Harvest time

Yesterday was Harvest Festival here.  It`s one of my favourite days in the church`s year, when we give thanks to God for the bounty of food which he provides for us.

A Perfect Sunday Afternoon

This may look to be just a picture of sand, but it`s one of my favourite places to walk, and I went there yesterday afternoon.   There were lots of families there enjoying it too - some just walking, some playing cricket on the sand, a few digging sandcastles, some sunbathing, others picnicing - all enjoying the open air, warm sun and the space.   And - what joy - not the sound of a single person talking on a mobile phone!   There are just miles and miles of sand and its very peaceful.  It really is a place to feel close to God in creation

I walked for about an hour and then became aware that the sun was disappearing and the blue sky had an ominous black cloud coming up, so I made my way back to the car.

Leaving the car park a short time later, it began to rain, so we drove to another village where we could sit by the water.   Whilst sitting there, although it was still lightly raining the sun came out, and I found another delight.....

..... to my right was a beautiful rainbow - so I just had to get out of the car and take some photo`s of it.  It was a perfect arc, I could see both ends, but unfortunately it was too big to get the full arc on a photo.   This is the best I could do.

Bird Watching

Sitting on a seat looking out at the sea the other afternoon (not yesterday, it was raining), I saw a starling come and land on the ground very near to the seat.   I didn`t take a lot of notice at first, but then became curious when suddenly I heard the whirr of wings of a flock of other starlings coming to join him, just a couple of feet away from my feet.

I sat very quietly and watched them, and discovered that on the concrete edge and coming up from the weeds just below the edge were hundreds of ants - they`d found an ants nest.   I quickly looked down at where my feet were!, but thankfully no ants had come that far.

As I watched, they were quickly devouring the ants, then I saw one lift its wing and peck under it.  Watching them closer others did the same, and it appeared that they were picking up ants and putting them in their wings.  I wondered why?.   Although somewhere in my mind I seem to recall a tv nature programme about this, but I can`t remember the reason the starlings do it.  They seemed totally unaware of me sitting there, they were so engrossed in the feast they had found.

A Strange phone call

My telephone rang yesterday evening, just as I`d finished watching a television programme.   I looked at the number on the display and saw that it was my mother.   I answered it as normal, and heard her say "Is that you (and my name)?"  I said "Yes"
"it doesn`t sound like you" she said and then she kept repeating my name ...  I kept saying "Yes it is me"
"what the matter?"   - "nothing" I replied
"who have you got there"   - "no-one, I`m on my own" I answered
"you`ve got someone there who shouldn`t be there"  - "there`s no-one here only me" - I again said
"You`re not answering me" 
"Why won`t you answer me?" - "I am answering you" - I said

All the time, I was answering her, but she kept on and on repeating these questions over and over and she was getting more and more agitated and not stopping to listen or wait for a reply, I got to shouting the answers but still she didn`t seem to be hearing me or taking it in.

Then I heard her saying,
"what shall I do, I`m going to get someone to come round and see you, you`ve got someone there who shouldn`t be there"
"I`ll get the police to come round"
"I`m not going to bed until I know you`re alright"
And I just couldn`t get through to her that nothing was wrong, everything was normal.

I began to think that she was having some kind of fit or turn.  
I wondered what to do.   I daren`t put the phone down, because if she heard it cut off I sensed that she`d be even more alarmed.

Then I thought, the only thing I can try is to try changing the phone I`m using and pick up another of the handsets in the house.   So, I tried that, and it worked!  she heard me on that.   Thank goodness. 

So we then experimented and I got her to ring it again and I answered on the first phone I`d been using and she heard me perfectly.  So, what had been wrong, I`ve no idea.

Following a very windy and wet Bank Holiday weekend, the sun came out today and it was so beautiful that it enticed me to leave my work (I had done my allocated hours), and leave the housework and go out.    So, I jumped into the car, drove a couple of miles along the coast and then went for a walk along the cliff top.

  It was beautiful.   The sky was blue and so was the sea.  I tried to capture all the wonderful colours and shade of blue in the sea, with my camera, but it doesn`t really do it justice.

Twitching curtains?

What will the neighbours think?

I`ve just realised, I`ve had, and got different men coming to my house every day this week!   I`m not talking about the outside workmen, because they`ve all gone.   These have all come to the front door and I`ve let them in.

