He's leaving home

A title for Beatles officianado's. I went through another frustrating hour or two with the legal papers but only managed to dig the hole deeper, so to speak. The court apparently thought we were claiming from individual employee's so reguired us to fill in yet another complicated form to serve the writ on them at work, plus an additional £50 fee. Eddie and Marian ARE MCC. Luckily my head remained clear today which meant I had a chance to reconsider our approach during a long afternoon walk.We were trying to issue a writ against both owners of MCC, rather than the company itself. By changing the writ we save £50 and filling in another form. Unfortunately my walk involved Lynne giving me a lift home from Beaumont Lees, as I was becoming increasingly unsteady.

I think it was worth it,  relieving tension on Lynne and I, if nothing else.

Waterworld 2

The rain continues, never ending, but light,for umpteen days. Solicitors fees are astronomical so I'll have another go at the small claims court papers myself, once I get a couple of "clear brain days" ( I wish ). The more I think about Dr. Critchleys perverse sense of humour the more angry and frustrated I become, which is counter productive. I'll let myself cool down before deciding what to do.

N.B. The variety club joke was by Jimmy Carr, not Frank Carson. ( thanks Google)

Not a good day

A fuzzy head, Arsenal losing 3.    0. and it's raining,could it be worse? The small claims court papers were returned today with further instructions on how to fill them out,all in legal jargon, so we'll need to visit a solicitor anyway, which is what the system was supposed to by-pass, surely?  My fuzzy head is getting fuzzier.

I had an appointment with the neurologist at Leicester hospital, so I thought it might prove interesting to get his opinion on my fuzzy head and unbalanced periods, but apparently he thought my descriptions were amusing.Lynne noticed,but I didn't. She asked me to leave then gave him what for, wiping the smile off his face.

What chance do I stand if the medical "experts" find my symptoms amusing. I suggest he buys some jImmy Carr dvd's (although I think the infamous "Variety club coaches" one has been removed from sale following the mass complaints.)

Blair. War criminal ?

Having made £ millions from dodgy jobs and memoirs Tony Blair, our ex dodgy Prime Miister, has finally admitted the Iraq war was"possibly" illegal and the extreme loss of lives on both sides "regrettable" . In addition he now admits to being largely responsible for the growth of Islamic State, ( a group of religious , blood thirsty terrorists),commencement of various Middle East wars and their thousands of victims. All this came to light in a USA tv show interview ( not the BBC , note ). 12 years late, but better late than never ?  Has this "apology" been brought on by the result of the Chilcott war enguiry, soon to be published after over 6 years delay ? i repeat, 6 years delay.

D is for delays and democracy. The moral of the story is severely delay publication of damning information ,allowing you to get your apologies in early on the other side of the world in "softer" surroundings.

Just in time

The two Manchester teams played a goal-less draw today, enough to topple Arsenal off the league top, so I am pleased I blogged when I did, just in time. 

Not a good day,  buzzy head and lousy balance. Friends from London popped in on their way home from Warwick to exchange news, which was good.

Arsenal top of league.

 I have often dreamed of writing a blog title like that,so thought I'd do it now as it won't last long because the winner of today's match between the two Manchester clubs will go top, although a draw would be helpful.

My head remains in a not so good place and my balance similarly, which my nuerologist is investigating. 

Wills arrive.

Miraculously our wills arrived by post. Who needs emails? My brain is in a dark place at present, not the time to glean information from documents and use it constructively, so I'll wait for clearer times.

Wills

I have requested copies of our wills as the originals, made many years ago,  have disappeared from our files, probably due to us misplacing them somewhere. My solicitor is an old friend of mine so has promised to replace them, which gives us a chance to make changes to ensure our worldly goods get distributed fairly among all the children, given recent changes in family circumstances.

Haunting

Mowing the lawn came back to haunt me via aching muscles where I had no idea they existed,exacerbated by me accidentally spraying an unknown proportion of my evening insulin dose down my arm, which resulted in very high blood sugar readings during the night with frequent bathroom trips. It will take a few hours this morning to regain some form of control so in the meantime I'm snoozing on the settee.

As predicted blood sugar levels reached near normal around lunchtime but I was banned from removing the last remaining wood chip wallpaper from the landing. I'll have to resort to doing it when Lynne is out next, although standing on a step ladder without assistance could prove a challenge.

