Better at pis*ing

So today in the car on the way back from Swansea I commented to Timmy how much longer I can wait between pisses now. It is almost/is better now, I went to Swansea, looked around shop, went for lunch and came back to Llangain before I needed a pee. Whereas a year ago we couldn't have driven the whole way to Swansea without needing to stop. He commented on how when I was in hospital I had a catheter, ever since then I have had to relearn, to teach my bladder, how to hold in pee

Out&About

Then s'afternoon I had a bit of a confusing conversation with Freya then I realised that we needed to nip to her house and pick her up. We got her and on the way to town I said "Where shall we eat?". I think Freya doesn't enjoy my cooking and so we went looking for somewhere to eat. The first place was too busy we would have to sit for at least an hour so we said "No ta" and went looking for somewhere else. It became clear why the first place was so busy, it was the only place in town open. Eventually we found somewhere else, Weatherspoons, and the food was actually really nice, at least mine was. Simple but nice

Then we took Freya home again, it was a bit early, but she would have come back here for half an hour then left

Shopping Trip

So today me and Timmy went desk shopping in Swansea, to perhaps no avail. We did go shopping for my brother who is coming over at Christmas too, before we ate lunch out

At a guess we will have to go to Ikea in Cardiff next Saturday to carry on looking at a bigger supply of desks.

Coincedentally it is Timmy who is scheduled to be working next Saturday so no problem passing information about the trip to someone else

Currys in Swansea

Then we went to the massive Curry's in Swansea. There most cameras had batteries so I was able to discuss my needs with a (beautiful) woman and we brought away a piece of paper containing all info. about this camera. So hopefully we will pass it on to Anthony then he will either buy 1 for me or (more likely, hopefully) give me the cash to buy it.

Then we went and had dinner in Pizza Hut across the way and then we were s'possed to go 5 minutes away and see Alex's band but Paul thought I looked so rough we just came home instead

One foot is cold

So I had my bath, got dried then got on my bed for a nap. None of me is undercover, it is warm enough. For all of me apart from my right leg. Which is cold from the knee down, rest of my leg is warm enough, rest of body and arms warm enough apart from my right shin (shrug).  

Shopping

So me and SmallPaul (a stranger, I haven't seen him for two weeks) nipped into Carmarthen to go shopping.

First of all we went into Curry's but most of their digital cameras had no battery, so the whole visit was useless.

Then we went to Carmarthen Camera Center which was a lot better and lookable at/playable with. I think we decided what to buy but I am a little put off. Apparently the photo will be higher quality but until I can play with it and plug it into my 'puter I won't know for sure

Blogging

And eventually me and Timmy together managed to get the width of my blog to just be one page, not having to go right or left to reach "New post" buttons

What A Difference

And we went back to gym at lunchtime and what a difference moving my right foot 5cm to the right when doing the up and down thing (OK, the down bit) has made. It is incredible, I can now get down confidently and easily.

It doesn't hurt so f*c*ing much, or at all, now

Aargh, now

And it has gone ½ an hour later....

Sigh

OK, so Mozilla Firefox is refusing to keep my bookmarks and my banking details etc so I am back to using Google Chrome, not what I wanted but the best at pres...

Fark - it's just come back

And the "Do more Blogging" button has been missing from the corner of the page all day, I have had to log out and back in again to be able to update "http://hippoin.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/team-meeting.html" but last time I looked at my blog it was there.

Shrug

 Here are the buttons, now

Team Meeting

So we are having a team meeting at pres. OK, they are, I got thrown out for interrupting again, so now I am sat at my PC with the sound of many voices coming across from their meeting in't kitchen

Afterwards Denyse is gonna come and see me and talk about houses

Which we did, we basically agreed to wait til I have a few more to look at then....

Hoo-fscking-ray

And me and Ed-weena are going to the swimming pool in a bit.

Hoo-flipping-ray

And it was actually.... actually..... <shame>OK</s>, it all went well in the pool, my stamina is much better etc. I even climbed in and out on the proper ladder, I now no longer need steps on a slope

No Interweb

And s'morning I had no Interweb connection, but my phone was still working. (So I panicked a bit.....) So I switched off & back on the router and all came back to life, both my Interweb and in the office....