First, on Monday, it was my boss - because now I`m working from home he comes up for various things.

Then on Tuesday, first a visit from my boss at 7 a.m.!   and then an Accountant about 9 a.m. who stayed the day.

Wednesday saw another man on the door step - this time the washing machine repair man, because my machine refused to work

Today, I`ve got the gas fire servicing man coming mid morning

Tomorrow I`ve a friend who should be coming

As to Saturday - that remains unknown at present

And on Sunday, I`m entertaining a visiting Minister to lunch.

What will the neighbours think of all these men coming and going from my house???!

Catching Up

I`ve been so busy over the past days since my last post, that I haven`t had time to write anything.  

So, an update - The scaffolding came down off my house one day last week, so I now have what looks in one sense to be living in a new house!   - well from the sides and back views, the front we have kept the same bricks as before, and just had pointed up where necessary, so I`m glad about that.    I don`t think I`d like to change the traditional look of the front.

I`ve now been working from home for a fortnight and it`s lovely!    I looked out of the window the other morning at the time I should have been setting out for my office and it was pouring with rain.  What a pleasure it was to just be able to go upstairs to my office here and not have to get umbrella and rainccoat out and venture out into it.  All I need to do is to get things sorted out as to the best layout for working in the room, but that will come with working there and finding out as I go, what works best where.


Today is Sea Sunday at our church, and it was my week to do the flower arrangement, so yesterday I spent several hours doing that.    Here is the result of my main arrangement.

Facelift

My house is undergoing a facelift at present. It was built around 1900, as far as I know. (I`m thinking of trying to find the actual history of it) It was, so I`m told the first one to be built in this road, and is the only one which was a detached house the ones which followed it were all semi-detached.

Being built over 100 years ago, of a softer type of brick and a sandyier mortar I suppose its no wonder that the bricks have been eroded away with the winds, the salt air and the weather. As for the mortar between the bricks, it had got so that you could run your finger along it and it would just crumble out.   Infact at times, sitting indoors at night you would occasionally hear pieces falling down in the cavity wall. 

So, although preserving the bricks on the front with pointing up, as the weather hasn`t attacked them so badly, the gable ends and sides have now had a coat of cement (or whatever you call what they put on them), and then it`s going to be painted with a weatherproof paint - so a new look!

Yes, expensive, but worth it.

A New Start

I started a new phrase of my working life yesterday. 

I`ve worked in the same business and building for just over forty years.  During that time, I have ofcourse seen lots of changes, both to the actual physical structure of the building, its frontage, door, inside layout etc have been changed numerous times.   When I started there, the first and second floor of it were a `house` and the manager lived there, coming down stairs straight into the store.  Later the stairs were closed up and made to enter from the main street to access the upper floors.  Then, for years and years the upper rooms were left empty. 

After many years of being disused, and with a change of ownership of the business the rooms became the head office, and I moved up there to work. 

Now, the rooms have been converted back into living accommodation and made into two flats.  That meant the office I work in needed to be re-located.

An office was made for me in the warehouse - disused warehouse (I should add) of another of the company`s stores.  I went over to look at it a few weeks ago, and as soon as I walked up the stairs to it I experienced a very strange feeling - I just totally felt very uncomfortable there, it felt somehow very spooky.   I just knew that I just couldn`t work there.  My boss, who was with me, took one look at me as said "you don`t like it, do you?"  and I had to admit I didn`t.     He was very good about it, and didn`t say - well this it you`ll have to get used to it, he instead said we`ll have to see what else we can find or do.

So, yesterday began the new session of my working life - as I am now working from home, and just using that "spooky office" for a base for mail, storing paperwork etc....   Last week we moved all the office items which I needed to here, and yesterday I started actually working here.     And it was a good day!

Flower Festival

Here is the Flower Festival which I was involved with last week.

Just click on the photo below and it will take you to the site will all the photos on.  - you can either then watch it as a Slide show, or individual ones, and at full screen.     Enjoy!



And, if you click on this one below, and do the the same you`ll see General Views

Flower Festival

A view of the Flower Festival I was involved with last week.

Flowers all around!

I`m in the middle of a Flower Festival this week.   Surrounded by beauty and perfume.

