of "normal" (old fashioned) strength bitter and didn't fall over or wet the bed or anything......)

Cycly-wykly-woo

So me and that Timmy went to gym and I got stuck into a cycling session. Hooray another 8km to go.......

5km to go now......

Down to the last km. And I haven't stopped for a rest

Compare And Contrast

Well a few weeks ago compared to now

My Right Hand *Is* Getting Better

And today I finished on the loo, stood up, pulled my zip up with my right hand

We're Off In A Bit.....

And I have no excuse today, no Headway meeting happening in Swansea or anything. So we have to go to the Water Works in Leisure Centre which is a shorter but more intense session in the pool

Well wasn't that intense. Tne class was taken by (The Beautiful) Sam, for whatever reason, and she ran us back and forward for 45 minutes

Now half was thru she did say "Work harder, make your hearts beat" and I was too breathless to say "My heart is beating so much because you are here today"

No, Neil

And in my puzzlement about how we made the pics of Sam into one I suspect that I thought I knew the answer wrong. I suspect that picture is an old fashioned pre-digital photo.

So gord nose how we did it

Hectic In The Morning

So Julia sent me loadsa pics, one of which contained 4 of Sam. I said "How did we do that?", she replied "Dunno". Many hours of research s'morning eventually lead to me taking a naff and bland photo with 2 of my walking stick in it

Walkies

And we felt obliged to head into Carmarthen for a walk around today. Parked on the end of Lammas St, headed in thro town past the market, up past Iechyd Da, along King St and back down

Right Hand

So s'morning I was peeling a Butternut Squash, which is very big and difficult to peel.

And I managed/just did habitually to peel it all with my right hand. It now seems that it is the first hand I use to hold the peeler in, loads has changed in the last couple of months

AND it was delicious too!!!!

Kitchen Business

So I will sit here for half an hour to let the kitchen floor dry then it's off to cook the weeks food again

Well it's ¾ done, all veg peeled & chopped and cooking, all herbs added, all garlic etc but I need to add some lentils etc and cook it for ages

Unexpected Visitor

Then tonight when I was half way thru cooking tea there was a knock at the door, I thought "WTF?", went to the door and it was Julia. She said "I am just working across the way and had an hour to spare" and went on to tell me how much I have changed, I was able to answer the door then go on cooking while talking to her

I *AM* Getting Better

And it occurs to me s'morning. That little picture that I posted yesterday, I simply couldn't walk round there to do that for years. It wasn't just laziness, it was inability to walk on that surface

Hah, I am so much better at that nowadays...... 😏

Greenhouses

We have been having discussions for a few days about how to replace the greenhouse. I think after much discussion that next winter (when the plants in it have grown) we are gonna replace it with a Lean To Greenhouse (for example) which will be a lot more stable etc but equally accessible

Not Weekend Yet #2

So I have to go to the gym class today but then tonight we are heading to The Lyric Theatre to see Tom Allen there

Which was a bit strange. Yes, I enjoyed it, laughed etc but it seems to have left almost no memory in my head. I had to check in my diary s'morning to see where we went last night

Not Weekend Yet

NO Neil, it is not the weekend yet. Just because you had to pick up the veg and go to Morrison's s'morning, it is not the weekend yet. You need to go to a gym glass tomorrow

New Habit

And as I did my washing today I think I can safely say that I have got a new habit of drying it

Rowing

And I got on the rowing machine at gym today and did my 3.25km before coming home for lunch. For whatever reason I just couldn't go as fast as I managed last week.

Thursday Business Ritual

So (sigh)..... it is the Thursday Getting Food Ritual again. First of all Timmy will take me to Iechyd Da where they drop off my box of organic goodness then it is off to (More Reason To Shop At) Morrisons to fetch the milk etc, the rest of my weeks shopping

Shopping

Then tonight I had to go to Farmfoods as GGtGG said "We need staff tea and coffee". I thought then said "But I don't need any food, as I now cook a veg casserole which lasts most of the week every week" so all I bought was more of those ice cream lolly thingies but GGtGG spend 12 or 14 quid on the staff card

Oh What Fun We Had

Well s'morning I had a hot chocolate with GGtGG, then I asked him to drive me to the postbox and posted..... summat. Now I am having  quiet half hour before changing into my swimming trunx and clean clothes and going swimming.

