I was just thinking the other day about my very strange eating habits that kick in during the winter months. My long term readers will know that I am constantly trying to keep ‘on top’ of my weight and that I have been desperately trying to get back to some semblance of that old svelte self of my younger days.

It isn't easy as you get older. I used to be able to eat just about anything and never put an ounce of weight on, but now, just one glance at a chocolate and I am two or three pounds heavier! Apparently part of this is our metabolism which slows down with age (or so I tell myself as I stare down in horror at the weighing scales) even exercise doesn’t  seem to make any difference either or this Gran would be as skinny as a rake all the walking I do everyday and our stints at the exercise classes every week.

I had managed to get down to 10st 10 pounds before we turned the clocks back and the weight was beginning to travel in a downward direction, but as I have now realized, besides making me feel miserable winter also seems to play havoc with my eating habits as well. Despite the feeling that I don’t want anything at all to eat because I don’t feel particularly hungry, why am I constantly craving Jam Roly Poly with custard, chocolate sponge pudding with chocolate sauce or even that winter stalwart  Spotted Dick with custard?

And why the sudden urge to devour several tons of chocolate and sweets? I nearly made myself ill yesterday on our return journey from shopping when I succumbed to purchasing a squidgy mallow Xmas lolly from the newsagents where we buy our lottery ticket from. It was shaped like a snowman and made of squidgy jelly and icing sugar. I ate it sat in the bus station waiting for the bus then felt really sick on the bus journey home. (serves me right of course!)

Consequently I am now back to just over 11 stone. All of two stone overweight for my height. K isn’t much help either. I have asked her to stop me from buying any sweets, chocolate, fattening foods etc, but it seems to be impossible for her to do so. She blames this on the fact that in her words,  ‘Mum, I’m too soft’ (she means in nature I suppose) although I suspect the real reason is that it goes against her principal  belief that eating is the sole reason for our entire existence, her firm conviction that  you would immediately expire if you miss out so much as one meal,  and that you should eat anything you please no matter what  the outcome to your ever widening figure or your health. (She also got a Xmas lolly and a packet of Mars planets but didn’t eat hers until much later unlike her greedy Mum.)

 Oh well. I suppose I am resigned to this ‘must have a stodgy pudding or else I’ll go mad’ eating frenzy during the winter months and I shall just put it down to ‘comfort eating’ Trouble is, what on earth will I resemble by the time we reach Spring? I dread to think, but until then, pass me that pudding please!

TG 

For all those readers who are in the least bit interested in news of any progress regarding our long awaited Swimming Pool, read on, for the rest of you who couldn’t care less about it and are fed up to the back teeth of reading about it,  saunter off somewhere else..

Well, I am very pleased to report to my two regular readers that things have moved on in leaps and bounds since my last post about our long awaited new Swimming Pool!  Remember my last pictures?  A bleak and empty vista of not very much at all being gazed on by a bemused K, who couldn’t quite fathom what we were supposed to be looking at seeing as there was nothing there?

Despite the lousy ‘Wuthering Heights’ type weather we have been experiencing lately (which incidentally had  prompted this sceptical Granny to think that there would be hardly any progress made at all during this time) I am happy to report that despite the rain and cold winds I have been proved completely wrong and  progress has moved along at a fantastic pace!  A huge crane has been employed recently to lift and place the numerous metal frames into position which make up the frame of the building, and it is all  looking very good (although I have to confess, much bigger than I envisaged it was going to be!)

This side (where my panoramic pic is taken) is obviously going to be the entrance and I am really beginning to get quite exited about it all! (You would all understand completely if you lived in this neck of the woods, and had been Swimming Pool less for the last 10 to 15 years.)  However, I have begun to have a very sneaky suspicion that someone belonging the construction firm are actually reading my blog! Gulp! Why? What has made this paranoid old Granny reach this conclusion? Well just look at the clues.