But, although that sounds delightful - which it certainly is - it hasn`t been without its hitches, snags and problems.  More so this year than others for some reason, maybe its the hot weather affecting everyone.

Anyway - here`s a picture of the delivery of the flowers on Tuesday evening.

Yes, the whole lorry full, was for the church!

Chair problem

My chair wee`d on the carpet.   

Yes, I do mean the chair and not myself nor anyone sitting in it.

I was sitting on my office chair in my office/workroom here at home yesterday evening and decided to just alter the height of the seat and the angle of the back slightly.   I pressed and moved the relevant levers under the bottom of the chair when all at once I heard the sound of liquid running.   I jumped up, wondering what on earth it was and where it was coming from as it seemed to be coming from the chair.   It was, out of the bottom at the back liquid was running onto the floor.    I ran downstairs and grabbed a cloth to put on the floor so that it didn`t sink into the carpet.  By the time I got back with the cloth it had stopped running out, so I set to work to mop up and clean the carpet - it was a very acidy, oily sort of smell to the fluid.    

Then, I wondered what to do, I daren`t sit on the chair again incase it made any more come out; I daren`t move it for the same reason.   Standing there looking at the chair, I decided that the best thing to do would be to give it a nappy - so downstairs I ran again, and got a plastic carrier bag, which I`ve now sellotaped to hang below the parts at the bottom where I think the fluid came from.    I think my next move is to somehow find a way to get rid of the chair, as I daren`t use it again.

Any ideas, how?   As a woman on my own I can`t carry it down the stairs, it`s too awkward a shape and weight for me to do that safely. And then, how to dispose of it?

Business trip

I had to visit two of our stores yesterday, one in Norwich, so I set off quite early so as not to be late through being held up in traffic.    What happened?     I got there thirty minutes early.    The sun was shining and it was a beautiful morning.  So having parked at the back of the store and rather than fluster the store manager by being so early, I had the opportunity for a short walk down by the river.   As usual my camera was in my handbag, I seldom go anywhere without it, so it gave me the opportunity to take these pictures of a spot I think is very beautiful.

And, a view along the river

Stained glass flowers

For the first time, I was asked to take part in a Flower Festival at a village church.   I was nervous about doing it somewhere else, but as the Organiser always does one for the Festival I help organise, I decided to accept.   This is the arrangement I did for the subject "A day in the life of..... a Stained glass worker".  

The Festival is at Upper Sheringham parish church this weekend.

A wonderful world

I`ve been enjoying the beauty of a part of our coastline this afternoon. The sun drew me out, to leave all the housework and jobs I should be doing indoors, and to take a drive along the coast and have a walk.

 Although I passed a few people also enjoying the lovely afternoon, it was really peaceful and quiet and just what I needed after the worries of last week.   

The air was filled with the sounds of birds calling and singing.  In the stream to my right as I stood looking around me, I spotted a coot with two tiny new chicks, beyond that in the meadow a pair of geese walked along with young goslings in a line behind one parent bird with the other parent bird at the back of them.

 

And this, just a fraction of the panoramic scene, just has to be so beautiful.  Our land really does have wonderful places to walk and experience.

At a Loss

I was at a loss for what to say yesterday.   Not that I`m a talkative person at anytime, and I think that goes back to my upbringing as a child - but I digress, that`s another subject altogether which maybe I`ll write about another day

What happened was my boss brought a young man into the office with him and after introducing him the young man went off to do some work in another part of the building.   J, my boss, then told me that the young man`s daughter, aged just 8 months old, had died a few days ago and naturally the lad was very, very distressed.   

After a while J suddenly said to me "You believe in God, don`t you?",  to which I replied "Yes",  (It was the first time that anyone had ever openly asked me that)  and I knew somehow that he was thinking about that baby and the lad, and asking `why`.   I just didn`t know what to say.   All I could come out with, is  "there is a lot that happens that we just don`t understand, but I believe there is a purpose behind all that happens even though we can`t see it, and may never understand it"

I felt very inadequate, and don`t know if that was really a good enough answer to give.

I feel very challenged by his question. - not in the sense of challenging God, but in how deep my faith is.   I feel I should have given a better answer than just those few words.

Owww!

It wasn`t my day yesterday!

