suzeanna

Glad the swan is sorted, or has sorted itself. I've admitted defeat. A man is coming round tomorrow to bring a mobility scooter for me to try out. I went into Chesterfield with Philip this morning and I barely managed 50 yards before the pain started in my legs and feet and this time when I said I need a scooter, he agreed. It's a Go Go Elite, I remember Snow recommending those when I was talking about them to her. Just hope if it's ok and I get it that Candy will walk with me and not be scared. She does go up to people on scooters to say hello, so she should be ok. I remember back in my showing days, a woman showed her papillons from a scooter. Some tried to get her banned, saying it scared their dogs,, but I think the truth was more that her dogs were better than theirs and they didn't like losing!

I cant remember the last time I saw a hedgehog round here unless it was squashed on the road. Most of the neighbours have solid fencing all round their gardens, so there is no way they can wander from one to another. Mink..ugh, goodbye to most of our small creatures when they move into an area! Bad news for the mice but good news for your tomatoes. Philip was walking Candy on the local playing field last night and saw four lesser black backed gulls circling. Don't know what they find so interesting around here! He said one swooped really low and he could see it's legs clearly and definitely lessers. I see the usual numpties are saying that the crowds on the beaches are fake news and photo shopped, so the police can use greater powers on us poor innocent public people. It does make you wonder what some folk have for brains.

Oh..after a phone call where I actually got through to the vascular department at the hospital, I found from one of the secretaries that I shouldn't have been referred to them. It should have been cardiology. Hang on...the aorta is part of the vascular system, isn't it? Erm, yes but we don't deal with it. Ah, ok. So you passed the referral onto the right department, yes? Erm, no. We emailed the doctor who sent it to us to tell us he had to refer it to the right department. Silence from me whilst I contemplated this. I wouldn't mind betting the blasted departments are next to each other! Ruddy NHS red tape! On a brighter note, Philip has two weeks off, starting today. Now, where shall we go? Back garden? Front garden? Living room? Summer house? The options are mind boggling!

We had heavy rain and thunder but it only lasted about five minutes, sun is back out now and it feels hotter than before..but maybe that's just me. I saw that video of Chatsworth, Phebe. They need to remember that the public can use that area by the grace of Duke and no doubt he could close it. Can't close the road, as it's a through road, but they can stop people going down to the river. Yes, Blackmagic, all the Ibiza and Marbella lot are transferring their behaviour to home soil, more's the pity. I was listening to Jeremy Vine at lunch time...oh that man makes me mad! He was talking to a councillor at Bournemouth and saying well, you have the beach all year, wouldn't it be better if locals couldn't use the beaches in the summer so people who don't live near a beach can? Not surprisingly, he later said his idea got shot down in flames. He also said well, the people may live there but it's not their beach, beaches belong to all of us. Yes you twerp, but no doubt their council tax pays for the beach cleaning, the bins, the loos etc? Typical ruddy Londoner.

This certainly seems to have brought out the worst in some people..or just brought out the worst people we didn't realise existed in such numbers! I had my blood test yesterday and the rules for the surgery are you have to wear a mask...good grief. Five minutes and I was stiflingly hot and felt as if I couldn't breathe. I certainly couldn't and wouldn't wear one for any length of time. I know they protect other people from you, not the reverse and if I haven't got it now after all my trips to the hospital with an oncologist who is very touchy feely and keeps his mask under his chin, I never will.

I'm with you Eve regarding the heat, I don't like it too hot, gives me headaches. It's still reading 25.5 upstairs here! Owl, our big gull kept coming in really low over the garden this evening, just swooping down and round for about five minutes. We got a good look at it, yellow legs..that makes it a lesser black backed doesn't it? There are usually two of them, but only this one tonight. I hope nothing's happened to the other one. Must remember, I have an appt at the doctor's to have a blood test in the morning and must wear a facemask.

Griff, I've got the instructions that came with it, and I still can't sort the damn thing out.

