Good morning Mick and all GN's from a dry and sun rising North Yorkshire. A very weary good morning, as have had very little sleep and to cap it all this morning about 5am awful cramp in my right leg. It has stopped the actual cramp now thank goodness, but these little sort of juddering every so often warn me to take care as it could set off again in a moment.
So very frustrating as I have to actually think how and where I am moving, which of course we hardly think of normally , just carry on moving whilst thinking of other things. However after somewhat of a struggle am now up dressed and have gingerly got the stuff off the bed and into the washer, which is trundling along nicely. It just took me even longer today to do anything even a tortoise would have passed me twice at this rate!
Today it is like a domino set knocking one down and all the other ones falling if you do it right. I will not be going to the meeting this morning, as have to get things sorted here. Having rung about donating the dresser, when I thought they would be saying oh yes we can come in a couple of weeks , they are keen to pick it up next tuesday or wednesday. So a bit of a panic as I have to empty it all, and move everything out of its way so that they can move it. Well all the drawers only I can go through, but will have to get Jessy to reach up and get stuff from the top shelves and find somewhere to store things out of the way. I might have attempted a bit, before the cramp episode , but no chance now. So I can see the bedroom becoming an obstacle course, as also have to clear everything from the hall way, as they will have enough of a problem moving it as it is. Not looking forward to the hassle, but looking past that the thought of more book shelves and being able to reorganise the furniture is cheering. It will be sensible to reorganise things to the winter places rather than have it back as it is and then redo it again later, but dont really want to admit it is time to do it.
So because of this the decision is made for me that I must go through things and throw stuff out and check things. At least I am in a better mental state to do this. When my brain is not clogged up with combating a lot of pain, I am quite able to go through things and make quick decisions and carry them through. On a bad day I dither and cant make up my mind, it seems too much of an effort. Who knows, I might end up with a tidier room AND know where things are!
The thing I am desperate to know where it is ,is my key for the yellow peril!! Have searched high and low for it and know it must be here as I couldnt have driven back here without it , but reckon the Borrowers must have taken it with all my clean hankies. There is no chance that I could walk down to the washing lines carrying the wet washing, so if it doesnt turn up, firstly will have to wait for Jessie to come to the rescue this afternoon, and secondly I will only be able to go out in the car. Only have the one key, tried to get another cut but they couldnt do it. Ah well there is more than enough to get on with this morning and maybe it will appear as I clear the decks.
After various hassles yesterday improved. I managed to get to the hairdressers and she just had enough time to cut my hair before her next client. we have come to an understanding, which suits us both. I dont make an appointment because I cant say if I can keep the time according to how I am in the morning. So I just look and see if she is busy, and pop in and ask if she can cut it now. She will either say yes, or that if I can sit and wait whilst she finishes with something, or that she doesnt have any time now but at such and such a time later on she can fit me in. That way it can quite suit her too, as if she doesnt have a client at that moment I bring her a bit more unexpected business and it suits us both. I must always look such a scruff to her, as I always put on a clean but old T shirt to get my hair cut. Cant stand hairs down my neck and itching, so conveniently Cafe Nero is just round the corner , so it is a quick nip into their ladies and emerge in my clean T shirt from my bag and the haircutting one bagged up ready to go home to be washed. That felt good and I am pleased with the cut so it was at least another job ticked off the list. I had managed to buy a red and white striped T shirt in the sale, and put that on with my red seasalt trousers and with the hair done , looked quite smart for once. Received some very nice compliments when I went to the whist drive too. Didnt win anything and had to "give in" and ask to stay at one table as I was moving so slowly and badly that the whole game would have been held up by my trying to get up and down. However I enjoyed the evening and the game helps to take my mind off the endless pain. A good crowd again, and of course all the farming people are able to enjoy the evening, with the harvest gathered in.
