leukaemia-limbo-dance

Well, I am anyway! A roll of wallpaper, of course!

I was up early-ish to go over to the Kenilworth Newbies to get the wallpapering done. Most of the painting is in hand, so I thought regardless of spattering paint, I’d get started on the paper. It always makes you feel better doesn’t it, when the paper goes up?

I managed to do the wall in Thomas’s room and made a start on Michael and Danielle’s. Quite pleased with how it’s turning out, even if I say so myself!

I left John back at the ranch because he was keen to get a bit done on the car. This morning, however, he spent some of his time trying on new clothes that had arrived through the post. All that getting in and out of shirts, trousers and jumpers exhausted him, so he didn’t start on the car until this afternoon. He got a bit done, but is now puzzling over how best to fit the instrument console. More research required, I believe.

At tea-time, I went for a yoga class and left John to cook our evening meal – which he did very well, but we were neither of us overly keen on some of the ingredients I’d given him to work with. The chicken didn’t have that wonderful flavour we hoped for. I blame the coriander.

We continue to be distressed by the war in Ukraine and wonder how it will all end. World War 3, anyone? Thoughts and prayers are with all who are suffering at the hands of a madman.

In COVID news – not in italics as an afterthought today – the most junior Kenilworth Sleath and his Dad have both tested positive for the virus today. Freddie has a cough and a temperature. Not sure whether Paul has symptoms….. he’s not admitting to any yet.

Harriet contacted work to let them know she’d be off because of the situation, but they were not sympathetic. They told her she had to go in and keep the appointments with the people she had scheduled. Ha! You can imagine the reaction of those she had planned to visit? Erm… really? You want to visit us when there’s two lots of COVID in your household? Yes, yes, we understand that your lateral flow test is negative…. but seriously? No, thank you.

It’s bonkers, isn’t it? ‘Living with COVID’ means spreading it around/pretending it’s not infectious or serious/carrying on regardless of others, from what I hear and can see.

COVID is still a risk – even the government admits this – but I do hope the risk isn’t high for anyone I know and love.

The latest government figures show an increase of positive cases of the virus by just over 28% in the last 7 days, with 300,017 people infected. Deaths, however, have decreased by 5.5% and 711 people died in the last 7 days. Hospital admission have slightly increased – up 1.6% – in the same period and the figures show 8,143.

Do take care everyone.

Well, one way and another we’ve put some mileage in this weekend. John was at his finest yesterday – walking two miles instead of one for his ’30 Miles in March’. Then he walked another mile with me today. Packing them in, he is.

I had gone over to the Kenilworth Newbies yesterday to do a bit more decorating, so I left John to his own devices for the day. Not only did he do a long walk, but he went to the shops to stock up on washing liquid and Comfort so that we could do the washing that we’d got piled up in the utility room. Then, he came home and got on with the final window sill – measuring it, carrying it into the garage, cutting it to size and carrying it back again ad infinitum until he was satisfied. Great work.

I had planned to do wallpapering yesterday but, in the end, the paint arrived on the front doorstep before I got started and I decided it was more sensible to paint the walls first, so that the paint didn’t splatter down on the very nice wallpaper that Danielle has chosen. So that’s what I did all day. Fiddled about with a paintbrush and a roller. And William helped once again, too…..

Today, John and I got involved in spectating the Warwick Half-Marathon. We had a vested interest – Michael was running it, so we had a lovely drive round, stopping off in Beausale to catch up with him. I wanted to let him know that Danielle and the children were on their way to see him, too. “I’m not stopping, Mum,” he grinned, as I started to tell him the tale. “No, I know,” I said, “I’ll run with you.” I replied. So that’s how I joined in the half-marathon for a hundred yards, too. Ooh, it was exhilarating.

As it turned out, he was running faster than we could keep up with him in the cars and Danielle just missed him in Beausale but saw him in Budbrooke; while our second planned stop had to be aborted as he’d run past it before we got there. Fortunately, Danielle and the children were there, so he had friendly faces to see on the way.

