Headwaying

After I bumped into someone from Headway a few weeks ago I s'pose I'd better try and show some interest so I will be there tonight

And it was as interesting as was expected but a couple af members said "Well done Neil" as I am showing people how f*cked they can be then get better....

Quote About Finding A Girlfriend

Plenty more fish in the sea

            Swimming by

Bitter Tears

Well, I watched The Best Of Men and actually started crying towards the end. It was good, us cripples were shown well and.....

When I Die

Steph

Pizza

And we had another pizza made from naan bread for dinner with oven chips and I had to use my new pizza cutter that we found t'other morning and it was quick and easy. None of this back and forward cutting, just line it up, press it forward and ur pizza is sliced

(Pics of) Eating with my right hand

And today it occurred to me that I haven't used my right handed spoon for ages, so I gave it a go today. Now it doesn't look as "proper" as my left hand does but the more I use it the better. Now I thought, when I was eating breakfast, that I should use the timer on my camera to take a pic. In the first one I had no head

and in the second one when I leaned my camera on a coaster I only had half a head

so I had to use 2 coasters piled up to take the proper looking final photo

Shop, shop, shopping

And Timmy said "Do you need to go to Morrison's today, as I need...." so "No, but yes". So today I will buy the ingredients to Freya's tortilla's and some other "extra" stuff, then tomorrow I will get some salad and my usual weeks shopping

OK, we got everything on my list apart from salad, I think my and Timmy make a good team shopping

Walking

So me and Ed were in my living room s'morning. I said "I can't walk the 6 steps to my other chair as I have no splint on, where's my walky stick", he said "Go for it" and moved into a position where he could catch me if needed. I managed to walk properly, upright, lifting my right foot etc so I can walk further than my confidence suggests, I AM GETTING SO MUCH BETTER SO QUICKLY that I can't keep up

Gone Now

And my brief visitor has left s'morning and gone back to Belfast

Dinner

And I had to make dinner tonight. We had enough stir fry veg, noodles and cooking sauce for 2 people but randomly on my veg shelf there were 3 spuds left over from cooking on Thursday so I switched t'oven on and baked them. So all 3 of us had a baked potato and some stir fry

Fatter

Ho hum, I am 1.75 lbs heavier than last week.

Irish Politics

Today I put up another webpage and this time it's name included 1690. Which for those of us with an awareness of Irish politics is the date of The Battle Of The Boyne when "us" protestants won

This may partly to be why I tell folk that I am a heathen

Daviding

So my bro is on his way, from Bristol airport, for a 21 hour visit.

I am cooking for him unless he insists on taking me out

And very strange it was too. He came over a couple of hours after he was expected as traffic had been bad, ate dinner with me, watched Dr Who then it was time for him to leave, he will only be here for about an hour in't morning then has to go again, back to Belfast. I know that it was a bit of a brief visit as he just want's to check on how I am but....

Freya

And Freya made it into the shop where we were shopping today and came back to mine afterwards. She really liked the Falafel but did not even eat the garlic potatoes which were much better cooked than yesterday. That was a bit disappointing, I wasn't overly impressed with them but did like them.

Afterwards we discussed attendance as from next week Freya will be attending Rangers every Friday and won't be able to come so we rearranged her visit to a Wednesday

Oh Dear

And as the summer holidays are over we better nip to the swimming pool.

Hoo-flippin'-ray

I AM GETTING BETTER
Just good lord, in the swimming pool stretching my legs upward, doing the breast stroke with both hands etc. In the couple of months since I have been there and I am so much better already

And as I was walking up and down the swimming pool I was able to concentrate a bit less on lifting my knee and walking properly with my right foot. I think I am beginning to learn properly how to walk, it is more automatic than last week

Duh

So last night I switched off my 'puter and nipped bedwards. On the was I switched on the laptop but it couldn't find my music files which are stored on this PC. It took me checking and showing Dicky that it is working again s'morning (which isn't what I was trying to show him) that it began to dawn on me.

Autoshutdown in an hours time, instead of switching off now is what I should have dun last night

Wow

Suzie Cater posted a video which actually brought tears to my eyes, but on reflection there is no point me being jealous, my f*c*ing eyesight doesn't work well enough

Ybot Again

And we took the rest of Toby's washing to him tonight and he was going straight out to meet a gurly, so god knows etc

Gymming

And me and Dicky went to gym.

Again, it seems to be habitual now, I walked from the car into gym.

