50/50 again

Another half and half day. The weather and my mental state managed to coincide this morning. Warm, sunny and bright, but only the weather deteriorated during the afternoon whilst I listened to Jeff Wayne's War of the World's in its entirety, home alone whilst Lynne and Owen were scouring Leicester for wood to transform our bedroom wardrobe doors into the modern era.

Good and bad

A day of distinct opposites, healthwise. I started bright and breezy but deteriorated after a bout of wallpaper stripping as tiredness set in very quickly, requiring a nap of at least 3 hours to recover.

Plan Z

The latest plan is for Katie and the granddaughters to arrive at our house around lunchtime. Margaret and Bob are still  in Norfolk waiting for some decent weather to move in, so Katie and co will return South this evening. Lynne and Owen are off shopping for power plugs and light fittings. 

Nature turns nasty

Easter Monday and we are back to heavy rain ,gusty winds and sunshine, not necessarily in that order.

We have finally made a decision regarding upstairs changes but now need to get the necessary paint and fittings. We were planning to meet Chloe at Margaret and Bob's tomorrow but the weather has trapped the latter two in Norfolk so a change of plan is reguired.

The original change of plan was for Chloe to bring our granddaughter's to our house for dinner, but that was later changed again, to what I haven't a clue at this stage but all will become clear in due course.

The "office" back bedroom has been transformed with all the old wallpaper stripped and a large cupboard beginning to appear above the stairs. Tomorrow the last remaining desk will be dismantled,the boiler corner transformed and eventually a new carpet fitted.

I had a particularly good day, even assisting with stripping wallpaper and cleaning up with no ill-effects.

Easter Sunday

Sunny and slightly breezy ,but pleasant. Owen has arrived to reconfigure the back bedroom and redecorate here and there, staying for a week or two. Lynne also wishes to relaunch the garden as we will be around during the summer so watering should not be a problem. Hence the day will be spent scouring shops and garden centres for anything that catches our eye.

However, rather than be accused of telling porky pies ( lies ) I have to admit I slept all day,punctuated by meals. Not that I was ill , but the excitement and physical effort over recent days must have taxed what is left of my brain to the limit. The sleep/rest certainly worked as I awoke fully refreshed for tea.

A happy Easter

A beautiful sunny and very warm Easter Friday which saw us exchanging our boat for payment from an obnoxious old man, whose knowledge of narrowboats was minimal, to say the least. The fact that TardisTwo was still winterised obviously irritated him considerably, but the fault lay with the selling agent as we had previously discussed it with them and they took responsibility. The workshops were "extremely" busy but promised him they would do it ASAP. Later he passed some friends  of ours but was still not in a good mood, apparently.  after a celebratory drink or two we were taken to an Olde -Worldly pub in a very picturesque village of Tutbury. The pub is allegedly the smallest in the UK, which I can easily believer as the boat galley was larger than the bar.

It was closed so we moved on to Subury hall, a fifteenth century stately home now owned by the National Trust and sunbathed in the gardens until returning to Janet's for fish and chips, from where Derek took us home ,exhausted.

Decision made. Audi.

We had an Audi test drive this afternoon which revealed a no contest . Lynne provisionally ordered a red Audi A3, delivery approx 12 weeks or even less. It is a very neat piece of kit and certainly the best car I have ever owned, thanks to Government support for disabled  OAP's. Pity I cannot drive it, but at least I get driven around in comfort.

Coal mining

The weather has taken a turn for the worst, reflecting my current mood. Dull and grey.

Off for a brain scan this afternoon, yippee. It is one of my routine ones at a Leicester hospital, so anything can happen,and probably will.

The boat handover is scheduled for next Friday at 0930 hrs when money and boat will change hands, hopefully ( I have been told to delete the last word of that sentence and be positive, reflecting that I have reached the bottom of the coal mine and the only way is up.

As predicted, anything happened at my brain scan. They were running an hour late and two nurses failed to fit a cannula in either arm, both running off in different directions to find someone who could. They failed, so eventually the scanner technition did it, by which time both arms and the backs of my hands were covered in plasters and blood. The scan was a long one and removing the numerous plasters from my hairy arms and hands took forever, but painfully.

