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June
30 - Woken by Sally around 6:45am. She must be a mind reader – I’d been toying with the idea of a long walk today (assuming my hernia and back were up to it. Hernia has been giving me LOTS of discomfort of late - pretty constant stomach ache nowadays really. :o( . . ). . forecast wasn't too bad, so out walking just after 7:30am after having put a bone for Sally and sausages for me, out of the freezer to defrost while we were out. Walked all down through Eastville Park, along the river and up onto Purdown. STILL no work being done to the ruined monument - and in fact the wind has started to tear down the protective tarpaulins that had been loosely fixed to the scaffolding!! My 'sitting stone' has been turned into the roof of a red ants nest, so I sat on the grass for smokes. .the grass is almost waist high next to the Duchess Pond. Sally really seemed to get a kick out of running through it all happy and excited. I crouched down and hid from her occasionally and she excitedly ran back to see where I'd gone and what I was up to - behaviour best summed up by the word 'romping' I think. Smiley stuff. :o) . back along the river at Snuff Mills and eventually back home via Vassals/Oldbury Court and Fishponds. Found 2p. Home by around 11am. Gave Sally her bone out on the patio. Didn't see much of her for the next couple of hours! Dog days don't come much better than this I think. :o) Cooked up four sausages, baked beans, two eggs, mushrooms and ate it with three pieces of bread and butter . . .napped for a few hours until around 6pm . . . LB called to touch base and tell me she'd accepted the new 'head hunted', higher paid job - AND - someone had rung her up and had returned her ferret that'd been missing for over a week!! Blimey! I suggested she should go and buy a lottery ticket quick! . . . walked and returned the DVD to the store. Found 5p and a tin of Stella Artois lager!? It was just laying in the gutter on the pelican crossing by the corner store, quite ok and intact! Guess I'll be having a drink tonight then! :o) . . .BB called . . . TVd and drank the lager and as usual, got a little tipsy on just the one drink . . . ate a banana and a bowl of muesli before bed around midnight. Difficulty getting to sleep because of the sound of Sally STILL gnawing on her bone! pd
29 - Woken by Sally around 7:15am . . .Lots on the local news about a 'vicious' stabbing murder just down in Clouds Hill Road towards St George last night. Apparantly the roads were all still closed while the police searched for the weapon. That'll be BIG traffic chaos on such a main road! Jeeze - that's the second murder in these parts in the last few months!! . . . walked and found a penny . . . did laundry, paperwork, balanced my accounts, transferred savings and renewed my car insurance (£187.95), and even vacuumed around the PC a little! lol . . .cooked up a couple of cheap bacon steaks with mushrooms and ate them with four slices of bread and butter for lunch . . . napped in new white sheets. Woke around 6pm and managed to get the laundry in off the line just before a sprinkle of rain . . . walked and found 2p. Carried on up to the local store to get milk and popped in the nearby video store, determined to hire something to watch tonight - the TV schedules are absolutely appalling - again! Crazy how that video store has no order to things. Everything is on the shelves in completely random order so you have to wander all up and down for ages trying to scan everything, if you’re looking for something in particular. I rather fancied seeing what all this hullabaloo about Schrek was, but they only had it on video and since I now have a DVD, figured I’d have to get something on DVD. Ended up renting out a copy of the first Harry Potter film, the Philosophers Stone. I seem to recall having seen half of it down Mum and Dads some time when we were all there before Dad got 'too' ill, but never saw it all. Unfinished business. Ouch - £3:50!! Won’t be doing that too often. . . BB called . . . watched the Harry Potter DVD, with the sound all loud through the four stereo speakers, occassionaly stopping here and there for supplies of garlic sausage and all the trimmings sandwiches, and biscuits, and cornflakes - and then resuming from the same point in that way that only DVDs can do. Definitely kids stuff, and some appalling acting and scripts - but good effects and entertaining nonetheless. :o) Clever author. . . eventually to bed around 1am. pas
28 - Woken by Sally around 4am needing to use the garden! What a good dog. Full daylight already. . .managed to get back to sleep until around 8:30am . . . walked . . .sat in the sun in the garden . . . too much clutter in the house everywhere! Decided to get rid of the microwave and cooker hood that next door had given me. Left Sally at home and drove to the weird charity type place I bought my kitchen table, and 'donated' them. . . drove to Cosham hospital and mustered my courage to be really cheeky, and wandered in armed with a couple of old photo library books and asked the old guy on the reception desk if it would be possible for me to get a couple of photos of the Butler and Fussell wards as they are now. (Been hankering after trying to get those shots for a while.) He ended up being really enthusiastic and helpful and after asking someones permission, escorted me around and unlocked doors and let me get my shots (albeit I had to take several and stitch them together because ward doors were in the way of the right vantage points). All those wards are now empty and locked up. Very sad to see the place all being run down like that. He said they'd done filming for TVs 'Casualty' in there and he thought the NHS would be pulling out of the place by 2006 - and he thought the building was NOT listed, so who knows what could happen to it!!!! Knocked down? Turned into yet more unaffordable flats? Terrible shame. Mr Handel Cosham must be turning in his 'pit'. :o( . . . drove to Sainsburys and shopped a little. Invested £35 in some cheap white bed linen and duvet cover sets. I'm determined to go all white and get rid of all the weird coloured bedding that I've been given. Seem unable to resist buying more and more 'going cheap' stuff for the freezer every time I shop!! Got enough food to last months - and yet I hardly ever eat much of it! Need to curb this 'investment' food buying! Stopped for petrol (34.3ltrs @ £26.32) . . feasted on bread and butter and reduced price cold chicken drumsticks with loads of salt. . . slept until around 6pm!!! . . . walked and found 2p. . . PCd and enjoyed adding the couple of shots (which 'just' worked out useable!) to the Kingswood, Cosham page on the new site . . .LB called all happy about being 'head hunted' in her job by some other company, willing to match, or better her salary if she moved, etc, etc. Blimey - that must be good for her ego. Can't imagine what that must feel like! I've only ever felt that whoever I worked for, just 'put up with me'. :o| . . . BB called . . .TVd . . . ate the rest of the chicken drumsticks with more bread and butter and salt followed by a banana and then bowls of cornflakes . . . to bed after midnight. Power was symbolically handed back to the Iraqis this day!! pa