Again I was too knackered to do much proper exercise afterwards but it is getting/making me better

Cooking

And Dicky suggested that if the cooking goes well today one day next week we will make some garlic mushrooms to have with a french bread which, if it comes off, I think will be an addition to "Neil's easy dishes"

Well tonight's dish wasn't cooked properly, but lovely anyway, so hopefully it will be even more delicious when reheated and cooked a bit more tomorrow

RHS

And after lunch I filled my kettle back up to boil it tonight and the whole way thru I held the kettle in my right hand

Shop

And so me and Dicky went shopping, I bought some spuds, some double cream, some cheese etc which Dicky is gonna help me turn into Garlic Potatoes tonight, and there will be enuf left over that we can have it tomorrow when Freya comes to dinner too, with the Falafel mix that Freya reminded me to buy this week too. So yum yum in anticipation.

I had to buy some stir fry veg for the weekend too

Ybot again

And tonight I had to pick up Toby, do a load of his washing then drop him back. Hmmm, I feel a bit used but what choice does he have?

Sarah Jones

And we had a really important visit from Sarah the Occupational Therapist today as she wanted to finish off my views as she is putting together a big report for the court on how I am doing. She seemed really positive and gave me sum feedback on how well I am doing at this being in the real world

And she suggested I look into holidays abroad, perhaps starting with France or Spain then being more adventurous when I know I can cope...

Computer Genii

And this morning I was looking online for devices to listen to music from my PC in my bedroom, but they were very expensive and I didn't buy any. I mentioned it to Timmy and he said "You have a laptop in your bedroom, why can't it be in the sharing group?". Much fiddling about etc and now the laptop speakers can play any MP3 file on my PC in there, through it's own speakers.

Next query, after a bit of looking I found AUTO SHUTDOWN on my PC so I can set it to go to sleep a couple of hours after I have gone to bed, listening to the music, or read out books from my PC

Oh he is so clever this Timmy chap, it was all his fault that I sorted stuff out today

Organic

"Indeed, even the Soil Association's own president, Monty Don, acknowledged as much when he took on the role in 2008: 'I would much rather someone bought food that was local and sustainable but not organic than bought organic food that had to be shipped across the world'"

Interweb Stopped

Just at bedtime last suddenly the www started playing trix on me. www.hippyweb.me.uk would load but from that, the page called Getting.htm wouldn't load, after many trials, different browser etc it still wouldn't and Classic FTP wouldn't work either. So in disgust I switched it off and went to bed. This morning it all worked, phew

Oh Dear

After glancing through a list of files, BI stands for Brain Injury, nothing sexual

QI

I am watching QI on i-Player ATM and it isn't bad

Ybot

And Toby is coming over later for dinner. Today was his second day at college, his first proper day as they had an induction yesterday. Gosh, I hope (and pray) that it went well for him and he is doing summat proper with his life again

And it turns out "later" he has to stay in college 'til 7.30 tonight, so much later he will be here

No, even l8r, dunno they must be talking about more important stuff so he said "C U again"

Big Team

So today I have got Dicky and Paul as my team, and they both wanna come to gym with me. Paul want's to assess me doing various stuff, possibly bicycling etc

Well they both came, were both making noises about how well I was, this week I cycled on a different bicycle which wasn't as comfortable as last weeks but I did it

But for the second time I walked from the car into the gym and then I didn't want to do more exercises as I was knackered

Windy

So I went to loo needing a pooh last night. I got there, farted loads and thought "Oh, gone now" and went back to bed.
Farted LOADS

Neil The-Hippy http://www.hippyweb.me.uk

(sent from my phone)

Chokky

And today I started the bar of chocolate that Freya left here t'other day. Just WOW, it is delicious, she chose an (expensive and) excellent bar for me to buy her

More Reason's To Shop At....

And we went to Morrison's s'morning and bought all sorts of stuff. We didn't buy any WitchDoctorWitchHazel which we couldn't find last week

but they do sell it on Amazon, so I bought some last night

No Shower

And the water has been turned off in this area today while they fit sum pipes. My big bottle is full, as is my kettle but no shower today. Woe is me  (noisy video)

And by half past five the water was back on, properly fixed, so HOORAY I will be able to have a shower tonight

And interesting, the next time I go up the street and see if they have filled in the hole that has been there ever since I moved in

Brain A Bit F**ked

Mmmm, this is summat that happened 6 years before my accident but I have completely forgotten all details

More Lunch

And today I took out the toasting bags, some bread and some cheese. Luckily I checked the bread in the bag first, it wouldn't f**king fit. So I had cheese between toast again, not toasties.

