Good morning Mick and all GN's on a very dark still morning in North Yorkshire. So dark cant even see the outline of the tree so my weather gauge is not visible yet. So am sat in my nice clean sweet smelling dressing gown, with the washer already on the go, and ignoring in here, the positive kind of mess, where all dirty things are washed and the bed will be made up with lovely new sheets etc. Physically still a lot of aches and pains and no extra sleep, but so much better mentally and getting back into the me I prefer, with a great day yesterday.
I managed to get hold of the swimming pool people and confirm that the disabled session was on in the early afternoon, that the chair was available and working and so I then got out the swimming bag, and went through it tryng to remember everything I take in there. Then I had things like an undersheet from the bed and the awkward pillow case from the V shaped pillow and bits to wash and as the weather here had ignored the forecast for rain, got those in the wash, whilst trying to do a bit of sorting here. My friend rang from up near Durham and I said about going swimming and they said they would join me , which was a nice surprise. So got washing on the line, blowing well, collected stuff together and leaving the rest of the mess to itself went off on my indulgent wednesday.
So even when I treat myself I dont like to waste money. Needed to fill the car up , so I make the most of going down to Thirsk, fill the car up at Tesco - which is about the cheapest here for me and get points of course too. Call in at the bigger store if I need anything, Then went down to the swimming pool, and didnt get my years ticket but did get my discount ticket for £9 for the year which takes off about £1.50 from every swim, so very worth while for me, got into the old routine, and got them to put the chair out etc for me. So it was absolutely the best way back in, as I was able to get back in the water, but use their various float things and they have a funny one like a long thin pole idea, which doesnt look as though it will be much help, but is actually very good weight bearing and keeping you floatingwell. So using that I can sit astride it and do a cycling mode with my legs, which is non weightbearing but lets me sit straight and get my legs moving in a better way. Then going down to the deep end, I have my goggles on and then take a deep breath and go down to the bottom raising my arms and stretching to a good upright movement. This I do , a couple of times, each time I get to the deep end. It lets me stretch without pain and gets my body to be aligned and upright, in a much less painful way than on dry land. So quite a lot of people there and very nice that many asked how I was and said it was good to see me back . So I only know them from the swimming pool but it feels good to be part of something. So then my friend left, and I carried on my enjoyable day, by going for coffee to cafe Nero, having a rest, sorting out a few emails. Then later on to the good chinese for a take away , as it was a treat and also meant that I did not drive back home and back out again as I was then ready for whist and got there early and a decent parking place. A good game night, and of course moving with a lot more ease after swimming and even won a raffle prize, so have a little gammon joint that I am going to freeze , ready to pull out on any day I have visitors ,if my back is bad, as I think jacket potatoes go well with gammon and sweet corn and probably broad beans , and an easy thig to prepare. So all in all a great day, and whilst I havent had any more sleep, I do feel the quality of sleep was much better. So hurrah for wednesday!!
Now it is catch up time. Washer going well, need to find out what is on at the meeting this morning as missed the information from last week. Then get the things in the car sorted out and back to the normal organisation, get the last of the shopping put away in the right place and if there is time do a bit more on the dresser stuff. I even now have a new steam iron, so need to try it out and begin the ascent of the ironing basket mountain, where I shall do at least some of my favourite T shirts and trousers and then have a choice of what to wear rather than the what is fit to be seen in!
While in this positive frame of mind, I am also going to make a list of things I need to get on with now. So more effort and planning on contacting as many councillors and others in the saga of dangerous and painful roads and paths full of potholes etc. I have had quite a good response from people already and my idea of getting a map of the town and asking people tot ake pictures of their particular road or path and then pinning it on the map, has already had a lot of people saying they will do their bit and then if I can either go to a council meeting or contact the local paper with this map covered in pictures , the council cannot say it is doing a lot, or there are only a few bad patches, and their usual (understandable) excuse that they have no money, must be shown to be a false economy. If they have been notified about all these problems and someone has a bad accident then they could be sued so they need to look at their attitude. It is not really about getting money sueing them. I dont want to be in a situation with a broken hip or back that will affect the rest of my life and my ability to remain independant. Having any amount of money would never compesate me for being unable to walk about and live my life independantly, or even having to think of needing to live in a home or whatever. If something happens of course we have to learn to live with it, but something caused by a preventable situation would add salt to the wound. So this is of course partly a selfish cause but really for all the townspeople as we all pay our taxes and rates or whatever they are called these days and we should be able to walk about without taking our lives in our hands. Ah , how less pain allows your brain to think of what needs doing!!
I also need to look today as I am presuming this is country wide, but do you all know about Heritage free openings from the 11th to 21st September? You can look up your county to see what is available near you. The idea is that you can go free to see things like a national trust place or something like a church with interesting carvings or paintings that is normally shut. A round here we have a lighthouse that is normally closed, and then in west yorkshire there is Shibden Hall which was where they made the film Gentleman Jack. So some places you need to book, as there are limited places or times to visit, other places are just normally never opened to the public and you get all sorts of things to look at , where the dedicated people involved in whatever it s are there to tell you about it etc. So some are only open on the two weekends and others all week, so if you didnt know about it it is worth having a look around. Hope that is a help for some GN's to discover somewhere new.
Hope you have a good day Mick and keep out of the promised showers.GrandMattie of course they value your opinion, you are an intelligent woman and bring something new to the group. I dont really know much about squashes and havent really any experience of making something good to eat with them. Being on my own they also look too big usually. Have you any tips for what to try that would be reasonably easy to cook and get me to add something to my variety of things to eat? When I am feeling better I then am quite keen to try different recipes, because in bad patches, my choice is often limited to things that dont take long to make, and my ability to think of new ideas goes out of the window. Now of course it is definitely into stew time and lovely shin beef stew and jacket potatoes with lovely skin on them are the first thing to begin my autumn menus and when I see any really great veg on the market it will be soup making to the fore. You cant beat home made soup to my mind, and I freeze it in single amounts, which is great when you arrive home very cold and that and a jacket potato are my go to for a quick lunchtime meal. Making me hungry just thinking of it now! Well time for Bach before 7, coffee and see how the washer is doing.
Wish everyone a day like wednesday for them, and may you all manage to do something that pleases you today. Have a good day
