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Although we have had people and family call in this year, today was the first day of 2023 that we entertained visitors!! And how lovely it was that Dave and Chris, and George and Sue came for a fish ‘n chip lunch and a bit of cream tea.

We had a really nice time. When it was first suggested, I wasn’t sure how we’d be, but George had said ‘no catering’, so he treated us all to the fish and chips at lunchtime, which meant that all we had to do was serve cups of tea and coffee, glasses of wine and prosecco, and conjure up some scones and clotted cream for tea. Lush, eh?

The Halls and Waterfalls: here they are enjoying the attentions of the cat-of-many-lives……

It is so wonderful to be among dear and long-standing friends. The conversation turned to when we’d first met and our weddings. Dave and Chris are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this year. Yikes!! Who’d a thought it?

Naturally, we spent all afternoon chattering our heads off and when it was time for the guests to go home, we were still debating this or that subject, even as they went out of the door! We had a smashing time. Tired now though.

Our day had started early with a trip to the hospital to get a check up on my eye. I was marginally disappointed in that it actually turned out to be simply a scan. Apparently, they are so busy with referrals that they’ve started a new system of the patient coming in and being scanned, before the scan is then reviewed by the consultant. At that point, s/he makes a decision as to the priorities and who will be seen soonest. I’m not holding my breath.

John dropped me off at the door of the ophthalmology unit and went off to get his blood tests. I was in and out in no time and so wandered along the corridor in the direction of Phlebotomy about a quarter of an hour later. I happened upon a handsome man in the corridor, having finished with his medical treatment, and thought I’d pick him up and take him home…..

As we drove out of the hospital grounds we thought we’d just pop into Boots to look for a new pair of glasses for John. He’s keen to get a new pair with prisms in the lenses, so that he can actually see. We were in luck and found a lovely pair that we both liked. Unfortunately, we couldn’t order them as we’d forgotten to take the prescription with us…… Ah well, that’ll be another trip into town then, won’t it?

We pootled off home but had plenty of time before our guests were due to arrive, so we decided to stop off at Oakes’ for a cup of coffee. And d’you know what? We felt almost civilised.

The plumber called to service the boiler at lunchtime today, but as we were entertaining, it was all very painless and he worked quietly and efficiently in the background, only attracting my attention when he wanted to flag to me that the bill would be in my Inbox. Yay!

And that was our day. Quite an exciting one really and one by the end of which we thought we might go to bed early. Ha! Ha! You think?

We’ve had to wait up for the delivery of John’s eye serum. The courier was due to arrive between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. “Hi, John?” came the phone call, “I’m running fifteen minutes late. Should be with you about 9.15 – is that OK?” Well, what can you say? Of course it’s OK. The serum is a life saver – well, sight saver, at least – so we’d wait until midnight if necessary.! All delivered now, though, so we can go to bed whenever we like!!

Take care everyone. God bless.

For the first time since Christmas I went over to visit Mum this morning. John and I had had a bit of a discussion about who would need the car and when, but we agreed I’d use it to go over to Coleshill this morning, and he would use it this afternoon to go to Solihull for blood tests.

Mum was on top form. I had been expecting less than that because, a couple of weeks ago, the home had phoned me in the middle of the night to say she’d had a fall and they were getting the paramedics in to have a look at her. The paramedics trundled her off to hospital at 3 in the morning for the doctors to check her over, but by 6.30 a.m. she was back in bed at the home, a bit bruised but no lasting damage, where she spent the day sleeping it off.

She was so delighted to see me that she couldn’t stop hugging me and telling me that I was lovely. I’ll take that, thank you very much. Mind you, she didn’t really want me to leave and was rather sad when I said goodbye. “I’ll see you next time,” I said, hoping that would be a catch-all for whenever the next time might be. But she was canny and replied, “When will that next time be?” Oh. I was caught out. Next week maybe? Fingers crossed anyway.

Here she is as we said the long goodbye……

I was home again in good time to enable John to go to Solihull but, before he was due to set off, I told him that I had news. “The hospital rang this morning,” I said, “and they’ve offered me an eye appointment at 9 o’clock tomorrow morning.” Ah-ha! John saw his chance. Kill two birds with one stone. He might as well do blood tests while I’m having my eyes checked over…..no need for the Solihull trip this afternoon then.