Here he is at the finish, very proud of his achievement – and his time. I may be wrong, but I think it’s the first time he’s dipped under the two hours for a half-marathon, so very well done, in my opinion. Mind you, I am biased….

John and I were exhausted after our spectating efforts so we crashed out for the rest of the day and ordered in an Indian Take-Away this evening. Lush, eh?

So there we are – Le Weekend est passé. But, generally, it was a good one – for which we are grateful.

Take care everyone. God bless.

…..does you good – and what we fancied today was a trip over to the Kenilworth Newbies to help with their decorating.

Originally, of course, I had allocated a couple of days for this. Hahahaha…… I have no idea why I thought two days would be enough. We’ll still be on it next week!!

I had yoga this morning so was up early in readiness for that. John was also up early because I was relying on him to source the sander in readiness for Danielle (possibly) calling round for equipment, so she could get started this morning.

I toddled off to yoga and had a really good session, but I am expecting to be stiff tomorrow. It’s a while since I’ve done energetic and strong yoga poses. But I was quite pleased with myself because I was able (mostly) to keep up with the class.

Home again and I saw that the equipment we’d fished out for Danielle was still sitting on the doorstep. Ah… she’d not been able to get away from work and call to pick them up. Not to worry, we were on it, and we took them with us this afternoon.

John was on hand for advice and I got started on some of the work. I checked with the customer (Danielle) if she was happy with the fillering and sanding I’d done – knowing that she’d say it needed a bit more of a go. Indeed she did, but she set to and did that bit herself. Whoo-hoo!! And, having brought home some paint for the panelling, she got on with that too. I think it’s going to look fairly spectacular once it’s finished. But there’s still a lot to do……. so we’re back again tomorrow.

When Danielle went to collect the children I carried on painting the panelling she’d started. William came upstairs: “Oooh, what are you doing Grandma?” I told him I was helping Mummy with her decorating. “Well, that’s my roller and tray you’re using,” he said. Ah…….. I had a vague recollection of seeing a photo of him helping Daddy paint the walls in the lounge a week or two back. “Erm…. yes, I think it is,” I said, “Do you want to help?” Daft question. Of course he wanted to help. So William painted the last panel. And a great job he made of it, too. “I’m a painter,” he stated, “I like painting.” Probably takes after his Mum….. I’ve noticed she’s not a bad painter either.

While we were otherwise engaged, John went off and did his mile walk today. I am very pleased with his progress and I think he is, too. He’s done four miles in four days and still has a few miles in the bank in case there are days he’s not able to walk. Ha! Not such an ‘ol man after all, eh?

We stayed at the Kenilworth Newbies for tea and came home about 8 o’clock. “I think I might have a relaxing bath,” I said to John. Yep, good idea he thought. Well, I was in the bath for nearly an hour, soaking myself and reading a book. Hehe. Really enjoyed it. That’s another something I haven’t done for a long time. Oh, yes, a bit of what fancy does you good!

Take care everyone. Hope it’s a good weekend. God bless.

255,864 people tested positive for the virus in the last seven days, the government reported today, and 710 people died. 7,961 people were admitted to hospital in the last week. The official figures are continuing to fall but I am not convinced. There are so many people I know who say they, or a family member, have contracted COVID. Far more than previously. Harrumph…….

How quickly the days and weeks pass. Here we are once again with the emptying of the bins to look forward to – surely it was only a day or two ago that we had bin day? Ah… no… it’s a whole seven days, but I must have blinked and missed it.

It’s been a day of two sorts. John managed his mile (and a half!!) today but not much else, feeling weary after his walk; and I managed a day at the Kenilworth Newbies’ house to do some decorating.

With Danielle expecting and the due date not far ahead, the Kenilworth Newbies are keen to get their and Thomas’s bedrooms decorated before the new arrival. We had agreed that we’d work together last week, but that didn’t work out, so I suggested I pop over and see what I could do today.

