Thursday already and a day that starts with bailing out the dishwasher. It has two inches of water in the base of it which needs to be syphoned out having cleared out the under sink cabinets. I clean all the filters and take apart what I can and do the obvious but I have no luck. I grab coffee and muesli and get myself in front of the laptop in time for my first meeting of the day. I catch up with colleagues and welcome back our manager. There is a lot to catch up on and we log back in to zoom for second session. At lunch time I return to the dishwasher, but nothing has changed, I check again to see if there is something obvious I’ve missed. I have a moment to appreciate the front garden and I snap a couple of examples.
An early Iris
A raised box of bulbs come good.
A very fast soup and I am back in front of the screen in time for the Open Forum I co host. It is an intense hour and I pay close attention to the content and what is required. I come out of the session and discuss it with my co host. A few moments for reflection and notes and I set about finding someone to come and tend to Daisy Dishwasher. I ferret around the internet and find a dishwasher mending service and book on line for them to come tomorrow. They promised to confirm the appointment by phone in an hour. They didn’t. I will see if anyone actually turns up tomorrow. Having done what I can do I change into my training gear and clear the kitchen before going to the garage to row for 45 minutes. I need to know if my back is going to be okay with it so I reduce the resistance level. It seems to go okay and is eased by a call from a friend.
Metres
Time and Calories.
A good return session in jab week.
I’ve not long finished training and the Thursday tea of tuna pasta is ready as my partner prepares for her evening singing lesson. I settle down to watch Manchester United thrash Roma and at the same time tend to my weekly wash. By the end of the match, my washing is sorted and I am started on the blog. Tomorrow I have more meetings, the mystery of a dishwasher mender, will they or wont they, re-calking the bath and training. All this time my facial sebaceous cyst continues to sit in my cheek becoming sore. I just need to get to next Tuesday when my next appointment at the hospital is booked. Hopefully they will actually do something.
It’s Wednesday which means the bins go out, I have breakfast and head for the shed to write letters. But not before I get a call from a friend and the opportunity to talk to someone who is out there in the world balancing work and family pre vaccination. There I sit and watch my garden and write to friends. Soon it will be possible to entertain again and to visit and this is reflected in my letters. At lunch time I realise that I am still sore from Mondays injection and that I have stopped taking pain killers. I decide to persist without the pain killers, I judge the discomfort is manageable. A bacon bagel lunch and I clear the kitchen and then post my letters, I note I am low on stamps. I prepare the curry for the evening meal and pop it in the oven on a low heat to slowly come to completion in the early evening. I settle into the sofa for my afternoon work meeting. The meeting is an interesting one and I am drawn into a complex discussion on how it is possible to create inclusion across all levels of an organisation. I come away from the meeting with a lot of thoughts about how COVID has created widening of gaps in organisations.By the time I have finished the guy who tidies our garden had arrived so I was out chatting to him and feeding him tea. It is soon curry time and we sit and plan our evening. Easy for me I am going to watch a football match, which I do and then write the blog. I am acutely aware that I have not trained and I am seriously considering a late night row.
So here we are back to the blog on Tuesday having got it up and running again this morning. After getting the IT together I have breakfast, move my car so my partner can go to the physiotherapist. I settle down to continue numbering poems. In the end I go for an old fashioned analog process of cutting them up and sorting them into lines according to date.
In progress
Happy completion
I plug away unstintingly until I get to the end. Having sorted them by date I then numbered them electronically in the digital file. Having done this I then merged two files and have finally got all my poems in date order in a single file. Now its time to edit them all and get them ready to publish and that’s the exciting part of embarking on self publishing. By the time I have had lunch and started the editing and formatting its time to train. I clamber into my training gear and go to the shed to bike for an hour.
Time
Calories
Kilometres
I go for a bath and find no hot water, so while the system kicks in I run tests on the bath sealing as there appears to be a leak. I ascertain that the shower and bath are okay but the bath sealing is not. So I now have a project to strip out the bath calking and reseal it. I check videos on how to do it and order the things I need. I get a call from a friend as she goes to collect her daughter and we talk work and the balance of work and family. I finally get my bath and then tea before watching a European football match. I return to the web site to write the blog and I am relieved that it is still operating. In all this excitement I find myself reapplying for my driving license. I got the standard threatening letter from the DVLA noting my age and the fact that my license runs out in July. I reapply on the online website and decide I only want a car driving license if it means I can do it on line. If I wanted to retain the ability to drive trucks I would have to have done it on a paper version. Life is too short for that.