Take a look at the pic above that I took of the site previously and note the position from where it was taken and where K and I were standing. There was a wide gap left in the fence which was ideal for a spot of snooping and ‘lack of progress’ photo shoots. Shortly after that post and photo shoot the gap in the yellow fence was promptly boarded up!  Now there is no gap left in which to take my pictures from!

However, being part of the ‘considerate construction’ group of contractors, they haven’t completely blocked me out of the equation. Oh no. The lower panoramic  picture was taken through a sort of ‘peephole’ specifically  cut out from the yellow fence and obviously provided for the nosy old git with the camera who has nothing better to do but blog about a new pool build!

They obviously have a sense of humour these builders because note the large notice placed adjacent to that peephole now. Not even a dotty old Granny like me can miss the irony. Added to that (and to both give more information AND wet my appetite even further)  they have also posted lots of pictures on the side of the yellow fence showing just how everything will look when its all completed.  The swimming pool, the entrance lobby, the ‘keep fit’ room complete with all the exercise bikes etc, and they have even posted a ‘newsletter’ next to the ‘viewing point’ notice so that nosy old Granny’s can read the latest progress updates! How kind and thoughtful is that readers?

Of course its not easy to now get an overall picture (or panoramic photo) of the entire build from the small cut out in the fence as the previous gap afforded me, but at least you can see the progress that has been achieved in such a short time. Note the stairs already in position! So. Could K and I be leaping into that new pool sometime this next year? Could our legs be cycling like crazy and pounding those treadmills in that newly completed Gym and exercise room?

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Only time will tell! Keep up the good work yellow hats on site and my grateful thanks for being so considerate and thoughtful to this snooping Gran, and please keep reading my blog!

TG 

As some of you may be aware, we sometimes visit McDonalds for a meal especially if we are out shopping. This post is my thoughts about the usual service that we often encounter there.  It was prompted strangely enough by a rare visit to Burger King on Saturday whilst out on a fruitless shopping trip for K some new trainers and afforded a direct comparison of  said service. It is written with my usual sense of humour and is not meant to be taken too seriously. You should all be well aware by now of how I love to have a good moan.

I will begin with  a summary  of what usually occurs whenever we arrive at the counter in a McDonalds to place our order.

Me. “Grilled chicken Caesar salad, a tea and a Dairy Milk Caramel McFlurry”

Member of staff serving me now takes about half an hour to find where the salads are on the menu on the till and this usually entails having to ask another member of staff who of course has to mosey over from wherever they happen to be (usually serving the much  more important customers sitting in their cars outside the service window who obviously take priority.)

Member of staff serving me,  once they have been shown by the  other member of staff where said Chicken Caesar Salad actually is to be found on the till, “Do you want Grilled or Crispy?” Sigh. (Of course it has taken said member of staff so long to find out where the salads are to be found in the till that they have completely forgotten what I asked for in the first place.)

Me. “Grilled chicken Caesar salad.”

“And what drink do you want with that?” Sigh. 

Me. “A tea. And a Caramel McFlurry.” (hoping against hope that these two items will some how be retained this time around.)

“ The ice cream machine is broken, we can’t do any McFlurry’s, Sorry. Anything else?”

Gulp. Moving on to  K’s order.

“ A chicken Legend meal please, with a still Fanta orange, no ice.” 

“Is that a medium or a large meal?”

Me. “A large please.”  I then wait for input into till from staff member, hand over the money and then remain waiting at the counter. Staff member begins to get our order.

Returns to counter. “We don’t have any Caesar dressing.” Sigh. “Do you want Balsamic dressing instead?”

Having tried out said Balsamic dressing on a previous occasion when there was no Caesar salad dressing and didn’t like it one bit I ask, 

“Can I just have some Mayonnaise on instead please?”

“We’re just waiting for the salad, you can go and sit down, we’ll bring it over to you.” Hmm. Customers ‘hovering’ at the counter seems to unnerve most counter staff for some reason.  Must think we are ‘overseeing’ our order is done properly. K and I go and sit down.

