Sunday, 18th June, 2023
A hot and humid night which was punctuated by lots of flashes of lightning and, it appears this morning, a bit of rain. Thank goodness for the air conditioning. The morning has opened with beautiful sunshine but still very humid and sweaty. Orange juice and porridge for Breakfast. Nice to get back to it.
Kevin sent me, with pride, a photo of his newly mowed lawn this morning and it didn’t escape either of us that we would never have predicted back in 1969 that we would end up talking about that sort of ‘grass’. He is going back to Benidorm for a few days soon for another birthday celebration. He tried to get me to go with him before and I have already told him it just doesn’t appeal to me. Today, he sent me this note of optimism.
It is a wonderfully optimistic approach to this morning. The monkey could be around quite a long time. Hard Luck! It produced such a wave of optimism in me that I have pledged to Kevin that, if we both reach the age of 96, I will accompany him to Benidorm and I will …. sing Karaoke with him. I hope I haven’t let myself in for something I will suffer for. I don’t even know if Kevin can sing the aria, Sono andati? – Puccini’s La Boheme. Still he’s got time to learn it.
There’s a possibility we might get some rain for a couple of hours this evening. I do hope so. It will save me the trouble. Anyway, going out for a couple of hours walk in this hot sunshine this morning. Our lettuces are ready to cut so griddled tuna steaks with homegrown salad for our meal in the garden today. Just think of all that life I could have missed, all those happy moments.
Monday, 19th June, 2023
We heard last night that Pauline’s cousin, Joyce, died on Saturday at the age of 87. She had been in Oldham Royal for 7 weeks because she fell and broke her hip. Having been repaired, she was moved, temporarily, to a rehabilitation placement to help her learn to walk again. It was there that she contracted Sepsis and died. How often do you hear that sort of event? I always used to laugh at old people refusing to go into hospital for fear of never coming out but there is obviously a kernel of truth in it. Hospital settings are breeding grounds for infection.
We had a couple of hours of light but consistent rain yesterday and this morning has opened warm, humid and overcast. Came home from a long, hot week in France to find the garden had survived and grown extremely strongly.
The French Beans are flowering and will be ready for picking in under two weeks. The Lettuces are already being cut and the courgettes have infant fruit. In my experience, these two plants will deliver a glut over the next couple of months. We have hardly any rain forecast for the next week or so and I expect my daily routine to involve plenty of watering – I know, you can’t get much more exciting than that!
If, like me, you have no religion, it is all enough to almost convert one to Pantheism! Almost. To see one, tiny seed produce a huge plant with lots of fruit containing hundreds of new seeds is awesome in that word’s real sense.
Very busy day today. Some gardening followed by exercise programme plus watching David Cameron appearing before the Covid Enquiry and Parliament rubber stamping Boris Johnson’s expulsion. Going to be a good day.
Spoke too soon. Cooking outside this afternoon in hot sunshine, the ring circuit running from the house to the Garage blew a major fuse knocking out the Gym lights, the electric door and ….. the second Freezer. This freezer stores all the meat and fish and has hundreds of pounds of food in it. Fortunately, we managed to rig up a temporary fix to get the freezer back on and our electrician will be round tomorrow to sort out the overall problem. Bit of a sod, though, rather spoiling the end of a lovely day. And I’m not drinking so no consolation there!
Tuesday, 20th June, 2023
Well, the BBC (Met. Office) weather forecast was right for once. Just around 5.00 am, thunder started to roll in accompanied by flashes of lightning. As I got up to look outside heavy, noisy rain began to fall. My first thought was that I wouldn’t have to water today. A neighbour down the road took this photo this morning from the beach. Some people are obviously prepared to take a lot more risks for their art.
The rain lasted about an hour and all soaked away very quickly which shows how dry this area has become. After Breakfast, my first instinct was to get out in the garden. It is quite remarkable how well small seedlings and young plants survive under the battering of heavy rain. Everything was already springing back, fighting for life, reaching to the sun. It is a lesson to all of us. We only have one life and have to keep fighting every day to achieve the best we can.