I have bought some different toastie bags off Amazon, they look a bit bigger

And tomorrow it is back to salad 'til Friday when hopefully my new toast maker will have arrived

Wow

Then in the afternoon/evening one of my oldest friends turned up, Zoe who was wonderful and is just as beautiful as when I saw her before my accident

Lunch

And today for lunch I toasted sum bread and sliced some cheese while it was toasting, then put 1 layer between 2 bits of toast. YUM it was delicious and it didn't prove as difficult slicing thin pieces of cheese as I had expected

So was it nicer than cheese on toast?

2nd time in as many days

Then later on today that Freya came to see me again. I txted her earlier and said "What's going on?" she replied "Dunno" but I felt I couldn't tell my daughter "But I saw u yesterday" so we actually had quite a pleasant time

Cripples Race

And I am watching the Paralympics again on telly today, and it is so impressive. People who have beaten this 'u r a cripple' thing and are doing their own thing

Dunno whether to laugh or cry

Still watching it, just.....

"Ability not disability"

Biker

And I heard this "BRUM, BRUM" s'morning and looked out the window. There was someone on a 'bike pulling up outside. I thought "Who's this?" but it was someone looking for number 52

Boogie

And we went out to Iechyd Da for a monthly folk night, met Freya there, and it was good.

2 monthly nights in a row but it was good

Thursday

"And no Neil, it is not Saturday today, it's just Thursday"

Dunno why I feel it's weekend...

Zoe

And while at Tesco's with Dicky I passed some txt's with Zoe, one of my best friends about 12 years ago, I haven't seen her since my accident but she is gonna drive down and meet me in Morrison's Café on Saturday afternoon. Her chap, who was also one of my best mates died when I was way too ill even to go to his funeral, so it is gonna be a bit strange, but exciting seeing Zoe again

A Good Time

So when we arrived at The Parrot for the first of their new come-all-ye's there was only us, Clive and 2 other folk, but as night went on it became well busier, so I think I am looking forward to next months already

Banker

So this morning first of all I asked Timmy to check my car tax and it is ending June, oops. Someone is sorting it out now but be careful

Then we went into LloydsTSB and tried to sort out my accounts, we opened another current account and closed my 2 spare savings accounts. Hopefully the bank cards for the new account will arrive here in a couple of days

Because we said "Have you received my new deputy order yet?", they said "No" but basically they took the deputy off my account as I am obviously in charge of my own cash, so I will receive the new cards here

Dat Boy

Then this afternoon a handsome young chap came to visit me. He has got to get up and go to college tomorrow so I hope it will go well

Nearly Hit The Ground

And in gym today we were standing up to practice just before we left, I stood up and toppled forwards. Luckily I could move my left foot forwards and my left hand with my 'stick quickly so I was able to catch myself, stop me hitting the ground.

My bum hasn't been right since, I nearly shat myself there and then

Gymmy with Timmy

So in a bit me and Tim are going to gym. I think today I will walk, with stick, from the car in the car park, into gym, show my card to get in then walk to gym. Timmy will need to follow me pushing my 'chair just in case...

I will let u know if I succeed

:) Didn't I do well :)

Telly

And there being very little Ixion today I am watching some telly. And it is pointless, sh*t

Pasta

And again I made a pasta and stir fry and stuff for dinner. The packet of stuff that I used said "serves one" on it but you were just supposed to heat it up and pour it over pasta whereas I had made loadsa veg to add.

So it worked and was lovely for the two of us

Veggie Forced?

Food shortages could force world into vegetarianism, warn scientists

AND they will make us read about it, too

Visitor

And Julia's dad, Brian, came to see me s'afternoon which was a bit strange but quite good.

And he brought me 2 of these

My eye is getting better

Then today while I was eating my lunch I temporarily took the eye patch off my right eye. Looking out the window while eating I can say it is definitely getting better, much less between my eyes, the vision looked a lot more normal. Still obviously not normal but a lot better

More reasons to shop at...

So me and Ed went to Morrison's and did a small shop, I think this once a week is too much so I will try twice a week now

Holiday

So it's a Bank(er) Holiday today but some of us don't get holidays, I have got no holidays, each and every day I have to work at flipping getting better.

Posted on Ixion s'morning

Dinner

And for dinner tonight we had scrambled eggs, beans and (oven) chips.

Yum yum it was good

So next week I might try frying the eggs, having them with beans and oven chips.

The beans are a recent addition to me, yes I like them but I think I had forgotten about buying them, and as I always cook for two adults or more, one small tin of beans is a lovely addition to some dinners

And as we had beans tonight I couldn't find a space to add the chilli ketchup

Taking It Easy

And today I am not doing owt, resting, reading my "book", it had been so hectic that I am doing bugger all except reading until we have arranged to give Toby a lift back from Kidwelly

Gone Down

And Dicky measured my leg after creaming it, and my left leg is 2cm smaller than yesterday which is loads better.