Electrifying lawn

A warm, sunny day. I chose to cut next door's lawn using her very old electric mower. I managed to get it working, intermittently. I managed to fall over once but the dead-man's handle ensured my hair and toe nails remained the same length. The lawn looks good, even if I say so myself, but I was knackered at the end. A hot shower beckons. 

Scan

The day started early as the bins were put out prior to us aiming for St. George's hospital and my check-up brain scan at 12.30, which sounds easy until you have to factor in a large accident on the M1 near Watford, in which we were not involved apart from being stationary for 2 hrs.

The scan went brilliantly with no changes to the tumour over the past year or so. Naturally ,Lynne, Chloe and I were extremely pleased, as was my consultant.

Ditto

A bright,sunny morning,almost as bright as I feel, having slept right through to 0815. No set plans for today but gardening and stripping wallpaper are high up the list and Lynne returns early evening.

Lynne has reminded me I need to remain home and indoors to receive her long-awaited (by us both) new IPad.

It arrived around lunchtime giving me time to attend to our garden in the afternoon, interrupted by a  worrying phone call from my first wife, Maggie,who has been diagnosed with, believe it or not, a benign brain tumour. The news hit me very hard and got me thinking I must be some sort of magnet for serious illness ( stupid, or what?). However, I gave as much advice I could muster at very short notice and in a state of shock,  and promised Lynne will offer advice and guidance through the NHS maze in due course. All three of us get on really well, with no animosity at all.

Home alone by choice

Lynne left for London at some unearthly hour. She hopes to be in Hounslow to open the shop for the day, and it's raining. This time we agreed I would stay in Anstey, partly to cause less disruption to the kids and partly to ease my inevitable boredom. It gives Lynne a chance to escape being with and caring for me 24/7, plus mixing with old friends. In other words, a welcome break I would imagine.

It also gives me a chance to show I can survive on my own for a couple of days. Fingers crossed.

I aim to get the court papers bundled,indexed and sent, by way of amusement. Fortunately I'm a stickler for old fashioned letter writing, whereas MCC  rarely, if ever, put pen to paper,leaving my bundle of evidence far in excess of theirs, I summise, and certainly more factual,I hope.

Right, I'm off to get my breakfast.

The court papers have gone but I do not expect any news for a while, given the pace of our legal system, but I'm reasonably confident of a positive result.

Tinned tuna

Green peace have been researching the sustainability of worldwide tuna fishing. Are they rod and line caught ? (Sustainable) or are they net caught ? ( which indiscriminately kills anything from turtles, small whales, dolphins, sharks, and " unspecified" fish species, many near extinction which are thrown back dead or dying. For many years John West ( now Thai owned) has been promising to move away from net caught tuna but has made little or no progress.

Basically we are being asked to avoid buying John West tinned tuna. The following brands are recommended as they are rod caught( in order of preference)

Waitrose

Marks and Spencer's

Morrisons

An uneventful morning so far but a Marks and Spencer, non tuna, shopping trip beckons.

Lost sleep

A very early morning blog as sleep was hard to find,despite a generous dollop of whiskey during the night, a rare occurrence for me. My whole body itches but my blood sugar is reasonable and all else seems OK. Having sat up for a while I may try going back to bed, although I always try to avoid waking Lynne as God knows she must need her sleep. The sofa beckons. 

Before I arranged to get back to bed, Lynne appeared downstairs as Chloe had phoned her complaining of being face timed at some unearthly hour. ( a mistake by me ) A quick FaceTime lesson followed during which I learned Lynne was not on my contacts list and has a new email address, for no plausible reason. That has now been rectified. Funny how some things accidentally come to light, although I am now informed her "old"  email is still operational until further notice ,!!!

On a brighter note Arsenal followed their 3 - 0 away win against Manchester United with an identical away win against Watford this evening, taking them to second in the Premier league.

Lost phone?

Lynne was panicking big-time this morning as her phone still had not arrived and she was unable to track it.However, by late morning, panic over as the postman rang the doorbell and the phone had returned. As I write Lynne is catching up on lots of messages and her mood is considerably happier, which bodes well for the future.

Counselling again

It is fair to say Lynne and I are living on a knife edge at present, so today's session is very fortuitous.

Basically Lynne wants to move south again to rejoin her circle of friends down there whilst I am ok here, thanks very much. The huge divide between north and south property prices will cause a few problems, involving selling our house in Anstey and also, perhaps, the boat.