More Property Snooping

Then me and Gareth went out to look at the properties we weren't able to find t'other day. One was much too far OOT but the other is added to my list of "Tell Denyse" ones

Scary

As usual I was full of joy going to gym s'morning but today I worked so much better that I finished a whole set of exercises for the first time. At the end about 7 mins before we finished I said to Sam "I've gotta sit down" and she said "No, stay up there's only a few minutes left"

And, more to the point, when I was doing my down and up again I complained about my right foot turning over in the last 4 inches and she said "Try it with your foot a bit to the right", I moved my foot just a couple of inches and it hurt much less

Wake Up Time

And I got rather confused looking at my clock today, trying to decide whether to be woken up at 4pm or 8 am. I was a bit (really) confused until I realised that my alarm clock goes off every morning and my alarm is timed separately from that

New Born

Just been watching the news and after worst typhoon in memory in Phillipines there was a woman who had just given birth. A baby and nothing to look after it with

Nowt On

And there is nowt on s'morning, I am waiting for the wheelchair fixer to come and fix my chair

And he came and said "It's broken?", checked that what we had said on the phone was correct, and said "Right, I'll order the parts..."

Then we nipped out and visited more estate agents in Carmarthen that we had missed last time. I think I am on all of their bungalow lists now

Aargh

OMfG. What a performance. So it looks like other PC's could use my links to pictures but not on my 'puter. We tried and struggled for many hours but in the end we has to install a different browser and that didn't work either. Another browser was downloaded that works now

Double good lord, more stressful-ing but I think it is all sorted now, I can click and still see it etc

Aah, good lord, it takes some getting used to. I can work it all but..... scary, different

Timmy

And me and Timmy at a guess better go sandal-shopping today. The last pair that I bought are f*cked.

They have died fastest of any of my footwear

Well, it turns out it's the wrong time of year to buy sandals. In the 3rd shop we looked at they said "Ooh, we have got a pair in the back, hang on" and fetched them for me. There was one pair like my old ones and another pair which looked way too complex etc. So I have bought another pair to wear when not wearing boots

And we bought some naan bread too, some more sweeties and some more marg 

Go Away

And after Ed had arrived this morning and done his handover it only took Alex 3½ hours to get his van started so he could go home. He needed the help of one of his friends who had to tow his van out of the parking space so it was sitting level, fill it with a gallon of diesel and try again

But Ed has his haircutting hat on today so... wait and see...

Weather

Ooh, it got a bit cold here yesterday, yes it's still cold

Out

And we went out tonight, to the pub up the road and it was a lot busier tonight, 7 or 8 people in the just drinking beer section

And they recognised me and said "Hello" too

Samless

And Sam wasn't there for Gym class today. Some chap was instructing us and he was fine although he didn't do the pressing/getting down exercise with me.

I got the impression that although most people in the class are far advanced than me they haven't had to come so far so I think he is impressed with how far I have come

But my right foot wasn't behaving today...

Aardvarking

So we went out early shopping and did out weekly shop at Aardvark, I didn't spend quite so much today but we still bought a fair amount of food

Crisis

So I was half way through making breakfast s'morning when suddenly my pot of gooseberries tipped up and spilt everywhere. I rescued the ones on the surface but had to say goodbye to the ones all over the floor.

Luckily Alex was able to pick 'em up

Isn't She Special

And that Freya came here s'afternoon, well we picked her up in town, and she came over for her dinner etc etc

Busy Morning

So after a cuppa tea we headed over to Trysordy where by now I have finished about 7/8 of the computer work, so hopefully in another week or 2 I will be back to actually doing work with the goods

How Well

And after some discussions with various MOS I am kind of thinking, how well am I compared with a number of years ago. I can think/speak etc etc.

It is just frightening when I think about how ill I used to be. I have still got a long way to go but.....

And...

