Cheering up.

Yesterday I was very low. It was 41 years since my dad died suddenly, and I do wonder if it’s normal to feel so sad after so long. My sister assured me that as long as I don’t feel that bad all the time, it’s probably ok. Then it occurred to me that Dad acted as a buffer between me and Mother, and he curbed her more difficult behaviour. So when he died, that was all gone. Oddly, having realised that helps me understand why I miss him so much. Also, it probably wasn’t the best idea to digitise more slides yesterday. There are photos in there of him I’ve never seen, and nostalgia plus grief aren’t the best of companions.

Add to that the pain in my stupid arthritic hands, and you have the perfect storm. Took two Co-codamol (30/500) at bedtime and it took two hours for the pain to go away. I was actually in tears with it.

But. Today I have had a telephone consultation with the doctor, and have a new pain analgesia regime.  Paracetamol in the day, then two Co-codamol in the evening, every day, regularly, to keep the pain at bay. It feels slightly counter-intuitive, but as the pain is constant, it does make sense.

Made chocolate fudge brownies this morning. Thank goodness for the electric hand mixer. They smell divine and I can’t wait to have one after lunch.

Ordered some new lipstick – I’m not a big make up wearer, but the one I ordered is Clinique, and it’s called Bare Pop.  It’s just exactly right for me.20200429_114730 And while I was on the John Lewis site, I treated myself to some Chanel No 5 perfume spray.  A big treat. I have always loved it. Always.

So now I’m awaiting a couple of tops from Seasalt Cornwall, lipstick, perfume, and also ordered some emery boards (can’t get them from our supermarket!) Just the anticipation cheers me up. Shallow, much? Don’t care. Needed cheering up, and various sorts of retail therapy always help.

Will go for a short walk after lunch. Yesterday it was pouring with rain so I didn’t go.

And it’s my friend Réjane’s birthday today. Joyeux Anniversaire, mon amie.

 

Things I’m doing slightly differently

For a start, I’m setting the alarm clock so I actually get up every morning. It’s for 9.30 a.m., so not exactly early, but fine for me. If I don’t set the alarm, I just sleep till mid-afternoon. Not great.

Going for a small walk every day. Hubby devised a shorter walk than the 10 minute one, which takes me 4 – 5 minutes. It’s for when I just can’t manage the 10 minute one, and it works a treat.

Noticing  what’s going on in people’s gardens. Particularly at this time of year (spring in the UK), there are lots of things bursting into leaf/flower.

Knitting with a slightly different technique, keeping my index and middle fingers together, which doesn’t hurt so much. My middle finger keeps trying to point nor’nor’east instead of due north (assuming my other fingers are pointing north, if you see what I mean). I have to make a real effort, and sometimes actually pull it back with my other hand! What on earth? Arthritis I guess.

Ordering stuff online. To date, a web cam for hubby and one for me, some plants which haven’t arrived yet, some compression gloves, various new tops (yay!) and a new hand- held electric mixer.

Trying to eke out the painkillers because they’re just so damn hard to get. My lovely friend brought me two packets yesterday and left them in our porch. It’s her birthday today. Happy Birthday you legend! you know who you are.

Attempting not to get too panicked about the pandemic. Harrumphing of course about Trump and his determination to make it clear that he really is the stupidest man on this planet. Glad Bojo is on the mend, though he must have been much worse than they let on.

Not beating myself up for the stuff I can’t do. Trying not to moan about, or even mention, the aches and pains of getting older. Not interesting to anybody except potentially the medics. And even then, they have more important things to worry about.

Looking forward to planting the double cosmos seeds I have. It’s supposed to rain tomorrow, which will make the earth easier to work, so maybe this weekend. Yeah!

And finally a picture of the lion I knitted for my great-nephew, whose name means “lion”. It was his birthday last week, so now he’s actually seen it. He loves it. It’s called Lucy, so a non-binary lion. Bit hairy for a lioness, but hey, what can you do. Apparently there was trouble when he discovered she’s not allowed in the bath, or to eat his Weetabix. Yeah.

 

Keeping calm and . . .