A report in The Times this morning suggests I am doing the right thing with my exercise programme. In fact, I am doing more than they suggest. I was concerned about the pace of walking which I always think is slow but my 100 paces per minute is exactly what they recommend. They say at least 4 days per week and I do 7. They say that, although the 10,000 paces is a figure plucked out of the air, it is not a bad guide. Until my illness, I was doing 20,000 per day and I’m now doing 18,000 every day. My app says I have walked 7,000 miles in the past 24 months.
Just phoned my friend, Brian (ex-Drugs Squad/ex-Murder Squad), in Royton. He hasn’t been well recently. He’s been suffering with a prostate problem but it turns out not to be cancer. He, on the other hand, is having to cope with a catheter and has been for 9 months. I couldn’t cope with that for 9 months and have been coaching him on how to get some movement in his treatment – phoning the secretary of the Urology Department is one thing. Getting his Surgery to do the same is another. I’m going up to see him. It will be lovely to catch up.
Wednesday, 21st June, 2023
Absolutely gorgeous day. The Longest Day and I was up early to take Pauline to the hairdresser’s for an 8.15 am appointment. Who has their hair cut at that time in the morning? Well, now you know. It’s going to be a long day.
I’m depressed. This hormone treatment warns I will put on weight and I have. In spite of all the exercise I’ve been doing and reasonable control of my diet, I must admit I have drunk far too much (calorific) wine. Tried rather to drown out the sadness of life at the moment. Today I tried a pair of trousers on and couldn’t fasten them. I was shocked. I’ve lived in shorts and tee shirt for the last four months which has rather disguised the weight gain. To add insult to injury, I had to go to the Surgery for my second hormone injection. I just hope it doesn’t increase the rate of weight gain.
Since I last visited, the Surgery has instituted a new entry policy. The computer screen sign-in where you give the year and month of your birth along with your surname initial has gone ‘remote’. I must admit that, during the pandemic, I was amazed that people were expected to wear masks, sterilise their hands and then tap a screen that everyone before them had tapped. By definition, the likelihood is that the majority of those tapping the screen are there because they are ill. What better way to transmit their illness to others? One could also just go to the Receptionist and Checkin. Not any more.
Now, you cannot even get through the door to the surgery without scanning the QR Code with your phone and doing all that Checkin stuff on its screen. At least that means no swapping of finger infections. After that, the door remains locked until you speak through the intercom to the receptionist who releases the door. The Receptionist said that this is a national initiative which will be rolled out across England & Wales. You can see the effect it has on the Waiting Room. I had no one to talk to.
One sadness of life at the moment is the loss of an old friend. The tree I grew from a seed collected in Tenerife 8 years ago and which was almost 10 ft tall having been nurtured through 7 winters has died over its 8th. I talked to it, kissed it, told it I loved it, wrapped it in fleece for the cold weather and lovingly fed it but it was not enough and it has died. It makes me very sad. Even so, I will not be opening a bottle of wine this time.
Thursday, 22nd June, 2023
Very warm and humid morning … again. Got Sainsbury‘s shop followed by exercise routine and a busy gardening afternoon. My arm is painful and badly bruised from the latest long needle forced into it to deliver a three month shot of hormones. They were right about the menopause being simulated. I have weight gain, tiredness, increased emotions and I’m now starting to suffer hot flushes. What it is to be a woman!
I am going back to basics with my diet. Calorie counting. Checking everything and setting it against my output. It is incredibly hard to force myself to maintain my exercise routine but I am determined to do it at least until the radiotherapy month. Breakfast is freshly squeezed juice of two, large oranges (100 cals), a large cup of Yorkshire tea and a large cup of freshly ground coffee plus a bowl of porridge(250 cals).
No Lunch other than a banana (100 cals) and then, today, griddled Tuna steak with green salad for Dinner (320 cals.). I need to keep my intake to below 1500 calories per day. The average man burns 1800 calories a day doing absolutely nothing. My usually active day burns an additional 1000 calories. Only by doing that will I get back to normality quickly. My aim is to getting my weight back to acceptable at the same time as completing my radiotherapy sessions. Maybe, then, I can get on with life again.