And we spent most of the day driving about in the rain looking at houses

Estate Agent-ing

So as it's half a plan now me and Alex went into Carmarthen and went to 3 estate agents. They have printed off loadsa waffle and given it to us so we can look through it and decide if they have any properties that interest us

Oh yes, and while we were in town a strange man walked past and said "I enjoyed you singing last week" which was nice

Samming

And I went back to gym s'morning, even tho I was so nervous about it. We did warm up exercises then Sam said "C'mere Neil" and got me doing up and down (old link) exercises. Gosh they were so much easier today, I just bent over, prepared myself mentally and got down. For the last 3 or 4 inches of going down my right foot was protesting and turning over but I did it anyway

It Wurkz

Then today I put the pouring measures device on my new bottle of whiskey, which I bought instead of two half bottles which I have been using for a number of years as I was too scared to try pouring a whole bottle but there was no problem, I managed, so I am like a proper drinker now.

And about £6 richer too now

Denyse-ing

And then s'afternoon Denyse came round and discussed my future with me, how I am gonna about potentially buying a house, how I am definitely buying a PC and probably buying a camera, how to's, what to look at etc

Sara-ing

So Sara the physio came and worked me loads. We went for a walk together half way up the street and back. On the way back I was a bit concerned and asked Timmy to walk ahead and fetch my wheelchair back but I didn't need it, I ignored him when he came back and walked all the way to my front door

Cooking

According to Timmy it was agreed a number of weeks ago that I make special food on Sunday so we are going off in a bit to buy ingredients and devices to enable us to make Banoffee Pie and some Mushroom Stroganoff (whatever that may be) for tonight

And after lunch, before bath&nap we got started, I broke up most of the biscuits, mixed that with melted butter and spread it out in 3 small cooking tins (that we bought s'morning) and then put 'em in't fridge so it will set into the base of Banoffee

And we cheated a bit too, while we were in't supermarket buying ingred. for both things we werer half way round when we saw a packet of MixItYourself-Stroganoff so we got that and put half our shopping away again

So I am supposed to be exercising my chopping veg skills but we cheated. It wasn't my idea....

And after nap we mashed banana and put it in the pie then waited for Timmy to finish whisking the cream and we put that on.

And put them in the fridge to solidify. I haven't tasted it yet, but will after dinner

In a few minutes I am gonna start frying the onions for our Stroganoff, I chopped the mushrooms while Timmy was whisking the cream for our pies

And that was all reasonably delicious, the pies were far too much hassle to make
again but the Stroganoff was actually quite easy if a bit time consuming

Morrison's-ing

So I looked at my diary and thought "I'd better go shopping tomorrow instead of Monday, as I am busy then" but then I thought "Oh no, it's Timmy (Mr Tesco's) with me tomorrow" so I checked online (opening hours) and had to ask Gareth to come with me  tonight. So some of the stuff is a day younger 'best before' but I think I will survive

And because Gareth was looking critically at my usual purchase of two half bottles (and he pointed out how much more cash it costs, like £6 more like that) I practiced for a few moments with a whole bottle, tipping it etc and in the end I gave in and bought a flippin' enormous looking whole bottle. But I can't practice pouring it until Monday tho....

Backgammon

Then today I played Backgammon again. In the last few days I have won by two or three pieces but today I was winning by so much that I offered a double at which point my opponent gave in

Out&About

So we headed off to see if we could see the house recommended by Moishe, Llanpumpsaint, but we couldn't see it. But it does look posh etc there so perhaps further inquiries should be made

Gosh

It has thrown me a bit having lunchtime gym but it it OK.