The hospital had offered me 9, 10 or 11 o’clock, but I opted for an early appointment because tomorrow…..fanfare……we have guests! Dave and Chris and George and Sue are coming over for a fish ‘n chip lunch. Fingers crossed we’ll be home in time.

I intended to spend the afternoon cleaning and tidying up a bit, but the home had given me a letter in a brown envelope. It was from the State Pension people addressed to Mum, at the Care Home. ‘We’re stopping your pension because we don’t know where you live. And if you don’t reply by 6 March you’ll have all sorts of hoops to jump through.’

You’ve got to be kidding me!!! Anyway, spent all afternoon dealing with that one….. and it’s yet to be resolved. Ha!

I still did a bit of tidying up though. Honestly, our house is very grubby, as I haven’t done any cleaning at all in the last six weeks or so. Felt sufficiently better today though, to tackle a bit of it. Onwards and upwards as they say…….

Take care everyone. God bless.

Having determined to go out today, I can tell you that we actually made it!!! Whoo-hoo!

We decided to go to the British Motor Museum at Gaydon. There, not only would we enjoy looking at the cars, but we knew that there’d be plenty of seats to sit on and a lovely café in which we could take some refreshments.

We set off about 11.15 and arrived half an hour later. The guys on reception were really helpful and explained where to go and what to see. We thoroughly enjoyed the first exhibition we went round, exclaiming at this car or that, reminding ourselves that we had owned such or such an one, or our parents had, or our friends had. Great fun.

I particularly liked the very old cars that still looked like the carriages they had been dreamt up out of, with lots of wood and leather upholstery. We had especial fun clambering all over one of the ‘charabangs’ and imagining we were among a party of people whooping it up, travelling in the countryside.

The ‘Judge Dredd’ vehicle thrilled us as we rounded a corner and I immediately sent a photo of it across for the grandsons to have a look at. I am sure they’d love to see it in the ‘flesh’!

After a spot of lunch in the café, we toddled over to the Jaguar exhibition. I left John to look round that while I went upstairs to see if there was a Triumph Toledo on display (don’t ask!) but no such thing. The volunteer on duty suggested I might find one at the Coventry Transport Museum, so we might go there next….. who knows? Now that we’ve found our way to the front door, we might find our way out of it again one day.

Take care everyone. God bless.

A lovely sunny day and not bitterly cold. Nevertheless, we all stayed in bed until late morning and then thought we’d nip up to Oakes’ for breakfast. Regrettably, we’d just missed it by a few minutes, so we had lunch instead!

We had a lovely time, and it was nice to spend an hour or two together with Andrew before he set off back to Cambridge.

John spent some time sorting out access to Twickenham on his phone and the computer, and Andrew assisted. Thank goodness. I’m not as hot as I used to be on the ol’ computer, so it was good have a young man’s head working it out.

Paul has secured tickets for the England vs Italy match in the Six Nations on Sunday, so between them they are planning how to get there. Exciting, isn’t it? Fingers crossed health permits…..

After Andrew left, I spent the rest of the afternoon rummaging in the old ‘utility’ room, which is actually a store now. The aim was to try and clear it a bit so that we don’t have to fight our way in. It’s not finished of course, because I did a bit, stopped a bit, then did a bit more. I have found one or two things for the charity shop though, so that’s helpful.

After tea, I gave Gloria a ring to see how she was doing. Naturally, dreadfully upset, but doing OK so far. Bless her, she was still recovering from a virus she’d caught that had given her a terrible cough, so that doesn’t help, does it? However, Christiana was there with her new addition to the family, young Nicholas, so that’s taking Gloria’s mind off dwelling on everything.

This evening we searched through all the various channels we now have access to again, since the scaffolding came down on Friday afternoon, to find something we fancied watching. In the end, we watched an old film called St. Vincent in which Bill Murray starred. Not very PC since the producers were the Weinstein brothers……. ah well, we enjoyed it anyway. It was a bit of a ‘feelgood’ movie which suited our mood.

