What fun

So today we went to BikeAbility in Haverfordwest, for the first time, to do this weeks cycling fun. They didn't have as many bikes as they usually do but it was fun anyway. For the first while we were going on a handle pedal machine then we got a sitting side by side tandem. Flipping knackered now tho...

(sent from my phone)

And the hand pedalling should make my right arm stronger, it was nearly able to reach all the time...

Spent too much

And s'morning I went to Morrison's and spent far too much cash on food etc

Table or .div

I got stuck in looking at how to keep 3 pictures in a row and write beneath each one. So I could sort out one of my pages, but just no, way too complex. I either need to write a table or else do a .div neither of which I have any experience of and it all looks far too complicated for my poorly memory to come to terms with.

Can someone suggest a "Help me" page

What a day #2

Then the hot water stopped coming out of the taps. The boiler was still on, the radiators were still hot but no hat water. So I tried hot tap again, it ran for about 30 seconds then stopped. So in the bathroom instead of a bath I filled a basin full of water and washed in that.

We phoned landlord and he said "I am in Carmarthen, see u in a bit", came round, did some adjustments which matched the ones we had tried but the hot water is back now.

The magic touch, I think (noisy link)

What a day #1

So today I managed to watch half a motorcycle race, I sort of enjoyed it, it didn't upset me as much as it did last time I watched

Splintless Day

And it only occurred to me when I started getting ready for bed, my splint is still sitting on my bed side table where I set it last night. All day has been in wheelychair mode, no walking at all

Peeing

Reading my book about BI it did say that incontinence/partial continence is a usual outcome of BI. Reading that reminds me that my pissing is nearly "normal" once more, eventua-flipping-ly

Weighting

Then I was doing exercises with my weights. Good lord, a 2 kg weight I can lift and do various exercises with my left arm and not even lift it up 'til my arm is straight out with my right arm. It's not even a heavy weight

Pepper from my Trug

Then for dinner tonight we had pasta, a fried pepper that I had grown on my Trug and Lloyd Grossman's sauce which was delicious but it felt a bit like cheating as I opened a jar and heated it up, QED, no actual cooking

Dimmer Switch

And my dimmer bulbs arrived s'morning. But they wouldn't fit in the lamp by my bed. I thought we'd better go lamp shopping but Ed proved to be very useful and swapped that lamp for one in the other room and the new dimmers fitted, it was well cool.

THEN I got in a tiz trying to take a set of pics of the brighter bulbs. If my camera was set to auto every picture looked the same so I had to d/l a manual for my camera and read that. In the end I couldn't manage, but a shout of "Ed" brought a very clever chap running and together we were able to take a series of pics with a discernible difference visible between one and the next.

Then he had to give me some velcro bits to let me stick the brightness control by my bed

The Dr

Well tonight I watched 2 episodes of Doctor Who on that BBC on that BBC iPlayer tool and I did rather enjoy 'em both

Waverley

And we went to Waverley Stores s'afternoon and got veg, milk, juice etc

There one of the members of staff was most scathing about another menmber of staff who had tried to retell one of my jokes last week and had been laughing so hard she had got it wrong

Swimming

And we went swimming today. Oh what fun. But this time I was brave enough to not wear a t-shirt and no-one pointed and laughed. No-one.

While we were there we spoke to the lifeguard and he agreed to rescue me, if necessary, next week after I have jumped in, and suggested about a safety device I can borrow/use on my way in

Wrong

Apparently my diary is wrong, Sara the Physio isn't coming today. So there will be time to go swimming before the toenail cutter comes

More Fun

And we are going out to the "eat your dinner here" folk club in Carmarthen soon. 2 local Folk Clubs, both on once a month, one night after one night

And wasn't it excellent. We got Freya from school at about a quarter to six (1), took her there a bit later and everyone was excellent

(1) Brought her back here to eat mince pies first

Gym

And after lunch it was time for Gym. As usual I was a bit grumpy because it is still, so difficult to walk. S'pose a year ago I wasn't able to walk without my 'stick so.....

But today I was practicing again at the 1 step upwards tool. A few weeks ago I tried to stand upwards with my right foot. To no avail, I couldn't manage it with my right leg. However today I could do it with both feet, whichever one I chose. So I am getting better even tho it fills me with such joy being there

M&S

So me and Dicky went to Marksies s'morning and bought some more Fat Persons jogging bottoms. I said "Jogging isn't my style, can I have them for free?" but they refused

(sent from my phone)u

Off Out

So tonight I am venturing out to a monthly folk night in Blue Parrot, Carmarthen

And it was as excellent as to be expected. But someone had tidied up the recipes for the "cochtails" so I made do with a pint of rather nice scrumpy cider. Or 2 or 3

Ding

And then I was thinking "Missing you already for when you leave" as he cut my hair again

Nokia Suite

And I said to Ed "I downloaded this tool to transfer txt messages onto my PC but it wouldn't work - look" clicked the program again and it did work today which it wouldn't do last night

Dentistry

So s'morning I had to go to the dentist, to see a dentist and a hygenist. I forgot to ask the hygenist whether my teeth were looking clean enuf but.....