The gloves for my arthritic hand(s) arrived today. I’m wearing just one on the worse hand and it does seem to be helping. Might even glovetry knitting again – tomorrow night perhaps. I’d rather wear a funny old glove than take painkillers, not least because you can’t always get the painkillers at the moment. 🤷‍♂️

After the doctor’s surgery phoned us, we seem to be on the list for supermarket deliveries (not Sainsbury’s, however, just Waitrose – maybe they use different databases) which has eased my anxiety somewhat. It’s still difficult to find delivery slots, but at least there are some.

Poor old Boris. Not quite so invincible as he thought, after boasting a few weeks ago that he would continue to shake hands with everybody, even those with coronavirus. I don’t wish him ill, and actually hope he gets better, but honestly.

Twice a week we do a video chat with the five year old grandson in Southampton. It’s always entertaining. Clothes – meh, they’re just a nuisance, according to him. Wearing clothes simply creates washing, apparently. I sing him a couple of songs (the Welly Song by Billy Connolly and Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud by Flanders and Swann) and today I did Forgiven (A A Milne) and Jabberwocky(Lewis Carroll) [If English is not your first language, be warned that Jabberwocky is full of nonsensical, invented words.] He liked them both, having checked that Jabberwocky included death. It does. So that was fine.

Went for a walk round the block – about 8 minutes I’d say, depending on my walking speed. I also bumped into a particularly interesting feline, who hates our cat, in our garden, but loves anybody who is walking along the road. I think it’s a female. Long-haired, slightly pushed-in face, grey and brown colouring, and a very assertive miaow. Yeah. Hubby had to rescue her once from next door’s roof. With a ladder. At 5 am. Mm. Luckily nobody saw him and called the police . . . . .

The postal service seems to be almost normal now. I think that our post office workers, our refuse collectors, our street cleaners, all our public service workers, supermarket workers, and particularly our doctors, nurses and pharmacies, are doing an absolutely wonderful, wonderful job. It’s all so fraught, and everybody is potentially in danger, but they’re just carrying on. Strict rules of course about keeping your distance from others, and some items are rationed in the shops, but fair enough, that’s just fine with me.

I do worry though about people with children of any age stuck in a high-rise flat. How on earth would you manage? I’d go bonkers in very short order, I know that.

weestorybook says that lockdown is mildly conducive to online shopping (I paraphrase). Mildly? Mildly?? here on planet loonyfeminist, it’s my new hobby. Just ordered some new tops, some from Laura Ashley, some from Seasalt, and then received an email from Seasalt telling me that one of the tops (my very favourite of course) wasn’t actually available. It took me all day to realise that I could get it elsewhere. So I did.

Ups and Downs

Ups – well, the weather has been kind enough for me to go for a short walk most days. The post has started arriving, in fits and starts, but nonetheless a knitting magazine arrived yesterday! Hooray!

I’ve started putting a soft toy in the front window for children to see as they walk past. Eric the Bumblebee was quite popular. I change the toy every day as soon as I remember. Currently it’s a Build-a-Bear wearing glasses. Not sure what will come next.

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Today’s job is making chocolate chip cookies. Yeah.

The “prescribing nurse” from our doctor’s surgery phoned last night to make sure we’re ok. I think that’s brilliant. She arranged some blue inhalers for me (I never need them so mine were out of date) as I might just need one, and said to phone if I need more painkillers. How wonderful. What a fabulous service. Long live the NHS.

Downs – the heating system is misbehaving. The radiators get much too hot, but the water is cold. We’re using the immersion heater, and hubby is turning the heating off and on as necessary. Not really a huge problem but it will need fixing at some point.

Can’t knit at all at the moment because the arthritis in my right hand knuckles has returned with a vengeance. Steroid injections last November worked really well for about three and a half months. I can’t hold a mug of tea or coffee by the handle in my right hand. Sigh.

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Tomorrow I’m hoping to do some weeding in the front garden. I’ll wear some thick gloves so hopefully they will act as a sort of splint. There isn’t much to do, but the groundsel has got way too big. It’s usually easy to get the roots out though. I’ve also ordered some green euonymous to fill in the spaces between the photinias, which haven’t bushed out as much as I hoped they would. So tapestry hedge it is.