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

K was in a state of shock last night when she received an unexpected phone call from her Dad inviting her to accompany him this morning on a rare outing together. It must be at least two months since he took her out anywhere. She was so shocked and surprised that it set off one of her ‘choking do’s’ as she calls them. (blames these occurrences on having a small narrow throat though I have never quite fathomed out how she has arrived at this diagnosis seeing as she can neither look down her own throat to compare it with others, or measure its width in any meaningful manner, and despite being small and narrow if she is correct, it still manages to allow the passage of vast amounts of food.)

As our pumpkin container for any treats intended for any Halloween revellers was rendered only half full owing to our need to test the safety of all the contents, she has been given the task of buying some more spooky looking sweets to fill it to the brim whilst out in town with her Dad. I instructed her to get more of the same if possible, chocolate, marshmallow type sweets and jellies. What she will actually return with is anyone's guess. They will no doubt be paying their favourite ‘help yourself to as much as you can eat’ restaurant Jumbo’s a visit for lunch.

He (being my ex husband and of course K’s Dad) has been informed that he needs to lose two stone before his consultant will operate on him, but the likelihood of this operation ever taking place is to be honest very slim indeed owing to the fact that like his daughter, my ex loves his food. Or should I say, he loves any food that is bad for him. (Please don’t enquire of me what exactly this operation is for because as we are no longer together, I only receive snippets of information about it from my various sources, and other than hearing that he has something that his surgeon states that he has never EVER seen before in his entire career, I haven’t a clue what the needed operation is for or what is is intended to correct)

I finished up toddling down to town myself in the end as in my email inbox this morning was a calendar alert that tomorrow is my sisters birthday. She was here last night. Visiting. I had forgotten all about it. (As a rather lame excuse, I shall blame my lapse on all the excitement of Halloween)

I have a lousy memory. Anyone who knows me will vouch for that fact. And yet, you would think that at my age I would have found some way of compensating for it wouldn’t you? Especially as I am so into all this new technology lark. Get your mobile phone to message you when its someone’s birthday! Get reminders to pop up on your screen on your computer! Stick sticky notes everywhere so that you can’t miss seeing them!

Get some new RAM memory installed into your brain! (I wish!)

TG

This morning we enjoyed a wonderful walk down to exercise class in the warm (yes warm!) October sunshine. The rich and vibrant colours of the Autumn leaves were made far more enjoyable during out trek to the centre by the lovely sight of sunshine shining through them making them look even more beautiful. What a glorious day and so warm that by the time we reached the centre, I was perspiring! If only it would stay like this all winter I would be in seventh heaven! My usual winter bout of SAD could take a vacation and mosey off somewhere else!

It’s difficult to know what to wear on days such as this which tend to feel quite nippy first thing in the morning  and then warm up rapidly once the sun puts in an appearance. Mind you, I always tend to put on more clothing as you can always take something off if you become too warm. Following exercise class we did our usual shopping in Tesco’s, but before returning home on the bus I took the time to take some pictures of the many varied offerings of Halloween treats in our local bakery shops, who are always quick to take advantage of any seasonal happenings to produce cakes, buns and biscuits to tempt and delight everyone. (well apart from me of course who can’t eat any of them owing to my wheat intolerance, bah!)

Which really does beg the question why I then put myself through untold misery by standing there taking photos of them all looking so delicious in the window. For my blog readers of course, who else?

We also bought our usual assortment of Trick or Treat sweets to dole out to any visiting trick or treaters who are brave enough to ring our doorbell on Halloween. We have placed them all in a soft squashy pumpkin shaped container to await our visitors. K will dress as usual in her terrifying Wolf attire in order to greet them at the door, hoping against hope that by doing so she will discourage them from ever darkening our doorstep again.

 I had been considering buying a full witches outfit complete with hooked nose, but then I had second thoughts seeing as it is only for one night and therefore I haven’t bothered. (I know, miserable so and so aren’t I?) Will leave all that to my lovely daughter who enters into the spirit (pun) of Halloween with as much gusto as if she is still a child herself. ( She will probably growl at them as she opens the door, so I do hope that there is not a small child present because it will be blood curdling and I would feel awful if they screamed and suffered nightmares.) On the other hand, K won’t be in the least bit bothered.