But I was singing in public last night

Lunchtime Gym Session

Aargh, I had another gym class, again a few women told me that they can see how much better I am getting, but still doing that down and up stuff really felt uncomfortable. It is easier to get up that it was last week but still too scary

Trick/Treat

And some Trick or Treaters arrived, knocked on my door looking very scary in costumes etc. I gave them far too much cash as I have no memory of a Trick/Treat knocking on my door before

Iechyd Da

And we are off to Caffi Iechyd Da (noisy link) tonight. Me and Alex are gonna sing Blowing In The Wind (noisy link too) and I have a limerick to perform too

Oh my good lord. Various folk praised me for being in tune the whole time, just WOW

And more to the point Alex had to stand up and play guitar so he didn't have a microphone. I was the only person singing thru a microphone

That Place

So me & Alex went to Trysordy and I did a lot more computing work. I think I have finished about ⅔ of the entries, I should finish in another 2 or 3 weeks

Solitaire

‎And it was the third game before I won s'morning - the third game‎.   

written on my BlackBerry 10 smartphone

Gareth Pleased

And Gareth told me today that he had just had a txt from his business partner who had had to send the HDD off their business PC to Scotland where for about 300 quid a chap managed to find all their billing data etc. I told him, and he said "Yes, obviously", to back up the new HDD every day

Aargh

And we went swimming today, and it was half term so really busy. We couldn't get the proper double disabled changing room as it was busy etc

Trip Out

And we had to go into Carmarthen to Poundstretchers to buy a new battery for my switching off the light device. Which we did, we found some, a box of five of which only 2 are the right size. They didn't have any other way of buying it, we needed the right size so now in the spare battery drawer there is a box of 3 dunno what they will be for ones

In A Bit

Off to see Sam(antha) in a bit, which I am pleased about, but she is gonna have to make me do stuff that I haven't managed for 11 years which is pleasing too but a bit scary

Gosh. Well I saw a woman who hasn't been there for 3 weeks and she commented on how much more able than I was 3 weeks ago. Gosh, dunno but I must be getting better, she wasn't the only good comment I received today, so....

And I did that "getting down" thingy with Sam again, talk about a lot easier than I few weeks ago....

Quiet Day

And me and Gareth have got hardly nowt on today, so we will nip to Morrison's after lunch (when I have finished last weeks edibles) and get some more

Hurricane

And the weather seems faultless ATM (11.45PM) - no rain and not even a noise from the garden so I think it is windless. Wait and see....

Calm before the storm?

Apparently it is more hitting England now, Wales will be OKish....

And it missed us entirely, no wind, hardly any rain etc

Tart

And at lunchtime I got out the box containing the last piece of Apple Tart that my parents had shared with me and presented it to Timmy. He said "No ta, you eat it" Which I did, happily

Strange Memory

So Mum was over here and the news was talking about Prince George being christened. I said "I have a strange memory of names, Charles Philip Arthur George" and she said "Ah yes, Prince Charles names"

So I can't remember a year before my accident but do remember important stuff like this

Peace And Quiet

Then my parents and brother came round for an hour and talked about how my life will improve now.

Then they headed off to Bristol then flying to Belfast later, just before the hurricane hopefully

Whoops

And whoops. So s'morning my toothbrushing timer was still showing summer time. A closer and closer look found the small switch to actually change the time

Changing Time

So I need to change clocks tonight.

My PC - no automatically, my iPad - no automatically, my bedside clock - no automatically, so all I actually need to do is my wristwatch

Having just been into the bathroom I can increase my count of clocks that don't need resetting, my timer for toothbrushing says time most of the time and doesn't have a change time button

ReLearning More

And because I was talking to my brother and parents today I learned that I wasn't in 2 care homes b4 here I was in 3. I started off near Swansea, then I moved across to a brand new place where I shouldn't have been for long but they said "Potential, how has he been looked after?" and kept me there for longer, then finally to the place that I have most memory of.

Once he told me looking at pics of the second place does bring back some memories but I have no recollection of being in the first place

Parenting

So my parents (and bruv) came up before lunchtime, we nipped to the market and didn't spend too much of parents cash. Then they went off and had lunch and me and Ed came back here, had lunch then I did the bath/nap ritual. After I woke up they came back, ate some apple tart, then we went off and had a delicious dinner(1) at the pub up the street

(1) I had a nut roast which I used to be able to make but I haven't eaten one for 11 years and I can't even recall how to make it but it was lovely, with goats cheese on top too

They have gone now and are gonna come back in't morning and head off to Bristol at lunchtime and take a plane home

And they have been here because I won!!!