When the meal eventually arrives you can guarantee the following,

Either my McFlurry will be missing if the ice cream machine IS working,(rare) or K’s still Fanta orange will have ice in it necessitating  a get up from the seat and return to the counter to rectify. Which over many years of constant repeats of the above scenario has led  me to arrive at  the following conclusions.

In order to work at McDonalds you have to either be deaf or have a lousy memory (even worse than mine and that’s saying something) and these are the main attributes needed to be employed there. (My youngest son ought to be a McDonalds employee as he never EVER listens to anything that anyone says to him, and I have often told him that  he would be a natural behind the till.)

Alternatively the other explanation is that I am the only customer in the entire British Isles who actually purchases a Grilled Chicken Caesar salad in McDonalds and K is the only customer in the entire British Isles who does not like ice in her drink.  I have arrived at this conclusion simply because the above has occurred in nearly every McDonalds restaurant that we have ever visited anywhere in this country and that includes the one in Scotland.  Is it such a rarity that anyone orders Grilled Chicken Caesar salad that management  never bother to include it in the repertoire of training given to staff?

Why can staff never find it on the till? Is it buried so far down the menu, hidden away 10 to 20 button presses down?  And why is the ice cream machine always broken down? Why doesn’t the ice cream mechanic just simply become a permanent member of staff so that he is always available seeing as he must spend most of his day travelling to and fro in order to fix it? It would be surely cheaper to make him a bed up in the back so that he is in constant calling distance. After all, he practically lives there anyway.

And K’s still Fanta orange with no ice. Well, that’s just habit I suppose. Staff are so used to bunging those ice cubes into all the drinks (although quite where they get them from when the ice cream machine is constantly broken is beyond me.  Must be from an entirely  different machine and one that works all the time. Obviously serviced by a different mechanic to the Ice cream machine) It’s a wonder come to think of it, how I don’t end up with some bunged in my tea.

It all becomes starkly highlighted when you pay the occasional visit to Burger King as K and I did on Saturday. What a difference! Gave our order. No asking ‘did you say this, or did you say that?’ No having to repeat any part of it. Soon as the order was given, till girl went  and collected everything, every part of the order was present and correct. It was all efficiently done. Okay  to be fair to McDonalds  we didn’t actually stretch the Menu. K didn’t ask for no ice added to her drink  because it was a bottle of orange juice instead.  Nor did I  ask for a salad in order to test if theirs was also buried somewhere obscure in their till menu.   The ice cream machine was working. (Obviously they use a different mechanic. Wonder if I could persuade him to also service the ice cream machines in McDonalds as a side line?) 

TG

When I peered out of the window this morning, it was a typical November morning, frosty, foggy, damp and dismal. Hastily getting dressed I dashed out of the door, camera in hand, to try and capture it all. (Just hope that none of the neighbours happened to be watching. They all think I am ‘gaga’ as it is without seeing me dashing out into the frosty fog at 06.30am in my slippers to take some photos.)

You should just be able to make out the frost on the grass in this one.

Can you see the moon in this shot? It’s a half moon so I should be safe. Seems I am only affected by the full moon. (tarot reading a while back.) Do you think I managed to capture November and the cold and fog?

And you might be wondering where was K whilst I was busy rushing about capturing all this? Just getting up out of her nice warm bed. Good job she is used to me and my strange behaviour isn’t it?

TG

Since K returned home from respite, she has been complaining off and on about her left knee being painful. Now I know what you are all thinking. Why has it taken her mother all this time (nearly two whole weeks) to take any action on the matter? What sort of mother is she that leaves such a vast amount of time before taking her Down’s Syndrome daughter to the doctors in order to have said knee investigated?