The morning started nice and bright although breezy, so I hung my washing out on the line.   It was getting nice and dry by lunch time, but needed just a little longer.  I needed to go somewhere, so off I went in the car.  By the time I came back a couple of hours later it had been raining, and my washing was now wetter than when I put it out!

Now, I`m in pain.  I went through to the kitchen to make myself a supper drink yesterday evening, and turning to do something in the living room on my way, somehow my slipper seemed to grip to the carpet as I turned back and..... down I went, hitting my side on the corner of a dining chair, and my hip on the floor.  Thankfully I was on the carpet and not the tiled kitchen floor.   But now I`m in pain whenever I move.  I guess it`s just bruises and maybe strained a muscle there, but ouch!   I`ve got to stop and think now before I stretch to pick something up or reach out to the right and try and find a different way to move to do whatever it is I`m trying to do to lesssen it hurting.  How frustrating.

A Day Out

The sun shone, I was on holiday from work, so into the car I jumped yesterday morning and set off along the coast road, enjoying the beauty of all the new spring life around me.   The wonderful green of the trees, the pink blossom on the almond and cherry trees, the sight of lambs in a field.    What could be more beautiful.

Stopping in a town to get myself some fish & chips for dinner, I then drove along the cliff top found a good spot to park overlooking the sea and enjoy the fish & chips.   Sitting there in the car eating them, I became aware that two ducks had waddled over and stood there watching me.  I decided to see if they liked chips!, so threw two small ones out of the window, which they soon devoured.   They stood waiting for more!   (which they duly got)   but I discovered that they don`t like fish skin - I threw a little battered covered bit of skin out to them, they looked at it and ignored it. - not so the sea-gulls, they quickly came for it.

Having finished my picnic lunch I went for a walk along the cliff top.

This is the beautiful scene that I was looking at as I walked along.   The picture doesn`t really do it justice - it was such a huge open, calm, peaceful, expanse of sea and seashore.

Bluebells

                                                                   Enjoy !

A Blue Carpet

I saw a beautiful blue carpet yesterday......

 Isn`t it lovely..... 

    ...............bluebells as far as the eye could see in all directions

                                 Nature is so wonderful.

Growing

I`ve just realised it`s a while since I wrote a post.  

It was a lovely week of weather here last week, well, until Sunday when it turned dull and showery.   Still the showers have done my garden good.  I spent most of Saturday out there, as I`d been to the garden centre on Friday afternoon and got some plants to put into tubs and pots, so spent quite a while doing that, then set all my runner bean seeds in pots to start off.  

At the moment my summer house is full of little plant pots, some geraniums and now all the pots of runner beans.   So, everytime I want to sit in there I have to move them all out!   Maybe one day I`ll think about getting a green-house, but at the moment it doesn`t really seem worth it, not just to use for a few weeks of the year as a nursery for baby plants.

The sun shone, the gardener had prepared the beds for me, so out I went with my packets and seeds, and  set my vegetable seeds for the year.

Then, to keep all the neighbourhood cats off, as they seem to love my garden, and I wish they didn`t because of all the little "things" they keep leaving behind, I covered all the beds with mesh netting.

Now I look forward to the seeds growing into carrots, beetroot, parsnips and onions.    The runner beans will go in later.

Looking up from my work, I spotted this blackbird, obviously collecting food, which set me wondering if he had  nest of chicks alreay.

If anyone has any suggestions how to keep cats away, I`d be sooooooooooooo grateful!

Happy Easter

Hope you all have a Happy Easter

Lift High the Cross

A view of Good Friday

Lift High the Cross...... the love of Christ proclaim

New House!

I`ve got a new house!......

No, I`ve not moved, I`ve just had my hall, staircase and landing redecorated and a bit of dismantling done.

Our staircase when I was a child had bannisters, and I have memories of sitting on the stairs, with all my dolls and teddy on different stairs, when my mother was hoovering in the hall, and pretending we were in a train looking out of the gaps in the bannisters as the windows, the sound of the hoover being the engine
.
Anyway - during the 1960`s my mother decided she was tired of keep having to dust all the fiddly fancy bannister posts and rails and we had a handiman come and box the whole thing in with sheets of hardboard and then it was painted.   Looked very solid, and I didn`t like it.