She loves anything like this because of her penchant for acting of course. If we do not receive any ‘trick or treaters’ then we will obviously have to devour the treats ourselves. (which tends to give K more incentive to be even more terrifying.) In addition and in the interests and safely of all children who might venture to our door, we have done a taste test already on their behalf just to check that there were no small ‘bits’ included that could possibly choke a child and that each one tastes alright. ( we are both so careful where children and their safety and taste buds are concerned.) Of course as usual whilst attempting to empty the treats into the pumpkin bag, I had to resort to using the usual scissors in order to cut open the plastic bags that contained them all.)

So. We are ready for Halloween. We are ready for the trick or treaters. We are all prepared for the onslaught. Treats ready. Wolf mask and wolf hands stashed nearby. Woooo!

TG

As my two loyal readers are well aware, we usually go down to exercise class on a Thursday morning, but as the trainers were all on a course today this was cancelled. The other unusual event we had to look forward to today was our annual flu jab booked for this afternoon at 13.55pm. Owing to this change of our usual routine, K and I spent a leisurely morning taking our time getting showered and dressed (well K did, I was also occupied with hanging out some washing and general tidying up etc)

We set off down to town at about 11.45am. It was a lovely autumn morning, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, the crisp autumn leaves were crunching underfoot, you get the picture. We passed by the yellow fence surrounding our promised new Swimming pool and were lucky enough to be able to ‘have a nosey’ inside as someone had left a door open in the yellow fence. (yes readers, this yellow fence contains a door)

All I could see though the open door were some parked cars and in the distance some piles of drainage tubes stacked in a triangular fashion. No building or foundations to be seen! Yet hadn’t we just seen an eight wheeler wagon leave the site full of soil? Hmm, I thought to myself, its as I feared! The yellow fence has been erected to hide the fact that hardly any progress is actually being made! Stranger still, three workmen complete with yellow hard hats (all matching the yellow fence) were busily doing something between the yellow fence and the wall.

In fact I have seen more activity around this wall than anywhere else. Of course my lovely daughter had to say something to them as we walked past.

“You look busy” she said innocently to the three workmen.  (Of course this remark made to the workmen simply because she has heard me state that I thought the yellow fence had been erected to disguise the fact that not much work was actually taking place behind it, and proves that you really do have to be careful what you say in front of her. She gets the additional  sarcasm from her Mum.)

 They grunted something in reply and we continued on. We landed in Tesco’s and made our way to the food counter for something to eat. I chose Shepherds pie and K plonked for Curry with rice. We looked around for a vacant table but as usual there were none to be seen. I became annoyed as usual regarding those diners who go and sit down at a table (bagsies) before getting anything to eat, usually with their trolley parked at the side of them taking up room between the tables so that you can’t get past.

‘Mothers United’ were sat down in the middle of the cafe as usual complete with their respective offspring, some occupying highchairs, one plonked in one of those trolleys with the baby seat attached (taking up room between tables) whilst the older offspring were wandering about between the dining tables willy nilly. ‘Mothers United’ are always there on a Thursday, and as there are usually six to eight mothers in total, they naturally require two full tables plus the immediate surrounding area for the high chairs, baby trolleys etc, so no one else has a cat’s in hell chance of squeezing past them.

For all I know, they might all congregate there every day, but as we only tend to go into the restaurant on a Thursday I can only vouch for their presence on that particular day. I did my usual and glowered at them as I vainly tried to squeeze past with my tray full of now going cold dinner in my hands.  We eventually managed to sit down next to a man who was currently by himself but who was waiting for someone to join him. (his wife as it later turned out.)  As we ate, we made polite conversation as you tend to do when sitting at the same table as someone else. 

Once we had finished our meal we did some shopping and then made our way up to the doctors for our flu jab. Our appointment wasn’t until 2.55am so we sat down to wait. The other people kept going in as their name appeared on the board and then quickly coming back out again. Wow! These flu jab nurses were certainly on the ball! In order to help, we took our coats off and in my case my sweatshirt as well so that my upper arms were exposed.

Soon it was my turn and of course K accompanied me. I sat down.

“Which arm do you prefer?” (Nurse with needle poised in her hand.)

“Oh my right arm please as I am left handed.” Me. “Just a sting.” Nurse.