Well I will explain.  K can tend to be a sort of hypochondriac in that if you are suffering from any ailment, she gets it as well.  Arm hurting? So is hers. Back ache? She has that too. ( I suppose a psychologist might suggest that she suffers in sympathy.) So when she declared that her knee hurt when she went downstairs, you can hardly blame this arthritic kneed mother who’s knees happen to creak and groan every time she ascends the stairs, (which K has actually heard by the way) arriving at the conclusion that she was just announcing a sympathy pain, especially as on examining the complained about knee, I could see nothing untoward.

In my defence, as any parent of a special needs child will readily tell you, it is far from easy to gather information that can help you to come to some conclusion on the matter. I had asked the usual questions. When did it hurt her? When she descends the stairs. Did it hurt to walk? No. Did it hurt to stand? No. As she also seemed fine when attending exercise class last week, I wasn’t particularly worried about it. She insisted it was Arthritis. ( Doctor K mode.)

Yesterday she began to complain about the knee more frequently, returning home with tales of a member of staff at the day care centre trying to give her some relief by applying a bag of frozen broccoli to the affected knee. Hmm. This information told me that she was obviously relating her knee problem to members of staff and not just to me!  Time for some action. This was obviously not the usual aping of Mum’s aches and pains!  I grilled her again about when this problem had first surfaced.

“I banged it on the hospital bed at the Respite Care home.” she suddenly admitted. “It knocked me sick” (this description borrowed heavily from myself when I cracked my knee against the door jamb one day whilst fetching the milk in many years ago, and very nearly for the first time in my life, passed out with the pain.)

Ahh! Now we were getting somewhere! She had banged here knee hard!  Off to the doctors today as a precaution and to let her examine the affected knee thoroughly. She asked K to lay down on the bed, and began raising it to a more suitable height. (the bed, not K’s knee.)

“Is this bed safe?” K asked in a terrified voice as the bed lifted up higher. She followed this question with another. “Will I need my leg chopping off?” (I keep saying she watches too many movies, one of which recently was ‘Dances with Wolves’ where he very nearly has his foot amputated.)

“I don’t think we’ll need to do that just yet K! “ she said laughing. (Our doctor spends most of her time in fits of laughter at us two.)  After a full examination of said knee, she wrote a prescription for some inflammatory gel to be rubbed on the affected knee four times a day, and advised K that she didn’t want her to be immobile but do some gentle exercise such as walking etc. We thanked her and left to the surgery to collect the prescription. As we waited in the bus station for our bus, I ended up making K laugh out loud when I said

“ Yes and did you notice K? She didn’t prescribe an application of frozen broccoli to be administered four times a day!”

TG

Dank, dark, dismal, drab, dripping, drops, drizzling down, soaking the fallen leaves on the ground, feet slipping and sliding, hood pulled over my head, shoes slopping, soaking wet.

Miserable faces pass me by, scurrying to shelter, traffic splashes past, soaking me. Shoes squelch, hands soaked, darkness arrives, dashing, dripping, door key desperate to get inside.

Cold, chilled, cross, cantankerous,cursing winter. Cold creeps through to chilled bones, aching back and creaking knees.

Wailing winds whistling wildly through the trees, bending, bowing,blowing, whipping up the fallen leaves, wailing at my window.

Hurry Winter and be gone, I won’t miss your passing.

TG

Just a quick note to all my friends on Windows Live. I will not be around much for the foreseeable future as I am entering one of my contemplative, no one likes me, everyone has gone off me, can’t be bothered to post,  tearful phases, and so as usual I would rather not post when I am feeling this way.  It’s awfully quiet on here anyway, so probably I won’t be missed much.

As some will be aware, I do go ‘off’ during the winter months, its par for the course, and akin with that I never feel like doing anything much. Hope that you don’t all forget about me before the Spring arrives. Of course if my mood does happen to lift for a short time, then you might get some sort of effort but I can’t promise anything.

I shall be trying to continue with my Newbie’s help posts in the Clubhouse, but even that is becoming a chore at the moment.

Sorry to waffle on about myself and how I feel at this time, but just didn’t want you all to wonder where I was.

TG