So, now having the house to myself, I decided it was time those awful sheets of hardboard came off.  And what a difference it`s made to the the house.   It`s given it a whole new feel and made it seem so much bigger, brighter and lighter as one comes in the front door.

What`s in an empty office?

Well, it was back to work yesterday after my weeks holiday.   Work wasn`t bad, but at one point in the morning I got a real fright!

Running out of staples I went upstairs to the office at the back of the building, which had been vacated some time ago and left empty, as I knew there were unneeded stationery items there.   I easily found what I wanted and returned down to my own office and continued working.

Later in the morning, needing to find an old personnel file, I again went up to the next floor, but this time to the unused office at the front of the building.   On opening the door something large whirred around me, making me jump.  (this office too had been unused for months and just occasionally I had need to enter it).  Once I got over being startled, I looked around and there was a pigeon.  

I quickly shut the door so that it didn`t get loose in the whole of the building,  thankful that I like birds and am not afraid of them flying round in the way that many people are.  How had it got there?   Looking across at the window, which had roller blinds pulled right down to the window sill and quite tight against the window, I spotted that one of the sash windows was open about 12 inches from the top.  Obviously that was how the bird had got in, but yet, the blinds were close to the window, so quite how he (or she) had managed it I`m not sure.

It was obvious from the state of the "little messages!" that the bird had been leaving all over the chairs, desk, filing cabinet, floor etc., that it had been in the for quite some time.   Poor little thing!

By now the bird had quietened down and was sitting perched on the edge of the filing cabinet watching me,  I went over to the window and pulled up the blind of the opened window.   After a minute or so the bird flew and perched on the top of the open window beside me then with a flap of its wings sped off out into the world again.   I wonder what tales he/she will tell the other pigeons of its adventure.

I`m just so glad that I had reason to go up into that room.   I`ll now make sure I check up there more often - just incase it decides to come back.

In the Bird House

What do you expect to find in a bird house?

..... birds.....

Well......

......look again at this one which I saw the other day

More Snowdrops

I took so many photos of the snowdrops on my walk that I thought I`d share a few more with you all.   To me they are such a beautiful flower and one of my favourites.   I marvel at the way something so small and fragile looking can struggle through the earth at this time of year and withstand the cold, frost and all that the climate gives it at this time of year. 

Looking closely at the snowdrops, there were many different kinds too- like this one with the lovely green petals and shading, which one couldn`t see unless you gently lifted its head - or as in this case, put the camera underneath it!

This to me was a good sign of new life among the old, with the fallen and decaying tree trunk and the fresh new snowdrops.   So encouraging, so hopeful.

A Walk in Springtime

Come, enjoy the walk that I enjoyed on Friday afternoon.....

No, that`s not snow on the ground, its a carpet of snowdrops

Amongst the snowdrops were some yellow aconites

Everywhere I looked there were the dainty white snowdrops, hundreds of thousands of beautiful blooms

The sun was out and it was a really beautiful peaceful afternoon

Being Watched

Sitting at my office desk yesterday, alone in the office, I got the feeling that I was being watched.   Now, I hasten to add, my office is on the first floor of a buiding, up 17 steps.  There were no workmen working on the building, and we do not have a window cleaner.

I looked across to the big bay window, and at first couldn`t see what was making me feel that someone was watching me.  Then, looking down to the bottom of the left hand side of the bay window, I spotted it.   There, standing with it`s head up tall right against the window peering in from the window ledge was  - a pigeon, looking right at me.

I sat and looked at it, wondering what it was thinking as it stood there looking in.    Did it want to come in?  Did it wonder what I was doing?   Did it wonder what all the things in the room were, so different to its ouside world?   Was it hungry, or looking for somewhere to nest?   What could it actually see, I wondered? 

After quite a few minutes of looking at each other, it flew off, and I went back to my work.   

I wonder if it will come to visit me again?!

A sign of spring

A friend brought me this lovely bunch of tulips yesterday.  Aren`t they a beautiful colour.

I carefully pierced through the stems, just under the flower, with a pin before putting them in the vase as I`m told that helps them to keep up straight and not flop over.   Will see what happens.   It`s working so far.

