Aerobics

And then we nipped to another hour long Aqua Aerobics class. It *is* helping me, for nearly all of it today I was standing up, not holding on, which I wouldn't have managed a fortnight ago, especially the balancing on mu right foot things......

Chopper Chopped

And Linda The Toenail Chopper came and chopped me s'morning. It looks and feels better.

And she got stuck in to that corn on my RHS bigtoe, it looks a lot less

And she commented on how I walk to open the door now. This is old hat to me now but as I only see her once in a while it is still a novelty for her. She remembers me coming to the front door in my wheelchair.....

Ooooh

Posh

Crisis For Alex

So in between building jobs etc today I heard loud crying coming from the office. I enquired and Alex said the printer wasn't handling colour properly. I said "Ink?" he said "No, someone has just changed the cartridge" but they hadn't used the expensive versions that we had to go to Tesco to buy. It wasn't seeing the ink or summat. So he did loads of PC repairing then got a new expensive Tesco's cartridge, fitted that instead and instantly that worked. So as Timmy has the same printer (and possibly brought the cheap replacement) he has a couple of cartridges to take with him and see if they work on his printer. How much should I charge him?

But it's all fixed now, so phew

'Wimming

And we went swimming after gardening and it was as much fun as usual.

But I did it and various exercises

Lordy, unexpectedly busy

So first of all s'morning MagicMark remembered to ask Alex to give him a hand and move my "growing things" container next to the greenhouse, while there were 2 people available to lift it, then I practised walking around while Alex went in the garage and got some stuff. Then we were able to start 3 plants growing in seed pots then we will put the other 2 out in that "growing things container" later after we have taken out the dead plants from last year etc

So my greenhouse has started big style, it was only put up a few days ago....

And later, after swimming, we got stuck in again, emptying out my trug and replanting it with onions and carrots

Fark

Political correctness gone mad? If you are not on the premises we can't help you?

Link from Bruce on Ixion

B*llock Knees

So the other highlight of the day was me making spaghetti boll*ck-knees for dinner. It was rather nice and I stood up the whole time I was in the kitchen

UnSwimming

And MightyMark just came in and said "No Neil, not swimming today, there is some swimming gala on"

So we will head over and do my usual Tuesday exercises today and swim tomorrow.....

The exercises went well, I am getting so much stronger better at..... etc so quickly, I can't believe it

What A Morning

Gosh. So today Alex put up (and attached it to the house on the side) the new greenhouse <pictures to follow> that we bought t'other day. Afterwards we popped out to Wilko's and bought some grow bags, some compost and a few planting trays

LindaMcCartneyRopess

So doing my hamstring exercises every day, I have been doing them for months and my right hamstring is still fscked. OK, I can now move it an inch further back than I used to be able to but it is still  6-8 inches less movement than in the left leg. So is that my situation now, I am mostly better so just struggle on with improving the rest so slowly

Mañana

So tomorrow Alex is working again and we are gonna do some putting up of greenhouse and path so hopefully we can go and buy some soil etc etc

Cheese Sauce

And part of the dinner that Ed made tonight was various veg in cheese sauce. Which was part of my "what shall we cook tonight" list before my accident but I haven't eaten it for fscking years, but yum yum I think I may have to try it again on summat soon

Leaving

And Ed is in to work today, he started 5 years and 2 days ago and he is leaving today, this is his last shift. He is becoming a nurse from a few days away.....

But what a change he has seen in me, I was stuck in my wheelchair 5 years ago and everything else.....