Just heard that my next door neighbour died yesterday. He's been dying for years..what with his "prostrate" cancer and various other ailments, but obviously this time it was real. I can't say I liked the man...he was one of those who is always right, believed in the rub dog's nose in it if they made a mess etc and he and his mate chopped down a big shrub of ours they had no need to when putting in his fence posts but I feel sorry for his wife. She's a lot younger than him, from the Philippines but she is very pleasant and when Philip went round to give our condolences he said she was distraught. Obviously he was nicer in the house than he was out of it! Philip has been busy today, mowed all the back lawn and put up coat hooks in the outside passageway, involving a hammer drill and a lot of swearing. I looked at it when it was done and it looks very nice..it's almost straight! His diy is about on par with my sewing skills, in fact could be better as I have owned a sewing machine for several years and still haven't worked out how to thread the underneath bit. Might as well take that to the charity shop too, along with my posh frocks. Glad your mum is home Griff, I hope no dashes to A&E are necessary.

Your plants look refreshed, Eve? Mine have put their flippers and snorkels on! Hope Griff's mum is well enough to come home and gets the right treatment wherever she is! Solstice today, bright blessings on you all.

That's good Owl. Philip must phone them, they referred him to Chesterfield Royal Eye hospital to have a Yag Laser procedure on his right eye. The Eye Hospital phoned him and said they aren't doing anything at the moment because of Covid, then when we checked their website it says the waiting time is 27 weeks! Blow that for a lark, he's going to ask them to refer him to Barlborough instead. I know they aren't doing anything at the moment either, but their wait time is 4 to 6 weeks, rather different. Owl, did you ever find your bank card? Lots of bargains there Jazz, hope you've found your curtain. Now the charity shops are opening again I must bag up my post frocks from the cruise, I'll never wear them again. Shame really, only been worn a couple of times. Thanks Eve..to be honest I was relieved whatever it was disappeared as when you have cancer that's spread, the big fear (for me anyway) is that it will go to the brain, and any unusual headaches of course makes you think it has. If it had, it would presumably hurt all the time. I hope!

I think some have their loos open so you may be lucky, Jazz. They will have loos available for staff, even if not for customers, so if you are desperate ask to use one. If they say no, tell them ok I'll just make a puddle on your floor then! No pains in my head this morning, thank goodness. I felt really ill yesterday, I spent most of the morning in bed asleep but when I did get up my balance was all over the place, very odd. I hope Ruby is as good today as she was yesterday, Yantan. Wish I had a crystal ball to tell me how long I have left on the planet as if it was a long time I'd apply for that agoraphobic lurcher on Balto Rescue, he looks sweet and with his mental problem and my walking problem, we'd make a good fit.

Good morning! Looks as if it's going to be a very soggy day. I started it well with sudden terrible pains in the side of my head, it felt as if I was being stabbed. Looked it up, ice pick headache apparently. Boy did it hurt, hope that was a one off. It went on for about fifteen minutes then subsided.

Hope all goes smoothly as possible for Ruby tomorrow, and she doesn't have a nasty reaction like last time.

Call her bluff Griff..ask her has she made her will? Is there anything she wants a particular person to have, and does she want a cremation or burial? If you stop trying to persuade her to do things to live, maybe planning what to do if she dies might shock her into being sensible!

Yantan, according to the weather app on my phone, it's 98% humidity today. That's nearly on a par with somewhere like Thailand! A bloke I used to work with said he had kidney stones and the pain was so bad that if he'd had a gun, he honestly would have shot himself. I was looking at the photos of the mess left behind by people at a couple of illegal raves, and also of people who were camping on the beaches in Studland, Dorset. Absolutely disgusting. I feel guilty if I'm getting something out of my pocket and a sweet wrapper falls out, what is the matter with some people?

Griff, they are always telling us how important it is to drink plenty of water. The main cause of headaches is dehydration, don't know about your meds but I'm meant to drink at least 8 glasses of water a day because of mine. If you point out to your mother that if she carries on the way she is, she'll probably at best shorten her life and at worse kill herself, would she listen? I must admit, when my son has been here I've never seen him drink anything other than tea, and not much of that but his excuse is their tap water tastes vile! Would she drink the fruit flavoured waters? Rubicon do good ones. We went for a drive earlier out through Matlock and Matlock Bath and up to the Cromford Canal. Matlock Bath was absolutely heaving! Hundreds of people there, motor bikes lined up all down the street and loads of families with dogs. Not a facemask in sight and certainly no social distancing. The fish and chip shops were doing a roaring trade by the look of it.

