Bye Bye

Gone Away. Be back soon.

Wish you were here. Weather is lovely. I'll fetch you back a stick of rock.

There...consider that your postcard!

Half a Yay!

Had to go back to the Royal Marsden on Wednesday for my annual check-up. One blood test was able to tell them that the level of drugs I'm on is fine. The second, which should have told them if there are any nasties lurking, had gone missing. Ho hum. Another blood test and they'll let me know in a week or so if there are any problems.

I'll just keep hanging on to those tenterhooks for a while then.

Overkill

My de-cluttering continues apace...yesterday it was the linen cupboard. I have one bed. I seem to have 11 sheets, 4 duvets, 8 duvet covers and more pillowslips than I can count. OK, we do keep some spares for when we have guests sleeping on the airbed and OH and I have a duvet each (he gets too hot and I get too cold), but that still seems a little excessive. So some of them went into the charity bag. I now have 8 sheets and 4 duvet covers and not quite so may pillowslips. Which is a start......

That's better!

Last night I cleared out my clothes cupboards. Three black bagfuls were discarded. One for rubbish and two for jumble/charity. And I've still got all the bits and pieces that can be e-bayed!

Damn but it felt good!

Ouch

Today I stabbed myself in the hand.

I didn't intend to stab myself, I had intended to skewer the stone in the middle of the avocado I was cutting up. Instead the blade slid off the stone, through the avocado flesh and then through my flesh. Cue lots of blood and one very sore hand.

Damn stupid thing to do really and, on the whole, not something I would recommend.

I still haven't quite given up smoking but I'm not giving up on giving up. I have cut down though and only had four cigarettes over the weekend and three today. That's a definite step in the right direction.

Ahhh....mmm

Well, I lasted all of 20 hours this time. And for 8 of those I was asleep. Methinks I'm not going to be able to do this without help this time and I might need to look into getting some patches.

In other news, I had to go and see the nurse at my Dr's surgery last night. Nothing dramatic, just one of those regular check ups. Got on the scales and weighed in at 72Kgs. It was late in the day and I was full clothed so knock a couple of kilos off and round it down to 70kgs puts me at 11 stone. I was quite pleased with that considering what I have weighed in the past. According to the nurse, I'm 10kgs overweight and I should try and lose that. That's 1.5 stone. I haven't been that 9.5 stone since I was a teenager for heaven's sake! Now, I know that I'm not a skinny bint and I never will be, I'm Welsh for heaven's sake, we breed proper women in Wales - good solid bones and proper curves - and yes, I could do with losing another 1/2 stone or so bu if I go down to that weight I am going to look anorexic.

Having picked myself up off the floor laughing, the nurse told me it must be right because that's what the computer says. Cue me falling of the chair laughing again! What irritates me about all this is that no account is taken of my build (heavy-boned!) nor the fact that I don't have a thyroid gland (even if I do take replacement hormones, it's not entirely as efficient as the real thing). If I was not the sane, rational person that I am, I could have walked out of there convinced I was "fat" put myself on a ridicoulous diet to lose that amount of weight and possibly start on the way down a very slippery slope. That might sound a bit dramatic but it happens to people.

So WHY are health professionals encouraging the idea that thin is good when the media gets villified for exactly the same thing?

The last day

Today is the last day that I smoke.

There, I've said it.

Trouble is, everytime I decide to give up something goes wrong, I get stressed and reach for the tobacco again. Let's see how long I can last this time. Surely I can go longer than 6 hours?

I am so tired today, I can barely think straight. There's no reason for me to be tired, I seem to have done nothing but sleep this weekend. The Royal Marsden took what felt like the best part of 1/2 a pint of blood out of me this morning at the hospital, but that shouldn't make me feel this dozy. Early night tonight.

Saturday didn't get off to the best of starts, firstly I gave up smoking. Then, Lurcher no. 2 cut his pad and bled everywhere. Again. I've only just got the blood out of the sofa cover from the last time he cut himself. Then I couldn't shut the electric driver's window on my car. With rain imminent and nowhere to park the car but on the road, I started to panic somewhat. OH took the door panel off and fiddled with this and fiddled with that, to no avail. Then 1/2 hour later I just tried it again, because you just never know and you know what? It closed! Go figure, I don't understand it. 6 hours after I gave up smoking, I started again. I haven't dared open the window again in case it does the same thing although I was later told it's probably a dry connection in the switch. Oh. OK then.

Wet and camping

It's raining. And that's about all I have to say about today.