It didn’t seem that I did much – I primed the panelling that Michael has installed in both bedrooms – and that was it. I am going back again tomorrow to see what more I can do. I suppose, even if it’s not much, it’s something, which all helps.

This evening, it was a girlie chat among the college crew, which went down a treat. We especially enjoyed seeing Janet’s grandson, Elliott, popping his head into view every so often. Hearing us chatting, with Grandma sleeping over at his house, he was far too excited to sleep!!

There’s still horrible news emerging from Ukraine and there is distress among all those who endure it or see it from afar. Dear Lord, give us strength.

Take care everyone. God bless.

The Covid numbers are still falling: 243,057 people tested positive in the last seven days and 720 people died. 7,7779 people were admitted to hospital over the last week, too. Can anyone do the maths for the daily totals? I dare not, for fear of getting me numbers wrong…..

This morning we were up with the lark and on our way to Heartlands for John’s regular three-weekly immunoglobulin treatment. We arrived a bit late because there are blooming road works all the way along the A452 and then on the A45 into Birmingham. We know that it’s the HS2 shenanigans near us, but quite what they are doing in Sheldon and Yardley we are not quite sure. All we know is that there are plenty of men standing around in yellow jackets looking at holes……

I dropped John off and then drove home. My plan was to do some admin as there are lots of outstanding tasks still, with regards to Mum’s affairs. However, I thought I’d just gather together some decorating items ready for a little fun at the Kenilworth Newbies tomorrow.

Ha! That took some time. I found all the the equipment (bar one item which turns out to be at Michael’s all along!) in record time. But the pasting table had been stored just inside the garage door and I discovered that it was spattered with an awful lot of mud. Probably from when John had jet-washed the drive. The table required a bit of a clean-up which ate significantly into my admin time…..always the way, isn’t it? Ah, well….

I did manage to make my way to the computer and get on with writing a letter, which I was in the middle of when John texted to say he was ready to come home. Ah…. ‘I’ll be there in a bit’, I said… ‘if I can find my way past all the road works!’

This afternoon we took our time over lunch and rested for a while. John rested some more – he is always tired after treatment. The mind is willing, but the body is not. I sorted out a few bits of admin but not enough. More certified copies of the Power of Attorney needed……. a photocopy is never, ever enough… grrr.

This evening it was Quiz Night and I think a good time was had by all. I never know when I am Quiz Master whether I have got the balance of questions right, but we enjoyed the debates and John enjoyed my little trick of squeezing his knee when the team were on the right lines to the correct answer.

Mid-Quiz, Gail phoned. What a relief to know that they are safe. I know it’s not a war zone in Australia but it is a flood zone where they are, and their local town, Lismore, has gone under and given

Hundreds of residents were rescued on Monday as flood waters peaked at 14.4 metres, two metres higher than the previous record. Gail reported that they had had 1,000 ml of rain in the last 48 hours……. unimaginable. Fortunately, Graham and Gail are on high ground so have escaped the serious flooding, but they are experiencing electricity blackouts now. The promise is that it’ll be restored tomorrow. Let’s hope so for their sakes.

I feel overwhelmed. Hardship and difficulties on all sides, with thoughts flying across continents to everyone in need. Let us pray that goodness prevails; that intellect overcomes ignorance; and that wisdom and kindness guide us all in the pursuance of our lives. Let us not have more of the same. No more war. No more natural disasters. No more self-servance.

Take care everyone. God bless.

Covid data was published today on the government website: 236,334 people were reported as having tested positive with the virus in the last seven days. But I wonder how many people are not reporting? There are many who do not report that they have contracted the virus. 651 people are reported as having died with the virus in the last seven days.

Pancake Day!! Gosh, when I was a young ‘un, I used to get very excited when it was time for pancakes. What a treat they were. And still a treat today – except I wasn’t quite so excited. They were still delicious though.

We were not up very early today, given that there was nothing planned for the day. John brought me a cuppa in bed, for which I am always grateful, and I lazed on until about ten o’clock.