HTML CSS

And Rob Bartlett sent me a link s'morning that within an hour enabled me to put a strange webpage together with different bits than I was familiar with, links in different ways etc

More "I Haven't Had That For Years" Choc

So yesterday after my Caramel experience I opened another bar of choc that I haven't tasted for years and it was equally exciting. But I am succeeding at the not eating it all at one go, I started it yesterday and have eaten about 1/8

.... With Chips

And we had our weekly treat of na'an bread pizza and chips for tea tonight and it was as delicious as a very delicious thing. Again

What A Morning

Well s'morning me and Alex kind of looked at each other and said "Lets go". Before gym we first of all popped to Wilko's, walked in and bought a greenhouse (which looks tiny packeted up but apparently it is big), then we popped to B&Q, walked in again, and had to go the full length of the shop, out the back doors, another couple of hundred yards where we found some paving slabs, which weren't too dear (just dear, not too dear). Then I had to walk back into, through and out of the shop, almost perfectly timed. 3 minutes early for my gym class after which we stuck the greenhouse (and....) in the garage, 'til Alex is back on Sunday

But Sam was praising me in gym saying how much better I am, I am unable to think like that, I have to concentrate on how much further I still need to travel but she was commenting about how I used to come to a different class in a wheelchair etc etc

Oh What Fun We Had...

And me and Alex are off to my weekly gym class today then possibly looking at some greenhouses for round the side of my house

Sort Of Aardvarking

So because I am well skint this week Timmy took me to Morrison's first and we had to walk much further than usual but we got most of our organic list. Then we nipped to Aardvark and just bought the 3 or 4 items still on my list. Timmy said "Look how much cheaper it was, that's x quid a year" but my feet ache after I had to push the trolley so far

Walking From The Loo

So as I was sat on the loo s'morning I left my 'stick by the door, a room away, and when I finished my business I just walked there, no holding on to eg sink, just walked like a proper person

Mega Cycle

So we are off to gym for my weekly mega cycle in a bit. IIRC it's 10km target.....

And it used to take me just over an hour to do that 10km. Today I finished it in 45.0summat minutes. Talk about much better.

Back To Normal

Phew, my pooh routine was back to normal s'morning......

Summertime

And it is so much warmer today. After lunch, before Aqua Aerobics I was sat out the front for a bit, in the sun reading my Kindle.

Oh happy days.....

Panic

And I have just taken off my sockings etc b4 swimming but then I remembered that we need to nip to the Drs and the chemist to pick up some 'script items beforehand so GGtGG will have to put them back on me.....

Phew. So GGtGG did the handover, had a brew then we nipped to the docs. By the time we got the script, walked to the chemist, waited in there by the time we got back there was about 10 minutes to go before that early lunch

Earwigging

And as I can hear Alex doing the handover to GGtGG and he said "The gym was impressive yesterday, Neil worked really hard"....

Early To...... Lunch

So we are having an early lunch today as we are heading over to the Aqua Aerobics immediately after lunchtime

And what fun we had. It was as much fun as usual but... Now it seems a bit strange but I can actually see the benefits of having so much fun... (/sarcasm)

Radical

And I woke up s'morning and had my pooh before my breakfast

And I didn't require a second pooh, so that paranoia seems unfounded

Chaucer

Good lord, I said a quote, someone said "WTF?" so I looked it up. Geoffrey Chaucer, The Nun's, Priest Prologue And Tales, in the prologue it is line 3277, 'But cride anon, "Cok! cok!" and up he sterte'

WTF do I know that from?

Gymtastic

So we headed to gym at lunchtime and got stuck into exercising of machines then 4 minutes on the foottrainer. It was obvious to me how much better I am getting at doing various of the exercises, even a few weeks ago I had to complain and make the weights lighter but not any more.

I still don't fscking enjoy it but I am getting better

It was nice....

So last night I was sitting in the kitchen reading when I decided to take an enormous bar of chocolate out of the drawer and eat a quarter to a third of it.

But it was so nice (I haven't had this kind of bar for at least 14 years) that the whole bar just disappeared very quickly. 

Painted

And IIRC GGtGG had been out on Saturday fixing the paintwork on the front door, where it did get damaged when I had to ride my wheelchair in and out thru it. As I am no longer in need of that hopefully the paint will stay on the door this time. I didn't check it out yesterday but I was rather impressed with his work s'morning. There are no drips of paint etc etc

Only Fools And....