Deeper and deeper

My bright (?) period shattered to a halt late last night when our boat agents queried (on behalf of our buyer) whether we hold a boat safety certificate, which MCC were supposed to supply in our "welcome" pack. Another court case looms? CART are able to confirm Tardis Two does possess the necessary certificate and Appendix 15, but only MCC are permitted to supply originals and copies, just the news we needed. At worst we have lost the boat sale, at best we will have to creep to MCC, although it is a prison sentence offence for builders not to supply safety certificates, which gives us the upper hand.

Lynne had a test drive in a Nissan Quashkai in an attractive shade of blue this morning,and very impressive it was too, next stop Audi on Tuesday.

Depression,what depression?

A bright start to yet another depressing day. The sun is out, but my test results are not.I hope they show nothing life threatening needing urgent attention because it will be like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted (or hobbled into the distance in my case)

Car race hots up

With the Nissan Qaishkai in a small lead the race reaches  near its end, although Derek has widened the field by adding Audi to the list of contenders. Derek and Lynne have headed off to investigate this afternoon.

I had yet another blood test this morning for some future hospital appointments, providing these results do not get lost in the hospital sawdust. Don't hold your breath. Talking of results my endoscopy ones have yet to appear since last November and January respectively. 

Car list narrowed down.

Chloe accompanied us looking for cars and two test drives have been booked in a final attempt to get Lynne to choose one. I would have chosen by now but have no colour hang-ups. Whatever gets chosen I will like, particularly as I am unable to drive the damn thing, although I know I can get in and out of them all.

Chloe delivered a load of "stuff" for our loft and relieved us of our old TV.

Still undecided

"We "Remain undecided on a car, or more particularly a colour, not that it bothers me one iota, a car is a car is a car whatever the colour.

I changed dentists today, same place but downstairs instead of upstairs and male instead of female. I had become fed up with previous fillings quickly becoming crunchy bits in my meals, hence the dentist change. The guy today filed the sharp edges off the offending tooth thus saving the lacerations on my tongue and pain whilst eating, something of a result.

I have taken advantage of a few days good weather to tidy the garden and revamp a few pots/tubs.

Leicester hospital and smiles, an unlikely combination

I was due yet another eye test today.

Amazingly they could find no deterioration in my eyes since the last test ( this being Leicester hospital ) and I was complimented on their condition after almost 63 years of living on insulin control.We left happy and commenced new car hunting. Lynne has set her heart on a new Kia Sportage but only in red, which is only available in the top of the range model. We then had a long debate regarding the large cost difference between the two models, all for the colour red, but colours are important for the ladies so  tomorrow we will order a red Kia Sportage and sell our beloved Kia Rio ( in silver ).

Freezing.

The coldest night of the winter revealed a beautiful,blue skied, sunny morning, but little warmth.

Spring has sprung

A beautiful sunny morning, but cold. Lots of spring flowers emerging and brightening the mood.

War of the World's and PHilomena

More snow and  lots of time to fully appreciate "War of the World's"( cd ) and Philamena ( film ). The film is well recommended and extremely moving, as is the cd.

Brighter times and snow.

To round off a successful week ( with the exception of Arsenal ) today we have sunshine and snow. We aim to get a new, bigger, TV  for home and perhaps a replacement computer for my scrapped antique.

First, We met a consultant to discuss my gist results. Believe it or not they have lost them via a computer crash, but they still hope to retrieve them, at which time they will let me know by phone. The current view is the gist remains too small to remove for the foreseeable future, but it will be monitored. What more could I expect from Leicester hospital? 

From the hospital we visited John Lewis ( the shop, not the person ) where we bought a large , curve screen TV and sound bar, to be delivered next week.

I have to admit I lost my £20 bet as MCC completed the first instalment of their court "fine", which is strangely pleasing.

A long tunnel to sunshine

Seconds after shaking with Lynne to seal my £ 20 bet Paul from MCC phoned to confirm he will pay our battery "bill" in three instalments on the 1st of each month. It appears MCC have bigger  issues with the VAT authorities. Shame.