DVT DAY 279

Saturday, its wet and dreary outside so its time to get breakfast and crack on with the task of getting the house back in order. Before I can get going I have to fill my weekly drugs wallet, its becoming a Saturday breakfast routine. So we set to cleaning and returning things to their former places and doing the washing. So basically its controlled chaos. I get the tools ready to put the new roman blind up in the office, the final finishing touch. I know my house and take time to look at the fixings that came with the blind, I am suspicious. The screws and the rawplugs do not look compatible with the fabric of my window surrounds. I do the measuring and mark the screw holes necessary. Sure enough when I start to drill I find at least three layers of different types of material. I pop in one of the supplied rawplus and attempt to screw in one of the holding brackets. The screw jams short of a full securing. I remove the rawplug and replace with a different type and make another attempt. Success. I get on with the other two fixings using the new rawplugs. Once in place I clear the area and clean it before taking the new blind out of its wrappings. What looks easy on the “how to do it” video turns out to be a real pain in the arse. Eventually I achieve the three satisfying clicks as the retaining brackets slot into place. Some tinkering and the securing of the chain loop and the blind i operational. A quick Hoover through and the office is finally finished.

There was more stuff to put away but I had a moment to read the installation instructions for the new built in micro wave that was delivered in the morning. To say the instructions were minimal would be an understatement. There are five pictures and a single paragraph in strange English, mostly about having a professional do it because anyone else is likely to kill themselves! I inspect our existing set up and partially unpack the new unit. I clear the area around the installation area and recognise that the power wiring is the biggest challenge. I recognise I am tired and make the decision to do the installation tomorrow when I am not tired.

I take a beer and time to read a letter from a friend in Scotland. Its a lovely letter, thoughtful and intelligent. Its soon tea time and we eat as a family in front of the TV and half watch Strictly Come Dancing whilst trying to select a new rug for the dining area that matches the new colour scheme. All evening we sit on phones looking at options. Nothing pleases everyone and so we go on looking. It reaches a point of being futile so I start to write the blog. During the day I get various WhatsApp messages from friends all sorting out Christmas or hospital issues. I get pictures of my grandchildren in Sweden enjoying the felt Christmas tree and stick on decorations that we sent them as a pre Christmas activity. It seems that there are pockets of Christmas joy breaking out all over the place. Once the decorating is over then we can get to putting up our tree and decorations. I receive the date for my next oncologist appointment for early February, of course its a phone call, no face to face of course. All I need now is my scan dates.

Tomorrow I will fit the new microwave and find some thinking time to consider what I am going to contribute to the work meeting on Monday, an epic of a meeting on Teams for about six hours.