My first weekly update with 2020 getting off to a mixed start. Yes 2020 has been an interesting year so far and it’s only 11 January! Lots has happened, here are a few to give a flavour of things.
The less wonderful bits
The water supply at my mother-in-law’s house has been getting lower over the last couple of years and is now down to a trickle. To cut a long story short, the water pipe from the meter in the pavement outside to the stopcock is being replaced on Monday. This is a distance of about 30 feet. We are not sure how this will be done i.e. it might involve someone digging up the driveway or perhaps pushing the new pipe underground into the cellar. So we feel that we ought to be there for the day while this is carried out.
As proof this is in no particular order, we have both had horrible colds over the new year and they are just about cleared up now. It has surprised us both how long this has troubled us but happily we are just about done with Nightnurse, endless tissues and feeling sorry for ourselves. At least my mother-in-law didn’t catch it from us.
I haven’t run for two weeks now. Partly because of said cold and also to allow my hip a chance to recover. I will now admit, I ran too much in December and managed to pick up an injury. So I really must follow my own rules of sufficiently resting between runs.
To add to my woes, I have a Urinary Tract Infection (a UTI) yet again. It has been almost without symptoms and this is worrying as it means that I don’t know how long I have had it. I just happened to mention to a Doctor how my urine is generally cloudy these days and how I can’t afford to get another infection, for fear of damaging my kidneys further. A test was carried out on a urine sample and the upshot is another course of antibiotics which thankfully I always respond quickly to.
I haven’t weighed myself lately and I don’t want to! I know that I will have out on a few pounds over Christmas. Hopefully that’ll disappear when I start running again – I really miss it!
The wonderful bits
I am another year older! Except 58 is starting to feel a tad old.
My car passed the MOT alright and our good friend Iain serviced it (a major service this time) and all in good nick, though soon I will need new front tyres, discs and brake pads. He stayed for a meal once he had brought it back (how many other mechanics do that!).
I am getting a few ideas about art and where my portraits could develop. The bottom line is that I do need to practice more and more. The one above is of Lewis, who goes to the same art group and it’s fair to say he’s quite a character.
Yesterday Rachel and I went to Southend for the day. The reasoning was simply to enjoy being there with each other and chat about the year ahead. Although we haven’t made many firm plans, we have chewed a few things over and it was simply a nice thing to do. Just the two of us. We got there in time for lunch (thank you Anthony for the excellent suggestion) and then the sun came out to make the whole place bright and colourful. We even walked along the pier (1.3 miles each way) and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Besides, it was a little nostalgic as we sometimes used to manage a day trip when the girls were younger; we would play on the beach and go on some of the fairground rides. Lovely memories.
We cannot be sure how this year will turn out in some ways – and why should we. We are very conscious of our elderly mothers (85 and 93 respectively) and of course this is on our minds. We like being sociable and will continue to do so.
My health (my kidneys) has brought things into focus lately and as we don’t know what the future has in store, there is an argument for not putting things off. I did, by the way, ask about this when I had my last hospital appointment and the consultant kind of side stepped it, saying some further tests in March will help answer this question. So with this in mind I am hoping to visit my friend Dee in California, probably in May. I am hoping to spend a little time in the Yosemite National Park, amongst other things.
So 2020 has indeed been a bit mixed so far. As ever I always remain hopelessly optimistic about the future and yet I have my feet firmly on the ground. I’m so pleased I have this blog, it’ll be nice to look back on this in a few years time!