We went for a walk this morning, round Lavender Hall Park, taking the long way back. John was keen to do as much mileage as he could, being the first day of his ’30 miles in March’ walk, to raise money for the Anthony Nolan Trust. His idea being, that if he wasn’t able to do sufficient mileage tomorrow at least he’s got some extra in the bank. I have offered to act as walking proxy, if necessary. Fingers crossed he stays fit for the whole of the month, although I have noticed he’s coughing well this evening…..

Once home, we grabbed a bite to eat and John set on with more jobs – mending the runner in the chest of drawers in our bedroom, for one thing. The darned thing had worn loose and finally dropped out last week. Anyway, amazingly, considering it’s such a fiddly job, he managed it. Marvellous.

Meanwhile, I sat on my backside and had a gentle afternoon sourcing quiz questions ready for tomorrow evening. I have gone from preparing the quiz in trepidation in case it’s rubbish, to quite enjoying doing the research. It’s only taken me a year……

This evening, John stayed home and watched some TV while I toddled off to my Bible Study group. I had a very good time among an excellent group of people and came home with lots of food for thought.

And for the next 40 days? Am I going to be giving anything up for Lent? I don’t think so. Currently, anything extra feels a touch too much – but I might manage a few random acts of kindness. Hope so, anyway.

Take care everyone. God bless.

The latest government data regarding the COVID situation is as follows: 231,973 people have tested positive in the last 7 days for the virus; 741 people have died in the last 7 days; and 7,709 people have been admitted to hospital. All the figures are showing a downward trend, so I am keeping my fingers crossed it stays that way despite the lifting of the restrictions.

In the meantime, however, I offer my ‘get well’ wishes and love to all those of my acquaintance who have been recently and unexpectedly diagnosed with COVID. Hope the infection isn’t too horrible and doesn’t last too long.

It’s one of those times of the year when there seem to be birthdays galore! First, it’s Graham’s (last Friday), then dear George (on Saturday) and now Paul’s today.

We celebrated Graham’s remotely when we Skyped on Saturday morning; we sent greetings to George and will see him at Fran’s birthday celebrations later on in March; and, of course, we celebrated Paul’s yesterday face-to-face with a Sunday lunch. The lunch and celebrations were so lush that I had too much pop and went to bed early without blogging.

The family were all there except Andrew, who wasn’t feeling well and had a zillion things to do to prepare for a flat move today/tomorrow. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves; everyone was on their best behaviour (including the kids!) and we toasted the Birthday Boy in style. Champagne anyone?

I may have been a little hung-over this morning, which put a delay to my planned visit to Dawn’s by about a quarter of an hour. It was a wedding-outfit-fitting morning and, once I realised the time, I hot-footed it round to her house as fast as I could.

All was well however, and the fitting was going very smoothly as I arrived. Just a tuck here, and a nip there, and it’ll all be perfect. We had been angst-ing over appropriate material for a blouse and I had found a few samples for Dawn to look at. None of them were quite right however, but Jacqui, the dressmaker, came up trumps and we were all in agreement: “That’s the one!” as she flourished a beautiful piece material before our eyes. Hurrah! Job done. Dawn is going to look gorgeous.

John had spent the morning resting while I was out but, as I came through the front door, I could see him labouring away in the kitchen digging out the dish-washer from yesterday’s marathon food-athon. I joined in and put things away before grabbing a bite to eat.

Once I sat down though, it was fatal. We were just watching a bit of the news when the Sandman came calling…. all afternoon. You know the sort of sleep? The one where you are sort of conscious of things going on around you but there’s no way you can join in….until I was sufficiently awake to be irritated by the dialogue of an American programme that John was watching. “What is this rubbish?” I blurted out. Only one of John’s favourite programmes – ‘Billions’. Oh. He was mildly offended, switched the TV off and went to work on the computer. I went back to sleep, having put in my two pennorth.