Jab Monday, so I am up early and at the GP surgery by 8:30. I am admitted by a new practice nurse. We chat and introduce ourselves. She pinches my fat a little higher than the last nurse and injects me more slowly. When done I get a cotton wool and tape cloud and we agree the next injection date. I drive home and go to the shed and there I stay all day, typing up poems and then numbering all the poems in the electronic file. 229 poems digitised from the original paper file numbered. I started the process in 2014 and now its done. So I have started to number the poems already in digital format, but I am tired. I order Indian take away for the family as a treat. The website failed at this point and I was forced to abandon the post. This recovery is the result of hours of fucking around with the system the following morning. I’m still sore from yesterday and the pain in my side is still there so I have yet to train. I will give it a shot and see how it goes, but for now its work, poem numbering and work.
Saturday, and what a day. Up very early as Doobies deliver a new garden parasol at 7:30 in the morning. Once it arrived I had time to put loads of washing in. While the washing machine hummed away I boxed up the clothes destined for the charity shop. As soon as the clock hit nine o’clock I was off to the nearest Age UK. They seemed pleased to receive my boxes of labeled goodies and quickly squirreled them away whilst I drove off relieved to have space in the garage again to put the bench out. Stopping on the way home I check the car tyres and fill the tank. Home to a bacon bagel and the challenge of assembling the parasol. I put the jigsaw together and found some paving slabs to act as the counter weight, so the transformation went well.
From box
To construction
To function
Now we can dine without a central pole in the way
At about 1 o’clock we got the news that one of my nephews partner had given birth to a baby girl. A new addition to the family, which is exciting news and good news at a time of difficulty. There is a flurry of hurray’s and congratulations and the day seems to be good. We would not get to know the new arrivals name until the next day, which turns out to be a beautiful name and one that as a flowers name really appeals to me. It is now spring proper and is confirmed as I notice that one of the bulb planted pots is actually coming to life.
Spring is here, its green nose like an arising mole peeps through.
I settle down to watch the English women’s rugby team grind out a win against the french, a reasonable afternoons entertainment. We eat tea and wait the arrival of our youngest daughter who has been visiting friends over Birmingham way. She arrives and settles in as we sit as a family to watch the Sound of Metal. A lovely film with real impact, I recommend it to anyone who likes people.
I find my way to football highlights post the film and then tiredly go to bed.
Sunday, another up early day for today we go to buy sparkles. But first of course I need to weigh in. I have not trained all week and expect a considerable weight gain. I am wrong:
90.9 Kilos.
The same as last week, my weight has held steady, I am amazed. I silently determine to get back to training next week. Its medicine and part of the battle, I cannot afford the luxury of anymore rest.
A croissant breakfast with fresh coffee and we are off to town. Its the first time of actually going into town for just over a year, its strange, deserted like a wild west town waiting for the invasion of tumble weed. We get to the shopping centre before the shops open and do some window shopping of the jewelers. We arrive at one and hang about outside in our masks. An assistant in the shop is preparing the window display, she is smiley and catches our eye. What follows is a charming non verbal, smiling, pointing and laughing conversation. When the shutters go up we enter and renew the conversation with the luxury of words to add to it. Soon we are sitting round a table with a perspex divider trying on diamond engagement rings. One by one the options fall by the wayside as my youngest daughter faced with the reality of rings, of cuts, of ornamentation, of types of metal and designs finds that her likes are somewhat different than her expectations. Gradually she moves from option to option and as she does so refines her choices and appreciations. Eventually she settles on a single stone set in platinum, elegant, timeless and refined. Then comes the discussion of size,which turns out to be more tricky than anticipated. The difference between a size L and a size L+ becomes a polite but titanic struggle of negotiation. The sales person wedded (no pun intended) to size L, my daughter unconvinced and instinctively knowing the L+ is for her digs in. In the end there can only be one winner, the customer is always right. My daughter decides on L+ and that means they will have to make one her size and she is willing to wait the weeks it will take. The transaction takes place and she is all smiles. I am pleased to have been there.