27 - Woken by Sally just after 7:15am . . . walked and found 10p . . .skipped food and spent the day messing around with the old kitchen worktops I've had in the understairs cupboard for ages, and cut them up and botched them in place along the firebreast wall in the kitchen, either side of the stove. Definitely a temporary botch job, but it'll do for a while - whilst I'm still living in the kitchen building site. Doubles the useable worksurfaces - but actually really just gives me more space to stack dirty dishes until I get round to washing them!! Tidied up and vacuumed by around 4:30pm . . .ate garlic sausage and grated cheese sandwiches with crisps . . . walked and found a penny . . . did dishwashing chores . . . BB called . . . PS popped round for chats till early. Ate garlic sausage sandwiches and biscuits. pas
26 - Woken by Sally barking at the free local paper being delivered, after 9am!! . . . annadin extra tablet for breakfast. Walked late in the heavy rain and found 2p . . .PCd this. My back seems a bit worse again today! . . .sat around feeling headachey, doing nothing as the rain poured . . . cooked up four cheeseburgers for a mid afternoon lunch. LB popped in briefly and handed me a big bag of bloody bones, she'd scored for Sally at some butchers or other. I offered to pay the £1:50 they'd cost but she refused 'because I feed the cats'. Ok then.:o) . . . slept . . . woken by Sally around 6:30pm!! Still raining. Still headachey. :o( . . . put Sally's bones in the oven to cook and walked in the rain. Found 2p and another large silver hoop earring. . . touched base with BB . . . rain stopped eventually. Managed to cut up Sally's bones with the angle grinder and a hatchet (Very difficult - dunno how murderers manage to dismember bodies!!) and put two in the freezer for some other time. Guitarred in the garden for a bit and watched Sally gnaw on the other of her bones. . . ate bowls of cornflakes and packets of crisps . . .TVd till after midnight. pas
25 - Woken by Sally just before 8am, and then seconds later BB called . . .Calm, sunny morning. Walked and found 7p . . .Mum called and confirmed the fallen guttering had been taken by her neighbour. Would have been Mum and Dads wedding anniversary if he'd lived to see it - and the big 50 next year! . . . sat in the garden in the sun but felt really in the mood to try and clear up some of the junk I've had laying out there for SO long. Dismantled the huge heavy metal storage frame and cut it up into car sized pieces with the angle grinder. Also cut up the old radiator I'd been using as a shelf. Sorted through the big pile of bricks I've gotta keep for doing the kitchen building work, and managed to fill half a dozen bags or more with the useless ones. Piled up the good ones into a neater heap where the storage frame had been - uh oh! Think I've set my back recovery back a bit!! Ouch! Chewed up an ananadin tablet and bit by bit walked everything through the house and loaded the car up. Left Sally at home and drove to the Mangostfield tip and got rid of it all. I DO like that new tip - I've yet to find a big queue there, and when there IS a queue, they've routed the entrance road right round the entire site, so there'll be no more dangerous queuing out on the highway. Nice one. . moved all the sacks of earth I'm keeping, out into a tidy pile in the front garden, out of the way. Pulled a hebe bush out of the ground and cut it up into the bin. Put the full and heavy compost bin, up and just off the patio, where the hebe had been. That's much better. . sorted through and cleared out more junk and nearly filled my wheely bin. Hosed out the old dustbin I have laying around full of 'stuff' and cleaned it up and brought it into the conservatory and put all the sacks of sand and plaster and cement etc, I have to keep, into it. . can hardly move in the conservatory again now, but the patio/garden sure feels a little neater and more spacious. . . BW popped in mid to late afternoon and halted 'play'. He'd brought the video of him tandem freefall skydiving in Mexico. Cost him £150 apparantly - actually seemed like pretty good value for money - the video really was rather good and almost professional in its production. Amazing keepsake souvenir. . . rebuilt my pile of bricks a bit neater, hosed down the patio again, and then sat around out there for ages feeling as though I'd acheived something . . . BB called . . . got cleaned up and then walked. Found 7p. Hadn't eaten yet today - dropped off the milk I'd bought and then carried on with Sally up to the kebab shop and treated myself to a £4:50 kebab and chips feast - left a little to mix in with Sallys food . . .Got feedback from the site – “Alright matey, I've been reading your site. It's good. But why dont u get a bird mate.?”. . Huh? What – like a parrot? No – noisy squawky things - it’s work enough just having Sally! lol . or does he mean like – well – BBs my ‘bird’ isn’t she. lol :o) guitarred in the garden for a bit but ended up having to rush up to the PC and record the little chord sequence (so I can remember some other time, cause I can't write music) that went with the two lines of words (which was all I managed to come up with) that started off 'She's my bird' .lolololololololol. . . TVd . . . briefly touched base with LB . . .Some re-laying of pavements has been going on out in the street these last couple of days. Bollards and barriers line the pavements. It’ll be a miracle if the drunks don’t start throwing those around in the night! . . sure enough I think a car up the road was damaged by someone knocking one over. Peeking through the curtains I could see the neighbour actually moving the bollards and barricade into their front garden, to prevent further incidents! Why on earth the contractors have left them laying around despite having pretty much finished the job is anyone’s guess! Actually sat in the FRONT garden with Sally and a coffee for a while around midnight listening to the ‘not distant enough‘ big noise from the local pub beer garden. A woman in a micro mini skirt and tottery heels was walking up the street with her young son (who should have been in bed by that time of night!) and was explaining to him that they didn’t need his Dad because he said nasty things to them and they’d do without him!!!!! . . Wow - saw a police car go by!! Blimey – so they still have some then! . . . TVd/PCd till early. pas