Oh I feel so positive about the whole think....

Well wasn't that fun. It was harder work than usual but equally fun. But today for the first time I was able to stand on my right foot and move my left foot about without holding on with my left hand, so some progress =.....

WWEG Quiz

And we met up with the West Wales Everything Group tonight and we came 3rd or 4th in the quiz. Me and MM and 4 others.

We did quite well but didn't win

But the drinks, it was bitter in 1/3 or 2/3 pint glasses, or at a push you could have a pint. At the end I did say to a chap that worked there that when I worked in a pub beer had to be in 1/2 or 1 pint glasses but he did say that in 2010 they introduced a 2/3 pint licence too

Got One

Then the postman brought me an envelope which I had forgotten to be worried about where it was for a few days, I opened it and it contains the new cover for my FES device that broke last week

Miles And Miles

So s'morning we are having such fun on the bike @ gym. I have another 8km to go. Hip hip.....

Down to the last km now...

Miles

Oh what fun, so today on my diary it sez  "Goto gym and cycle for miles and miles" today. Hip hip hoo-fscking-ray. Looking forward to it sooooooo much......

Then tonight we are heading to The Parrot pub/gig venue tonight for a West Wales Everything Group quiz thingy.....

Oh What Fun

And I have had a..... day today. Me and Timmy went to the Headway Swansea meeting today where we played a numbers matching game, Rummikub. Again I didn't do very well as my vision in wonky but with assistance from the woman playing next to me I did win one game

Again it does my head in a bit, being there to "make friends" but we did it

Cleaner

So a couple of days ago I spilt about an inch of orange juice from the bottom of my glass over the table. GGtGG cleared it up but although he had cleaned it properly the surface of the table didn't feel quite right. I looked in the cupboard and found some Pledge and got stuck in by myself. Took all the coasters off, all the place-mats, my I-pad, took it all off and got stuck in

Walkies

So me & MM went out to town for a walk s'morning. As I am a bit bored of the existing routes we headed down King St and got a place in the first disabled parking slot. So we got out of the car and I pointed back up the street past the library. So we walked there, crossed the carp ark entrance and carried on to the end of King St. There we turned left and carried on along Priory St (I think it's called). We walked along there for ages until we came to another roundabout, there we turned back and up the gentle hill. Which is easier for me than going down a gentle hill. Back along and around to  the car

Not Usual Sheets

So I woke up s'morning and changed my bed. Usually we wash and put the sheets back on the bed. But today when the washing finishes we will be off at a Headway Swansea meeting which I will come back from and need straight into bed. So I explored, found the other sheets and asked GGtGG to fit them

Fark. Well me and MagicMark left here about quarter past 10 and drove for ages to get there. As I didn't have to stop for 2 pisses on the way summat is better but they has been the case for ages now. Anyway we arrived, first of all got into a big room with loadsa folk sitting about, had a brew and "chat with strangers" (as instructed) then we had a nice lunch. THEN we headed thru into the god botherers area where we sat at the back of the church playing all kinds of instruments. After an hour of playing about we decided to write a song. (Noisy) Which was good clean fun

It was nearly 5pm before we got back, luckily (after late bath and nap) I had a saucepan full of "prepared yesterday" food

At Last

And I eventually found out again how to do a mobile phone version of a webpage which is subtly different to a desktop version

Tesco's

Then we had to pop to Tesco's tonight to fetch some more printer ink and white board markers for the staff. GGtGG took the staff card with him and purchased it

Multitasking

So tonight I have not only made different pizzas than I have made before ('cos the shop didn't have one of the key ingredients yesterday) but I also cooked the rest of the weeks food which I was due to do tomorrow but we will be out at Headway Swansea all day

And I did both tasks at the same time

Samless

And off to gym in a bit for my weekly class. But Sam isn't gonna be there, the class will be taken by the very beautiful and too young for me to letch at woman

(Who is over 16 so letching is OK but.......)