Back up and out the door quickly followed by K who had been ‘stung’ in her right arm. Coats back on, glance at K’s watch, blast! There’s a bus due to leave the bus station in three minutes! Can we make it? Dash out the door, down the steps, run down through the underpass, down through the car park, now with our bus clearly in sight parked at the stand, along the pavement and onto the bus! Just in time! Phew!

We were both puffed out by that mad dash from the doctors, and as is usual for me I enjoyed a coughing fit all through the bus journey home. I was glad to sit down with a lovely cup of tea I can tell you! What a day! Mind you it makes a change to the usual routine I suppose!

TG

Remember everyone how I had to pick a parcel up this morning?  You know, the one that arrived during one of the rare occasions that we venture outside?   Well after K had been picked up for Day Care, I set off in high spirits to walk down to the Post Office depot to collect said parcel.  It’s quite a walk, and although the sun wasn’t shining at least it wasn’t raining . On the way there I have to walk past the area where our new Swimming pool and leisure complex is being built. Hmm that’s strange I thought to myself as I walked past, why have they put up a wall completely surrounding the build? Don’t they want us residents to catch a glimpse of it’s emergence as a building and its growth as they create it?  Don’t they realise just how long we have all waited for this Swimming Pool and how eager we are to see its completion? 

To make matters worse, they have also erected several PortaKabins, two storeys high directly in front of where the proposed Swimming Pool building is going to eventually emerge, so unless you are prepared to hire a fire engine and climb up its extended ladder to the very top, there is obviously no way are you going to be able to see any of the progress (or lack of it) as it all takes place over the coming months. ( or years)  Now I will readily admit to anyone that one of my big failings is a propensity to nosiness.  I simply have to know what is going on and once you dear reader are aware of the history regarding just how long we residents of this small town have waited for this new Swimming Pool (at least 30 years or more) then you can fully understand why as one of those residents, I feel I have a perfect right to be able to view at all times that I happen to be in the vicinity, the full construction as it takes place from start to finish so that I can see just how much progress has been made since the last time I walked past.

It has left me wondering if the firm doing the actual building is in any way concerned that they may not be able to make progress as quickly as we residents would like them to seeing as we have waited for what seems like an eternity for this new Swimming Pool to actually be built, and of course there must be the constant worry that if progress isn’t swift enough we might then consider storming the building plot placards in hand, brandishing our snorkels and rolled up towels whilst demanding that they work 24 hours a day, seven days a week until its final completion.  Or alternatively perhaps they are worried that we might all be so fascinated with the progress of the build that we  spend our entire time standing there watching every shovel full of cement and every brick being laid and every wall being erected. Why, we might even bring tents and sleeping bags so that we can camp out on the surrounding perimeter just to make sure that they begin work promptly at 07.00am and don’t stop work until its dark. (We could provide floodlights if things got desperate.)

My mind as I walked past what now resembled some sort of walled prison was working overtime. What did they have to hide? Hmm. I think this calls for a reconnoitre  into the park, and a subversive stroll along to where the tennis courts used to be just to have a nosey at exactly what is going on!  Perhaps they might have risked it and left it open on the park side. It has really fed my curiosity now and I am determined to know what is happening behind that PortaKabin wall!

TG   

The other day, in fact I think it was probably the day I was feeling really ill I made the mistake of saying I could do with some new Sloggi’s. It’s a big mistake to make a statement like ‘I need so and so’ in front of K, because if there is one thing she loves nearly as much as eating and/or sharks its spending money shopping. Not on things for me of course. This morning it was another beautiful day. The sun was shining and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Ideal opportunity in K’s eyes for some serious spending.

She get’s up. She moseys into the living room. “You need some more Sloggi’s Mum. Are we going to Matalan this morning?” she enquires innocently.  Okay, its a lovely day I think to myself, no good staying in, we’ll go. It didn’t take long for us to arrive in Halifax and we quickly made our way to Matalan for some Sloggi’s. Which is when the big spend began.

“Can I have some Mum?” Hmm. Okay, fair enough, mine have kept disappearing into her underwear drawer in the past so maybe if I buy her some I might have a chance of some of them staying in mine.  So we bought a packet of five for me and a packet of five for her. Next. I am in desperate need of some new bras. My others are practically falling apart.  I found some. Not bad, £5 each.  Put two boxes in my basket.

