Viral attack!.

Self diagnosis can be a waste of time.
Tired of the my cough, I phoned the surgery to request antibiotics.
The doctor phoned back and made an appointment to see me at 10.00am as antibiotics are not prescribed without  examination.
Fair enough.
He actually saw me at 10.45am, lungs were OK, cough caused by a virus, so prescribed a bottle of cough jollop.
The surgery dispensary didn't keep it.
Unable to park, I drove around Coleshill twice, then parked on the Co-op car park, to find that Lloyds Pharmacy didn't keep it.
I eventually tracked a bottle down at the other Lloyds 'shop - why do they need two shops in such a small town?
By the time I'd popped into Morrisons to buy some fish for tea, it had taken two hours of my life.

It has been a cold, damp day.
Highlights include washing everything off the bed and line "drying", including the electric blanket.
This was to signify a return to full health.
I hope that it works.

I hope to get into the garden tomorrow and use some energy tidying up.
I'm then going to the hairdressers for a transformation, before going to dinner with friends.
I've eaten too much chocolate this evening.
It was 75% cocoa and scrummy.
I just ate too much.
 

Cough, cough, cough.

Aj and I gave our coughs an airing today with a trip to Warwick.
We pottered around the shops, dodged a pretty severe hail storm and had a snack in a little tea room - "Wylies" - up an alleyway next to the architectural  kitchen shop and  - really good and homemade.
We visited Waitrose in Kenilworth on the way home and bought some fish for dinner and had our free newspapers.
We picked up some bric a brac from friends en route home, ready for the sale in the Village Hall on 5 May.
I must sort out the other donations that are in the factory, whist there's plenty of room in the dustbin.
A gentle day, with a lot of coughing still.

Does Yvette Cooper aggravate others or just me?
Is she even worse than Ed?



 

"Morning Glory".

Jacqui Lawson cards sent me their latest e card yesterday -  a rather charming humming bird taking nectar from a flower, entitled "Morning Glory"
I forwarded it to a number of friends with an uplifting message.
I have had a number of odd replies and am now aware that this was a poor choice.
Whoops!

Aj and I are both well dosed on cough mixture, which has enabled us to have a bracing day out, returning stuff to Knowle and collecting my mobile phone from Solihull.
There was a long wait in the phone shop, the assistant put my Sim card back in, but it takes more than that to make it work, I now know.
As I've been without my phone for a month. since it died whilst on the cruise, I'm sure that I 'll manage a little longer.
We had coffee in Pret and pottered around the shops for a while - all very relaxed - still home  in time for a late lunch of soup and "Escape to the Country".

I've ordered wallpaper samples to narrow down the search for wallpaper for the kitchen - Sanderson or Morris are both in the running  - sunny and floral, trailing!
As I don't intend to decorate again until I'm 82, the cost will be well spread out.

There seems to be little uplifting in the news tonight, one can't even claim to be dyslexic any more

1. (dyslexia is an anagram of "daily sex" - a fact pointed out by a fellow passenger on Discovery, last year. Don't ask!)

 

Petite dejeuner.

Aj will pull through!
She requested "sausages" for dinner last night and devoured two of M&S's best "Butchers' Pork sausage" (I have not noticed the "Florists", "greengrocers" "fishmongers"... sausage, yet), in French stick with fried tomatoes.
This morning she has eaten an almond croissant, leaving a small crust, "to avoid calories".
We'll go for the up and dressed and a trip to Coleshill, later.

J and Th were on good form yesterday - Th beat me at indoor football, by a narrow margin.
J is playing the cornet in a schools' concert at Warwick arts Centre this evening - very exciting.
I was home by 7.30pm as I stopped at M&S to buy the aforementioned food and in Knowle to pick up some paperwork to help prepare a sermon for "Womans' World Day of Prayer" on 7 March.
This year's country is Egypt - at least I've visited this one a few times.

We are both coughing far too much - aj much more disgusting than me.
A mild, bright day - perhaps I'll get into the garden to relocate some of the piles of leaves that have blown into the nooks and crannies.
Bell ringing tonight.

Liberation Day!