Then tonight MM said "Wanna watch your stick on telly" so I switched my Amazon Fire Stick and found very quickly one of the earliest episodes of Only Fools And Horses with a young looking Rodney and a still alive Grandad and it was well amusing

Cooked

So I had to cook a veg and RSL curry tonight, and it was a bit delicious. We have enuf left for tomorrow and... and I am pleased with it. I think it was a Balti paste I used with garlic etc

To The Pool....

So we are off to do loadsa swimming (noisy link) in a bit......

And we went and did loadsa exercises. But I did notice when swimming how much more powerful my legs have become, they can well push me thru the water

No Longer Crisis Worthy

And the improvements that Timmy made yesterday seem to have (not entirely but enuf) fixed my PC

PC Crisis

So I had a PC crisis just in time for Timmy to arrive today. Basically he reinstalled Google Chrome interweb browser and McAfee anti-virus. He deleted it first then reinstalled it and generally the PC is behaving a bit better now, I can click without an ad opening etc

And it does seem better tonight, we downloaded another "clean it up" program and it seems to have helped

Biscuits/Cake

So I really wanted some biscuits or an enormous cake s'morning so I went to the kitchen and got a banananana instead.

It was nice but it wasn't chocolate cake

Rugger Buggers

So we watched the rugby this afternoon. For about 70 minutes England were well in charge, 25-0 IIRC. Then Wales got into stride, and in the end England won by 25-21 points

So near in the end.....

More Reasons To Shop At...

So GGTGG is working today, earlier he said "Morrison's today?" I said Naah then remembered that it is Timmy working tomorrow and he really doesn't like Morrison's so I said "Actually..." and nipped to Morrison's and bought the half dozen things I need

Friday Dinner

And as Timmy was here not eating my food after I shopped yeaterday I got to make a traditional Friday dinner on Friday and we had na'an bread pizzas and chips for tea tonight. I don't care how many weeks I make this, it is fscking delicious, lovely

Friday Morning Gym

So I went to my weekly class @ gym today. It was as strange as ever, possibly more so. If I am careful to keep my right knee bent slightly it doesn't hurt at all.....

Memoire

So I think my memory is improving. So I have got my inhaler chart to mark down when I have taken some, but I have noticed that my memory is correct every time I take it out, I can tell you whether or not I have had my inhaler eg tonight

Surprise Timmy

Oops, Timmy was a bit puzzled at the sight of me beginning to put my FES on tonight. "Ah" he said "Aardvark!"

And there is was at about 6pm when we arrived tonight, everything was ready and waiting...

Biking

So we headed over to gym today with a prepared drink of water because I was cycling long distance today. It took me 55 minutes to do my 10km, it used to take me over an hour

Hooray Again

And we are having an early lunch today then later heading off to an Aqua Aerobics session at t'gym so......

And it was as much fun as... But this week she had a load of different exercises for us to do - very strange but acceptable 

Dinner Tonight

So as I am cooking some form of "spaghetti bollock knees" for dinner tonight I got stuck into peeling the veg just after lunch. I will leave it in a pot of cold water while I have my bath/nap then I can get stuck into cooking it

Yes, I stood up to chop etc and even I can now smell it a bit....

And it was a bit delicious, RSL and yellow split peas in.....

〈Sigh〉

So I am off to the gym s'morning to do loadsa exercise machines, we have to bring a card full of instructions etc etc......

Double sigh. And we did it. It is getting surprisingly easier to lift heavier weights for the whole 30 lifts etc. 

Grammar

So I posted summat to ixion.org.uk today and I used a word that I knew what it means etc. I think this part of my mind has fully recovered.

The word? Inordinately 

Hoo-fscking-ray

And we are going off swimming today..... not aqua aerobics today (that's Wednesday) but proper swimming.