24 - Woken by Sally just after 6am!! . . . walked and found a penny. Very breezy out, but dry at the moment . . .touched base with Mum but she hasn't managed to catch her neighbour yet, to confirm the fallen guttering is his . . . excellent - my back feels a lot better already - still twingey and achey, but MUCH better than it was. . wrote out a £110 checque and then walked with Sally up to the main Post Office in Kingswood and taxed the car. Messed around briefly with the camera and a couple of the library books on the High Street and in the park and bagged a couple of the shots I'd yet to do for the Kingswood site . . . very windy but warm enough for bare arms (just) with the sunny spells. Treated myself to a cup of coffee in the funny church hall place behind the main Holy Trinity Church. Bargain at 25p for a mug - sat on a bench in the sun in the graveyard with coffee and smokes. Jotted down the web address of the 'Royal Forest' site on a piece of paper and gave it to the woman who was serving, after having explained there was a picture of the inside of the church during the recent flower festival and 'someone' may be interested to have a look. (Not 'entirely' my ego - figured it was only right that someone connected with the church should be told that 'captured moment in their time' exists.) . . shopped a little on the way home . . . cooked up garlic chicken kievs, chips and mushrooms for a big lunchtime feast . . . napped for a couple of hours . . . TVd . . . PCd just a couple of bad pics (Kingswood - Park, High Street ; Fishponds - Snuff Mills) and uploaded them to the new site as showers poured outside . . . walked and found 4p. VERY quiet out - ghost town like, with everyone in somewhere watching the football - England playing Portugal. . Watched the TV show that Mum had rung up to tell me about. All about face transplants!! Ewwww!! Showed some poor girl who was once by any standards ‘beautiful’, who’d been in a car wreck and burned. Her face, nose, eyelids, fingers – all gone!! I just don’t know how some people live with what they have to endure. I’m prtty sure I couldn’t. :o( . . turned over after the program and ended up actually being entertained by the football!!! Me? Watching football!!?? Whatever next!! Predictably, England ended up losing on penalties. lol Probably all the more enjoyable because I really didn’t care who won – and probably actually wanted England to lose, just so there is some better TV to watch! Couldn’t quite work out in my mind what result would be the safest for my car and be the least likely to cause riots in the streets by the mindless idiots . . . to bed around midnight. pas
23 - Woken in the night around 3:10am by what sounded like someone insistantly rapping loudly on someones letterbox trying to wake them up to be let in. Peeked through the curtains but couldn't see anyone and it soon stopped. Not the first time I've been woken by that same noise!! Inconsiderate people! . . . woken by Sally at 7:15am. Annadin Extra tablet for breakfast. . walked in the rain but just managed to miss the worst, which poured and blew, soon after getting back home! Perfect weather to set Glastonbury up for being a mud bath again this weekend - and for Wimbledon of course!. . . PCd this. Very autumnal stormy outside! Put in a couple of hours on line and read through all the 106 posts on the Yahoo AvPD, Dr. Signe Dayhoff Q&A list. Wow - that Yahoo adverts thing is annoying. Can't believe they actually get any custom from them - I didn't read a single one (didn't even wait for some to load - slow on a dial up) - just had to do lots of annoying extra mouseclicks to get past them! Grrr. . . . Mum called to ask questions about rainwater guttering!!!!!! She'd found a peice blown down into her garden!! Fingers crossed - it sounds like it isn't hers - blown off a neighbours house 'hopefully'. SO frustrating not being able to just go look and see where it came from. Long conversation about nothing much - seems like Mum just needs to chat every now and then, now she hasn't got Dad to share everything with. :o| . . . corned beef and salad sandwiches, with two bags of salt and vinegar crisps for lunch. . . napped for a couple of hours . . . TVd . . . PCd. Had a good trawl through the main Yahoo AvPD group pages. (Can't log on with my ID anymore??) First proper look I've had around there since it went over from e-groups to Yahoo. All seems much the same in terms of the posts, and the nature of the responses. Don't think I'll be making a habit of returning - I'm content for it to remain something I 'passed through' en route to a certain level of self understanding. . I guess I should admit that my pathetic, fragile little ego, WAS a little bruised by not finding a link to my site on their links pages (especially when there ARE such links as all-creatures.org, Pet Haven Adoptable Cats, etc!!?????) . I like to think that putting myself on (the) line like this over the years, has in some tiny way maybe helped at least 'some' people in their search for self understanding, and has maybe raised the profile of AvPD just a bit. To not even warrant a link on the 'main' AvPD group links list - yeah, that's bruised the little that is left of my ego. Ain't I fragile/avoidant! lol :o| . . . walked in the gale and found 8p . . . BB called . . . TVd whilst PCing this . . . ate defrosted pastry sausage rolls, bags of crisps and a couple of bowls of cornflakes . . . TVd till bed around midnight. paaas
22 - Fairly disturbed nights sleep, half waking with back pain when moving around in my sleep! . . .up around 8am. Warm sunny morning but the forecast for later is awful wind and rain! Some difficulty getting out of bed with my aching back. Good greif - I seem to have damaged my right knee as well - took a while to hobble down stairs! Blimey - I really am a bit of a wreck - limping, bent over having trouble straightening up, holding my hernia in - is this my future?!! Coughing and sneezing is a horrible ordeal - puts pressure on my hernia and wracks my back with pain!!! . . . annadin extra tablet (chewed), coffee and cigarettes in the garden for breakfast. . . . walked. The tablet took the edge off my back pain and by the end of the street I was fairly upright, and walked only a little slower than normal round the field. Poop scooping was a difficult one knee down, straight backed affair! . . . very carefully managed to move the sacks of earth stacked up on the patio, to underneath the patio table, to keep some of the forecast rain off. Managed to saw up and put some more 'stuff' from the patio into the bin - bits of metal, old car mats, etc. . . PCd this . . .TVd and sat around pretty motionless for most of the day, feeling a bit sorry for myself - again! . . .ate corned beef, mayo, grated cheese, onion, lettuce and tomato sandwiches with crisps for a late lunch . . . napped the rest of the afternoon away . . . walked in rubber and wellington boots and found 9p in the rain . . . TVd . . . BB called . . .cooked up four cheeseburgers with all the salad trimmings . . . TVd until bed around 1:15am. paaas