We have moved mountains this weekend.
B conned me into putting on new jeans and sweater on Saturday morning, ready for a visit to Solihull, to sort out my mobile phone, which had "died" on day 5 of the cruise.
Bacon sandwiches downed, by the time I reached the back door B was in the field, taking down goat fencing.
4/5 hours later the field was cleared  so that there is a view of just grass and trees and I can walk from one side to the other, unimpeded, for the first time in 23 years.
Carrying on the good work, we cleared the yard by the stables of goat paraphernalia - crates, boxes, boards, sheets - then took down the tarpaulins, which have been flapping there in order to conceal G's dead racing car (recently removed), the mower and various tat, since P and A's wedding, twelve years ago.
The Christmas tree ignited the bonfire, which went on to remove all traces of residents who have moved on.
We topped it off with the large settee from the conservatory - flame retardant covers didn't put up much of a fight!
Finally, we cleaned and moved the egloo and B made the run a new waterproof cover.
I am delighted with the result - the whole site cleared and tidy, mower in the laundry and kids bikes in a stable.
All that, and we were in Solihull, smelling a bit of bonfires, I guess, by 3.3opm!
B went home, I walked the Pear's dog, changed and went to friends in Knowle for dinner, leaving aj by a big fire, with tissues.
With some friends of a certain age the talk seems to turn too readily to health problems - not mine!
A sad sign of the times, I suppose.

Yesterday I took the services at Sh and OW then "vegged out" with aj by the fire as the weather was so cold, wet and windy.
Aj seems to be much better this morning - she hasn't eaten or dressed now for 8 days, just slept, coughed and blown her nose when awake.
Cold and grey out there again - Solihull school run to do this afternoon.


 

A slight improvement.

Aj has at last woken up - 11.00pm, so the snoring has been replaced by coughing.
She has been sitting by the fire since some early hour, pre-dawn, but has taken a little sustenance so may be on the mend.

I was up early as well as M&S delivered the large settee at 7.30am.
It's really nice, unfortunately it doesn't match it's partner - slightly darker and a different texture.
After a couple of phone calls, all is sorted out - they will make the correct one to deliver in 6/7 weeks and then take this one away.
Life's never simple!
The BT engineer came at 9.30am.
The broadband had mended itself some time yesterday, but he checked everything, removed a filter, and proclaimed it A1.
It was a beautiful, sunny morning and dried all of the washing, so we have lovely clean beds tonight.
B is here - steak, jacket potatoes and stir fried vegetables for dinner, cottage pie for AJ, special request.
She did eat a little.
Busy day tomorrow, out to dinner and Sunday's sermon to finish.

Foreign flu.

Aj's bug must be one not previously encountered as she seems unable to shake it off.
Now suffering for five days, sweating, coughing, sneezing and snoring, though not necessarily all at the same time.
I know that it's serious as she's not really eaten since Saturday, although I did persuade her to eat a slice of the chocolate cake that I made for a meeting here tonight.
I seem to have the cough and lethargy, but not too bad.
I have achieved little today, apart from looking after chick and posting the gas and electricity meter readings to Scottish Power - only £36 in debit, which can't be bad for February.
Being frugal with the heating and scant use of the cooker, dishwasher, washing machine and iron has paid dividends - doing less housework and wearing layers is the way forward!
Hopefully, tomorrow will be a healthier day.

Happy Birthday KP.

I'm sure that KP and T have had a brilliant "Harry Potter" day.
I hope that you have all had a better day than aj and me.
I have come down with aj's bug and, after letting chick out for the day, I went back to bed and slept until 2.00pm.
aj is still in a bad way, not eaten all day and eventually given up and gone back to bed.
Hopefully, tomorrow will be a little more fun.

The force of "Gravity".

Perhaps it's a technical triumph, but it's totally unbelievable, miserable and boring.
"12 years a slave" is miserable and gruesome, I'm told, so I shan't be seeing that.
I recommend "Pholomena", which sounds fun.

J and Th to play with today - first day of half term, and aj in bed , ill, refusing most food, in fact asleep most of the day.
I have persuaded her to come and sit by the fire for a couple of hours, wrapped in a duvet, so she may sleep tonight.
The weather has been miserable - cold and wet.
Every time we planned to go out the rain came down again, even the chicken didn't want to come out.
We've played "Connect 4", "Harry Potter lego game" (I lost), made shoe box shops and scones for tea.
Excitement of the day was when Th locked himself in the downstairs toilet - rescued when he managed to remove the key and pass it under the door.
A lesson learned.

