Good morning Mick and all GN's on a very dark but dry morning in North Yorkshire. Cant even see the outline of the tree yet. Have been awake since about 4am, coughing yet again, which sort of pulls my ribs and hurts quite a bit, so my hopes of a decent nights sleep didnt work out. I gave up trying to go back to sleep by about 4.30am and have been perusing the local paper and considering plans for today. These are being considered but have to then be adjusted by what the weather does and how well I can get about today, which I suspect wont be too great!
Yesterday I spent most of the day at home but it was a very expensive day too, as I went down the town and bit the bullet. Namely I went back to specsavers and have sort of admitted defeat as my new glasses are nowhere to be found, and I am not doing my eyes any good by using the old ones. So the only good thing was that they have an offer on of buy one pair get another free, so the cringing price of £70 at least will get me two pairs., that was the cheapest price for the ones I needed. They expect them to be ready next friday, and no doubt I shall find the original pair on saturday!! Still my plan is to keep the second pair by my bed. That will save me the often needed trip back to find where I have left them in the kitchen or whatever, and ensure that if I am daft enough to lose this pair I will have the second at the ready.
Then for good measure I went and got my hair cut. I dont know about you but I always find that if I have been ill or whatever my hair shows it, never looking at its best and getting to that annoying length, which is too short to put up or tie back, yet long enough to blow about in the wind and into your eye. It wasnt really in my plan to do it this week but just fed up with it going everywhere. My hair is quite fine, so if it gets too long it flies about and doesnt look as though I have even put a comb through it! The hairdresser is very pleasant and I have found a way that suits us both. I dont make an appointment because if I wake up and can hardly move I would have to cancel and waste an appointment - and she is popular so lots of people want to go there - and so we now work on the fact that I call in when I am able and I can see there are very few people being seen to. As I only have a simple cut, and no fancy twiddles, I just ask if she is free to do my hair then. She either says yes come in now, or I have someone due but could fit you in in half an hour or whatever. If that is the case it gives me the excuse to go to cafe nero for a coffee and then we are both pleased, as I get my haircut and she gets a space filled. She probably thinks I am quite eccentric but never shows it! All our family have very sensitive skin, and no matter how good she is there will always be some hair getting down the t shirt. I dont know how people stand it as it is really uncomfortable for me, and I either have to change my t shirt straight away or go home to do so. She has an area curtained off for whatever and so I always take a clean t shirt with me and when she has finished and brushed me down etc, I disappear behind the curtain and gratefully get changed which allows me to continue shopping or carry on without having to go home. So doesnt sound very exciting, but at least I have got something done that needed doing and now I have made the decision I can stop thinking about the flipping glasses.
I didnt do much else special yesterday, still struggling to bend down etc., and somewhat frustrated as I have a few plants that I want to get in the ground but no chance yesterday. Dont think I have any chance to do any today either. Ah well, just have to see what the day brings. At least we have a little longer daylight to enjoy.
Hope you have some exciting cycling to enjoy Mick. Since they did the Yorkshire cycling race both near the coast and also up Swaledale and Wensleydale and showed it on the tv, a lot more cyclists have become aware of the lovely countryside and pleasure of cycling in this area and we now get all sorts, from cycle clubs - who are all well behaved and know how to use the lanes and byways, to the rather yobby 4 or 5's in a group who think the road is just for their pleasure and ride 4 abreast and make no effort to move over or keep to the side even for the local buses etc. But the majority of people are courteous and we have a quite new business up at fremington which is a bike centre, where there is a cafe and you can also hire bikes and I think they have all the spares etc. Certainly the run up wensleydale and then over the Buttertubs and back down through Swaledale is quite a run and when it has been raining the Swale and the becks are full and have waterfalls to enjoy as you go by. Wish I could still do that, was a cyclist, but it was more my way of getting round as a youngster and of course riding the 4 miles to the stables where I helped and rode as a horse mad teenager. Used to love riding over the wolds , lovely quiet places with views for miles and across to the coast.
Ashcombe hope you enjoy a day of "whatever " as we used to call it when that rare occasion that you have no obligations or timetable but just see how the day unfolds.
GrandMattie sorry your pyrex jug broke. Some cooking things last for ages and are used the most and you feel sorry to see them go. I had a pale green pyrex plate that my mother gave me from an old dinner set when that was the height of fashion. It travelled with me on my journeys near and far, just the right size to make an apple pie on etc and I dropped it and it fell onto a marble floor and bits flew everywhere. I thought I had carefully swept up every bit but no for several days I would find yet another tiny bit down a crack or whatever.
Pantglas glad it is dry enough for you to get out under the tree and enjoy your tea. Hope you have a pleasant walk today .Bellasnana hope your headache has gone by now and you feel a bit better.
At last a bit of daylight and the tree is visible , very still and grey out there and no sign of life from pigeons or squirrels so far. Time to creak around, make some coffee and then see what I can contemplate doing today. If I cant manage to walk about much I may be very virtuous and attack the ironing mountain, but think that at the least if it stays dry I shall just go a little way into the countryside with my binoculars to at least look at more snowdrops in a wood if I cant manage anything else. I have some fish for dinner tonight so not a lot of standing cooking, and I shall have my weekends treat of the Yorkshire Post to enjoy and see what is going on around me. Hope you all have a good day and have something cheering to enjoy.
