Allegedly this is the crappiest time of year with Blue Monday having been and gone. I couldn’t care less about Blue Monday and instead revel in my annoying optimism, so please don’t expect any apologies from me! Here’s a few things from the week just gone…..Monday and Tuesday were lovely days as far as the weather was concerned. Crisp, cold and clear skies. Perfect. Perfect for endorsing my hopeful outlook and this was supported further by the emerging bulbs in our garden – this new life always amazes me when everything else is dormant.
However, I was pretty sure my Urinary Tract Infection had returned, so I managed to smile nicely at the Doctor’s receptionist and bag an appointment within the hour. This time the Doctor wasn’t going to faff around with urine samples being sent off to the hospital. Instead he tried one of his dipsticks in a sample I had taken in and said “Oh you’ve got white blood cells in your urine, have some more antibiotics”. And so started my second batch this year and it’s still only January! This does, I think, explain why I have been lacking in some energy of late. Thankfully I always respond very quickly to antibiotics.
Our daily visits to my mother-in-law continue. Rachel and I are her carers and she is becoming more needy. Can’t help but wonder what the future holds for her…. As things stand, her outings tend to be to the Doctor’s surgery (when required), U3A (monthly) or the village shop (weekly with myself). There we often play “guess the cryptic item on the shopping list”. Turns out Heinz, Hertz etc equal Ritz biscuits. We play a little game about this in the shop and we both end up chuckling to each other about this.
On Wednesday I headed down to the West Country to stay with my mother for a few days. That was nice, all very twee. I must admit I always become terribly confused with the little rituals and need to be reminded which cutlery to use for different meals as they are kept either in the dining room or kitchen, depending on whether the meal deserves hallmarked cutlery or not.
Then we have the shower ritual where I need to be reminded of a few things: I must remember to turn the shower’s electricity on (switch in hall cupboard), open the window (just 0.5 inch in January), turn on the extractor fan, turn on the fan heater, put a bath mat near the shower, make sure shampoo, flannel and soap are in easy reach. After showering, drying, switching everything off, check the shower drain to make sure all the bubbles have been washed away. Need I say more?
On Thursday I had an easy run along the seafront at Weston first thing, though it was drab and dull. Next we paid Becky (eldest daughter) a visit in Exeter. That was nice. We sat in her front room with our coats on (newly weds needing to be careful with money and not waste it on maintaining tropical conditions for me).
Friday morning involved calling Highgate Cemetery regarding the family grave there. Turns out we don’t “own” it after all and haven’t since December 1919. There is a remedy to this and something else to sort out (helps to have a legally minded brain at times).
Friday afternoon was a drive home via my friend Austen before I crawled along the M25 (see previous post).
Saturday was Parkrun day, followed by coffee and toast at our house. My time, around 28 minutes, wasn’t that fast but I was 62nd out of over 300 runners so all is not lost.
So a fairly straightforward week I guess, very much looking forward to the next few days which will include paying our financial advisors a visit to see how things are going.