Poor Chris, playing peacemaker took her a long way out out of her comfort zone, bless her, but she coped splendidly and offered some useful  strategies which we have agreed to utilise, including talking the whole thing of my scatterbrained behaviour over with the big team at St. George's next week when I am scheduled to have a routine scan. Chris has agreed to meet me in early November to get our feedback. It is raining yet again.

Boat visit

At long last we have an opportunity to check on the boat, mainly to retrieve items of clothing required now the temperatures have dropped, but it will be nice to be reunited once again. I am feeling fit enough to cruise, but the weather is against it with very cold , almost frosty mornings, although with the boat central heating now "fit for purpose" I suspect we would survive comfortably if necessary.

The government has recently changed the legal system to make it "easier to use" but, as usual they have made a pigs ear of it. Computers and government never, ever, make a good team.

The boat was immaculate, with the exception of a few cobwebs on the stern. Where do those darn spiders come from?

We ran the engine for an hour or so,  said our goodbyes and headed home again

Phone return home

Lynne has arranged the return of her "lost" phone via our super reliable post system (gulp),which saves her driving all that way yet again.

A cold, sunny morning with nothing planned,apart from re-familiarising ourselves with where we keep things at home.

I spent the afternoon at my gardening job, longer than I intended which emphasised my lack of fitness and stamina. My work is beginning to show results but there is a lot still to do and I need to pace myself better.

Home

We leave for home this evening, once I meet Lynne in Hounslow after work. Once again our family has been very supportive, which is heart warming. A quiet time beckons?

Despite the hectic programme over the past few days I have survived with what's left of my brain relatively intact, so onwards and upwards.

Surprisingly I have been trusted to survive without a baby sitter today, plus make my way to Hounslow alone.  Watch this space.

All tasks successfully completed and we got home without problem, with the exception of Lynne leaving her phone in the wedding shop. Ways are being worked on to get it back.

Phase 3

Desperate situations lead to equally desperate remedies. Today Margaret, as a last resort, has been chosen as my babysitter for the day, via a convoluted plan whereby Chloe drops me off on her way to a bowling competition in Aylesbury and picks me up on her way home later today. The problem is solved tomorrow as we are due to return to Anstey and babysitting duties transfer back to Lynne I expect. In defiance I made my own toast for breakfast without setting fire to the toaster. 

As has become normal the day has started dry and bright, although temperatures have taken a well defined drop. Winter drawers on as the old joke goes ( no spelling mistake, honest ).

What went wrong?

I never got to make the meal arrangements as our friend was at a concert all evening and otherwise out and about so our calls kept missing each other, but persistence paid off and we're back on track.

Ahem, his niece was in hospital with a pregnancy emergency so the evening out got postponed for a while, but I somehow caused mayhem with Hayley, and Tom by not eating lunch with them and was wrongly accused of having a hypo, which somehow got back to Lynne, causing me severe grief and lots of explaining. It was all untrue but could be put down to a number of misunderstandings and coincidences which I do not have the space or the will to explain at this juncture. Luckily my blood sugar record book  backed up my story. Enough said.

Complicated, or what?

The weekend has arrived and some complicated and convulated plans settled for the weekend, whereby Lynne goes to work, returns "home" to pick me up late afternoon and off we shoot to Kingston to meet a long-lost friend for a meal. On Sunday Chloe picks me up on her way to a bowling competition in Aylesbury and drops me off en-route for lunch with Margaret, who has opted to "baby sit" for the day. Chloe then picks me up on her way home and drops me back at Tom's. Got that?

Personally I find it mind boggling and somewhat demeaning but the aim is to stop me being bored, which is heart warming I suppose. Having written it down helps, but I still have to make arrangements for the meal tonight. What could possibly go wrong?

Boring

Home alone, but worse, home alone without an iPad.  I lie.  I did have an iPad, but unfortunately the  batteries where flat and the charger was mysteriously hidden.

Washing and drying a large basket of washing was the sum total of my entertainment for the day until our family outing to Noodle Express in the evening.

Geriatric day out again

Lynne and I had dinner with Marlene and Brian yesterday and I was the fittest person there ! Brian had a bad back whilst Marlene was recovering from foot surgery. I felt comparatively healthy and mildly self satisfied,I'm ashamed to say.