At tea-time, Harriet phoned to say could we return their car, please? The Kenilworth Sleaths had also had too much pop yesterday and chose to get an Uber home, leaving the car on our drive. So we hopped in their, and our, car and nipped over to take Paul’s birthday gift and drop the car off. We spent a lovely hour or so together with a cuppa and a parcel un-wrapping ceremony much to Freddie’s excitement. Forgot to take a photo though…..

The latest news from Ukraine isn’t great with loads of Russian troops heading for Kyiv and thousands of refugees fleeing. Talks are being held, but really, in my view that’s just a tactic for Russia to up the ante: ‘we tried to to talk but they wouldn’t listen…’ and blame the Ukrainians for a further escalation of war. John says I’m all doom and gloom….. but I mean, Putin’s got his finger on the nuclear button, hasn’t he?

Susie’s Word of the Day is ‘pertolerate’ (17th century): to endure steadfastly to the end.

Anyway, enough catastrophising for now…. Take care everyone. God bless you, yours, your friends and friends of friends everywhere.

The government data has now changed to being published weekly. This means maths is involved, in which I am not greatly skilled and would be likely to embarrass myself in front of all you scientists if I tried. I have yet to sort out what’s what on the ONS data too, which is also weekly. For the time being therefore, here is the weekly government data. 22 February – 28 February: 234,103 positive cases of the virus; 752 people died; 7,873 people were admitted to hospital….. Get the picture? It still seems a helluva lot to me…..

Dinner was late this evening. This fact reminded me of the story told by Gail about her friend Mary. They’d gone to stay with them and Mary was preparing the evening meal. Early evening, Mary disappeared into the kitchen, only for dinner to emerge at about 9.30 in the evening. What had she been doing all that time? No-one really knew and they didn’t dare go in to find out.

Our dinner wasn’t quite the late – it emerged at about 7.15. But what had I been doing all that time? I don’t really know. All I know is, that I’d been prepping some desserts for tomorrow’s lunch. This took me all afternoon. Not got a lot to show for it, so it’ll be interesting to see whether the dessert turns out OK tomorrow, won’t it? I know for a fact that that bloomin’ jelly won’t set….. it never does. Eeeh, but I hate prep…..

However, one good thing….. I made decent pastry today. Now, there’s a first….. eat your heart out Gloria, Queen of Pastry.

We were up early this morning, excited, because we were Skyping Graham and Gail. Oh, bliss. How lovely to see them and chat about nothing in particular. Wonderful to see them sounding chipper and looking good. An 8.30 start and a-nearly-eleven-o’clock finish. Marvellous. It was relaxed and very enjoyable thank you very much.

After our delightful get-together with G&G we had our breakfast. Not being early-birds, neither of us had managed to get anything other than a cuppa before the 8.30 start.

John then set on to do more of the window sills for our bedroom. What a star. He’s managed them both. I am absolutely delighted. Just need to paint them now, of course. What colour shall we choose?

There was rugby this afternoon. John watched a bit, worked on the sills a bit, watched a bit and so on. The Scotland-France match was disappointing, but the England-Wales match was extremely thrilling – went right to the last minute before we were sure of the result. The right team won of course…….hehehe.

And there we are. Saturday. A day of prep. Preparing for a Sunday which is a day of rest. Please…….?

No rest for those in Ukraine, though. What a nightmare for those people. Wives not knowing when they will see their husbands again as they leave them to fight; children saying goodbye to Daddy; and men waving their loved ones out of the country to (hopefully) safety. Heartbreaking scenes on the news today.

My friend, Kaye, sent us this prayer today:

In these days of uncertainty and fear,
We pray that each of us 
Might again turn to the Lord
And receive God's gift of peace,
Work for God's justice, 
Know God's reconciliation and love
And choose paths, not of hatred or destruction,
Of violence or retribution,
But God's way of justice, mercy and peace.
Amen

Even if you don’t believe in God, the sentiment has to be right, I think.

Take care everyone. God bless.

I don’t see any new data on the government website regarding COVID figures today. Perhaps Covid has given us the weekend off? Maybe. Maybe not. In the meantime, all those who are still infected with the darned virus (including those I know) I say: Get Well Soon!!