21 - The longest day of the year. Woken by Sally at 7am. She jumped up onto the bed and landed right on top of me! Nasty way to wake up. . .walked and found 4p . . . bagged up all the 'bird table' rubble in the garden, and - oh NO!!!! - succeeded in putting my back out again!! Don't think it's as bad as last time - chewed up an annadin tablet and managed to finish the job and get everything loaded into the car. Threw in the old bike frame I've had laying around on the patio - and sawed up the old door that's been out there awaiting disposal, and put that in too. Left sally at home and drove to the Mangotsfield council tip and got rid of everything. First time I've been there since it was rebuilt - much improved - but still an unpleasant chore. . . PCd this watching Judge Judy on TV . . . ate corned beef, mayo, grated cheese, onion, lettuce and tomato sandwiches with crisps for lunch . . . managed to sleep through my aching back for most of the afternoon. Not much else I CAN do - pretty incapacitated again! :o( Likely gonna be worse tomorrow, based on past experience. . .walked very slowly and carefully and found 2p . . . guitarred in the garden for a while . . . TVd and managed to find something to watch that wasn't football or tennis! England played again tonight and won their football match. Didn't need to watch it to know they won - every time they scored a goal, some nutcase in the area let off fireworks!? . . . BB called . . .ate a bowl of muesli, biscuits, a banana, almond slices, crisps - lots of junk. . . TVd/PCd until bed around 2am. paaas
20 - Woken by Sally at 7am again. . . walked and found a lighter . . . pottered in the garden and cut up the spikey bush that's been growing across the back gate and got rid of it in the bin. Trimmed bits and pieces here and there and eventually managed to overcome my laziness and set about removing the bird table/feeding station I'd built out of old slabs. It's proved to be too low for the birds to feel safe, and it so fills up the garden, when Sally has an upset stomach and needs 'to go', she can hardly find a place and has to squeeze in next to it with some difficulty. I figure when I've had my hernia surgery, she'll need to be going out there for a while, so it seemed wise to get it gone and give Sally more space. Been thinking about it for a while but just couldn't face all the work. Finally got round to it. Ended up with the patio covered in rubble and sacks of earth, and the garden flat and cleared by early afternoon, just before it started raining. Good timing. Looks a bit of a mess - gonna take a while for all that 'babies tears' stuff to grow back over all the bare earth. If I can be bothered, those sacks of earth would be VERY useful in Mums garden . . . trimmed my hair and cleaned up . . . ate grated cheese, corned beef, lettuce and tomato sandwiches with crisps, a banana and coffee and biscuits. Struggled to stay awake and watched the American Grand Prix won by Schumacher. . . walked and found 15p. . . BB called. . . ate bowls of cornflakes . . . TVd until bed at 11pm. p
19 - Woken by Sally at 7am and 7:30am . . . walked. Stopped in the newsagent on the way back and bought SH a birthday card . . .walked all the way down to SHs but he wasn't there (again!), so just posted the card through the box and walked all the way back. Found a penny. . . cooked up and ate four cheeseburgers with all the trimmings . . .slept the afternoon away . . . Mum called telling me to watch the 'come dancing' TV show!! Watched a bit of it before walking . . . walked and found a penny. . .BB called . . . TVd . . .ate some cold, defrosted cheese and onion pastry rolls with crisps . . . LB called around 12:20am all tipsy and screaming and wanting 'saving' from a spider that was on her ceiling!! For goodness sake! Went up (more to save the spider from being swatted than anything else) and moved it outside and immediately returned home . . LB popped down briefly and gave me a couple of Thai cakes and some filter coffee cups, presumably as a thank you!!?. . . to bed around 1am. ps
18 - Woke around 8:15am . . .since the new people moved into the old dead couples house opposite, parking in the street has become extremely difficult. That house is one of the few in the street that has a driveway and garage, and yet they never use it, despite them having a total of three cars for the household! That means that their driveway has to be kept clear, and three more cars are suddenly parking in the street - a total of four parking spaces devoted to that one house! Neighbours are regularly having to park far away, and even in different streets, and walk all the way back to their homes. I will actually NOT use my car at certain times of day because I know if I did, I wouldn't be able to park anywhere near my house when I returned. Not working I have the luxury of doing so, and during the day when people are at work, make sure I get to park usually right outside my house, which makes keeping an eye on it overnight possible. The fact that the people in that house don't use their driveway (oh how the rest of us wish we could park off the street away from the vandal attacks!) has become a source of irritation to some of the neighbours. It was with some little satisfaction that I saw one of the people come out of that house this morning, and walk around their car looking unhappy, inspecting the broken bits of plastic at their rear windows which was all that was left of their missing England flags. They're learning. Wonder how long it'll be until they wish they hadn't moved into this area, and start parking at least one of their cars off the street! . . . walked and found a penny and yet another cigarette lighter . . .muesli and a banana for breakfast . . . PCd this but just couldn't stay awake and ended up napping from around 11am till 1pm . . .PCd this - seems like a lot of it for yesterday! . . . I've had no reply to my 11th June e-mail to admin@freenetname.co.uk about the recent inexplicable zeroing of my hit counter, so I made the mistake of phoning the helpline to try and