The new duvet worked well and I got up still feeling hunky dory and relatively proud of myself even though my Walk off the Earth tee shirt is confined to the washing machine following a full day's testing yesterday. " Who the hell are they?" Being the commonest question.

Today is yet another sunny day home alone although Lynne should be back around lunch time, but I'll believe that when I see it. 

Walk off the earth review

Lynne, Tom and Hayley toddled off for our, long awaited Walk off the Earth concert at the Iconic Roundhouse theatre in London, ending up rushing as Tom lived up to his reputation for lateness. We had to get people moved out of our seats before taking them but the huge audience had a vast age range, reflecting WOKE's wide appeal. They were brilliant. I lost count of the number of instruments used but the list included a nerve shattering didgeridoo. One of the songs they " covered" was first recorded in 1962. We missed the last train to Chessington North so returned very late, but happy, by train and bus via Surbiton. I bought a "souvenir" WOTE" tee shirt for the usual exorbitant price at the Roundhouse, only to find inferior copies for sale at half the price outside.

Getting to bed was a drama as one of the cats had chosen to profusely pee on our duvet, but all was not lost as we finally slept under an array of beach towels, dressing gowns and jackets etc; very successfully, we aim to buy Tom and Hayley a new duvet today, by way of thanks for their endless hospitality.

It is a cracking day today, as Wallace used to say to Gromit. Ideal for duvet shopping.

Mot and glasses

The car went in for a service and annual MOT early this morning where they recommended changing the brake fluid, (also manufacturers requirement every two years)passed with flying colours, as I did later with my diabetic check up with a new female consultant, with whom Lynne and I immediately bonded.( as opposed to the last one, a young whippersnapper just out of nappies who new sod all about diabetes ). 

During the afternoon Lynne's brand new, expensive glasses "exploded" ( her words not mine) into her cup of very hot tea. Needless to say they will be replaced ASAP and for free. It may be worth mentioning the glasses company as Specsavers.

Homeward bound yet again.

A lazy morning with no schedule, other than getting to Hounslow by 2 buses by 3pm, what could possibly go wrong?            Watch this space.  We don't own a boat called Tardis Two for nothing.

Sod's law. Several things went wrong. Lynne's last customer turned up very late, but at least bought a dress, but that made us late leaving. Lynne remained keen to get home ASAP and off we set,although we should have taken a break as she was very tired. Inevitably we took a wrong turning onto the M4 then missed the M25 turn off and ended up God  knows where. Fortunately Lynne found a pub for directions and decided to proceed via her sister's at Reading, from where she knew the way home.  However, Lynne and Brian plotted yet another "alternative" route to the M1 via Oxford and off we set again into the great unknown. Our nightmare journey continued, via a couple of wrong turnings and a hefty hypo whereby Lynne had no alternative but to stop for food at an M40 service station where we managed yet another Harry Ramsden's fish and chip meal plus tea and coffee. Against my advice, we set off far too soon again, but miraculously got to the M1 in an area we knew so Lynne could navigate by in-built radar, arriving home far later than originally intended, where we both collapsed on the sofa with whiskey and Cokes, thoroughly exhausted but giving me a chance to check on the Arsenal v Manchester United afternoon result, which cheerily the gunners won 3.    0, all scored in the first ten minutes.

We both learned a lesson, whereby Lynne should not drive when tired. A lens out of Lynne's expensive new glasses fell into her tea at Marlene's, but fortunately a spare pair allowed us to continue our journey home.

Lazy day, cooler mood

A calm, conciliatory night  and a morning without hangover, something I have not ever suffered. Lynne disappeared to sell wedding dresses and in no time at all I was home alone, although Paul appeared around lunchtime to provide coffee and a delicious ham sandwich, and again at teatime to cook and serve an equally delicious salmon dinner, before joining his family for dinner. I could easily get used to this room service so it may be just as well we are leaving tomorrow.

Wedding

We're off to London for a friend's wedding today. My suit gets the opportunity for it's annual outing, fortunately it still fits me.We'll stay down there for a day or two. 

We have the " Walk off the Earth " concert next week so will be zipping up and down the M1 like headless commuters.

The wedding was held at Sunbury golf club, a nice venu and a non- religious service, plus a huge meal and all the usual booze, most of which I sunk myself, my first drunken night for many years, probably brought on by an almighty row, which simmered throughout the evening,the details of which I do not intend to divulge but undoubtedly will have long-term consequences, one of which is an alteration to this week's plans.