“ I need some new ones as well Mum.” Sigh. We have now reached the grand total  of £48. Expensive shopping  trip this Sloggi’s for Mum shopping trip is turning out to be!  But undeterred and oblivious to what was to occur later, I calmly exited Matalan and we began the walk back up to town.

“I need a new jogging suit with the money that Aunty V gave me for my birthday.” (Way back in the beginning of August.) “Have you brought it with you?” (me.)

“No, I gave it to you Mum!  Remember?  To pay the milkman?”  Hmm. Strange. This incident seems to have completely slipped my mind but as I have such a lousy memory (which incidentally K is well aware of) I resign myself to some more spending in Bon Marche. So we mosey in there and K finds yet another grey jogging suit to add to her vast collection.  She also gets a pink t-shirt to go with it. That must make a total of 1,045 t-shirts owned by my daughter. (slight exaggeration but not far off.)

Following that, we sauntered back down to Burger King for some dinner. I say sauntered but in my case, it was more like snaked my way down, because my back had begun playing up. K had the Angry Whopper meal, which she gave 15 points out of ten as she insisted it was fantastic. (and I wasn’t surprised that she gave it this  mark as judging by the contents oozing out as she bit into it, it looked to contain everything but the kitchen sink) and I had my usual chicken bites with mayonnaise washed down with a cup of tea.

We were then making our way back up  towards the bus station when something strange came over me. Maybe I was coming under the influence of my ‘money no object spend till you drop’ daughter. Maybe all this September sunshine has somehow addled my brain. Maybe I still haven’t fully recovered from the enforced fasting I had to do last week and my brain has been undernourished. Maybe I’ve just gone a little bit more gaga.  For whatever reason, I suddenly found myself in the Orange shop looking at mobile phones. In particular the Samsung Tocco lite. Suddenly I was beckoning an assistant over. I heard my voice asking him if I could use my contract sim card in this phone  because I was fed up of my LG and its battery consumption. Next thing I knew I was waltzing out the shop with a new mobile phone in a fetching black and orange bag and our bank account was now £75 less.

“I've bought you that for Christmas Mum.” stated K as I reeled in shock to the bus station. What the?  Was I going insane? I never hardly use my mobile anyway!  The only person who calls me is K!  Mind you I’ve had a quick dabble since getting home and I do like it but honestly! Have I finally flipped? Lost all sense of reality?  Lost me marbles?  I blame it on this gorgeous weather and so hereby issue a warning to all my readers. Beware!  Be careful everyone when you go out shopping on these gorgeous September days during this Indian summer we are currently experiencing!  Be alert!  Don’t enter any shops where there are any tempting products on display that you have secretly been lusting after previously!  Oh, and don’t ever be tempted to go shopping with my daughter!

TG  

Been down to exercise class this morning with K. It has been an absolutely gorgeous day here, just like yesterday, not a cloud in the sky.  No breeze at all. The Autumn fruits are all out on the Estate trees and It was a wonderfully enjoyable walk down there. It’s amazing isn’t it how a few days ago I was feeling like a wet blanket and today, I nearly danced down to town! And what prey was the miracle cure I hear my two readers cry. The tablets the doctor gave you? No. Good old Imodium Plus! Two of those and I became my old self again! The pains dissolved into just a memory! (well for now at least)

K is so pleased seeing as I had taken over her favourite parking space. (if you are by some remote chance a new reader, please consult previous posts on the subject of K’s favourite parking space in this flat, or where she tends to spend 95% of her time)  Anyway, that’s enough of that horrid subject, on to more pleasant things. We walked down to the exercise class as we always do, and as it was so pleasant outside we tried to persuade the instructor to let us all do the class outside but she was having none of it. K did her usual improvisation during the class seeing as a lot of the music that we exercise to comes from ‘Saturday Night Fever’ so we all had to endure plenty of John Travolta impressions thrown liberally into the routine.