The dentist did say that I was much better at walking than last time she saw me and I said "Give me a couple more months then I will be able to chase you!"

But she did say "Oh filling there, make another appointment" which I did

B B C C Busy B W W

Good lord, so tonight at 8.25 I actually got to sit down at my 'puter, not doing owt, not writing my BLOG just sitting down to actually read some email. The first email in my file said "8.55AM".

Bang bang chop chop busy busy work work, apparently

Visitor

Then that Toby chap, whose date last night didn't show up, came again for tea. While he was here I made him make me a load of flapjacks which I was gonna give him half of but he said "No ta, loads of birthday sweeties in my house already"

Big Shopping Spree

Then I went into town and went into, in the end 3 shops, to buy everything that was on Sara's shopping list of things to help me exercise. 3 flippin' shops!!! But we got it in the end, charged to Anthony's account

As seen in pic, back to front, left to right, bouncy ball, throwing smaller ball, non slip mat for under my standing exercises, loadsa various weights and ankle and wrist weights

Denyseing and OTing

So Denyse came today at the same time as the council temp occupational therapist. First of all me and the OT talked about my needs and wants, eg a new bigger loo seat and a new carry food trolley

Then Denyse got stuck into her big lista stuff, dating sites(1), swimming(2), who am I, my timetable etc &c .

(1) Not yet, Denyse will see me in January and p'raps decide then
(2) Jumping in now!!!


(sent from my phone)

Ybot

So Toby txted me and said "Can I do some washing at yours?", I txted him back and said "Wanna come here for dinner too, or do washing tomorrow when u r supposed to be here?". He said "No, sorry, I wanna get clean b4 my date tonight"

What fun

So s'morning Ed changed my bed for me and is now gonna take me shopping for more weekly bits then he is gonna take me to the new (more) local cycling place

And yes, WHAT FUN, we went to Morrisons where I didn't need to buy too much stuff. Came back here, gonna have lunch then we will nip over to the cycling place, not for a cycle today, just to check it out

And it looked OK, we weren't there to cycle today, just check it out and it looked busy but well cool. There were a number of people "cycling"(1) who were much more disabled than me, but all seemed happy

(1) Some on tandems, some on pedal with your hands machines &c

Garlicy

And for dinner tonight I had naan bread pizza with garlic and herb roast potatoes

Now the garlic potatoes, at the start of the meal I wasn't sure that I could taste the garlic but by the end I was sure that I could. I dunno why, perhaps my tongue is getting used to garlic again or perhaps my mind is being told that this is extra delicious because... and it is starting to sink in. Gord knows but it was delicious for me anyway

Walkies

And I practised walking indoors today. Practising keeping my posture straight, I was assisted (held up) by Dicky but it is getting easier every time I do it

More Coffee Machines

So my new Cafetiere wasn't pleasing me slightly as the lid wasn't sitting on it properly so we nipped out to Tesco's and spent £8 on a new one with a different lid arrangement

Shaving

So I shaved s'morning. So "up" on my chin, then "down" as recommended by a MOS last week then sideways to trim off the last bits and my chin feels better shaved than it has for years, either blade or electric

Strange Film

So Dicky brought in 2 DVD's today, one of them is stuck in the telly DVD player, won't play or eject, but I was eventually(1) able to watch "Wall-e" on my PC. it was strange but rather good

(1) After downloading a new "Watch DVD"s program

Standing On Toes

Then today as recommended by Sara t'other day I lifted myself onto my toes and my heels 10 times

Ybot

Then we took that Toby chap out for a birthday meal as he is just 18 now. So we had a pie and a pint (or 3) and it was lovely.
My first born son is a grown up now, how old must I be?

Cafetiere

And when I was making lunch I dropped my cafetiere and broke it, so we nipped into Wilkinson's and got a new one

Drs

Then we went back to the Doctors to say "Where is my reference to an eating specialist that you promised?" and he said "Whoops, I forgot, as soon as I saw u in my list of patients for today I remembered and wrote to them"

Freya

Then I took Freya's school work that she left here yesterday into her school. We parked and I was being pushed towards the school when Freya and Julia showed up in a car.