Tomorrow, there’s more utility room to sort out, but we’re thinking we might go out for the day. There’s no Quiz Night this week, so we’re free to take our time. Not sure where we might go. Suggestions?

Take care everyone. God bless.

Andrew said he’d come home yesterday, so I went out and killed the fatted calf as usual. He suggested the family come over for a roast dinner. ‘That’ll be nice,’ I thought, anticipating that someone else would do the prep and the cooking.

Disappointingly, the Kenilworth Originals couldn’t come – Freddie has chicken pox and was still infectious. He was at the sore throat stage and not feeling his normal cheery self, snuggling up on the sofa, wrapped up in a blanket, waiting to feel better.

I wondered if there was anything we could send over to cheer him up. Lucozade? A comic perhaps? Yes, Harriet thought that would be nice, so I popped over at lunchtime, bearing gifts. Bless him, he was thrilled with the comics and a book of maze puzzles, plus his Lucozade.

The Kenilworth Newbies were available to come for a roast however, so plans were afoot to get things ready for about five o’clock. I didn’t rush away from Paul and Harriet’s though, staying for a cuppa and chatting to Paul for about an hour, which was lovely. I looked at the time. It was 2.20 – probably time to go to help Andrew with the cooking I thought, so I said my goodbyes and set off home.

I hadn’t been driving long when the phone went. It was Andrew. “I can’t talk now,” I said, “I’m driving!” “No worries,” he replied, “I’ll call you back, but just to let you know that I can’t find my car keys so I might not come home.” Whaaaaat? Still in Cambridge? And what about the fatted calf?

Two minutes later, a text came in. ‘I’ve found them!’ Well, that was good news. But, of course, I’d been hoping that Andrew would cook the roast….. it didn’t look like he’d be back in time to cook, but just arrive in time to sit down for the meal.

Fortunately, Michael came to the rescue. No sooner did he hear that Andrew was delayed than he set to and started prepping the veg. I put the joint in the oven, made the Yorkshire Puddings and an apple crumble, and then beat a hasty retreat to have a rest in the lounge.

John, meanwhile, had been entertaining the children and had switched from the Six Nations rugby match to Cbeebies. I swapped with him and entertained the children instead.

Andrew arrived home about 4.15 and conferred with Michael about the ‘cuisson’ of the joint. They agreed it needed a bit longer, so a bottle of wine was opened while they waited.

In the end, we sat down to eat about 5.30 (not too bad…) and enjoyed a delicious Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding dinner. We vowed to cook the same meal again when the Kenilworth Sleaths could join us, too. We do love our family time.

Today was a different day altogether. I was up early to answer the door to the roofer who was tidying up the last few tiles, and then I walked down to surgery for a blood test. John got himself up mid-morning and got ready to go to his follow-on exercise class at Tudor Grange Sports Centre in Solihull. Andrew slept on until mid-afternoon. So far, so good.

Our day was rocked, however, at lunchtime, when we received a message from Christiana telling us that her stepfather, Terry, had been rushed to hospital and it wasn’t looking good. We then received another message a couple of hours later to tell us that he had passed away. Oh my life! What a shock. Although Terry had been unwell for several years with one thing and another, this came out of the blue. Naturally, our thoughts are with Gloria, Christiana and Terry’s family, praying that they find the strength to deal with whatever comes at them now.

Yes, family time – even more acutely aware of how important it is today.

Take care everyone. God bless.

It’s the rugby season and the start of the Six Nations, kicking off with the contest for the Calcutta Cup between England and Scotland. We had high hopes as we sat down to watch, but were as disappointed as last year when we lost. It was an excellent game though and very keenly fought, so we enjoyed it nonetehless.

Between matches, we took ourselves out into the garden for a bit of fresh air. John filled up one of the green bins with more hedge clippings and I emptied all of the growbags that are now surplus to requirements, tipping the compost under the hedge at the bottom of the garden.

I also inspected the bird feeder that I had so carefully hung up down there. I had watched a squirrel for a good twenty minutes this morning, hanging upside-down, stuffing its face and emptying the blooming thing! True enough, the bird-feeder was half empty……. can you spot the squirrel, hanging on by its tail?