Made your own pizza

I am sorry for telling u this but I want publicity for my idea somewhere so....

For dinner tonight I had Naan Bread Pizza, it was ferking delicious. Open packet of Naan, spread some tomato purée over it, as much or as little as you want. Add some grated cheddar then some veg, I used 1/2 an onion and a mushroom on each tonight. Cook for 10-12 minutes at 200 degrees.

Coincidentally oven chips can go in the same oven 9 minutes before. It was so easy to do and so delicious, so here I am spreading the word

Posted on Ixion

Zoe

And I got in touch with an old friend tonight, one that I haven't seen for 13 or 14 years. Julia got in touch with one of her kids through Facebook and passed on her details tonight

And I have just found out Zoe works as a carer, I have 24hrs a day live in carers

Splint Off

When I was getting ready for my bath I sat on the edge of my bed and started to take the splint off. ! piece of figure of 8, yep, done, one piece around the back, yep done, but I couldn't find the 3rd piece. I called for help, he said "It's just this", I said "Aha, do it up again" and undid it myself and then was able to take my splint off alone.

See if I have remembered tomorrow night

Dinner

So Freya came back for her dinner tonight which was nice, she was here 2 days ago but I am so important to her... we just had veggie burgers and oven chips but there you are, 2 pizzas will be made and eaten tomorrow night

Splinting

And my splint feels much lighter less like an enormous device that hurts my ankle. I have had it on since 10.30 s'morning and it just isn't hassle, so I will keep it on until after shopping later s'afternoon, no problem, no issue.

Taking it off on the other hand.... I need help with that. Now.

With Dicky

So s'morning we better nip to shop as Dicky didn't get to buy himself some lunch, when we are there we will get some staples for their collection and we may as well buy a mousemat or 7 for me

Aargh, we got everything else but forgot a mousemat

Power Cut

And I was just sitting here about to turn my PC off and go to bed when it all went dark, the power had all gone off. After about 30 seconds it came back on, lights lit up etc

Telly

And I have got sucked into watching an upsetting telly program tonight. Very strange, I have been watching it for nearly an hour now

Doom and Gloom

Is this such bad news as it looks when I first glimpse it?

I need a week off

So today we nipped to the splinters and got a radical new splint, yesterday it was radical this, day before it was radical the other

I just want/need a week off getting better so quickly so I can think about what's going on and come to terms with it all

Rapid

Then we got back here I had 20 minutes to eat my lunch then I went to try out my new splint in the gym. We were 2 minutes early which was well lucky after travelling over a hundred miles both directions, having my splint fitted and a quick lunch.

So well done Ed the driver

New Splint

And we have just been at splint makers in Cardiff and now I have a premade much lighter splint which only supports my foot sideqays, not up and down. It feels much better and I can now tap my toes while wearing splint!! I AM getting so much better

Neil The-smug-Hippy www.hippyweb.me.uk

(sent from my phone)

Splinters

And we are going to Dacey's in Cardiff s'morning to get my pair of new splints

No, change of plan

So Sara the physio met us there, was talking to the splinter chap about how much my ankle is better, then rather than the 2 splints that were planned I got a new type of splint that doesn't restrict my foot moving up and down(1) but does restrict movement sideways. It feels really comfortable, is much smaller and lighter and it cost £34.00 instead of £150.00 which was penciled in for the big thing

(1) I have got my splint on and can tap my toes on that foot

And it is the first stage of getting rid of my splints permanently. OK, only a first stage but it has gotta start somewhere

Visitors

Then Sam and Freya came for tea, the youngest and the oldest.

Then we gave them a lift to mummy's with Toby, we picked him up on the way.

And he told me he had his interview with college and they have taken him back, so A levels in a few weeks

Drs

Then we went back to the doctors and he was positive about how well my foot looks now etc.

We asked him about some nutritional advice and he said he would put me in touch with someone at the hospital

Better Walking Day

So after my lazy morning I walked into the kitchen, stood up to prepare lunch and ate it on a proper chair. My wheelychair is in't other room

(sent from my phone)

Chiropodist

And the toenail cutter came and did my feet s'morning. Lord, it is expensive but I think it's worth it

Lazy Day

And I am having a lazy day today, I stayed in my wheelychair until after I had prepared and eaten my breakfast, then I ditched the 'chair next to the desk, sitting in a proper chair and I walked to open the door to my chiropodist

Dinner

And by dinner time I was in my wheelychair again but I had to stand up and stir it loads until the white sauce turned into white sauce. I added to it loadsa cheese and some precooked veg and it was a bit lovely, but for the cheese sauce it said "Grate a cupful of cheese" and I thought "No, save on washing up" and just grated some, but I couldn't see how much I had grated until I lifted the Grater out of the way, I had loadsa cheese tonight, but it tasted ok.

