Christmas is Coming!!

I missed a month because I had to get a new computer, and a certain amount got lost in the move. Progressing well after the last set-back, and walking is getting better - I managed the best part of half a mile the other day, as there were demonstrations by strikers in London, and there were no taxis or buses. And though I have been on the tube, It was not going to be much help on that particular journey.

Christmas is on the way. We have ordered the tree - 9 feet as usual. We can do this in our place - there are 15 foot ceilings, and anything smaller looks ridiculous. And we get them from a man in the village, who charges only a fraction of what we would pay from a proper commercial outfit. We do the same with the turkey, too.

I am working the allotment - planting more fruit bushes and doing away with some of the vegetable patch. Fruit is less hard work than veggies. We shall have to get a larger freezer.

So all seems to be going OK - have a good Christmas and a happy and prosperous New year.

October News

A bit late this month – because I have been in hospital. Again. 16 days on a drip to cure a bad attack of cellulitis in my leg. I thought this was something that 20 something year old bimbos got on their thighs, but not so. That is something else… Very unpleasant, and has got in the way of my mobility recovery. However, it seems to be under control now. But it means that social contact will be restricted for a time. Pity, that.

Other than that, things seem to be in order. The fine weather has deserted us, and we are heading for autumn.

More in our next.

The First Day of Autumn!

Well, it's the 1 September, which, meteorologically speaking, is the first day of autumn. Actually it's one of the sunniest that we have had for months! Welcome to the UK.

The first of the month is the day I try to update this blog, too, although it is sometimes late, and occasionally early. Gentle improvement in my mobility is the order of the day.Daily I do not notice anything,- sometimes it is a good day, sometimes I go backwards, n and week on week, there is not a lot of difference, but month on month there is definite and perceptible improvement. It was always going to be slow.

This year has been fantastic for soft fruit - we must have picked about 30 pounds of raspberries, and the damson trees are breaking under the strain. And lots and lots of black and red currants, and loganberries. So next year, we shall probably have a very poor crop - such is the way things work here. But I was glad that I had put most of the plot down to fruit - it has saved a lot of digging, which is not very easy yet. And probably not advisable.

Still putting in a lot of swimming. Does not get me any slimmer, although I am probably getting more exercise now than I have taken since I got married, as Sonia most unkindly put it. Not quite sure what she means.

That will do for the time being. Off to Scotland in a week's time to meet the Brodies - Alan was manager of Scotiabank in Grand Cayman when I was there, and we are still in touch.

More in our next!

All seems pretty good

The title says it all really, although I am always wary of being too upbeat! But I am now concentrating on getting my gait more graceful - or at least less ungainly. It means taking longer strides, and this requires greater strength in my core muscles. People say - "pilates" but that seems a little extreme. Just making myself do it is a better, cheaper option. The allotment is coming on - lots of soft fruit this year, and much of it due to the stuff from the local farmthat I have spread around in the autumn. Still swimming and that is now where I am off to. Have a good one!

Getting ON

It is all happening, but it takes ages. The grandchildren came to stay for the week, and on Monday we went to Howletts Zoo, and for my sins I had to go with them. But it made me walk round the place, which was a lot further than I would have opted for. Apart from a certain stiffness the next day it was fine. The following day I was daft enough to agree to go to Camber Sands. Walking on soft sand is not a good idea yet, so we will work on it. Mind you, I shall be glad to get back into the swimming pool - the place I go to is adults only and swimming lengths - not the place for 7 and 8 year olds.

So the message is - keep doing the exercises. Next winter I might even get to the Caribbean, which Sonia and I would both like to do. Better start saving - the air fares are no longer cheap.....

Further Progress

Well, a month has passed, and apart from the continual problem of getting sleep for periods of an hour, I seem to be awakening muscles that have not worked for a couple of years. Which is a good thing. Mind you, walking for more than 100 yards at a time is tiring, and tends to increase aches and pains, but I am sure that this is only a question of exercise so that the muscles can work better.

We have just spent a week in Wales, and driving is perfectly normal, so I am hoping to get on board a plane some time and see what airline seats do to me. Train seats are still the second worse seats for back sufferers - the very worst being the standard plastic stacking chairs that you get in Church and village halls.

About all for now - I have to go and help the guys who are trying to unblock the drains!

I have been away...

It is a long time since I put anything down here. The excuse is really good news - things seem to be getting slowly better. We have been away in France for the whole of last month and I came back to 276 e-mails, of which only 5 were spam. They are taking some time to deal with, but we will get there.

I have dispensed with the physio – we agreed that she had nothing further for me and that I now have to get on with using the muscles as much as possible to build them up. This means squats several times a day, as I still cannot climb stairs stepping off with the right foot. And walking is not fast. That is just something to be got over.

France was good. We went for 3 weeks. Le Mans, Poitou, St Emilion, Avignon, Cap d'Antibes through to Monaco, Arles and the Camargue, Puligny Montrachet, and Wimereux. Arrived home with a well ballasted car!

The allotment is now under way. Lots of fine weather at present so no excuses!

Given progress – and it is always a mistake to say this – I shall probably only put things on this blog at the beginning of each month now – unless there are things to say that cannot wait. And there are not a lot of those.

Hasta la vista!

And for my next trick....

Singe last time I have been up to Town for the first time since all this started without 2 crutches. I just took a walking stick. I have already described how crutches indicate that you have been injured or seriously dasabled, and deserve public support. Loiterers and by-standers move out of your way, and taxi drivers get out, hold open the door, and help you up the kerb. Use just a stick, however, and there is a different reaction - or rather no reaction at all. People shove you about, bump into you and regard you as just another old fart to be at best ignored. Taxi drivers become visibly impatient at the time it takes for you to get out and pay them, and British Rail staff, who until now have held the Grenyer Accolade for Helpfulness and Assistance, treat you like any other old commuter to be given the minimum of information and help. But the effect of walking far further than I have done for some months with only a stick for support seems to have had efficaceous effects equal to those of Lily the Pink. I now seem to be going further and further without any aids at all. I am back in the water and next week it will be 800m a day. Mind you, they do say that pride goes before something or other, and I have been to hospital today for my annual scan to check that the stent that they put in my aorta is not leaking. I shall be quite glad to get the results of that.

The weather has picked up, and I hope to get to the allotment next week to finish the pruning and to think about a bonfire of the cuttings. Not a lot of wffort in that. There are little heaps of weeds that have to be moved to the compost bins, which will be a bit more challenging, and I suppose I shall have to put in some more fruit bushes, so as to avoid having to dig. More on this and other things later.

Happy New Year to all our readers

Well, Christmas was pretty good - No 2 son had the whole family to stay over the holiday, and we all had a great time. We also went out to friends for New Year and got in at 0230 hours - something I have not done for years! And this week I got back in the pool. Taking it easy to start with. Nights are still a bit difficult, but a dose of pain killer at 5 am - when the last one runs out - seems to do the trick, and I go all day without any real problems. Mind you, walking is an ungainly progression, and I would not fancy doing it for a mile just yet, and actually standing around is not a great pleasure either. Which is why the standard party is not favourite at the moment because whatever chairs there are are taken by either the fair sex or someone in greater need than I. But we are planning hols for later in the year - in UK or France I think, much as I would like to return to the Caribbean, where the water is warmer, and where we have a lot of friends. We just have to keep in touch with them, which we enjoy doing.

About all for now. Have a good one!