And I did it, 8 lengths and various exercises. It is easier just generally than it was a month ago but it still fills me with such joy

Aurora

So on the news as I was eating breakfast s'morning they said "the aurora borealis may be visible well south today...." and my immediate thought was "How can I take a picture of that".... Not that I am obsessed but.....

Isn't The Interweb Useful

I came across someone's animation today. Some people have gone to such trouble to make...... WHAT?

Bought Sum Art

And while I was in bed after my bath I sort of bought a piece of art, for less than a tenner.

WTF??

Weight Off

I have just had a bath then weighed myself. Another 3lb lighter this week. At this rate it's about a stone every 4 weeks, that will do nicely

More Reasons To Shop @.....

And we popped over and did the rest of my weeks shopping just before lunchtime. We couldn't find the blue-fscking-berries, they had moved them out onto a big display which we had passed before we were on the "blueberries" stage of shopping

Works

And when I got up s'morning my PC was still working, so much relief

Bottom

And I have just watched the first ever episode of Bottom on my Amazon FreeTV Stick.

It wasn't bad

And it worked

And my PC stopped working when we were out last night. I switched it on again about 3.30 today and it all sprang to life.

Dunno who or why but it works again. I have a few emails to catch up on....

That T Place

So we nipped to Tesco s'morning to pick up sum ink for the staff printer. And while we were there I picked up sum frozen food. Before we went in I said to Alex 'bout pushing my wheelchair behind in case I got too knackered by he said "No" for various reasons.

So I walked in the front door, right the way to the back for the ink then about 2/3 of the way across to the froze food at the other side. Then walked and paid and walked out. It actually surprised me with how far I can walk

Out To Pub

And we headed out later to my local pub and there were actually 7 people in there tonight!!!!

Dinner

And as usual on Friday I made na'an bread pizza and chips for tea.

Just yum yum

Bath

Lordy, I have just had a bath. I use one type of soap for my face and bits, another type for my armpits and a third kind for my chest and back.

3 flippin' kinds

It's Friday today....

So I will be off in a bit to my once a week gym class then later I am cooking na'an bread pizza and chips which is one of the highlights of my week....

So we went off to gym. Again without my wheelchair. So I did what Sam told me for an hour (and wanted to sing loads of the love songs on the tape to Sam)*. Then I got stuck and cycled 2km in 10 minutes

* And did try it a few times, but there were too many other folk listening....

Telly

And I actually tried and succeeded to watch summat on my new Fire TV box. I am a bit ashamed to say that after 2 mins browsing I came across a Faulty Towers episode which I did rather enjoy

Aardvarking

So we nipped out to Aardvark s'evening and Timmy thinks I spent far too much on...... 'Tis done

Mega Cycle

So me and Timmy went to gym s'morning for a mega cycle. After a third of the distance I paused for too long trying to sort out my headphones and it stopped. So Timmy took the key over signed me out and in again. I did another third of a cycle and got fed up and left.

We did realise that as GGtGG had put the FES on the back of my knees without enuf springyness that was why it was hurting my knee, so Timmy will try a replacement later

Garlic

And I had to reheat some frozen stuff for dinner tonight so I went for some cheese garlic circular thingies, they were very nice, that wasn't the issue but the fact that I could taste the garlic off them, I think I would have said "That's garlicy" if someone else had fed me with these. Now they weren't overwhelmingly strong, but I could still taste them........ dunno why, perhaps my sense of smell/taste is improving....... dunno

My Watch

After I came out of swimming pool I put my watch back on, next time I wanted to know the time it had gone, disappeared. Dunno where, GGtGG has been to look in the car, dunno where it has gone

And 3 or 4 hours later my arse was itchy, I reached behind to scratch and thought "WTF's that?" I could feel summat behind half way down my arse. There was summat that felt odd, I pulled it out of my pants and it was my watch