However, I have completely forgotten to blog about the weekend before last. So as it was lovely and sunny then, I'll blog about that instead.

When OH and his siblings were growing up, they used to go off camping every summer to a field in West Sussex with a group of people from their local church (OH's parents being of good Catholic stock). The fathers (of the kids, not the religious "Fathers") would go down the weekend before they were due to leave to put up the big marquees and dig the holes for the toilets, and take down all the cooking equipment. Then off they would all troop in cars, for those that had them, and a removal lorry, for those that didn't.

For years I have been regaled with stories of the kids all running riot around the field and in the surrounding woods, of lying in the middle of the road to watch the stars, of freewheeling their bikes down the hills and a bell to call everyone for dinner. And so we went back. 20 of us packed up our tents and headed off to the same field for the weekend so that OH, his siblings and their mum could re-live their holidays of 40 years ago.

This can often turn out to be a disaster as things are often never as you remember them. But, apart from the old chapel now being a bunkhouse and everything seeming to be smaller than it was, a great time was had by all. The facilities were basic but there was a functional kitchen and just about functional toilets and showers. But it was private and the children could all run around free as birds, as could The Lurchers. We played silly games and had scary walks in the forest and we even had the bell to call us all to dinner.

No computers, no TVs, no childrens' playgound, nothing but ourselves to entertain ourselves. And we had the best time ever!

Inspired!

It's not often that I'm inspired to do something that I've seen on the internet but inspired I was by Stu's "A Photo Per Day. So, hoping that Stu will see imitation as the sincerest form of flattery, my photographic endeavours can be found here!

I've lived in these counties

I've lived in these counties

I've visited the counties in yellow. Which counties have you visited? made by marnanel map reproduced from Ordnance Survey map data by permission of the Ordnance Survey. © Crown copyright 2001.

I've visited these counties

I've visited the counties in yellow. Which counties have you visited? made by marnanel map reproduced from Ordnance Survey map data by permission of the Ordnance Survey. © Crown copyright 2001.

Blimey.....

....it really has been a long time since I've blogged. So long, in fact, that I can't remember what it was that was so exciting that I felt the need to mention it, without mentioning it.....if you see what I mean.

It was probably something to do with the major fund-raising effort we had for Greyhound Gap. One of our foster dogs, walking along quite happily, suddenly collapsed with a broken leg. That sort of thing doesn't really happen very often and an anxious few hours were spent waiting for the vet's opinion. Luckily, the vet deemed it repairable and £2,500 squids later we have a dog back in one piece, thanks to 17 pins and staples. We launched the fundraising appeal and within days people had pledged what was needed. Everyone pulled out all the stops and faith in human nature was well and truly restored and overflowing.

The only downside was that, as Treasurer, I was deluged everyday with sacks of envelopes containing cheques and my e-mail nearly exploded with the amount of Paypal notifications....and they're still coming in!!

On the bad news front, my car is broken. Some would say that I broke my car by letting the oil run low but I would refute that. Not only because it's such a silly, girlie thing to do and, one thing I'm not, is a silly girlie, but also because it hadn't actually run out of oil. True, it was at the "Add oil now or your car will break" line but it wasn't below it. Anyhow, the upshot was that the Turbo thingie whatsit broke. So whilst the car still goes, it sounds like a jet engine whenever I put my foot on the accelerator. As it's an old car, repairing it simply not financially viable....it would cost more than the car is worth. Sooooo....this meant I had to go and find a new car.

Whilst being quite excited at the prospect of buying a new car, the whole process actually fills me with dread. What to get? Where to get it from? What colour shall it be? And all those important things. People who sell cars seem to have this in-built radar which spots a woman at 300 paces and automatically assume they have "mug" stamped across their foreheads. I've spent hours on Autotrader trying to find something I might like, and find lots of things I liked I did but a 3 litre engine is not entirely economic for London driving. My only requirements were something big enough to take The Lurchers and all their gear (so an estate or an MPV) and air conditioning.

I got myself all geared up for a weekend spent car-hunting when I found a really lovely salesman who works from home, not a couple of miles from me. And he had a lovely shiny 5 year old Peugeot 406 estate with the required air con. Actually, it has climate control, which is just a tad swankier than air con. It also has a CD player and lots of other flashing thing that I need to figure out what they do. I have just emptied my piggy bank of all it's pennies and shall be picking up said shiny car this evening.

I'm terribly excited....again!