The chosen L+ ring of elegance
We return home to coffee and recollections. We sit and drink and eat cheesecake until its time for my daughter to drive home. I have messages from friends and hear how the world is gardening. It is after this that we learn the name of the new baby. Spring continues to spring. The evening beckons and we prepare and eat tea, I write the blog while waiting for the Line of Duty to come on. Tomorrow is my 28 day injection day so I have been loading with paracetamol all day. Not my favourite time of the month, time to fight again.
Thursday was a work day. A day when I chatted to colleagues, hosted an Open Forum, collected my next months drugs, took a walk and did not train again due to a nagging pain in my side. The relief was a chance for a chat with a friend in the late afternoon, and a chance to compare notes on the salugenic nature of the real world or the lack of it. A day rounded off by watching Leicester win a football match and significantly increase their chances of playing in Europe next year.
Friday arrives and the intention is to get to the shed to type poems. No chance. The morning had all sorts of surprises for me. I found that the local charity shop that usual benefits from the families munificence was temporarily closed. As this transaction is not really one of help as we want something back, like garage space, this is really a business deal. So I had to find another charity shop that was open for business and willing to deal. I found one and rung them. Not to day thank you but tomorrow or next week was the response. So as soon as the new parasol is delivered tomorrow I am off to deliver boxes of cast offs. With that out of the way I found an email asking for the tittle, abstract and bio of a presentation I have agreed to give in July for MB3. I had to check what it was going to be about,the required length and duration, but with these ascertained I set about drafting them. Once done they were sent off in to the void to the other presenters ad organisers to ensure that we did not tread on each others presentations. I also offered to supervise someone who was working in a therapeutic community but it turned out that she was working with children, not an area of expertise for me so I pointed her in others direction. A surprise phone call from an old colleague and friend who had listened to the podcast of me talking about my prison days. I had not realised till yesterday that after the end of my bit the presenters discussed the conversation, they were very kind. A lunchtime walk and a bacon bagel and I finally made it to the shed. I wrote letters adn WhatsApp messages adn then typed up more poetry (poetry is not really the right word as I have got to the toe curling adolescent stuff). I have at last got down to the last 18. I might by the end of the weekend actually have them all in electronic form, the I can spend my evenings organising the whole lot and going back to exploring how to self publish. During the afternoon I shared a video with friends and family that had amused me, I share it below fro light relief.
For light relief.
I leave the shed as I can no longer stand the noise of the compressor that a two away neighbour is using. The neighbour is either running a construction business from home or he/she is power washing everything he/she owns including their children. We (oops almost got stuck in a pronoun then), I start to write the blog before tea and plan my evenings entertainment. I fancy watching the Sound of Metal which got a BAFTA for best music.
The symbolic dandelion clock of my life time
A real dandelion clock that will disappear before I do.
Wednesday, up early, shower and in to the car to go to the hospital for my ultra sound scan of my facial lump. To cut a moderately long story short the outcome was that my lump is a cerbacious cyst and not some nasty cancerous growth. Result. So I drive home and celebrate with a late morning bacon bagel and a walk round the village with my partner. My new summer shorts arrive which are now squirreled away to wait for the sun. So with the afternoon in front of me I retreat to the shed and continue to type up poems. I beaver away at this all afternoon until I have only another 29 left to do. The guy who does the things in the garden that I am too lazy to do arrives and I give him todays list of tasks, which after a cup of strong builders teas he gets on with. I retreat to the house and await tea. We do chicken wraps before I settle down with pain killers to dull the pain in my side. I think I’ve pulled the muscles in my side. On checking my emails I find that the podcast I did has been published. This is the link; https://lockedupliving.podbean.com/
Its about an hour long so be prepared for that. My evening is the Great British Sewing Bee and writing the blog.