sort it out. BIG mistake!! Seems like all the helplines are now staffed by Indians who have such a thick accent, I could hardly undersand a word they said! Turned out all they would say is stuff like 'it is something you've done' or 'talk to your web designer' or 'we aren't trained in how to do that, you'll have to call technical support' etc. I called technical support - 50p a minute - must have cost me about £10 - and all they said was the same stuff and 'no, there is no one else you can talk to' and 'you'll have to write to the office' etc etc etc. I kicked up quite a fuss and eventually they said someone would look into it and e-mail me back! Yeah - right - I bet. Bloody useless!!! Bloody infuriating. This last happened in early November 2002 and all I had to do was e-mail Technical Support and they accepted it was because upgrade and maintenance work had taken place on the Servers and they reset the counter within a week. Seems like since then, the company has changed, the helplines have gone to India, and everything has turned to s***!! Yep - that'll be progress then. NOT! :o( Grrrrrr . . . added a couple of photos to the Fishponds, Frome Valley 3 page on the new site . . .walked avoiding the mopeds on the cycle path. Really is just like any other road now!! . . . briefly touched base with LB to smile at how the new guy up and over opposite had just been out and parked one of their many cars in their driveway (presumably because of last nights flag incident - and I think they 'may' have lost their wing mirror a couple of nights ago too!!). LB said she thinks they had one of their cars broken into, only days after moving in!! Blimey - steep learning curve! Welcome to the ghetto! :o( . . .put another of the dead potted fir trees from the garden in the bin . . . BB called . . . PS popped round for chats till early. . . LB called - looks as though she's lost another one of her polecats - disappeared down the back lane somewhere!! :o( Jeeze! Do SO hope she doesn't go buy a 'replacement'. p
17 - Woken by Sally at 7:45am. MUCH cooler out this morning . . . fed LBs cats . . .walked. Walking last night I’d spotted a car just down the road with it’s passenger window left wide open, right next to the pavement. I’d thought how dodgy that was, but it was very hot and assumed that maybe someone had just popped into one of the nearby houses. This morning the car was still there, the window was still open, and someone had obviously been into the car and rifled through the glove compartment and everything and had taken whatever they pleased! Damn - should I have done something about it when I saw it open last night? Knocked on a door but it wasn’t theirs – they thought maybe a couple of doors down. Knocked on that door and sure enough I was the bearer of bad news to the guy inside. Said how sorry I was to be the bearer of bad news and left him to sort out the mess. He was of course pretty upset. Only later did I pass the car again and see a sticker on the back indicating it was a courtesy car from some garage or other! I guess that kindof explains why he made the mistake of leaving the window open – unfamiliar car and all. :o( . . Found a weird smart card type thing near the school. Gave it to a passing kid who was late for classes and asked him to hand it in for me. Turned out it was a card for getting school dinners!? Picked up the pint beer glass from the middle of the field and walked it up and left it on one of the benches outside the pub at the top of the feild. Carried on walking with Sally via the Kingswood heights building site for a progress photo, up to the building society to draw out some cash. Shopped just a little. 45 books of liquorice RIZLA cigarette papers for £12:15. Groups of young school kids were all doing some sort of survey or other in the shopping precinct. Couldn't help myself approaching one of the teachers and giving her a slip of paper with the new website address on it and explaining it may be interesting for the kids. Funny how when I first approached her and her group of kids and asked if she was a teacher, her protective defences were well up and she was icy cold in her replies. She warmed once I'd explained. Whether or not she'll look I don't know, but she did say it was just the sort of thing they were looking at. Be nice to think they DO have a look. It's changed how I see the world around me a bit - maybe it would do that for the kids. . . transferred some money by phone out of my savings and then drove to Hanham with Sally to renew the library books. Had a look through the shelves for more photo books, but I think I've seen all they have down there. . wandered around a bit in Hanham and bagged a couple of 'now' photos I'd yet to do. Really want to tie up the loose ends so I can get shot of these books! Popped in a charity shop and ended up buying a pair of never worn trainers for £5 (dead man's shoes?!). . back to the car and drove around exploring, looking for the Hanham Hall place, that used to be a mental hospital. Eventually found it, parked the car somewhere and walked all the way back to the entrance road with Sally to ask the security guard if I could wander around and take photos. Once again it was funny to see the change in attitude - he was all icy cold and security guard like until I did my best 'well spoken friendly guy' act and explained what I was after and showed him the library book. It then became difficult tearing myself away as he started telling me all sorts of this and that about how the NHS pulled out of the place a couple of years ago, and how the council were infighting over the future of the place, and how this building over here was listed too, and how they used the wrong type of stone and render when they rebuilt one of the wings, etc, etc, etc!! Eventually got his permission to wander around and take my photos. Amazing huge great area of land (many acres) all covered in hospital buildings. Reminded me a bit of Frenchay Hospital. Sally took off chasing some squirrels as I wandered around in front of the main house trying to get a few photos. Terrible sad to see the place falling into such neglect! Can't imagine what the future will be for the place - but SO much land is there, if they DID get permission to knock it all down, they'd have enough room to build a new small town!! That must surely be quite likely - loads of new houses in sought after, expensive Hanham. What a shame. . . drove down to the Conham River Park and let Sally out for the briefest of walks and swims as I bagged a couple more photos . . shopped on the way home. Made the mistake of going in Lidls and couldn't resist impulse buying a plain and simple, large quartz wall clock for £1:99. White face, black hands, metal look outer edge, 12" diameter - just the type (more or less) I planned would look ok on the firebreast in the kitchen. .drove to Jollyes for dog food supplies. 