Early Lunch

So we have an early lunch today (half an hour/an hour before normal lunchtime) to give it a chance to get out of our tummys before a just after lunch time aqua-aerobics class

And it was as much hard work as usual but I did it. The tutor commented on how much better I was being than GGtGG

Stormy

While I was starting my breakfast it was all stormy, wild wind and rain. I finished my muesli and started paying attention again and the wind has almost entirely gone and the rain has gone too

About Fscking Time

I have been trying and failing on and off since breakfast time s'morning, I have just sucked seeds, it's after 9 o'clock at night

Dinner Time

And for dinner tonight we are having 1 portion of curry and 1 portion of bollock-knees. Should I just mix them or use 2 pans to heat it?

No, neither. Alex had brought with him loadsa leftovers from home which he had with a packet of crisps for tea. So I ate one tonight and I will eat t'other in a couple of days when Timmy is here with his own food

Off Out

And after my nap we are heading to Wilko's to look for some (organic) seeds to plant in my new (soon) greenhouse.

While I am there I may as well pick up sum cheap mouthwash & chest washer etc

And we went, got soap goods, went looking, looked all the way along the seeds aisle and the next, no, there were no organic seeds. So we came home, on Ebay, a seller that Alex used last year and purchased 5 bags of organic seed

(sigh) More Exercises (/s)

And before my bath & nap today (same as every-fecking-day) I did my Linda-McCartney-string exercises

Quiet Morning....

Quiet morning....

So we'll head to gym over lunchtime and do my exercises.

And we did do exercises. Gosh, it is still difficult at times but generally so much easier than last month. My fitness and strength are both getting on so well

And Alex took another load of photos of me, that we will add to the "instructions" leaflet

Scary Incident

So coming back from the pool today I left my camera in the glove box of the car, where it had been left while @ pool. Later on I opened the back door, down 2 steps, walked the 3 steps to the car in the rain, got it and came back. I stepped back indoors wiped my feet carefully and wiped the bottom of my walking stick. I took 2 or 3 steps off the rug and suddenly my 'stick, which I was leaning on, dived off to one side, objecting to the pressure and slippery water. I didn't fall over, caught myself and set off more carefully

My balance is so much better these days...

UberBlack

From a post on Ixion from Roger Collier

'Wimming

And we went swimming. Oh what fun we had. I did 2 lengths with nowt on my feet and 4 with flippers. It was much easier

But we did meet an old friend of mine on the way in, Alex. He did comment that last time he saw me I was stuck in a wheelchair. Not walking like today 

Worthy Of....

Harry Potter, apparently

Similar, but different

And an article in The Guardian today got my heart beating. Yes, it is a case different to mine but the similarities made me wanna cry

Better

And Timmy, who hasn't been here since last Wednesday, was putting the cream on my armpits s'morning and said that it is working, it all looks loads better.

Still slightly infected but loads better

My Ass

So most of the time my ass doesn't hurt but eg when I sit down in the car or roll over in bed summat presses and it hurts loads.

Lordy but I had a big injection in there a few days ago

Playing

And I won a game of pool s'evening

Walking About

So we headed into Carmarthen s'afternoon, parked across the road from Aardvark and set off up Blue St then Llamas St then Mansel St. Towards the end I heard a 6 year old boy say to his mum "Why is that man wearing an eyepatch?", I shouted across to him "Because I am a pirate, be scared" but he shouted back "No, you have a walking stick, not a gun". So yes, he saw through me

Mansel St was well uneven, bits up and down I had to really concentrate but I did it

Sunday Morning...

So we nipped to Morissons and did my weekly almost buy no food, buying blueberries, na-an bread and bugger all else.  We also paid on my other card for sum bleach etc for the staff to use

Nurse

And Ed (who is working his second last shift today) told me that he passed all the college stuff (he got a 2:1) and he is now a proper nurse!!