It was very warm in the exercise room because at the same time that we are exercising the sun is streaming in through the windows, and of course because K and I walk down we were rather hot and bothered before we began. The lesson ended with the usual cool down and relaxation, and then K and I walked onto Tesco’s for a few bits of shopping. Well I say bits, but of course I mean food for K for the next few days. She bought something for today's tea for herself, something for tomorrows tea, supervised the choosing and buying of a small joint of lamb, vegetables and potatoes for tomorrows dinner, her breakfast bars (closest thing to cereal that you can get K to eat as she is not a breakfast person, and despite many years of coaxing and persuasion she won’t eat breakfast cereals of any description, preferring instead to make up for it by constant eating between the hours of 10.00am until 10.00pm)

A quick visit to the ATM for some money to pay our milkman this Friday and then we dashed to the bus station as a bus was due to go out at any  moment. Talking of buses, I have missed telling my two readers of my recent ‘brush with a bus driver’ haven’t I? I Will probably recount this tale in a later post. It has been such a pleasant day today that if only I had known how gorgeous the day was going to be weather-wise,  we might have set off somewhere instead of exercising and sitting at a computer boring everyone to tears with blog posts. I might have had something worth telling then. After all, K is gagging to pay a visit to Blackpool now that she has discovered there is a t-shirt shop there that sells a Shark t-shirt she is desperate to buy. Oh well, maybe another day eh?

TG

I’ve had rather a busy morning this morning, non stop would be a relevant and apt description. After breakfast, I decided I could no longer ignore the pile of ironing seeing as it had become so high that I had to bring out my step ladder in order to place the latest washed clothes on top of the pile,(joke) and so reluctantly assembling my trusty ironing board and my iron, I proceeded to plough my way through it all.

Whilst I was engaged in my favourite household task (not!) K finally arose from slumber, did as she always does first thing and moseyed into the lounge to peer through the TV Guide for next week so that she could set up her future recordings. Following that, she disappeared into the bathroom for quarter of an hour as she is want to do (the usual sound of mutterings and grumblings heard emitting from there during this time) followed by getting herself showered and dressed.

“What are we having for dinner Mum?” First conversation today, and of course on the usual subject.

“We’ll go down to MickyD’s if you want.” (Me thinking to myself, after working my way through this lot, I’ll be in no mood to stand slaving over the cooker, and anyway, we have nothing for me to cook) excuse.

“Bring me my purse so that I can check how much I have.” (Me)

As is usual for K, she shot off downstairs to fetch my purse and was back with it before you could blink an eye. (Explanation.) There are only four events that incite K to move like lightening and these are as follows,

   The mention of food or the close proximity of an eating establishment.

    The mention of money OR someone giving me money, as in shopkeeper giving me my change. (hand shoots out and         said change  is in her pocket before either the shopkeeper or I have had time to move.)

    Some post arrives through the letterbox.

    I get a bottle of chocolate milk out of the fridge to put on my Rice Krispies.

I didn’t have enough money! Drat! That meant a walk to our nearest ATM machine for a top up of our loose change.  Oh well, I reasoned, it was a beautiful day outside, the sun was shining and it would do us both good to get some fresh air and stretch our legs. So after completing the mammoth ironing task, we both put our shoes on, grabbed our bags in my particular case complete with camera, and set off full of high spirits only to find when we arrived at the ATM machine that it was broken.

Hmm. Remember dear readers how K hates walking, but!  That hate depends entirely on the goal at the end of the journey!  Remember, there is no way she would accompany me on my C.R.E.W walks if there wasn’t a meal at the end of it!  And so it was in this instance as to my surprise she immediately proposed that we continued to walk down to town in order to achieve the desired  aim of being able to eat at McDonalds. Its amazing isn’t it? The difference that a visit to her favourite eating establishment will invoke! (Well to be truthful, it’s not her favourite eating establishment. That honour goes solely to Jumbo’s, a Chinese Buffet  restaurant in Huddersfield frequented by her and her Dad when he takes her out for the day, where you can have as much as you want to eat until you are bursting at the seams which suits them both.)

And so we continued walking down to town. By now, I was beginning to feel a little frazzled. I had been standing ironing nearly all morning, now I was having to partake of quite a walk and my back began to give me jip. To help take my mind off it, I was busy snapping away as we journeyed along, the flowers, the trees, the library, a strange figure of a white man painted in the library grounds, anything really that caught my eye. Once we had finally withdrawn some money from the ATM outside my bank, the intention was to catch the bus onto MickyD’s  (even with the promise of a meal at the end of it, there is a limit to how far K will be encouraged to continue walking)  but….silly Mum had left both bus passes at home! Grrrr! Well, there was nothing for it but to grit ones teeth and soldier on!