Well that went OK. It makes my head want to explode when faced with how much better I am week after week after week

Sigh

Then before lunch we headed to gym where I did my usual Thursday trick of 3.25 km on the stationary bike

It was impressively fast today, no one came past that I could speak to so I just got stuck in and did it AQAP

Busy Thursday

So we have the usual Thursday AM "getting Shopping" things to do

And didn't it go well. Up to King St first, got the closest parking space to Iechyd Da, went in, said "Where is it?" and before they could reply someone followed us in with some boxes of veg

Then we popped onto Morrisons where again I just had a minimum to buy

I Had To Look It Up

Because in my head the thing they fit to my leg was called a Fucking Electrical...... and I thought "That can't be right!!"

Last Thing

And my Dad 'phoned me tonight and said that everyone in Belfast with a 'puter was very impressed by my reading at Sam's wedding

Out/Up Stairs

Then we headed into town for a walk about. We parked up on the corner of Lammas St then walked down the street until we came to the steps up to Merlin's Walk. GGtGG suspects that I have walked down them but never up, so I tried it. Absolutely no problem, up 3 flights of steps to the top where we walked along the "new" shopping arcade and back to the car

Last Of Dinner

And we had the last of the frozen food for dinner tonight which is good as I will start cooking it again in the next couple of days and I had the last of the orange juice out of the fridge tonight but as we will be shopping tomorrow morning that's perfect "use of products"

Tying It

And I got stuck into the greenhouse with GGtGG's advice. So I put more sticks around the Tommy-toe plants and was able to loosely tie them all to the sticks which apparently makes them stay upright and produce more tomatoes

AND look at how straight my right wrist is in the picture. Again last year that would have been all twisted

Drowning

So we had an hour long swimming lesson s'afternoon and it actually went quite well. Doing the float on your back then your front with a noodle floating aid that I just wasn't able to do before but as my confidence is coming up leaps and bounds it just felt easy today. And float on your back and do this with your legs, again, it's possible now

Hanging It Out

And I have just done a load of washing and it is such a nice day that I am gonna hang it out to dry, outside. And fetch it in later, after swimming at leisure centre

Second

Well, I opened the second envelope of photos and another strange experience was had. Loads of pics of Steph, Alyson (My sister's eldest) when she was less than a year old, loadsa pics of the school film making society and my and Colin looking........ at the school formal

Tonight

And we had a conference about "What should we do tonight?" and I think I kind of insisted we try the pub quiz again, so Llansteffan here we come

No, after the first round we said "No" as that wasn't the usual quiz but a "know your quotes" one as there is a literature festival happening there this week, which also explained why it was so busy

Popped Out

Then we popped out to park in town then walk down to Savers to get a few more Mouthwash garggley stuff

Pedalling

So first thing we went to the docs and picked up a new script for various cremes.

Then we went to gym where I got stuck into cycling for 10km. I have got another 6 to go at present

No, it's 6 now, a few minutes later

Well I have done 8 now, some minutes later

First

Well I have just looked thru the first envelope of old photos. Just wow and aargh and strange feelings I have. Lots of pictures of the school film making society etc. And one picture (dunno who could have taken it) of my and that Steph having a big snog. Fark, how times have changed. I think I will leave the others til later or tomorrow....

Haven't Done Owt Yet

So my photos are still sitting in  pile on the sofa, I haven't been brave enough to look again yet. But MM did find a new photo album sitting on the shelf in the corner so promising but.....

Resizing Photos

And I was experimenting with a webpage that has lots of "resized" pictures so you can click on it to see the full sized pic and I had an OCD outbreak and as well as resizing every pic to a different setting because they are all different sizes I actually experimented with decimal points, so making it eg 23.3% big etc and it all worked, they look the same size now

Swimmity-doo-dah

So early lunch then get changed into my trunx and tomorrows clothes then head off to the gym for a swimming lesson and shower

Well it went. The teacher lady said to the class at the beginning "Neil says 'Are you gonna be grumpy and scary today?' and I answered 'Yes'" which kind of sums up our relationship. But I did have to wait and say to her at the end "When you took the inclined stairs out I said 'I can't get out now' but at the end of the class I climbed up the vertical ladder, the one I didn't used to be able to manage" so it is doing me some good

Sticks Between Plants

And Gareth The Gardener said s'morning that the one stick he put in with the plants as an experiment has worked so on Wednesday when he is working again we will have to put some more in and start tying some plants to them.