Black & Blue

I`ve just realised, its a week since I wrote a post here.   I`ve been back to work this week.  I feel better, but you should see the bruises I`ve got on my leg and tummy from where they did the angiogram, which was through the way they have to press so hard for ten minutes after it.    I`m black, blue, purple and all colours - and its painful to move certain ways - but still, never mind the result was good and I know the bruises will disappear in time.

Other than that, I`ve not much to write about, its been a fairy ordinary week.

Day off tomorrow, so maybe I`ll think of something more interesting to say!

Message in the Flowers

I received a nice bunch of daffodils from a friend, when I came home from hospital on Tuesday. 

They were tall and straight and in tight bud.  I put them in a vase with water and stood them where I could see them the most, in the warmth of the room where I was.   Gradually over the last two days they have opened and are now in full bloom.   It`s a real joy to watch how they develop and grow.  Really beautiful.

That set me thinking - how we are like those daffodils.   With warmth and love, care and concern we too grow.  And, best of all is God`s love for us.

Heartfelt Thanks

Well, I`m back home and it`s all over.

And, it`s good news - there`s no problems with my arteries or my heart. They told me the result about 10 minutes after the test when they`d looked at all the x-rays.   I am so relieved

The test wasn`t very pleasant, yet not as bad as I feared. And it all seems to be healing up well where they did it. My friend was able to stay in the nice little single bed ward where they put me both before they did it and as soon as they returned me there from the recovery room. The test took about 30 minutes then after going back from the recovery room I had to lay flat for two and a half hours, then then gradually sat me up during another hour and a half, after which I was allowed to get up and walk around a bit. and we could then ring my other friend to come and collect me. All in all we spent about 8 hours at the hospital!
 
I am so thankful to the kindess of all the nurses and other hospital staff, (I can`t remember  the titles of all their jobs) but they were all so caring and helpful.   And, I`m especially grateful to my friend who stayed with me througout it all.

Test Day.

I`m not looking forward to today.   I`m scared.   I know I`m a coward.

Today I have to go to the hospital to have an angiogram, which is apparently a tube inserted into my groin to then put dye into my heart to see what it happening with the veins and the heart.  

I`m scared and frightened on a number of things, - what are they going to discover?     What is the test going to be/feel like?   and, worst of all - what happens if where they insert it starts bleeding again when I get home?   in some ways that`s my greatest fear.

I am fortunate though, in that I have some good friends - one is taking me to the hospital and staying there, and will stay the night with me when I come home, as I have to have someone with me.    Another good friend is coming to collect me after it`s all over and I can come home.   I`ve just had another friend ring me up to give me good wishes and moral support.

I just wish at this moment that it was tomorrow and that it was all over.

Caught in the Headlights

Feeling a bit better and brighter today, I went over to see my Mum this afternoon and have tea with her. 

Driving back a short time ago in the dark, along the main road my headlights caught on something in the field to my left as I approached a bend.  And what a lovely sight that was.   Something I`d never seen before in all the times that I had driven along that short distance between my Mum`s and my home.

What did I see?   A beautiful pair of deer.  They were standing quite still and close to the edge of the field against the roadside.  It really made my day.

I found myself wondering what they were thinking about as they stood there seemingly watching the constant stream of car headlights passing by!

Moaning Minnie!

I`m still here, but I can`t think of anything to blog about.    You don`t want to keep reading about my health problem I`m sure.   But, at the moment I`m just feeling frightened and alone, and worrying about what is happening to me/my body.   I`ve woken up this morning not feeling "right" but yet not exactly feeling ill, nor  can  I really describe how I feel - its just a feeling of not being right.

Quandry, shall I go to work and hope it wears off, or should I stay at home incase it develops into something.  Maybe its just a reaction to all the tablets I`m now having to take, maybe its the worry of next weeks hospital test, maybe its.......     Oh, I don`t know!

Relevant Thought for the Day

I receive a daily email Bible verse and Thought for the Day from Living Light, and part of today`s was so apt it said:


“Even sickness - that appears to have absolutely no use - has little gems and hidden jewels that are revealed, often through other people. Paul had many people to help him get away, and although we can’t escape from illness we can allow people to help us and be alongside our suffering. Illness is not glamorous and we have to learn to agree with Paul, that we will boast of the things that show our weakness - not an easy thing to do!”

To read the whole piece click here.

I have been and am so thankful to everyone who are helping me at this time.