Two years ago this month our lovely neighbours, Pat & June, left their home to downsize. Pat, who was 81, had been diagnosed with skin cancer and was receiving treatment for it. We went round to see their new home and they seemed very happy there. They both looked very fit and healthy and Pat was particularly positive about the future and travelling to Australia. We heard today that he had died. The cancer had spread to the lymph nodes. All lives end in tragedy!
Friday, 23rd June, 2023
Glorious morning – weatherwise – but not so good politically. On this day in 2016, we learnt that we had left the EU. It was one of the most crass acts of national stupidity one can imagine. I argued so at the time and was told I was scaremongering. We now know that a majority of UK voters would choose to remain and 33% of all Leave voters would favour returning to the EU.
We had been in our new house for 3 months. To cheer ourselves up, we went out to collect our new car and I took a photo of our recently planted front garden hedge.
Just 7 years on, we have collected two more new Hondas and our hedge has grown a little. The tree outside has developed quite a bit as well.
Over the past couple of days, I have been chronicling coming to terms with my recent weight gain. I am expecting to spend a few days in Lancashire in the near future and I will need a good suit. Pauline has been searching and ordering a couple which will get me through. Quite a while – at least two years since I wore a suit and tie. Be nice to get back to it. Amazing how (relatively) cheap suits are these days.
I bought a suit almost exactly like this in the summer of 1972 for £99.00. Today, over 50 years later, this suit will cost me £195.00. Unbelievably cheap if you take inflation into account. That £95.00 in 1972 is the equivalent of £2000.00 today. Even I wouldn’t be prepared to shell that out for a suit.
Of all the newspapers I read everyday, The Times, The Telegraph and The Guardian are the ones I concentrate on. I love the cartoons which prove how true the saying is: A picture’s worth a 1000 words. Yesterday’s, above, really does sum up what an entire Times Leader article took many words to point out – the irony of international concern over 5 rich but foolhardy men on a ‘joy ride’ in a tin can compared with the 400 poor but desperate people escaping poverty and looking for a better life.
Today, it is little Rishi Sunak’s inability to make an impact on the failing world of Tory politics and totally unable to acknowledge the obvious paucity of Brexit.
Saturday, 24th June, 2023
It’s amazing how Summer creeps up on us. We are about to enter the last week of June already. I’ve been living in shorts and tee shirts for months. We’ve virtually lived outside for the past two months and the garden is filling out and bearing produce already.
I am watering every day. The hedge is needing to be cut every two weeks. The air-conditioning is on in the bedroom where we just have a top sheet (Even then I sleep on top of it.) and the 1-tog duvet has been banished to storage until October. It’s light for almost 17 hours a day and the sun just won’t stop. We hardly dropped below 21C/70F over night with the most gorgeous clear sky and bright moon. The morning has broken cloudless, sunny and hot. The only worry is, will it still be snowing when I drive up to Lancashire shortly?
My suits were always made-to-measure by a Yorkshire Tailors while I was working. Since then, I’ve not had too much call for them and now, I think, Carl Stuart Tailors, Cloth Hall Street, Huddersfield has gone out of business. Of course, there is a lot less call for suits and any formal wear. I used to spend a fortune on Business Shirts from Charles Tyrwhitt but even they have had to reduce their prices. Working from Home has brought about a revolution in British society and I think it is all for the good. I am a strong proponent of Teaching from Home.
Anyway, my Dresser has ordered me 4 different suits on-line this week. I had to go and pick the first two up this morning … from Next! Can you imagine me buying suits from Next? I’ll be considered trendy soon. At least I’m not old and wrinkly and aloof.
It’s going to be a day in the garden today and we are going to be eating our, courgettes, our lettuces and our herbs. Julie is excitedly eating strawberries from her allotment. Kevin is doing the ironing. Can you believe that? The world is full of surprises!