I'm never happy with the temperature, I've been freezing recently and then today I was too hot! Mind you it probably didn't help that I was wearing a jumper whilst mowing the lawn. Been amusing myself whilst washing up, watching a very small rat (probably grandchild of the first ones) popping out from under the flowers to see what it could find, I tapped on the window, it scooted back in. Two minutes later, rewind and repeat! It's giving it plenty of exercise! Hopefully it'll get fed up and go somewhere else and take the rest of the tribe with it. Wonder if Blackmagic saw the car she was after?

Ah, that makes sense now. Back in the day, it was common to have convalescent homes usually by the sea. Shame they don't still exist. Sun comes and goes here but they are warning of thunderstorms, not surprised as it's very humid.

Griff, I'm a bit lost here. They want to send a woman who can't walk yet to an old people's home? What sort of doctors and nurses do they have there? None, I bet, it'll be all care workers on minimum wage who don't know the first thing about medical care. I don't see their reasoning! As presumably your mum is in full possession of her mental abilities they can't just shove her around like a parcel with the wrong address on it! Either she needs medical care...in a HOSPITAL....or she doesn't, in which case she comes home. If the meds they have her on have left her too confused to make her own decisions, then your dad needs to step in and sort it, she's his wife after all. It seems to have stopped raining, for a while at least. Meant to be about 23 today and humid..sounds delightful! Eve, send some of your sun down would you?

Griff, that's terrible! I must confess, when I've been in hospital I've made sure to leave my bank card at home and only take in the minimum amount of money. I usually distrust other patients though, wouldn't have thought the staff would be so dishonest..not to mention stupid, as it can surely only be narrowed down to whoever was on duty that night?

My son phoned earlier. Told me he hadn't said anything before as he didn't want to worry me but they were all called to a meeting last week and told they were going to be made redundant! As you can imagine, minor hysterics on my part..he's got three kids and a mortgage to pay. Anyway, they had another meeting today and he was offered either redundancy which amounts to about 15K or the choice of another job, slightly less pay than he had (he was a supervisor) with the option if after 4 weeks he didn't like it, he could still take his redundancy. He's opted for that, but he's looking around for something else. He's a welder by trade, and a very good one, but age isn't on his side any more, he'll be 53 in August. Oh, I wish I could win the ruddy Lottery!

Jeremy Vine prog was talking about rats at lunchtime, apparently there's an awful lot of them about so we aren't alone. They are even going up to people with food and trying to get some! The general consensus seemed to be it's useless to put out traps, because once you've caught one rat the others will avoid them like the plague. Shooting or poison..and neither appeal, so our rats will just have to get on with being rats. They did say the important thing is to make absolutely sure they can't get in the house and so far as I can see they can't. Hope you get to see, like and buy the car blackmagic.

Lucky you with sunshine Eve, it's like October outside here. Cold wind blowing and raining, I've been a wuss and put the heating on! Our rodents days are numbered, I've discovered that our local hardware store stocks rat traps. Then I thought a bit more about it and now I feel guilty. I was nearly in tears earlier reading about a pair of swans who have been shot, apparently just for fun. Now I intend to bump off the rats, I know they spread disease and all that, but aren't they entitled to their little lives too? Philip says they've got to go, he's a great fan of encouraging wildlife but it's getting silly now. I think the one sitting calmly in the middle of the patio having a wash and brush up clinched it!

One thing that strikes me these days when I'm watching Tipping Point, or The Chase, is how many of the young people who have been to uni seem to know absolutely nothing about anything other than their chosen subject! A young man on TP today, asked which Scottish city did people called Dundonians come from replied Cardiff! The biggest irony was he went to uni in Aberystwych. A woman about his age or maybe a bit older didn't know the French port from which hundreds of troops were rescued in WW2..she said world war history wasn't her thing. Speaking of irony the black student who wants the statue of Cecil Rhodes torn down got to uni on a Rhodes scholarship. Makes me grateful I'm a lot nearer the end of my life than the beginning!

Nope.