Tuesday a shed day. Breakfast and off to the shed. I wrote letters and then settled down to type yet more of my poems into a digital format. I stick at all morning until I crave noodles for lunch. Noodled out, I post my morning letters and return to the shed in my training gear. I type more poems all afternoon and finally get to the last 39. I take a call from a friend and we chat about the continuing frustrations and challenges of COVID. Too late to train I return to the house, clear the kitchen and prepare a cod dish. Tea done, I watch a little television, put bins out and prepare for my visit to the hospital tomorrow. That done I write the blog, which today was always going to be short.
I decided not to train today as I think I have a pulled muscle in my side and it twinges a bit, so I am being kind to myself. I will see how it goes tomorrow when I walk down to the hospital appointment. I did manage to snap a rather lovely moth that visited today.
Monday and only one thing on my mind, stepping stones. There are 14 stepping stones waiting to be embedded in one of the grass areas of the garden. Its not a lawn, lawns are flat and even, root free and evenly green. My green areas are not flat, root free or evenly covered in grass. So laying these stepping stones is going to be far from simple. A quick breakfast and I am into my work clothes, steely toe capped boots and arm fulls of tools. I’m out in the garden and I am at it. I am at it for hours. At lunchtime it was hot and I continued and then wonder why I felt dizzy when I got up too quickly from digging out and preparing another bed for another stepping stone. Of course taking drugs to reduce hypertension and a blood thinner probably did not help. I take a time out with a timely cheese sandwich and then I am at it again. I get to the last three, which are due to go where the most roots are running through the ground. Its a real bastard getting them out but I get there. Every stone down and spirit level checked so that they are even, even if the grassy ground is not. So I have flat stones in a slanting bumpy piece of grass.
Almost at the end
Completed
The spirit bubble of joy
A days work. They will be revisited
I finally feel I have finished, its gone six o’clock and I am tired. I take a call from a friend who has been to the sea and chat for a while. I’m reminded that eight years ago this was my retirement night out. Its been an interesting and in many ways a revelatory eight years. I pack away my tools and contemplate my garden and take pictures of what catches my eye.
When the sun shines the garden becomes a place of calm.
I change and eat tea that my partner has prepared. During the meal Tesco deliver unannounced. Then its a bath bomb bath for me, radio 4 and Just a Minute to amuse me. I drift and rest and think about how my life in “retirement has been”. The best and worst of times. Never boring, always stimulating and surprising. That’s not a bad eight years., except for the life threatening scary bits, but I’m still here. I climb out the bath and write the blog to NCIS in the background. Tomorrow I return to the shed to type and write.
Sunday, sunny and inviting. A slow start with a croissant breakfast as later we have the adventure of going to friends for a Sunday roast. We are meandering through, my partner goes to the shed to use the exercise bike, I am organising a new food and training diary and transferring over my training personal bests. I get a phone call from my youngest daughter who is asking where her usual post breakfast facetime call? I chat and take the phone to the shed so she can talk to her mother. After a short time I am summoned to the facetime call now taking place, apparently my daughter want to talk to us both. She tells us that her partner has asked her to marry him and she has said yes. There is much whooping and congratulations. There is no timetable as yet but she is clear that she wants a sparkly ring.
After a shower I get ready to drive the family to a friends for lunch. We arrive with bottles of drink, a plant and truffles and are shown to the garden where there are bowls of nibbles and drinks await. The sun shines and we settle down to chatting before lunch. It seems there are things talk about as we compare notes on surviving COVID and exchange news. The lunch is fabulous, it is so deliciously luxurious to eat a meal that has been cooked by someone else. A roast followed by an ice cream, fruit and honeycomb sweet and rounded off with cheese, biscuits and grapes. Sitting replete we sip coffee and nibble truffles. We talk hedgehogs, spaniels, voluntary work, and a host of other things, I note that a crescent moon has risen in a clear blue sky. Before we know it six o’clock has come around and its time to go and we take our farewells jokingly pointing out that we would help with the washing up but that we are not allowed inside. I drive the family home and watch Leicester win the FA cup semifinal. Of course I am hooked on The Line of Duty and watch the drama with increasing loss of commitment. Of course the end leaves in the midst of gunshots and blackness. I wrote the blog to the background of Mock the Week and reflect on tomorrows tasks; charity shop run, stepping stone leveling, training and blog. Its all just stuff.