Freya had been in hospital for a MRI scan which turned out to be OK. She has an inflammation but it will hopefully be better, apparently

Physiology

So Sara the Physio came s'morning and did loads of stepping and walking and balance exercises, including not leaning over when I walk etc which hurt loads but was worth it. I thought I had stopped leaning one way when I walked but she was polishing the cake

Grumpy Busy Girl

Then Freya came round and was way too busy doing her homework to even speak to me, but there you are

Jim Jiminy, Jim Jim Jaroo!

And we went to Gym afterwards and it was scarier than usual, I feel as if my right foot was turning over when I walk but Ed says it looks OK.

In class there were a variety of people who are as ill as I was last year, dunno what to say but if you do work hard you can be weller.

On the exercises routine I was actually able to step up with my right foot first, I couldn't do that last time I tried

More Shopping

So then today me and Paul nipped out shopping, because the blueberries from Morrison's are not as long lasting as the ones from Waverley Stores, who finished their blueberries last week, for the season

Drinking Slowly

And tonight I am actually drinking slowly. Gosh it feels different, recently I have been pouring a glass and necking it in the kitchen. But tonight I am attempting to enjoy the flavour etc

And it did for Matt, I mustn't go down that path

Saundersfoot

Then we went out to Saundersfoot for no apparent reason but it was special and loads boats were parked there

Again

And today I walked to bed for my nap with no walky-stick or wheely-chair. I can and I will, getting better

(sent from my phone)

Glug glug

And I went swimming again today, with Paul and Dicky as they needed to show each other how to take care of me etc. It went well again, walking is so easy underwater, well nearly underwater

Feeder

And when I got back from gym today there was a card thru the door. "We tried to deliver but you weren't here, in post office after 3pm". So we went along and there was the makings of a bird feeder which my brother sent over for me

Gyming

And I went to the gym s'morning. As had been decided last week I got pushed into the building then stood up and walked the rest of the way. With no walky stick today. Apparently I have won on that leaning over to one side thingie. But it is still very hard work, but I managed. So tomorrow it will be a little easier etc

Clap Hands

And as I am at an excellent folk club tonight I need reminding. After each song I am tapping my left hand on the table "No Neil you can clap again". I have been able to clap for 2 or 3 weeks, after 9 years of not being able to. I just can't recall

(sent from my phone)

Freebie

And as recommended by Denyse I managed to get a free copy of a book about making the brain get better. I haven't read any yet but it may be useful tomorrow etc

Folking

And I am gonna go out Folking tonight because it is way too boring just being indoors here

And loadsa folks said "Missed you" etc so perhaps Burry Port should be more on my list...

And I told 'em another "poem"

Exercises

And as I did my exercises s'afternoon we did mainly stretch hand/fingers exercises. Talk about being better? Yes, I am still rubbish with my right hand but a lot less rubbish that last month

Lost Sum Weight

Well, last night I was weighed again and this week I have lost 2 lbs. Slowly but surely, at least I lost some

Cold

And it was so cold in here s'morning that the heating switched itself on. It has switched off now but it was on first thing

Shopping

So me and Ed nipped to Morrison's, got the shopping, tried some potato waffles and another kind of frozen spud that isn't an oven chipas we are trying to broaden my diet

And they were actually quite good

More Watching

And we are actually watching telly again

No, I got bored with it before the end and switched off

Japflacks

And I asked a MOS "Why do I have eg oats etc" and they said "For making flapjacks, they are not as fattening as many snacks" so gosh, yes, I recall now. So when I have finished this weeks treat I might have to make some

More Watching

And I watched more kids telly tonight

Red

And as I found loads of episodes on Dave ch 19 I am currently watching Red Dwarf

SKYPEing

And I had a brief Skype call with my brother today, just as practice, but it went OK

Banker

So we had to nip into the bank to pay in the cheque my Dad had sent for Toby's birfday, I put cash in his birfday card in exchange. I was nervous but it went OK and it seems to be in my account

Not tomorrow, tonight!!!

Were going out tonight and oops, tonight it is on, not tomorrow

And it was excellent. Clive played loads, I read out 3 poems and it was just generally excellent

Shaving

And I had another shave with a proper razor s'morning. And today, as advised by Ed, I moved the razor down, rather than up on my neck. And good lord, a much closer shave there, good call Ed

Poohing Today

And I woke up s'morning, felt it and thought "First?" but squeezed it and ate sum breakfast before going to t'loo

(sent from my phone)

Booze

And tonight I went to the superdoopermarket and bought a bottle of wine. It has no cork. The bottle I bought t'other night was corked which it seems is rather unusual these days. 10 years ago corks were in every bottle, nowadays they are a bit unfashionable

Dinner

So for dinner tonight I made stir fry veg and a Morrison's curry soz. It said on the jar cook chicken then add this but I cooked veg then added it. And it was really nice, delicious. It took about 5 mins to cook, then half an hour on the cooker, yum

AND tonight I tried some of my olive oil with chilli's in. I tasted it, thought "Can't taste owt" but I think the curry was significantly hotter than it would have been without it

Rudeness

And today as I was bored I changed the link you get if you click on "rude" on my 'site

Exercises

So today I had the first of my sheetful of exercises given to me yesterday by Physio but it wasn't too bad.