Too much to do and no time to do it in

Normal blogging will be resumed as soon as I get a minute. Everything is very busy, what with running the universe an' all (they wouldn't accept my resignation), so no time to blog. WHich is a shame because it's all been terribly exciting!

Zzzzzz

I am so damn tired I can't think straight. I won't bore you with the details as it will turn into a self-pitying ramble which no-one will find interesting. Suffice to say that whilst I appear to be sleeping all night, I certainly don't wake up in the mornning feeling like I've slept all night.



But, as this blog is as much as a diary for me as it is for anyone else to read, I shall note the details without emotion or comment.



2nd July - drive alone from London to Cornwall



2nd & 3rd July - get very little sleep and have a very emotional few days



4th July - drive alone back to London from Cornwall and try to catch up on some sleep



Rest of the week - try to get everything ready for the Stables

Open Day and get all the Board papers together.



9th July - Work in the morning and Greyhound Gap Stall at Battersea Old Windsor in the afternoon



10th July - Wimbledon Common Stables Open Day





10th July Evening - Staff bbq to unwind.



11th July evening - Board meeting



And it's not finished yet....

Rest now

Grampa passed away this morning.

I shall miss you Grampa. Sleep well now.

I have one of those little calendar things on my desk that has the date on tear-off pages that have little quotes on them.

I should take today's quote on-board "For peace of mind, resign as general manger of the universe". I always have to manage and organise everything, not because I'm a control freak (although there could be a little of that) but more because I want everyone to get the best out of whatever it is they are doing and, well, I think I know best how they should do that. I hate it and really wish I didn't do it but it's bevome almost compulsive so I'm going to chill and not do it any more. Which should be about as easy as trying not to breathe.

Bzzz...again

Boo Hiss. The bees didn't come back.



And in other news, I went to the gym tonight for the first time in...well, longer than I care to remember. We have some playing field facilities on the Common and a top flight rugby team have moved in there and have allowed me and my boss to use their gym. 15 minutes on the rowing machine and 10 minutes on the bike were more than enough for me tonight. We left the heavy weight (literally) equipment where it was. That's for the big boys. And, my, they are big boys!

Bzzzzzz

Our bees have buggered off.

We have an observation hive at work and this morning, half of the bees swarmed out, hung around for a bit and then took off across the Common, terrorising a group of school children on the way. We have no idea if they've swarmed off with a young queen to set up a new hive or if they've just decided to go for a sight-seeing trip and will come back plastered on unfamiliar nectar later this afternoon.

Weekend report

Such a hectic social whirl we live in.....this weekend started off quietly on Saturday with dog walking then very little else until the afternoon when we headed down to Sussex for a 50th Birthday party. We stopped off at frieds who were kindly looking after The Lurchers for us and leting us crash out at their place as well.

The party was for OH's cousin so there were loads of his extended family there that we have't seen for years...so that was nice! But given the weather we had last week, Saturday night was bloody freezing in comparison and they had to break out the jumpers for all of us in our summer gear!

Sunday we had a nice lazy morning with friends, walking The Lurchers and eating breakfast. Then we met the family again at the pub for a couple of hours and pootled home about 5pm.

Dropped OH's car off at the garage because last week he realised his MOT ran out last month.

Then home and crashed out in front of the TV for the rest of the evening.

The only problem with weekends is that they go to damn quickly.

It's too bloody hot!

At least, it was over the weekend.

Friday we travelled down to Gloucesesestershire to stay with some friends. As lots of other friends were also converging on said friends we decided to take our tent and put it up in their garden...well, not quite the garden but they have lots of lovely land and we were on a bit of it and I'm getting carried away with what after all is a very minor point so I shall stop. This was our brand new shiny tent and I'm very pleased to report that it went up in record time with nary a hitch.

Saturday we went to a local horse trials but as it was so hot we only stayed for just over an hour. We spent all of that time sitting next to the water jump so that we could dunk The Lurchers and their canine pals into the water in between the horses coming through. In the evening several more friends joined us and we enjoyed a very scrummy barbeque and catching up on all the news as we hadn't seen each other for a year.

Sunday started very early as we stupidly pitched the tent in full sun and by 7am The Lurchers were already suffering from the heat. The drive back was appalling although fortunately there was no traffic to hold us up...a three hour journey in the heat of the mid-day sun was not the best idea in the world.

I feel very privileged to have some wonderful friends...we may not see each other from one year to the next and speak only every few months but, despite that, we pick up where we left off and still remain the best of friends. Everyone should have such friends.