A lot of talk about the moorland fire which, despite great efforts by fire brigades and farming people who have been getting water for them, has broken out again up near Fylingdales. It is so serious now that you cannot use the coast road going up fro Whitby and campsites and lots of visitors have had to leave the area, so again this is loss of income after a very bad year for the farmers and as usual in this wretched southern based attitude we appear to be getting little or no help from anyone in London. Not a sign of helicopters dropping water etc. But not only is it very bad for now, the affects will last for years on the moors. Because it is on a moor the fire can go under the roads and come up on the other side and of course you do not see the burning and smouldering peat deep underground until it bursts out again at a different point. Local farmers and gamekeepers who know the moors very well are digging out fire breaks but it is all very bad and on top of this , they cannot let the sheep up on the moors , where they would normally be and are having to feed them already. This is going to be such a bad winter both in trying to keep stock fed and in financial ways , as the small boosts of having temporary camping and being able to sell eggs etc to the campers has also been lost. If the fire had been in the Chilterns it would have no doubt been given much more attention!! Well I am pleased to see the good Yorkshire spirit coming to the fore, as local people take food and drink to the firefighters and doing whatever they can to help.
I was reasonably lucky yesterday and got one or two bargains in the supermarket, so have stuff in for 2 or 3 dinners and milk etc and so dont need to go shopping for that sort of thing, and even got round to cooking up the mince I bought, with onions, peppers, celery and carrots, so now shall put some of that into the freezer for a day when I am not up to cooking and then I shall add some mushrooms to todays portion and with a jacket potato will have a very nice meal without having to do much to prepare it . So no excuse to abandon my sorting out things. So have some purpose and plans for the day, what actually happens remains to be seen and depends quite a lot on if I get cramp again.
Pleased to see you settling back into your routine Mick and hope that you continue to keep well. grandMattie, I am sorry you are having a bad day. I think that we have always tried to cope with things that our children still think of us being able to do everything and dont recognise that we now need some help to deal with various things. Determined to be independant , I think we sometimes hide the difficulties we now find in doing things, and are too proud to tell them how much longer or what a great effort it is to do things that once we would have had no problem with. But I do also think that people are more selfcentred and quite selfish these days. I think this started way back in the days of Maggie Thatcher when the emphasis was on what you could get for yourself and less about community. The fact that people have moved about much more also doesnt help. When families lived close by each other they would be in contact more and neighbours and friends would tell them "Your mum didnt look too good yesterday " etc. Now it is the mixture of the economic problems where we are all trying to do more ourselves and not get professional help for whatever which takes up more time of course. But it is that tunnel vision that seems to be the worst problem. They look ahead and are pushed on by adverts wanting them to get more sooner. So it is harder for us, as when we look back we see that our parents and grandparents didnt have to actually ask for help usually. I think nowadays we have to be a bit more explicit in telling them how things stand , however hard it is for us to do so. My son doesnt look round to see what might need sorting or how he could move something in 5 minutes that would take me all day. So I dont do it all the time but I do sometimes write down lists of things, so that when he visits I can remember to ask him to move that curtain ring or whatever, change a light bulb . It tends to work well, as by writing them down I dont forget those annoying little things until after he has gone. He can usually do it all in less that half an hour and then can feel very virtuous and pleased with himself. So maybe that might be something you could think of doing, and that way it would be a sort of one off dealing with these small irritating things and also when you say I cant reach that or it is too tight etc these days , the list might make them just start to think about how things change. We admire all the things you do and your great skills in lots of ways, so like good friends do, we are here to listen to what you have to say and sympathise, and understand where you are coming from. Keep telling us how it is and we are here to listen. I know it is not the same as having a friend come round but I do feel that we all care about how our lives go, and are interested in what everyone does. So I hope that you can be kind to yourself today, have something you really like for your dinner, treat yourself to some little pleasure . Declare a holiday from all routine and put on some favourite music , put your feet up with a good drink, find that perfume and put a little of that on. I dont know why but putting perfume on that is usually saved for going out on special occasions seems quite decadent but is lovely to have the perfume wafting round you. We all care about you and hope that you will have a better day tomorrow.
Marydoll do hope you get on well today and that they can help you to better health.
The sun is coming out more and a bit of a breeze so there is hope for the washing before this afternoons forecast rain. Have a good day everyone and hope the rain pours down in the night to give the gardens a good soak