48 tins of Winalot for £18 and a 15kg (+ 2 extra free) sack of PAL complete for £17:95. . this last few weeks because of the Euro 2004 football thing, everyone everwhere seems to have decided to buy one (many people buy a pair) of those red cross St George flags with plastic masts that clip on the rear windows of their cars. The latest nonsensical fad. I have no interest in putting one on my car, but figured it was only a matter of time before sooner or later I ended up finding one in the street. As I pulled onto the main road I saw one laying in the gutter - and felt compelled to have it. Screeched to a halt, leapt out and dashed back in the traffic and picked the flag up. Got one (albeit with a broken clip on bit). lol :o) . . . cooked up a pizza with extra mushrooms and cheese . . . touched base with BB . . . napped for a couple of hours through the England v. Switzerland football match. Woke around 6:45pm and caught the last couple of minutes of the three nil England win. I did NOT sit and wave my flag! Well - 'maybe' there won't be (such bad) riots in the streets tonight then . . . walked. A couple of young kids - a girl of five and a boy of six ended up getting all chatty as I sat on one of the boulders at the edge of the field having a cigarette! All totally innocent but felt VERY uncomfortable and vulnerable! One wrong word from anyone in the current climate and I'd be likely lynched from the nearest tree by a drunken football mob for being a strange weirdo single guy with a dog, type paedophile!! Quickly finished my cigarette and waved them goodbye and got out of the situation. What a sad world where one is frightened of even talking to a child. :o( . . . PCd todays photos. .BB called . . noisy yobs in the street required some peeking out of darkened windows on several occasions throughout the evening . . . PCd for hours until around 1am and added a handfull of new photos to the Hanham 1-4 pages and the Avon Valley #2 page on the Royal Forest site. . . ate garlic sausage and grated cheese sandwiches, crisps and a banana in the early hours. . . . . eventually to bed around 2am but difficulty sleeping. More noise of rampaging yobs in the street saw me leaping to the window again at 2:22am. A group of four 'young 'men'(?!!)' were running down the road, wrenching off all the England flags from the rear windows of all the parked cars as they went! One guy wrenched at the neighbours flag as he ran by, but didn't succeed in snapping the plastic. Incredibly he retraced his steps and had another go, eventually having to use both hands because for some reason, that particular plastic mast was more nylon like and wouldn't snap. He called it quits only when he'd succeeeded in ripping the flag off and leaving the mast all buckled and bent. The neighbour was surely lucky not to have had that window broken by the leverage and extreme force he used! Couldn't see a single flag in the street once they'd disappeared. Bastards! Really upsetting to have to stand and watch such mindlessly violent behaviour, and not be able to do a thing about it. Would have taken too long to get dressed and out - and what would I have done anyway - except get myself in big trouble? :o( . I just can't understand why there is all this antisocial violent behaviour these days. The news today even told how the latest TV Big Brother nonsense show was being investigated by the police because there had been a brawl which had seen the live coverage go off air in the early hours!! Why oh why do people have to be so violent?!!! I'd like to give them all a good beating and knock some sense into them! Ooops!! . . . ended up all awake and wound up, and fantasising about buying a baseball bat or a stun gun or some mace and becoming a masked vigilanty cruising the streets late at night! Couldn't sleep, and more noises out in the street saw me end up getting dressed and sitting around in a darkened living room with the curtains open for half an hour or so, before eventually feeling calm and tired enough to have another go at sleeping. Eventually to bed as light was appearing in the eastern sky. Quite a day! p
16 - Woken by Sally just before 7am . . . walked. Still very hot. . . did laundry chores . . . PCd this. Dug the electric fan that next door had given me, out of the cupboard. Blimey - that's actually quite a good fan - although I'm not particularly comfortable having a blowing sensation on my skin all the time - and it makes me wish I'd done some dusting and vacuuming - um - this year! lol Certainly makes sitting at the hot PC a bit more bearable . . . kept the washing machine running most of the day and rotated loads of stuff on and off the washing line. At least this weather means it all drys pretty quick. Balanced my accounts and sorted out paperwork and such all morning. Phoned the inland revenue about the letter they'd sent me about not having paid my full NI contributions since I left work. Apparantly it IS entirely voluntary - and since I can't really afford the £30 a month, I guess I'll take the gamble and not pay it! . . damn - car tax renewal notice in the mail - £110 due by the end of the month, just to be able to have it parked outside for rampaging drunks to smash up as they please! Oh jeeze - house insurance is due too! How on earth can they justify a 10% premium increase - especially when they have rushed out a new 'terrorism' exclusion to the cover?! :o( . . .ate garlic sausage, grated cheese and lettuce sandwiches with crisps and then biscuits for a late lunch . . . napped but woken within an hour by some door to door Greenpeace activist or other, wanting I don't know what cause I didn't give them time to tell me before saying no thanks and closing the door!? Managed to nap for another hour before waking up feeling a bit unwell . . . walked and found 3p and a cigarette lighter. The white goo the yobs spread all over the seat and swings appears to have been wood glue and has been baked hard and clear by the sun. . . fed LBs cats. Blimey - place pongs a bit!! . . . BB called . . . ate bowls of corn flakes . . . TVd until bed around midnight. pa