I think that I have aj's bug - I'm about to get in a round of Lemsips - we know how to have a good time!

BAFTA judging.

We watched a number of films during the holiday, some good, some indifferent and then those nominated for a BAFTA.
"The King's Speech", "Les Miserables" and "Quartet", I had seen before and enjoyed watching again.
"Wikileaks" was interesting if a little dark - Benedict Cumberbatch was unrecognisable/brilliant.
"The Butler" and "Captain Philips" (Tom Hanks as a US merchant ship captain stormed by Somalian pirates), were goo.
"All is Lost" ( Robert Redford almost lost at sea, taking an eternity to be saved, not a lot of dialogue when only one character, just the odd f.....) and "Gravity" (George Clooney and Sandra Bullock lost in space) were absolute tedious garbage.
Amazingly, these last two are in the running for BAFTAs - we're just glad that we didn't pay to see them, just whiled away a couple of hours on sea days.
it seemed longer!

Today is glorious, warm and sunny.
I've been to church and caught up with friends, leaving germ-ridden aj in bed.
I've been to Coleshill to buy papers, had the post church cappuccino, which was delicious and we are vegging in the lounge, in the sunshine, with the papers and TV.
Disgraceful!

The field is still very wet, but no puddles, the electric fence gone, I haven't looked further, yet.
Lots of planning for the next few months with friends, family and church events.
Shorter term, the eggloo needs cleaning out and moving - an apt name!

 

We're riding along........

or rather, we were......
Aj and I have just returned from a 17 day cruise on the Med, on the P & O liner, "Oriana", a holiday won by aj somewhere or another.
Thanks, P & O.
We have had a great time - good company, masses of entertainment, a good cabin, interesting ports and great food available all day - breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, 5 course formal dinner then cocoa, Horlicks and snacks served in a snack bar on deck 12 until 2.00am

We stopped in Lisbon, Malaga, Marseilles, Genoa, Civitavecchia, Valencia and Gibraltar.
Marseilles was a bit disappointing but it was a wet, cold day and we really only saw the shopping streets and road works galore.
The other stops were all very attractive, especially Valencia, Genoa and Gibraltar.
Free shuttle buses were laid on when necessary to take passengers to the town centres and we had full days almost everywhere thanks to good planning by the Captain and high speeds overnight.
Photos to follow.

We were due to spend 3 days sailing back to Southampton from Gibraltar, docking at 8.30am today.
As we were between storms, we actually sped across the Bay of Biscay, arriving in Southampton at 3.00pm on Friday, a couple of hours before the storm arrived that caused a great many problems.
As it was we were unable to dock in the usual quay due to the rough weather - force 10/11 winds and rough seas.
The liner in the next berth - Oceana - had been waiting to set sail for two days, unable to sail due to the storms, so we were very lucky.to have had such an able captain.

We visited B, E, T and KP on the way home - the house transformed into Hogwarts for KP's b'day party this afternoon. Brilliant!
Aj has come home with a cold - sleeping  in front of the fire, under a blanket.
Time for bed! 

Sun, sand and sangria.

The house minder is well settled in with his trusty hound - a beautiful springer spaniel called "Marvin".
Hope he doesn't eat the carpets - M that is, not B.
Aj and I are luxuriating on the "Oriana", presently docked in Malaga.
We spent Saturday in Lisbon after two days at sea, including crossing the Bay of Biscay, which wasn't bad at all.
We caught up on our exercise by tramping the streets for about six hours, taking in all of the major sites, a few shops and McDonalds for wifi access on my phone whilst we drank coffee.
Neither I nor the youngsters at the next table could get a connection forms, so I gave up - the on board connection is s l o w and very costly.........otherwise, the ship is fabulous!
Pretty good cabin, great atmosphere and wonderful food.
We have used the gym on sea days and circuited the Promenade deck at speed.
Our dining companions are delightful and we have lunched with a variety of interesting people, including a pro am golfer who takes great delight in our "brummie" accents!

We have pounded the streets of Malaga today in the sunshine, a small town with a holiday feel to it but no pale lilac tee shirts (I forgot to bring one to wear under my purple, beaded velvet jacket)

Some amazingly low prices in the shops, especially shoes and clothes.
Day at sea tomorrow then Marseilles on wednesday.

Done on Aj's I pad......slowly!