The veg contained loads pak choi which kind of disappeared by the time it was cooked but there you are

Gym and...

When I say taken to gym I actually meant taken to That Evil Tesco Place where I bought some digital scales which might be easier to use, then Gym. But they weigh about 8lbs heavier that my others....

But the gym didn't seem so..... I wasn't in the mood today...

More Walkies

And I woke up in a bedroom with no 'chair in it and walked out and to get my breakfast again

Then I had to put my splint on and be taken to gym, then take it off as soon as I came back. I wheelchaired thru preparation of lunch then got back on my feet for eating, clearing up and leaving the room

And I am walking to my bed for a nap etc now, my wheelychair can stay out here

Proper

And according to Ed who could see me today I was walking properly, more upright and moving my leg better etc

Dinner

Early s'afternoon Toby txted me and said "Can I come to yours and do some washing, and take me to the chippy too as I am hungry". In the end he came round for his weekly visit a day early and liked the food I gave him

Walking

So I am having a walking kind of day, I walked round the kitchen to make breakfast s'morning, and it made me wanna cry with stiff legs being difficult to walk etc but how else will I get better at walking? Just fscking do it, walk Neil......

And I am gonna walk to bed tonight too

Words Stuck

Then s'morning me and Timmy were puzzled we couldn't figure out what the next words were, "You took the words right out of my mouth..." but in the end this Interweb solved it

½ Man, ½ Bistcit

And looking for summat else I came across a 'Half Man, Half Biscuit' song and rather enjoyed it, there were links to loads more from the same page

Weight

Last night I was weighed again, Saturday night is my new routine. Timmy reckons, after looking twice that I am 8 pounds lighter than last week, so obviously last weeks reading was too high, I have lost some lbs both weeks

Timmy

And I have found a problem on my PC that Timmy can't fix!!!!

I Robot

And fark me, but I Robot (Asimov), my current read is getting a bit scary, all the robots know how rubbish humans are.....

Video's

And I got two videos today, eventually, one on me walking last week and one of me standing up to cook. But the one of walking shows me when I was failing to walk properly last week, I am trying so hard not to be like that and the video of me cooking is Rich being well shakey of hand

Aargh, Effort

And today I am doing really well, I haven't been in my wheelchair since I came out of the bedroom s'morning, but I am fscking sick of having to make such an effort. I had my injury so long ago, shouldn't I just get better now?? "No, Neil, struggle and make an effort to get better". Swear, swear, swear (Link fixed now)

Lunch

So today I walked into the kitchen, walked from kettle to cupboard etc, made my lunch, sat in a proper chair to have my lunch then walked back out of the kitchen afterwards.

Now I am going to walk into my bedroom, leaving the wheelychair where it is sitting beside my desk and going for a nap, I will walk back out later

Cooking dinner was so complex I got in my wheelychair but I stood up to cook food, then 'til about 8PM I walked everywhere

Cricket

And "someone" has suggested this morning that on the Interweb I go to http://cricfree.tv and there are about 12 sports channels there, you need to stit thru an ad for 30 seconds, click close, then watch eg the test match

Walkies

And when I was going to the loo I had to call Timmy and I had to ask him if I was walking upright properly and not leaning over like I used ta do and he said "Yes", so :)

Fruity

Mmmm, and my neighbour said to me t'other night "I am gonna make a cake for you at the weekend" and came round today with a large cake and handed it to me. Me and Dicky have just had a large slice each and it is a delicious fruitcake. And we had a big slice each, there is still ¾ of it left

Footwear

And as we were nipping out I put my splint on, when we came back I took it off again, as instructed by Sara

Waverley

So then we nipped into Argos and bought a heavy weight lifting bar,

then went and had a brew,

then went to Waverley Stores and did some more purchasing of organic food and drink

WOW

So Sara the physio came to see me s'morning, I said to her when she said "How are you?" that to most people who ask me that I would say "All the better for...." but with her I really mean it. We did some practice walking and she showed me how I am trying to walk and how I am when my brain gets lazy.

By the end she had me walking in my non-splintified right boot too, and at the end of the session we agreed that I will wear it indoors and only put my splint on when I am going outside. As I said "All the better...."

Right Hand

So today I used my right hand to put toothpaste on my toothbrush, the first time in more than 9 years

(sent from my phone)

Sam and Emma

Then Sam and Emma came over for an hour, oh they are so special and Sam is gonna come back on his own to be fed one night next week