15 - Woken by Sally around 6am and then insistantly again with a whine around 6:30am! Got up and let her out into the garden but that wasn't what she wanted. I think she must have read my mind that I was intending to maybe do a long walk today, since the forecast is for a break in the good weather and cooler more unsettled weather in the next few days. Very tired. . . out of the house with a rucksack around 7:30am and walked down through Fishponds to the Oldbury Court Estate and the river. Took a few photos near Frenchay bridge. Wasted some money and called the police on my mobile and reported the Audi car that appeared to be a stolen dumped - the passenger window had been smashed and the radio was gone and the glove box and everything gone through. The police guy on the phone confirmed 'they were aware of it' - although it looked as though the broken window and theft of stuff inside was new to them!! It DID have a police notice on the window about how naughty it was of the car driver to have parked it half on the pavement!! Well for goodness sake - that is like advertising the fact that the car is good for smashing up to passing yobs! Why on earth didn't they arrange to get it shifted before that happened? What's wrong with society?!!! Arrrrrgggghhhh!!! . . . walked with Sally all along the river, stopping frequently to just sit and smoke a cigarette. Sally was VERY in the mood to be running around and swimming and having a good time, despite the uncomfortable and oppressive heat. She spent quite a while being cool and actually just laying in the river with only her head out of the water when I stopped for one cigarette. Funny woofer. :o) Walked the extra through the long grass up onto Purdown to confirm that no rebuilding work has yet been done to the monument. Eventually slowly home via Eastville Park. . . home around midday, so very, VERY hot and wringing with sweat! My little digital thermometer showed in excess of 31 degrees C in the front garden at one point - mid to high twenties in the house. . . fried up four sausages and some mushrooms and ate them with four pieces of bread and butter . . . caught up on a few hours hot sleep and woke around 5:30pm . . . LB called asking me to feed the cats tomorrow evening and the next day. . . walked . . . BB called . . .PCd a bit of this but was SO hot in the bedroom with the machine running, I just couldn't stand it and soon gave up . . .sat in the relative cool of the garden with the guitar for a short while . . .ate bowls of corn flakes and then lettuce and grated cheese sandwiches . . . TVd until around 1am. pas
14 - Woken by Sally too early again but managed to push her off and sleep on until she insisted I woke around 8am . . . plenty on the TV news about yobs all over the country rioting in the streets, burning cars and stoning the police and such, following last nights football match!! I despair . . . walked - very hot out! Carried on walking and headed for the doctors surgery to make an appointment to get the 'review' prior to repeating my prozac perscription out of the way. Found 20p and a large rawhide chewy bone thing for Sally! Weird to find one of those laying in the road - and they're expensive?! :o) Made my appointment (things have really improved - all appointments are made for the day and no longer a long waiting list and days in advance) walked slowly home trying to keep my painful bulging hernia in place with a hot sweaty hand in my pocket!! :o( Spotted a plumbers van parked up on the side of the road with the door unlocked and a bunch of keys hanging from the door lock!! Blimey - he'll be lucky to have much left when he realises what he's done! Couldn't just ignore it so sat on a wall next to it and tried calling the phone numbers on the side of the van. No replies. Pulled the keys out of the door and went and knocked on the door of a nearby likely looking house that is undergoing refurbishment. The guy who answered the door said sure enough, the plumber was working there, so I told him the van was unlocked and handed the keys over and carried on my way. Good deed for the day done I think. . . checked on the leaflet and confirmed that the mobile library van 'should' be visiting hereabouts today, so figured I'd better sit in and wait - again! . .called the hospital and confirmed that I actually AM on a waiting list for a hernia operation (despite having received no communication whatsoever since my January consultation). The secretary on the phone was even able to confirm I was down for a 'day case' and a general anaesthetic. She speculated, based on political rhetoric about reducing waiting times, that I'd be getting done 'maybe' around the end of August. We'll see - at least my mind is eased by actually knowing I'm on a list and not lost in some administrative error, which is what I'd begun to suspect. . .PCd this . . .at last - the library van actually turned up in the street. Confessed my crime of damaging a couple of the books and said I had my cheque book with me. The woman was very understanding and said it shouldn't be a problem cause they weren't too bad. Phew. Took most of them out again because there are just those one or two pictures I haven't yet captured. . .PCd briefly . . . ate corned beef, lettuce, grated cheese, tomato sandwiches and crisps for lunch . . . BB called . . .showered and got all clean and sweet smelling. . .got all up tight and headachey and had to suck annadin tablets. Left Sally at home and did the hot sweaty walk back to the doctors surgery for my 2:50pm appointment. Waited in the waiting room until called in around 3:10pm. A very brief chat to explain that I'd kinda crashed again (precipitated by trying to give up smoking - and failing) and that I'd gone back on the prozac again, and wanted to remain on it for the forseeable future, as we'd discussed and agreed a year or two ago. He asked me why I'd stopped taking them and I explained I'd wanted to experience the death of my father and whatever that meant, without being drugged up! He seemed to accept that, and reiterated that he had agreed before, that he felt I benefited from being on the prozac and he was happy to renew the perscription - repeatable for the next twelve months, without needing to see him for a review. Excellent. Relief. . paid the £6:40 NHS prescription fee in the adjacent pharmacy and waited for my next 60 capsules. Made the mistake of reading one of the leaflets on the wall about 'prostate' stuff, cause I guess I'm getting to that sort of an age. Figured it was worth a read to actually once and for all, enlighten myself as to what the hell a prostate is. Wish I hadn't! Seems like the symptoms of a problem are pretty vague, or non existant - and easily hypochondriac like, assigned to oneself! Suffice it to say, I now know roughly what and where a prostate is, and thanks to the explicite diagram of how a doctor examines it (ewwww!!!!), I refuse to ever have any problems with mine thank you very much!!! Actually, I always get SO up tight seeing the doctor anyway, I doubt that examination would be possible without a big dose of sedative - for both of us! :o| . .Thought I’d take