We both felt pleased with what we had done in the garden, but were positive that we’d done enough and, if any more gardening were required, we’d be doing it tomorrow.

I had lazed in bed all morning, feeling as if I had overdone it a little yesterday. I mean, I only sorted out papers, so it shouldn’t really have been arduous, but I did spend a while doing the job (all afternoon) so perhaps it was the time taken rather than the activity itself that told on me.

Anyway, once I was up and abluted, I nipped up to Oakes’ to buy a bit of meat and veg. I was in the mood to buy something exciting, but didn’t see anything particular that took my fancy so I came home with just meat and veg. Ah, well.

Nothing more to report – at least, if there is, I don’t seem to remember it!! After all, one can only write so much about eating meals, drinking tea, bed-making and watching TV, can’t one?

Take care everyone. God bless.

Oh, for the day when I can say we are on top form!! We are better but not best and it’s more than frustrating now.

We lazed in bed this morning. John thought he’d try out the heavy-weighted blanket that I had been gifted for my birthday and he thoroughly enjoyed it. I finally got out of bed at mid-day just as Danielle texted to wonder if we were up for a visit from her, ‘Tom and Ollie’. Yes, of course, we thought we could manage that!

It was lovely to see her and the children – but we did use Paw Patrol as a bit of a baby-sitter in the absence of our energy to play. I quickly grabbed a photo of them all just as they were getting ready to go home and were putting their shoes and socks on……Thomas really hadn’t been sitting that close to the screen all afternoon, I promise!!

After the family left, we sat for a while and rested a bit before we went outside to clear some of the hedge clippings into the green bin. The binmen cometh tomorrow. We puffed and panted a bit, but we got up some of the leaves from the path as well and filled two bins. We were rather pleased with ourselves. We had actually done something useful today! John puffed and panted a bit more as he gathered some wood and coal for the open fire in readiness for the cold snap they are promising us next week.

After tea, we simply watched TV, and I cleared three folders of papers from the Job Squad days. We had kept the documents for the required five years and it’s now time to get rid. That’s a little bit more clutter out of the way. Still a bit more to go, but we’re on it.

And that’s about it. Every task is like walking through treacle but we are at last doing a few bits and pieces. Maybe we’ll feel properly better next week? Fingers crossed.

Take care everyone. God bless.

We have had a day of ‘not a lot’ and we have mostly felt tired today. One step forward, two back?

We were up early and trotted off to Heartlands so that John would have his immunoglobulin infusion this morning. I dropped him off and got back home, just as the Heart Foundation arrived to collect our old dining chairs. That’s one bit of clutter out of the way anyway.

I made a cuppa and thought I’d quickly phone the hospital appointments line to see what was happening about my eye referral. ‘You are in a queue. You are Number 28.‘ Ha! So much for a quick phone call. The upshot was that they can see the referral on the system and it turns out it’s a ‘regular’ one rather than ‘urgent’ which I had originally understood it to be. “There is a waiting list,” said the appointments co-ordinator. “What timescale am I looking at then? Six months? Twelve months?” Apparently it’s 18 months.

I went into ‘I’ll sue’ mode if the cysts in my eye turn out to be cancerous….. and naturally, I was then on the phone to the optician to see if there’s anything they can do speed the appointment up. I am awaiting a reply.

I collected John from the hospital and we came home for a bite to eat. John popped the telly on and sat and watched ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ while I promptly fell asleep, only waking up two and half hours later ready to cook some tea.

John spent some time on the computer, trying to establish a connection with a company from whom he’d bought some toys for the children, via Wowcher, and not yet received. Apparently, there’s a bit of a wait before he can speak to anyone about it….

We did Quiz Night this evening which was great fun. Lovely to see everyone and share stories as well as our knowledge.

And that was us today, folks! Tired again now, and off to bed.

Take care everyone. God bless.

Good. Better. Best. Never let it rest, Till your Good is Better, And your Better is Best.

We learnt this new saying today when Dawn quoted it while she and Peter were round for coffee. We hadn’t heard it before and we thought it was rather good and something to follow, being as we’re currently in the doldrums! Apparently it’s St Jerome – the chap who translated the Bible into Latin in the Middle Ages.