Look on the bright side! I told myself, at least it isn’t raining! This time I managed to get my panoramic shot of the flower beds in the Park as well, because there were only two old dears having a natter on one of the benches that surround them, and they were so engrossed in conversation that I honestly don’t think they would have noticed if an entire BBC film crew had been filming them. We continued onto McDonalds. The service in there is getting worse every time we go in. I was the only one  waiting to be served in the restaurant area, but I still had to wait about 10 minutes before anyone attended to me. They concentrate far too much on the customers  in the drive through, and anyone waiting in the restaurant area is  left there tapping their feet impatiently whilst the staff serve the car customers. Grrrr!

K had a Summer Chicken Supreme meal (large size because I am collecting the glasses again) complete with her usual still Fanta orange with no ice, and I had a McChicken Sandwich meal (leaving out the bun of course) with a cup of tea. (Didn’t fancy my usual Grilled Chicken Caesar salad as I am sick and tired of eating salads all the time, and I am slowly beginning to turn green, crinkly and crisp)

At last we arrived home and I could sit down and rest my aching back. Good job that the weather has been lovely today. I was thinking we should go on a walk when I looked out of the window first thing and saw it was going to be nice, but that was before I had begun the ironing task, and I certainly didn’t envisage the two or three mile walk we ended up doing!  A roundabout trip consisting of a little bit more walking than planned but, nevertheless, very enjoyable. Bah! I have just realised! We needn’t have done any of it! Why?  Because McDonalds now have card machines!  Doh!  Will my brain EVER work at full capacity again? 

TG  (More pictures of our walk today HERE.)

Its been another fun packed start to the day here at the Technogran household,  kicking off as it did with the dawn chorus waking me from my slumber at 05.30am, so I took advantage of the situation, stripped my bed, washed the bedding and then noting the clear blue skies and gentle breeze  outside I saved my tumble drier from eating into my electricity bill and hung  them out on the line to dry.  Hmm, so far, so good.  K eventually emerged from her hidey-hole in the box room,  where she asked me what time I had been in the shower (for her diary in which  every little incident gets recorded and which goes some way to explaining  why I always have to buy her a huge page to a day one.)

Eventually showered and dressed, she stood in her bedroom (the aforementioned box room that has to suffice as her bedroom) talking to the door.  The door declined to reply hence the main reason why she was talking to it, no arguments.  I had breakfast (K doesn’t eat breakfast, she insists that she is not a breakfast person, but soon compensates for missing out breakfast by spending the rest of the day after 10.00am constantly eating) 

“Who are you talking to?” I enquired as I manoeuvred myself down the stairs with the bedding in the basket ready for hanging outside.

“The door of course!” came the reply as if I had asked a stupid question.  Eventually she left for day care, and I busied myself with making my bed and other exciting jobs around the flat.  Some time later I went outside to check on the washing.  Hmm, that’s strange I thought, why is there some yellow ‘sticker tape’ pasted to the next door downstairs flat?  Because we have never ever seen hair nor head of anyone who currently resides in there,  I knew I was fairly safe to wander over and take a closer look in order to read what was on the sticker tape.

Plastered across the sticker in large letters it said DANGER. GAS SERVICE OVERDUE. Cripes ! Now owing to the proximity of this flat (next door to us) this is guaranteed to cause this blog author a sleepless night as she tosses and turns waiting for the impending gas explosion to occur!  Whose brilliant idea is this to plaster these warning stickers all over the door in order to bring to the attention of the current resident that their boiler needs servicing?  Wouldn’t a simple note in large red letters pushed through the letterbox have sufficed? 

And here is the dilemma.  We have never seen anyone enter or exit that flat since some curtains and blinds appeared after the flat became vacant. What if there is actually no-one there?  Will the Gas servicemen leave them there to haunt me forever so that I can’t get to sleep in case we are suddenly catapulted though the roof?  Or will they eventually break in with a hammer and chisel (or whatever they have to hand at the time.)

Besides which, as this resident has never to my knowledge set foot outside since moving in, not even for a breath of fresh air, they are hardly likely to notice any of this stuck on their door are they? So to sum up my day so far, its been a day of doors, beginning with daughters earnest conversation with her door, followed by next doors sticker taped DANGER door. And its only dinner time!  Hmm, I’d better keep my beady eyes peeled for any more door activity for the rest of the day!

TG  (close the door on your way out please.  )