Good morning Mick and all GN's from a slightly breezy North Yorkshire. Well I say goodmorning, but here I am very late for me, and struggling. Another rotten night, which then meant that after struggling for most of it I then fell asleep sometime after 5am, and so then didnt wake until about 7.15am, which of course meant I woke with a headache, struggled to get going, missed my Bach before 7, and so here I finally am. I had marked up one or two things in my local paper that I might go to, but right now I am abandoning any plans other than to get on the yellow peril and go to the market for some fresh veg etc and the Yorkshire Post, and if I feel no better , shall abandon any plans and just enjoy the paper and try and improve the day, and walk round the flats to just get some fresh air. Maddening , that I cant even organise the next day without finding myself having to give up even the simplest plans. Oh well I shouldnt moan, there are many worse off that me I know that.
Yesterday, I started the day by trying to get some more things sorted, and managed to do a bit and then was carefully making two separate piles, where one had things that could now be filed away, and the other had things that needed some attention, and to put dates on the calendar etc., so that I dont have the shaming phone call saying I should be somewhere that I have forgotten. Still heard no news from my son, and can only hope that no news is good news and he is busy getting himself sorted in his new job. Then as I reached across for something my sleeve caught a pile and the whole lot fell on the floor and mixed up again! I was both annoyed with myself and near to tears at the waste of time. I started to use my pick up thing to get stuff off the floor, but then suddenly just felt I had had enough. I just left the lot where it was, ignored everything waiting to be done, got my coat etc and went off in the car into town and bought the D@S and then carried on to the garden centre, where they have a decent cafe etc. Even then I had to drive around and around to find a disabled bay . Had given up hope and was just trying to fit into a normal space , when thank goodness saw a lady pushing a trolley to a disable bay. I asked her if she was going and she was, so very thankfully, I waited and then took her place. It was very close to the entrance, but even so I was really struggling to walk, to such an extent that a lady passing me turned and asked if I was alright and did I need help. It was very good of her, and did at least allow me to accept that it was not a good day and I wasnt actually being a wimp, giving up on things. So after a very slow hobble through the shop , of course filled with millions of christmas things, including some quite nice but expensive christmas trees already bedecked with ornaments advertised as the total tree already done , (why would you want that? Surely decorating the tree has tradition and all the things that you have from years ago, a whole history of your family christmas over the years, that joins you all together and gives memories and happy times to think of) Anyway I finally made it to the cafe and it was nearly midday and suddenly I decided that I deserved a bit of a treat and not just my free coffee, and so I went mad and ordered a hot beef roll with onions and a bit of salad with it. Sometimes I have to ask them to carry my tray to my table if I am struggling, but I obviously looked rough as the lady without being asked said You make your way to the table and we will bring your things over. Kind of her, but did add to the "what do I look like today?" feeling! It was busy but with some vacant tables and so I was able to find a seat with a decent back and was glad to sit and look at my paper until my food came. It was good and I felt a bit revived and cheered, both by the food and the cheering atmosphere with friends and families enjoying their visit.
I sat with my coffee and the paper for a little while, and then very slowly went out to enjoy looking at the plants. Off to my usual corner the "sick bay" There were one or two plants that I would liked to have taken, but then needed planting quickly and no chance to be able to get down to ground level, so discretion was the better part and I left them. Came home somewhat better than I had left and managed to get all the stuff off the floor, but too disheartened to continue with sorting, so instead went round and collected towels etc and put them into wash. Then read my paper, marking up things that might be worth considering for the next day, plus underlining two items that required following up. I need to get our womens group to hopefully join in this petition to stop a building firm putting something like I think it is 48 houses on an area that they originally went for 20. It is absolutely ridiculous and just greed that makes them want to do this. The area is part of a flood plain for the nearby river, there are absolutely no extra facilities , no playing field s no shops etc etc, so that basically it will just add extra houses and people to an already overstretched part of the town. I am not against houses being there, it is quite sensible if they fill in a patch but are aware of the flooding possibilities etc. Whilst there is need for more housing, it needs to be looked at in the wider sense and check if there are things like doctors and shops and these days there are no things like village halls being built to provide a place where activities such as youth groups, brownies or WI or clubs can meet so nowhere for people to meet up safely. It is quite a way from the centre of the town so they will probably not be able to walk in for may people and there is no bus service there at all. This can lead to all sorts of problems and even basics like overloading of sewage and drainage systems, which the builders just put the houses up, dont even put solar panels up or make sure that they are the most energy efficient that they can be and then they disappear off, leaving the town and council to try and deal with all the possible problems to come. So I shall be rallying the troops to contact the council and so forth. We are not at that end of the town so they cannot say it is being nimby at all, it is just common sense wanting to end up with a system that will help people to come here to live but not leave them stranded with no public transport available etc. This is a modern version of when they got rid of loads of slum areas in scotland and then put people in better housing but with no facilities and miles away from the shopping areas. I am not saying that it was slums or anything but they do not seem to have learnt anything overall about needing to check on basics and provide such things as schools and if there is a doctors surgery that is available and can take a large influx of new patients, when we are already struggling to get appointments. Thinking of Scotland always make me think of the lovely Billy Connolly, talking about all that change and how he was part of it. I saw one of his programmes that I have seen before but it was his one about having incontinence special trousers under his ordinary trousers and then going to a dance. His physical comedy is so great and it just suddenly got me laughing so much that I was holding my sides from laughing. For me he has not only lovely sense of off beat humour but genuine care about people and makes us look at some of the daft things we do. I am sure we all remember our parents saying things like " Go bike riding, I'll give you bike riding!" which is such an odd thing to say , but we all recognise the way of families.
Hope you got your early bus Mick. Glad you got your water back Grandmattie and the quilt looks lovely. Karmalady, glad that the gansey arrived and was admired after all your hard work, but sounds as though you have a repeat job coming up now. Glad you went in your car to wells and hope that you have a happy day there and enjoy yourself .Susan56, I send you my condolences on your sad loss. How good it was that you were there for your family too, to give each other some comfort.
Well it has somehow got round to 9am, and I need to get myself together and reluctantly leave the comfort of my chair to get some shopping done. well the paper will be something to lure me out to get started, and then I am making no plans at all but just see how I get on and the day will unwind as it will. It is more daylight now of course, but looking grey and miserable so nothing to entice me out. Hope you all started the day in a better frame than me and that you will continue to enjoy the day doing something you like. all the best
Condolences to you all. Xx
&slightly blushing here. Embarrassed, feel cut of from the outside world, trying to accept & adapt to a new way of life. Same as yourselves. Being unable to leave my house, (weighing only 5 stones something). I have an appointment with dietician nxt wk. Scared again. Apologies if this post should be somewhere else. Im not sure what im expecting frm writting all this. 