It felt a bit odd exercising my right arm as it was by far the worst injured but I did what she told me

More Slimming

Then today I had my first toast with slimming marge instead of butter.

It was actually OK, the marge is not so bad and I could put it on a lot thinner, so.....

Woe Is Me

So last night I thought "Oh g*d, better go swimming in t'morning", arranged my bags full of more clothes, towels etc s'morning, changed my pants for swimming trunx to make it easier there, then the phone rang. Oh, no swimming today as I have gotta do other stuff

Hooray but I have just spent ages getting ready, then nearly as long getting un-ready

But as last night "they" said s'morning swimming b4 lunch I thought "OK, no shower tonight as in an hour I will be in't pool in't morning..." so I will have to have a shower just after lunch today

The Young Ones

For some reason I searched for an episode called Bambi, watched it and it is relatively amusing, still

More Fun

Then all my staff were in the kitchen for a meeting but lord, I had to make my excuse and leave

Afterwards I spoke to Denyse and asked her about the reports that were written about me way back when. She has not 1, not 2, but 3 lever arch files full of the paperwork from back then. We sorted out that it is the neuropsychologists report I wanna see and will see it in a fortnight when Denyse comes back

What Fun

So no gym today (hooray) because a) the physio lady is coming to see me to talk about extra balance exercises etc, then b) there is gonna be a team meeting here to discuss my immediate future etc, so not really hoorayish but still, gymless

Good lord, she brought loads more exercise sheets for me and tried most of 'em. Which was wearing but I could tell how surprised she was that I am so well

And we did loadsa walking upright with my staff gripping my right arm and keeping me walking properly straight. You must do it and learn

Normal Poohing Once More

So back to normal (after breakfast) poohing again today.

So phew

(sent from my phone)

Now Wednesday Visitor

And Freya came over for the first of her new Wednesday visits. I was a bit bored, what should we do together?

But she won't be able to nick my chocolate in Waverley Stores any more. I have reduced to one treat per week, a bar of Green&Blacks from there

STILL No additions

And I walked on my own two feet to bed s'afternoon, again.

And I was able to leave my 'chair half a room away whereas yesterday I left it at the door to the hall

And I took my wheelchair to bed, in case I need it in the night and didn't sit on it at all in the night. So p'raps I will have to try walking to bed in the night too tonight

Weirdo McPhone-call

So I had just finished my lunch today. My BT landline phone rang so I went out of the room and answered it. "Hello, is that Mr Gareth Williams?" he said, "No" I replied.

"Why not" he asked me

Had I thought about it I should have said "Because I am a burglar" or summat but I was too surprised

Voluntary Working

So today we will drive off to Carmel and if necessary take photos of broken bits

And it almost all looked perfect except for 1 gate, someone had nicked it, removed a whole farm gate

Early To Poo

So I woke up s'morning. Most mornings I have my breakfast THEN a poo, but today I felt it was more urgent so today I needed a poo first.

Shock horror etc

(sent from my phone)

He Cooked

And that Toby came down and cooked for tea tonight. OK, it was relatively easy cooking but he made an excellent job of it.

I bought, he cooked

No additions

And I have just gone to bed on just my own two feet. Wheelchair = no, and walkystick = NO too. All by myself

(sent from my phone)

Oh What A Beautiful Morning

Well What A Morning anyway.

So first of all me and Timmy went into Wilkinson's and bought a full length mirror, well a fuller length one. Sarah the Physio is coming here Thursday morning and she will make use of it

THEN we went to gym, where once again I walked in from the car park. Once again I was too knackered to do much exercises but not as knackered as last week, so obviously summat is improving

And I took the opportunity of being in Wilkinson's to purchase another 2 reuseable shopping bags which cost me the grand total of 90 pence

I Can Walk

Yes. Yes. Yes. I can walk without my walky stick!!!!! I have just walked from in front of my PC, across the living room, down the hall, across the bathroom, and back without my 'stick and without holding on to anything I was passing.

For ages I have been too scared to try walking halfway across the room with no 'stick but I just managed.

I CAN WALK

But not too far
So even after doing my walk earlier tonight I am attached to wheelchairing...

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