Good morning Mick and all GN's on a rather grey looking but breezy day here in North Yorkshire. They tell us it will be sunny with a possibility of a few hefty showers. I have a lot of washing ready to put out from yesterday, as it was too wet to get it out then. So the washer is going yet again, but this is the bedding and hopefully the final amount, so that at least, I am back into something of the normal routine, with everything clean to wear. I have always hated dirty washing hanging around. There is often a mountain of ironing waiting for attention but that is fine, it is clean!!
Fingers crossed there is no further drama stopping Jessie coming today. She was supposed to come on tuesday but couldnt, so even for me everywhere is a mess - but a clean one! - I now usually do this, get the bedding off and washing as soon as I am up, and when she comes she can turn the mattress if I want her to, and in two shakes of a bees knees has my clean bedding sorted and the duvet quickly sorted etc. Part of me feels I shouldnt give up doing it myself, but it takes me such a long time now and inevitably ends with my back and knees hurting more than ever and being annoyed at how long it takes me these days. So the only disaster scene is when I have got the bed stripped and she rings to say she cannot come that day!! The ages it takes me to do it myself now. So when I have had a cup of coffee, the next thing is to get the covers off the Yellow Peril, and lump the bag of wet washing on and down to the washing line, where I shall get everything out and blowing in the breeze. I have never liked using a dryer, - ecologically and being yorkshire , much prefer the free wind on the line and the lovely smell from the towels and bedding when it is done. When people are asked what they would do if they won the lottery etc, they all go for new cars and big trips but truly the great luxuries I would love to have would be
1. Clean linen sheets , beautifully ironed, and having been dried outside, every day. What bliss!
2. To be able to walk into the supermarket and just choose what I would really like. Not to have to alter my choice of menu, decided by how much prices had gone up and to be able to afford to just walk past the reduced bin.
3. To be able to go any day I felt like it up Swaledale, or to Saltburn, without calculating fuel costs.
Those would be three wishes that would improve my life quite a bit. What simple improvements would other GN's go for? Of course there are some other rather more illegal pleasures I could wish for. I have been told that cannabis helps with pain, and could be tempted to give it a go.! Then I have always fancied swimming in the nude at the baths. Skin doesnt bother me for myself or on other people. It is the pleasure of not having that wet cossie clinging to you . Have swum from my boat in the past and it is a much nicer feeling to me, perhaps I could afford to take over the whole baths and then let anyone who fancied it join me in a nude session!! Ah when the people round here see this white haired old lady tottering from the car they have no idea what lurks beneath the surface!!
So, am slowly getting back into the usual routine. I went to the whist drive last night, and was welcomed back by all the usual crowd. It was as full as normal. I thought there might be less as it was holiday time but no the full entourage was there. We had some good games, but it was very humid and no breeze and even with the doors open rather too warm. I suggested next time it was like that that we put the tables and chairs out in the carpark and sat in the cool!! So, didnt win anything but enjoyed the games. It always gets more and more difficult to move over the evening, but last night was even worse. I asked Will, who deals with the seating if he could contact Harland and Wolf to lend us a crane to move me round next week!!
I am improving a little, but still stuck with this blasted cough. I have decided I can only wait until tomorrow to make a decision. I desperately want to get the other cataract done on tuesday, and dont want to wait for yet again another long time to get it done. However if I am still coughing a lot I feel I must ring up and cancel , which would allow someone else to take the place and not waste the doctors time. The thought of her just about to take a knife to my eye and me suddenly coughing and moving doesnt really bear thinking about!!
It is annoying on lots of levels. They are just playing the Anvil Chorus on the radio. I often join in with the singing, which I enjoy seeing how much I remember without the words in front of me, and helps the jobs along. Well if I now try to sing, I sound very croaky and then start coughing again . Drat Drat!! I am also prone at the moment to look in shop windows for quite a while. I have no intention of buying whatever is there, just need to lean on a wall and catch my breath!!
So, once washing out, I have a bit of paperwork to sort out. Then going to the meeting this morning at the womens group. Hetty , who organises things at the moment, had said she hadnt got much lined up for the next few weeks, being summer holidays etc. So not going to do it today, but I will see if they would like a bit of a talk about my trip next week. Not just where I went but the various things like having no bed for 3 nights, and meeting a range of people on the train, from a woman who was both a GP and a farmer on the prairies, and the Mennonite group going to help a new colony get started etc etc. Then this afternoon, it is time to look through the car, chucking stuff out and getting the boxes set up for picnics etc and spare clothes at the ready, as fingers crossed I am going to meet my family at Killington Lake services on the M6 on saturday. As I should be having the cataract done next week, dont know how long it will be before I am able to drive etc. So that is about it for the day, but if I can get a move on with jobs, may be able to put some coffee in the car and drive up my beloved Swaledale and know that I am back home at last.
Hope everyone can do something they WANT to do rather than what they have to do today. Enjoy your day everyone