Fark - Photos

And tonight I started looking thru a bag of photos that Julia gave me a few days ago, they were mine, have been in her attic since my accident. Just GOOD LORD etc. I was able to look through about the first 10 photos and my memory came flooding back.

I need to look again and again, perhaps find a photo album to put some in etc

Oops

Then after lunch we had to drive almost back to the same place as I had forgotten to say "And Farmfoods when we were out s'morning. So first of all we popped into town for a walk about then went and bought more frozen chips. Not that we eat very many now, just once a week we have them

Obscure Stuff

So first of all we popped out to Morrisons as I had a couple of items on my shopping list for next week that weren't on my regular shopping list so I didn't know where to find them so it might stress me out trying to find them at the same time as my regular shop so we popped in and bought organic pasta and organic extra virgin olive oil.

What what A Day #2

Then after the excitement of the day we went out to see the local comedy show put together by a local group and I actually rather enjoyed it. It was a 3 acts long play but I did rather laugh the whole way thru

What A Day #1

So first of all today we headed down past the railway station to "things for the house" shops, in the end we had to go to 3 of them but we found some organic feed your tomatoes juice, some weed killer powder which we mix with water and another green watering can so we can keep the red one which we already owned to just squirt weed killer out of

Then we went home and had lunch.

Then after lunch we went into town so GGtGG could take out of the bank some cash to use tonight, pay to get in.

Then I had bath and nap etc

Then GGtGG did much scraping and spraying weed killer around the front garden so hopefully it will look better tomorrow

I also downloaded a recipe for harmless weed killer so once we have finished this packet we will try making some

Then as it had taken so long doing stuff and we had a deadline for after dinner we didn't have time for baked spuds some had that "usual" veg and lentil stuff with pasta instead and it was actually rather pleasant. And I now now how to measure out 2 people's worth of pasta

Samless

And we went to gym class but it wasn't taken by The Beautiful Sam. It was taken by a woman who if I met them both in a pub I would think is perhaps lovelier, Chrissie (I think), but as I have some history with Sam teaching me to ditch my wheelchair etc that she is my favourite.

Anyway the class was hard work but I did it

Cooking What Again

So after last weekend's "being away" today I am back into my routine of cooking na'an bread pizza on Friday. Lets hope I can remember how to....

Iechyd Ding

And we are going to the monthly folk night at Iechyd Da tonight.....

Lordy, so the chap who was supposed to come down with the PA "forgot" and after much crises and phone calls said "I will be in an hour" and wasn't at all. We had loadsa folk playing on a cheap "hear it" battery powered PA with no vocals but even so a couple of them were excellent

Busy Thursday

And I remembered how to do it etc. After we brought it home and divided it into "put where" piles I put it all away.

Then we went to gym where today I did a rowing machine. So that feels a bit odd too, yes my right arm is behaving much better than it used to but along side that is a new ache as I am using unfit muscles

First Busy Thursday In A Fortnight

And as we didn't have to pick up any veg last Thursday as we were disappearing off for a few days on Friday so my baby boy could get wed very stylishly so today is the first Fetching Veg Thursday for 2 weeks.

Hopefully I will remember the fetching......

Out+About

Then we went into town for a walk after dinner. Parked at the bottom, walked uphill, along King St then back on the other side and then downhill past the old court again. There was no reason, just out for a walk

And it feels OK again having the FES on my leg. I think the swelling on my big toe must have been growing for ages

Chiropodist

And we went to see the chiropodist a week early today, I was cynical that she would send me to the doctors after looking at my swelling but none of it. She did various cutting and grinding and the swelling has gone down and I am a happy, more comfortable chappy

Nor Swimming

And as it is half term there is no swimming class today so instead we popped gymwards and did four upper body weight lifting machines.

And I really want to complain about how my right arm is a bit fscked. Less fscked than last time we did upper body machines but it still doesn't work as well as my left arm

No Thunder

Well it hasn't been stormy yet......