Key thoughts

Waking up in the middle of the night, and unable to get back to sleep my mind started wandering! 
And I didn`t like where it went.

I found myself thinking what would I do, if I were taken ill in the night and the emergency people needed to get in.  My front door was locked, the key taken out of the lock as always, the back door was locked too.  Ok, no problem if I was able to go downstairs, but what if I wasn`t.   How would they get to me.   

It made me think, should I somehow keep a key outside somewhere, in the way that people used to leave their keys under the doormats when they went out, or under a stone.   But, Imagine doing that today!.    Should I put one in the shed - yet in the dark it would be hard to find, and in these days of security would that be safe to have one there in the daytime. 

I wonder if anyone else, especially anyone on their own, has pondered this and if they`ve come up with a solution.

Inspiring hymns

Turning on the television this tea time to watch the BBC Songs of Praise, having not been to church today, I found it a very inspiring one, with many several hymns that seemed to speak to me, and my current situation and worries.   

Helpful advice recalled

 I remembered a bit of advice yesterday, given to me by a friend many years ago, when I was worried and afraid to tell my mother something, which I knew she`s have to know in the end - and that was that - I`d only make myself feel worse by keeping worrying about how to tell her knowing I would have to in the end.  So do it and get it over with.

So, when she rang me yesterday morning and said "are you alright", I did tell her a "watered down" account of what had transpired this week, and what I `might` have.  

And, yes, I do feel much better for having done so and at least got that worry off my mind.

Tests

I got to the hospital in good time yesterday, and we found the department quite easily, once we`d managed to find a space on the car park.

Having reported in at the correct desk, it wasn`t long before I was called in to have an ECG, then back to the waitng room.     

After a fairly long wait, thankfully I had my friend there to sit and chat to, or at least for her to do most of the chatting thus keeping my mind off of worrying somewhat, I was called through again for lots of questions and other tests.    Back to the waiting room.

My name was then called again, to go and have a heart scan, that duly done - back to the waiting room.

Finally we were called in to get the results of all the tests, and that revealed that they think it is Angina, but I need to have a further test, on another day.   And depending on the result of that, I may need another test or something at Papworth - that really has alarmed me.   

I`ve now got 5 different tablets to take each day - but, as I said to them, I don`t mind how many tablets I have to take, so long as it sorts things out.

I am just so grateful to my friend for being with me and coming with me at such short notice.   and also for the kindess and help of all the medical staff, whose manner and attitude gave one confidence in them.

My big worry now, is what or how to tell my Mum.

Scared

Well, I rang the surgery yesterday at 8.15am, and was told that a doctor would ring me back.   I asked about what time that would be and was told within 2 hours.

Ten minutes later the phone rang, and it was the doctor.   After asking me lots of questions about my pain, he said he`d like me to come up to have an ECG test, and made an appointment me for me for 8.50 a.m. 

Off I dutifully went, and within a few minutes of being there I was called through for a nurse to do the test.  Then back to the waiting room for a few minutes before I had to see another nurse to have my blood pressure, pulse and other tests.    Back again to the waiting room to wait to see the doctor.  It may be a little wait, I was warned.   But within a short time, I was called in to see the doctor.   After more examination and lots of questions it seems its possibly either to do with a muscle, or could be angina.   That I didn`t like the sound of, especially when he said to me, if you have the pain for more than 20 minutes dial 999.     He then arranged for me to go for tests as the N&N hospital today.

So, I`m feeling pretty scared.    

I rang a church friend yesterday, and she is going to come with me as I didn`t feel I wanted to go on my own.

But, I am very impressed with the prompt and efficient service I received from my surgery.

A pain in the.....

I`ve got a pain.  
I`ve had it since Saturday.  
It`s in the chest, or is it in my stomach? - it`s sort of in the middle between both.   Where`s the diviving line, I wonder between one and the other?  
It seems to move and at times I feel it round my back too.
It`s not a sharp pain, more of a achy type I suppose you`d call it.
I`m getting worried as to what it is.
Wondering whether to go to the doctors, or whether to wait a bit longer.
It doesn`t hurt when I`m sitting doing nothing, nor when I`m in bed. 
Maybe it`s just a muscle I`ve strained.  Yet, is it something internal?  something serious? 
All kinds of thoughts are going round in my mind.
I don`t feel right, but I don`t feel ill exactly.
I`m in a quandry over it.