And he announced when he was leaving that he will cook the meal for us on his last day here...

Ouch

And my arse still hurts from that injection yesterday. Not all the time but if I wriggle into a certain position where there is contact between my wound and the outside world then it hurts like flip

Rugger

So we are watching Italy vs Scotland first, to see if Scotland can't loose every game again.

Then l8r today we are catching up with England vs Ireland. Again to see if anyone can catch up with Wales who are top of the table ATM

No, I didn't catch the 2nd match I was having a bath/nap etc. But the wrong team won so I am not very bothered about catching up

Gymming

Then afterwards we drove straight from the chemist to gym and did my weekly class. It was slightly harder work than usual with a throbbing arse but I got stuck in and did it

Jabbing

So we are off to the Docs s'morning to have my 3 monthly testosterone jab and we phoned s'morning and made another appointment half an hour later to see a doc and get new cream for my armpits. The cream we got a month ago hasn't worked

Right. What a morning. So first thing we drove to the Drs and saw a nurse type person who jabbed my arse. Ouch. But she did say that in 3 months when I have the next jab it will be a different juice, hopefully much smaller than she had to inject me with today.

Then we waited at the Drs for about 8 minutes then we were called in to see the doc re my armpit infections. So she had a look and gave me a different cream and some soap stuff just for my 'pits, normal soap for everywhere else and this to wash my pits. AND she said "Stop using deodorant at all until this is better"

Out

And we went out tonight to Club Iechyd Da

And it was well busy (so just as well I insisted on being too early as we got a good seat) and just full of very talented players/singers. Very very impressive

We took my wheelchair which was pushed there, and was there so I could sit on it, I walked to the bar/loo and back to King St to the car afterwards

Walking

And as Denyse was here s'morning I asked her if I was doing right walking stickless. Unexpectedly (to me anyway) she said "No". Apparently as I am unsure etc my right leg stays much straighter etc. So I am looking better with my stick. For now

Washing Up

And after lunch today I did the washing up as we are going out to play at Caffi Iechyd Da tonight

OK, not play, spectate

Cut

Now because GGtGG is working a double today and tomorrow before Ed the hair cutter is working on Sat, he is gonna try cutting my hair so Ed can criticise him etc. As Ed is leaving next month so it may be GGtGG's duty so he can check it over.

BUT as I will be at the Drs for a jab tomorrow followed by my gym class etc we better do it today. So soon....

Off Topic

So Denyse is coming here today to do some OT work with me. (Off Topic, or Occupational Therapy) Dunno exactly what this implies, I will find out soon

And she was here talking just generally about how much better I am getting and how I need to start "getting a life" etc. And she also talked about what I can cook in case I had forgotten 

Kindle

And I have just finished the book that I have been reading on my Kindle for the last 10 days/fortnight. I was reading The Galapagos Incident and I really liked the SF tone.

I have got another Adrian Mole (noisy link) book to start tomorrow which I am rather looking forward to....

Walking About Stickless

Last night I had just left my 'stick at the other side of the kitchen, and today I went out of the front door with my 'stick held up in my right hand off the ground and walked (more slowly than usual) all the way across the front of the house and around the corner to my car door. All the way

Aqua Aerobics

And we headed off to gym s'afternoon for this. It was as much fun as last time although we did less of the walking forwards with a held in front oblong float which proved so difficult last time

Electrical Cleverness

So Clever Timmy came in s'morning. First of all he had to reconnect my PC to the ethernet connection which is much faster etc.

Then he had to try plugging in the Amazon Fire TV connection that me and Alex had failed to connect at all. He got that working so now I have loadsa channels/programmes/films to watch

Then he got stuck into mending my TV (the one that had just had the Fire TV connected) to make it make sense, where is BBC1 etc

Chicken Dinner

And today, for the first time this year, I have actually finished all this years games, won*them. The 2nd January game was proving a bit tricky but I finally won it s'morning