I am so sorry I haven’t blogged for three weeks, which I will address right now. Still, there’s plenty going on. Rather than keep you reading for two hours, here’s just a few highlights.
It just wasn’t possible to get all of my family together for a 60th birthday meal in January, so it is being done in stages. The latest was with two cousins, their hubbies, my aunt and once again Rachel and my mum managed to sneak in. Mum was on camera duty as she took the above photograph of her out of focus fingers.
It was a nice time. I thanked everyone for coming and reminded them they had narrowly missed my home cooking to which everyone politely chuckled. I said how valuable I thought getting together is, again everyone agreed as they raised their glasses. Unless we are careful, we could end up meeting when there is a funeral and that is something we should avoid.
My mother surprised us by abruptly deciding to give up driving when she last came to visit us. The suddenness of her decision surprised me and I suggested she could have a week’s cooling off, just in case she changed her mind. In the end it was at least two weeks cooling off and no, she didn’t change her mind.
When it came to selling her car, I was quite surprised. Within 20 minutes of listing it in Facebook’s Marketplace I had a genuine buyer who came and paid cash early the next morning. While her Toyota Corolla was 16 years old, it really was in fantastic condition (better than our own cars!) we got the asking price of £3250. Not bad for an old car and now I wish I’d tried for a bit more. Mum is absolutely delighted, so that’s the main thing. Nevertheless we all felt a bit sad when we saw the new owner drive that gleaming car away.
Despite her denials, her driving was not good. She would never pass a driving test any easier than she could see over the dashboard. The line I took was “quit while you’re ahead, Mum”. I guess there will come a time when we all need to give up driving and, to be honest, I think I’d find it hard. I depend on my right eye, my left eye is simply not good enough and I think it will be my vision that forces me off the road.
Last week we descended on Hannah’s cottage on the south coast. Actually it is owned by her employer and she shares it with a couple of her colleagues. To cut a long story short, we decided to blitz the lounge and kitchen with repairs, repainting everything and various shelves, bins and homely accessories. Jolly hard work but we made it – shows what can be done when you put your mind to it.
Mind you, I was knackered afterwards. Afterwards it seemed a long drive home and we chatted some of the time. Other times the miles drifted by in silence and it was then I was reflecting on things. I quite enjoy chasing around after our two daughter, although we need to avoid being those over-bearing parents and allow them to find their own way in life. I like being able to help them with some DIY jobs, even better would be for me to teach some of these skills – how to put up a shelf, put up wall paper and so on. It will come, in time.
Did I tell you about some heart palpitations I’ve been having since October? To cut a long story short, I decided to have a cardio session in the gym on the day before I saw a consultant at the hospital. I just wanted to prove to myself I could still handle a good workout alright and tell the consultant how I did.
Well, I was pleasantly surprised. I started with a cross trainer – 20 minutes at a fairly steady pace, not too much resistance. After 15 minutes I was getting pretty bored and having clocked my easy-going heart rate of 140bpm I decided to crank things up. With extra resistance I stepped up the pace and my heart rate gradually climbed and climbed. I didn’t go far above the maximum for long, just a few seconds and it felt pretty good.
I did some weights and kept glancing over the the row of empty treadmills. Inside my head there was an incredible battle going on. One side was telling me it should be avoided because of my injured foot. The other side was tempting me and reassured me by telling me how the surface is relatively soft. And so I ran, for 20 minutes, mostly with a very sensible heart rate of around 145bpm. The pace was fairly relaxed and yes I did have a good blast towards the end. I was sensible this time in allowing my heart rate to gradually decline from its high peak, instead of stopping abruptly and then feeling faint through my blood pressure plunging too quickly.
I was nicely sweaty, out of breath and felt damn good.
And so I relayed all this to the cardiologist the following day. He was reassured and said he didn’t think I was about to have a heart attack any time soon, although further tests are required.
How did my foot feel? Well pretty good while I was running. The following day it was about the same as usual – painful – but no worse. This is making me wonder if I have a tendon issue. I have spoken to my Doctor about this once again and she has now agreed to refer me to a physiotherapist; my appointment is 10 March, all covered by the NHS. Not too long but I can tell you I’m keen to get to the bottom of this – I stopped running 4 months ago and I seriously miss it.
Now the COVID restrictions are easing, we have been far more sociable. It has been a pleasure inviting friends in for coffee, or perhaps an evening meal. We have had some pretty stupid conversations with some seriously silly larking around going on, intertwined by more serious conversations over the dining room table. Although we enjoy our own company, it reminds me how much we need people in our lives.
So there you go, a few things going on over the last three weeks. I have missed blogging, jotting down a few thoughts about life here in the Quirky Museum and our quest to be clutter-free as we gradually put our stamp on our home.