Oui

‎I won(/quiet.now.Neil)

written on my BlackBerry 10 smartphone

VBG

"So it's a bit disappointing not being able to brag but I won my case"

I've Won!!!

Good lord, what a stressful day. Denyse (my case manager) and some
Financial Wizard chap came to see me s'morning

They talked it through with me but basically what they were saying was
"You've won your case"

Now, seems strange to me but I do approve, they haven't said "Right
Neil - here's 75p for you for ever" but they have looked at my expenses
(my staff etc) and basically said "Here's £2.30 a year, for that and to
keep you in style, paid to you every year" so I can't brag about how
rich I am but can relax, some money will be paid to my deputy every year so I'm set up for life. So it's a bit disappointing not being able to brag but I won my case

<sings and dances with relief at last>

Not Volunteering

And we didn't go to Trysordy  s'morning as life is a bit too hectic.

Erm....

Well, my parents are coming here s'afternoon. They have to meet various solicitors etc s'morning and then they are coming here to take me and Freya out for dinner

Well they came and we saw them. It was OK, apparently they think that might be the last meeting as the process is coming to an end

No RHS

‎And I couldn't do one side tonight as Timmy had to finish cooking and therefore serve food

written on my BlackBerry 10 smartphone

Wimming

And we are off swimming in a bit - my favorite part of the day

And it went OK, we actually got a changing room with 2 showers etc

And I didn't have to do too much as they were demonstrating, so I had to do a bit of this followed by a bit of that

Sorted

And for a number of days I have had instructions for a really long winded and difficult way of adding "tags" to pictures, descriptive terms that search engines can find. I thought "It can't be this hard", remembered to ask TechnoTimmyTheBoffin s'morning and he said "Ah yes, try it like this..."

RHS again

:)

Right Hand

See being able to wrap the towel around my ‎ right hand side by using my right hand... it might not sound very important to you but it is to me, I am getting better

written on my BlackBerry 10 smartphone

Aargh

Well, I had to ask Timmy for some big computer assistance but it all seems fixed half an hour later

Basically I didn't know why my email wasn't working and I still don't but Timmy The Boffin fixed it

RHS

‎Well I remembered s'morning

written on my BlackBerry 10 smartphone

Sigh

So I am off to do that down/up thing again with Sam in a bit

And gosh it was still "Don't try thisy" but in the once I did it it was easier than last Friday which was in turn easier than last Tuesday.

A pattern seems to be emerging

Forgot

Aargh, I forgot entirely to transfer my food with my right hand, as it looked so delicious I was a bit excited so completely forgot

Doctors

I went to see the Doctor today.....

Again

And I got my food from the pusher and back with my right hand again.

VBG

Sara-ing

And Sara came in today and repeatedly gave me the same advice about walking, hopefully it will sink in in the end. We discussed FES and my Bioness etc too

Crosswording

And me and Gareth got stuck into the Guardian quick crossword last night and completed it. 100%

RHS

I managed to set my trolley to the right hand side of my table again s'morning. My bowl of muesli was heavy but I managed it.    

written on my BlackBerry 10 smartphone

(link to yesterdays first time)

Out&About

‎So me and Gareth nipped out and drove about until we found a shop that sold ice cream tonight, as it was getting dark

written on my BlackBerry 10 smartphone

Aargh

And my BT account wasn't working, either my email or my BLOG, but in the end, after a couple of hours being as grumpy as sin I made it work again

Ooh

And today for the first time in 12 years I put my tray to the right hand side of my table and passed empty plates onto it‎ with my right hand

written on my BlackBerry 10 smartphone

Using It

Then later I cooked pizzas for tea which were as delicious as I have come to expect. But as a new tube had to be opened today I was using my new tube squeezer and it seems to work well and leave no mess.

So :)

And it works properly, almost no left behind etc etc

Shopping

And we went to town to pick up loads of Listerine Mouthwash stuff and some more Xmas pressies

It Didn't Work

So gym at lunchtime didn't go so well. She did my kneeling down exercises again but they felt harder today, my Botox is wearing off, I think I need somemore.

