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