Still Here

I`m still here, I just haven`t had anything interesting to blog about.    The snow has now all gone and after a day of rain yesterday it`s so good to see the sun shining this morning.   It really cheers one up.

I`m glad too that the rain has stopped and the snow gone, as I`m having my Mum here for the day.  She`s coming to church in the Wheelchair Taxi (that was a great discovery that a firm has one of those in which they can just wheel her in, in the chair and strap the lot in, so she can come independentely.*)    Then after that I`ll be transporting her to mine, and maybe for a ride this afternoon if the sun`s still shining.  It`s the easiest way to find something to do to occupy the time with her here.

*It`s not that I won`t go and pick her up in my car, but it does save me time on a Sunday morning, so that I can get dinner prepared a bit before going out.   (No, I`m not wasting time writing this - I`m eating my breakfast of a marmalade sandwich with one hand while doing so!)

 

Frozen Veg

This snow is causing some really strange effects -

I heard on the radio the news story that local growers can`t harvest cauliflowers because the ground is frozen.   It set me wondering ...... since when did cauliflowers grow under the ground and have to be dug up?! 

What`s wrong with manually cutting them in the way crops used to be harvested? 

Lost Bird?

Looking out of my window the other day, after it had been snowing, I became aware of a small bird which I`d not see in the garden before.  It stayed pecking about for quite a while, and wasn`t bothered by the starlings and blackbirds who were all bigger that it was.

The next day, it appeared at about the same time again, and again today.  So I got my camera out and tried to get some photos of it through the window.   I didn`t want to go outside with the camera for fear of frightening it away.   I`m not sure what it is.   I`ll have to get a bird book to try and find out.   It`s quite quick moving and is quite prettily marked.

Time for sand?

For several days over the last week our pavements have been very tricky to walk on because they`ve been covered in ice, and no attempt has been made to grit or sand them.

It was great to wake up this morning and see clear pavements, no frost, no ice, no snow.

Looking out of my office window mid-morning at the street - what did I see?   Yes, a big council lorry piled up with sand and two men enthusiastically throwing shovel full after shovel full all on the clear pavements!   

Why, oh why couldn`t they have done it when the frost and ice were making the pavements trecherous,  instead of when they were safe to walk on?

Strange Logic

Hearing this news story today of the concern now being expressed about the number of young people not in work.  Is it really any surprise?  Surely a lot of the problem is caused by the raising of the retirement age, or those working beyond retirement age.   I fail to see the logic in making people work longer when there are so many young unemployed people.

It seems to me that there is a very easy, logical solution - to either hold or better still, to lower the retirement age.   That way people, like myself (who will now have to work beyond the current 60, because our birthdays fall just after the cut off date)  would be able to retire having worked all their lives  and leave jobs for younger people.

But, I guess that`s just too simple!

Aims for 2010

Well, the start of a new year, and I`d better review the resolutions I set myself at the start of 2009, before deciding what, if any, I`ll make to try and keep for this year.

So, what was I aiming to achieve in 2009?

• to be more organised at home, by filing mail items as they arrive, rather than putting it to one side to do later
• to spend more time practising playing the piano
• to set out earlier when going to work or anywhere, instead of leaving everything till the last minute
• to learn to sometimes say "No" instead of "Yes"
• to write my blog each day, and to restart my "Blessings day by day" one
• to complete the needlework picture I started 3 years ago!

Oh dear! - reading those - I think I only really achieved one - and that was to file my mail when it came instead of piling it up on the desk - well, most of the time anyway!

So what are my intentions for 2010?

• to make more time for hobbies and things I want to do - including trying to restart my piano playing
• to be more organised and not leave everything till the last minute
• to write my Blog daily (or at least 4 times a week).  And, I`ve closed the Blessings day by day one and started a new one on the same lines "Giving Thanks....." which I intend to write a daily item on
• to give more time to my Mum
• to complete that needlework picture which is now 4 years old
• to enjoy life!

 How successful I shall be in any of these we`ll have to wait and see!

It`s 2010!

A Happy New Year

to

YOU

I wasn`t going to stay up to see the New Year in, but in the end I did, and this firework display in London was well worth waitng for