Foot Fixer

So someone made a phone call to the chiropodist today and said "Neil has an appt next week but can he see you early as his toe hurts?" so tomorrow afternoon I am going

Bicycley-wikeling

So I said to RoyGBiv that I thought my toe was hurting too much to cycle but I would try it first and see. So far nearly 3km into it and it doesn't hurt at all. The cycling machine/position keeps my toe at the right angle where it is not hitting against the end of my shoe

Grenfell Inquiry

So I was looking at the newspaper and I came across a "Grenfell live inquiry" link, clicked it and it just shows a video of gentle music playing against pictures of people trying to lead their lives. Every few seconds there is a new photo of someone else. All the people who were killed. All. I only managed to keep it on for 10 or 12 pictures, a very few of the people who are no more

Aargh

Back To Normal

So I was back yesterday but it was a bank holiday "nothings happening" day but today I am back to fecking gymming etc

Oooh

Well having recalled to go and water the veg s'morning and fark, it is doing well

Oops

And having just arrived today I forgot to go out to the greenhouse and check it. Tomorrow this is......

Home Again Jiggety Jig

So we woke up early s'morning and immediately packed up and loaded the car etc. We travelled back and arrived at almost exactly lunchtime, called at Spar so me and Mark could buy a sandwich as my bread was frozen and came back. Put the washing on etc and were just a bit astonished about where we had been for the last 2 or 3 days

A Bit Emotional

And I was nearly crying watching that Sam marry Emma. But 'tis done

And I said to both of them "Didn't he do well?" to which she replied "I did quite well too"

Breakfast

And we drove down to where we were in last night to order breakfast and the waiter said "Veggie breakfast isn't very nice" so.....

Well I thought it was nice 

S'Morning

So I woke up s"morning and thought "So go home today?" then about 10 seconds later "NO SAMS GETTING MARRIED" so a bit nervous....

Bladder

So on the way up we left about 10.30 and didn't stop for lunch til about 1. And I didn't need to stop 3 or 4 times for a pee. My bladder control is much better

We're Off

So we are off in a bit to Stoke-on-Trent where that Samuel Mark Joseph is getting married to Emma. My baby.......

What?

What am I reading on Sunday for Sam&Emma?

Noisy!

Not Walk

So we popped put to town for a walk around tonight but it was fscking raining so we just drove around for 20 mins then came home

Sam's Class

So s'afternoon I had to go to the gym class that I thought we would miss because we were at wedding. But I did almost all of it standing on my own two feet not holding on. Including the step up and the step up sideways exercises.

Then afterwards before my bath I called GGtGG into the bedroom and tried some situps on the bed. I had to get him to hold my feet down but that is just a technique/practice thingy. I couldn't get my right arm to go behind my head but with one arm behind I did 10 situps. After the wedding that is gonna become a daily practice thingy. Hopefully in the end I will manage more a day too

FESing Again

And we have decided that my leg looks well enough that I can try wearing my FES again for Sam's Class s'afternoon, just then we will try, take it off immediately etc

And clarkin' bell, it feels a bit strange having it on for the first time in a week. Like good and special etc...

Out For Dinner

Then as Timmy suggested it we are going to Pizza Express to eat tonight as I still have an "Eat some" token that I got for last Christmas

So I had to do the washing up just after lunch

Then we popped to Weatherspoons and  had another glass of wine

What A Morning

So.... today first of all we popped into the theatre on King St and bought some tickets for more popular comedians etc, then we walked back to the car and thought "No, as you only need a few items" so we popped into the Coop and bought Milk and muesli etc.

Then we got into the car and thought "Ah well, Morrisons petrol station" but on the way there I actually looked at my shopping list so before we got petrol we actually had to go to Morrisons and do more shopping.

THEN we popped to gym and did a rowing machine and IIRC I did the distance in the quickest ever time.

Walkies, not in Carmarthen

Then tonight I said "Lets go out" to which GGtGG replied "Where?", "Dunno" so in the end we headed down to Burryport where we walked loads along the walkway which would have been to hard for me to do a couple of months ago but now the uneven surface etc doesn't phase me.

We parked up before the tearoom and walked down past the lighthouse

Moved

Fark. So I watched a program about folk with dementia meeting up with a load of 4 year old's and the effect it had.

By jasus, it was moving. One of the older folk hadn't spoken at all for a few years. First think said was "When are you coming back?"

Hoo-fscking-ray

And it sez on my diary for today to go swimming in the pool s'afternoon

And oh what fun we had. Actually today we were having so much fun that I didn't look at the clock to see how much was left until about 43 minutes into class