I had hoped to get to yoga class this morning but couldn’t quite manage all the things you have to do before you get out of the door by nine o’clock, so missed it once again. So I’m not even ‘good’ yet! Hoping to do ‘better’ and get there next week – fingers crossed, anyway.

We had a lovely chat, of course, and thoroughly enjoyed Pete and Dawn’s company this morning. Fortunately, they don’t ask much of us, so there’s no rushing around trying to impress. Although I did apologise for the state of the porch which was still bearing witness to the muddy flood we had before Christmas. “I hope that the next time you come, I might have mopped the floor!” I said, laughing, as they went out of the front door. And do you know what? A miracle happened this afternoon and someone had been and mopped the floor……. there are angels after all! Thank you, Peter!!

John shot off to Tudor Grange Sports Centre at lunchtime after we’d said our goodbyes to Pete and Dawn. He’d been referred to another exercise class to help with his breathing. He had a consultation with them and they agreed to take him on for a six-week course. After that, it’ll be access to the gym under his own steam. That’ll be interesting.

Once John was back, I grabbed the car keys and popped over to Linda and Brendan’s to drop the laptop back to them that they’d lent us months ago, when John was in hospital. I enjoyed a cup of tea and half an hour of their company before I went on to the hairdressers in Kenilworth for a haircut.

Home again, and we watched a programme that John had put on, about the American financial fraudster, Madoff – but we both fell asleep watching it as it ploughed on with its documentary.

We are both amused and bemused at our constant fallings-asleep-on-the-sofa-in-the-afternoons, but we are hopeful that our new regime of walking most days will strengthen us up and it’ll be a thing of the past as Spring emerges in a few weeks time.

And, because I didn’t post any photos at Christmas, I thought I’d post one now. We’re keen to start feeling as happy as we were then……. such a good time we had!

Take care everyone. God bless.

I was up with the lark this morning because the roofer arrived not long after 8 o’clock. He was simply tidying up the last few bits and clearing away the debris. There are, however, some roof tiles to replace that were damaged as the work was done, so he’s promised to come back and do that sometime. Now, what do we think folks? Will he be back? What odds are you offering? My money is on him returning – but don’t know when.

John was also up relatively early, too, so that was good. He did a bit of fiddling about with his tax return while I nipped up to the pharmacy to get my prescription. And then, we said, “Shall we go to another park for a walk?” So we did.

I grabbed the picture frame we’d bought yesterday so that we could exchange it for a larger one, and I also picked up the trousers that I’d bought for Andrew at Christmas to exchange them, too. Off into Coventry we went. Did the exchanges and drove to the Memorial Park.

It’s such a long time since we’ve been there. We had no idea what to expect. Fortunately, it was flat and John was able to walk without too much difficulty and we didn’t bless too many benches with our bottoms today. We walked as far as the Aviary and had a little look at the birds before sitting in a sunny corner for a rest.

We then moved on to the coffee shop in the Formal Garden and bought ourselves a cuppa and a piece of cake there. The sun was shining beautifully and it was warm. As I looked over John’s shoulder, I thought it looked lush, almost as if we were in the Mediterranean, with a bright blue sky, sunshine, palm trees and ‘Le Bistro’. What do you think?

We had promised ourselves a McDonalds on the way home, so fought our way through various roadworks cluttering up the byways of Coventry and settled in for a ‘meal in’. At the time you have a Maccy-D’s you always think it’ll be great, but the by the time you’ve eaten it, you always feel like you shouldn’t have. John was excited because they had a strawberry milkshake on the menu – something they haven’t had for ages. Thoroughly enjoyed it at the time and then found it had offered him a little bit of indigestion, if he’d like?

Home again, and John cosied himself on the sofa for a sleep while I popped the TV on for a bit of a rest. Oh! Alright then. Sleep. We were both a-snoozing away for a while.

I had plans for the evening – colour my hair, compile a photobook, change the bedsheets….. but I was jiggered and all I got done was the bed. Yawn….. must be bedtime now.

Take care everyone. God bless.