We have both worked hard today – labouring at our individual tasks.

John ordered some wood to make window sills for our bedroom (long overdue) which arrived today, so he was galvanised to get on with it. The only trouble was that the space for the window sill wasn’t square and he had to keep going up and downstairs with a very heavy piece of wood to re-shape it and get it to fit. He has finally managed it and now it’s on to the next one…….. I am sure that all that exercise is good for him.

I finally braved the Christmas decorations which were still strewn about in (what was) Andrew’s sitting room. There was a bit of untangling to do, some boxing of items, the removal of objects from one box to another to establish some kind of order – and then the removal of some items out of one of the boxes to carry it upstairs without its contents because it was just too darned heavy!! There was the re-arranging of the loft in addition, of course, into which I was planning to slot it all. I toiled up and downstairs too, but at last the decorations are all back in their home for another nine months before we get them all out again.

Neither of us is getting any younger, and our bodies are telling us so. Today’s activities reminded John that his hip and his knee were a bit iffy and to watch out lest one or the other should give way just at the crucial moment. In my case, it was a spot of arthritis and some ligament strain. As I found out the other day when trying to fold myself into the Harry Potter cupboard, folding myself into the loft and lugging heavy boxes aint as easy as it used to be!!

Other than that, it’s been a glorious day weather-wise. John took advantage and went for a walk this morning while I waited in for the shopping to arrive. My contribution to enjoying the weather was just to look out of the window and note that the bird-feeder is empty. Ah well, I’ll have to fill it up. Maybe tomorrow?

I also noted that the situation in Ukraine is dire and am praying that those poor people find the strength to cope with it all. We watched the news at lunchtime but, after nearly half an hour of Clive Imrie describing the relentless encroachment of the Russian army I really couldn’t watch any more. It is so very distressing.

Take care everyone. Hope your weekend is good for you and those you love.

31,933 people were reported to have been infected with the virus today. 120 people died. 1,169 were admitted to hospital.

Some days
we laughed until we cried, 
other days 
we cried until we laughed, 
either way 
every day
was perfect.

perry poetry

Teeny, tiny hailstones blew hard across the front of the house and peppered us as we loaded the car up with some rubbish this afternoon. We hurried to get the items in, shutting the boot as fast as we could and scuttled back into the house. Oh, now then, would you look at that! The hailstorm had passed. Would you believe it?

“Ready to go?” said John. “Let’s wait a few minutes,” I replied, “the advice is to arrive on time at the Tip – or, at least, not more than ten minutes early or we’ll be turned away.”

We waited a while and set off. Arrived on time and parked up. Guess what? Those teeny, tiny hailstones and the gusting wind began their fun again just as we got out of the car – and kept up their little game the whole time we were out in the elements. By heck, it was bitterly cold and a nice little battle against the wind to drop the items over the ledges into the skips below. Back in the car. Well, what do you know? The hailstorm stopped. Typical, isn’t it? Typical!!

It was invigorating though, I have to say. And we both felt better for having off-loaded some rubbish, expending some energy in the process.

Not only did we have the excitement of going to the Tip today but, of course, it’s bin day to boot. Another bit of excitement…… Heavens, has it really come to this? The highlight of our week? Getting rid of rubbish? Clearly, it has.

At least it’s better than listening to the harrowing news of Russia invading Ukraine, which has been the top story all day. People seem surprised, caught unawares. Should have been prepared, I think, but it’s too late now. Ukraine is a very desirable country to have control of, isn’t it? Our thoughts are with those poor citizens who are now sitting ducks.

Word of the day* is ‘flagitious’ (14th century): unspeakably wicked; guilty of heinous crimes. And empathic sorrow twisting in your gut? That’s to fellowfeel. Anyone else strongly fellowfeeling?

Don’t know what else to say.

Take care everyone. God bless. Hug your loved ones tight.

38,933 people were reported as having succumbed to the virus today. 125 people died. 1,084 people were admitted to hospital.

*Susie Dent’s Word of the Day