Hoo-flipping-ray

First Thing

So first thong s'morning we nipped to Aardvark, parked putside, walked all around the shop, got some proper muesli this week and walked to the till, paid standing up and walked back outside to my 'chair

Windy

And we were watching an episode of Trumpton about Windy Miller and Windy said "We must whistle for the wind", so I whistled a brief tune and then they repeated the same tune back. So I can remember how to whistle for the wind even after all my injuries etc‎

written on my BlackBerry 10 smartphone

Out

And we hadn't planned to but now we are all going out to Cafe Iechyd Da to watch a band of chaps who are at school with Freya‎

written on my BlackBerry 10 smartphone

Gosh, the first hour was a couple speaking to each other in Welsh, just talking so it was a bit dull but when the band came on they were very good. All sung in Welsh but well good playing etc

Voluntary Work

So me and Gareth nipped up the road to Trysordy where I did more entering members data into their PC

Warm enuf

So weather was supposed to be turning wintry this week.‎ Which is why I had to take off my fleece tonight, and I checked the radiators, no heating hadn't  been on tonight

written on my BlackBerry 10 smartphone

Later

So then after their meeting and lunch me and Paul went out looking for another cheap Persil, ie not from Morrison's or Tesco. We wanted summat else too but that shop was shut

Weather's Changed

So when "they" all arrived s'morning it was windy and pouring with rain. By now (when they are still sat in't kitchen)  there is a cloudless blue sky and almost no wind

All Here

So ATM, in my kitchen, having a meeting about me there is Denyse, SmallPaul, Gareth, Alex, Ed, and Timmy

A bit intimidating....

Nowt

And I had nowt on my diary for the rest of the day, just recuperating. So today I have mostly been sitting here listening to Timmy cleaning up the whole house, corners and all, as Denyce and others are coming for a meeting tomorrow morning

Sigh

So I had to get up extra early s'morning so we could go out and sit stationary in school traffic waiting to get past. Eventually we made it to the Priory Day Hospital at Glangwili General Hospital where they grinned at me and gave me a cuppa tea. Eventually the nurse was trying to take blood from my arm, no chance. So she tried to take blood from my other arm, still no chance. Eventually they had to take it from my hand, where she left a  small tap in so she didn't have to find a vein next time. Then they injected me with stuff, then I had another cuppa and waited for half an hour before she opened up my tap and took a second blood test

After all the scary unsettling stuff we headed into M&S for a brew and bun, and then I found the rest of my Christmas presents, so I have just about finished my Christmas shopping

Swimless

As I was trying to find an excuse not to go swimming today I was very glad when Timmy said "Oh bother, as my missus put the bag in't car s'morning I have no swimming stuff"

I am slightly perplexed as we have to go to hospital quite early tomorrow (so no gym) as I am gonna have 'short syncathen test' to test my adrenal gland etc

More Reasons To Shop At...

So instead of tomorrow like it was in my diary me and Alex nipped to Morrison's (noisy) and did my shopping. I have to think harder as I am feeding Timmy on Monday and Tuesday so I had to be extra 'best before' vigilant.

Fredumpkins

Then s'afternoon we went into town and met Freya at the bus stop from her house. She seemed really pleased to see Edwina as he hasn't been on at the same time as Freya for a couple of months. Due to Freya supposed to be somewhere else today etc she hadn't brought her stuff to stay over, och well, it was good to see her feeling good about life

And she got well into the internet later

Fixed 'Stick

So Ed came in s'morning and adjusted my walking stick as it now has to be a bit shorter as I am keeping it more upright as I walk

Aargh Gym

So then I went back to gym. I was kind of hoping that Sam would just ignore me at the back, but no chance. After my warm up exercises I found myself on my hands and knees on the floor crawling backwards.

(Can't think about it, it is such a difference than a few weeks ago)

Aardvarking

And first thing s'morning we went out and spent far too much in Aardvark. And I promised the chap who served me that I wouldn't write about his error here, so.....

Peeing

‎And tonight I had a pee b4 we went out at about 6.45, another at half time there and not another until we got home at about 11.30. Just WOW compared with this time last year

written on my BlackBerry 10 smartphone