advantage of the free and simple diabetes test that was advertised on notices. Had to fill out a great big, in triplicate form of loads of personal details before I could have the finger prick test. Filled it all out, and then right at the bottom just above where I had to sign, were sections to be deleted as appropriate. There was an option, so I withdrew my consent for all those details to be held on computer etc, by the pharmacy company. Only then did I see the small print beneath, which said that if I’d deleted that bit, I couldn’t have the test! Well what idiot designed that form?!! That should have been the first bloody question – to save me wasting my time filling it all out Grrrr. Removed my forms from the pad and screwed them up and didn’t have the test – out of principle and irritation really. As BB pointed out later, under the circumstances, why would I have a problem with having personal stuff about me on someones PC! lololol Hmmm – she has a point. :o\ . . . as usual, the effort and stress of visiting the doctor had absolutely wiped me out, and I inevitably napped for a couple of hours as soon as I got home and cooled down a little . . . walked and found a penny. Vandals had done their best to destroy the area around the kids swings. All the plastic in the bin had been set alight (as every night) and the melting plastic had been draped around the swings and everything. A weird white goo had been poured all over the swings and everything else all around - including the only seat in the field, which I gain some little pleasure from sitting on each day for a cigarette half way through the walk. Bastards! :o( . . . called BB . . .briefly guitared in the garden . . . TVd . . . ate a couple of grated cheese sandwiches with crisps . . . PCd until early. A guest book entry from Scarlette indicated a new Yahoo group (http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/AvoidantPersonalityDisorder/)has been set up for a special Q&A type session with a Dr. Signe Dayhoff!? Figured I'd better go look, but only ended up spending a ridiulous amount of time messing around with my Yahoo ID, trying to reactivate it. Guess it just goes to show how little I mess around on the PC these days. Pretty sure I haven't even looked at the Yahoo avoidant group for maybe a year or two!! Didn't feel as though I wanted to have to start 'joining groups' and ended up bumbling aimlessly around, surfing nonsense. Seems like EVERYTHING is out there somewhere. There's even a group devoted to people who have a fear of rubber party balloons!!?? I think I'd swap depression/schizoid/avoidant for that, given the chance. I’ve never been beaten up by a bunch of balloons. Never found any difficulty in socialising with a bunch of balloons. Never been compelled to seek out the company of a female balloon. Never been humiliated by my clumsy attempts to start a relationship with a balloon. Never felt obliged to go into a pub with a bunch of drunken balloons. Never been told what to do by a managerial balloon. Never been rejected by a balloon – although I guess I HAVE had them pop on me. Blimey – there’s even groups for people who get their kicks from that!!!!!!! Tis a strange world I am trapped in. pa
13 - Woken by Sally pawing my face at some early hour. Growled (swore!) at her to go away and managed to sleep on until around 8am. . . walked and found 3p, a disposable cigarette lighter and a nylon womans shoulder/back bag - the type that has a single split strap that fastens with velcro, that seems to be the fashion these days. Almost every car going down the road on this side of the street showed evidence of a nightime assault on its wing mirror - mine included, but thankfully it snapped back into place because my car just happened to be facing the right way to escape having it broken!! At least three had actually been broken - one was laying in the road minus the glass - put the remains on the garden wall of the house I think will be upset - again!! :o( . . .PCd this . . .sat in the garden in the sun for a large portion of the day. Very hot! . . . fried up four sausages, potatoes and mushrooms for a large late lunch around 5pm while watching the Canadian grand prix. Schumaker won. Again. . . walked and found 2p. Strangely quiet out. Most everyone appeared to be in somewhere getting drunk and shouting and swearing at the TV as England played France in the European football thingy in Portugal. I care not at all! . . .BB called to touch base . . . I have to confess I was all expecting trouble in the street again, what with all the yobs drinking and watching England lose the football match and all, so at the first hint of some shouting, I was up the stairs and peeking through the blinds of the darkened bedroom window. 10:25pm, give or take a couple of minutes. A car was pulled up at the junction, up and over the road, only 'just' visible at an angle from my window. I could just make out a bit of an argument between a guy who'd got out of the front passenger seat, and another figure which the voice indicated was a girl, stood near the open rear passengerside door. He was telling her to get in. She was protesting and did not want to. I did NOT see him force her in, but she was shortly in the back of the car and he got back into the front passenger seat and the car pulled off, out of the junction and turning right, away from me and quickly out of view. As the car pulled round, out of the T junction and into the street, I saw the rear passenger door open whilst the car was moving, and could hear the womans voice saying 'No!'. As the car completed the manouver and straightened up, the rear door closed and it drove off, out of sight. It crossed my mind to make a dash for my car - but by the time I'd got outside, unlocked it all, started it and done a three point turn - no way would I have been able to catch up with whatever the car was (in the dark, at that angle from my window, I couldn't recognise the type, colour or anything about it!). Horrible feeling of 'standing by' as who knows what was occurring. 'It is necessary' that I should believe that the girl was simply drunk and being silly, and that she was with friends who were making sure she was returned home safely. :o| . . . TVd till early. PCd looking at French property pages until around 2am. pa
12 - Up just before 7am . . . walked and found a penny . . . ate a bowl of muesli and a banana for breakfast . . .pawed over library books trying to work out directions and distances and then breifly walked down to Speedwell School and climbed through the gap in the fence and went out onto their sports field to get a picture in the direction of the old coal mine pit head. . . felt a bit unwell - upset stomach and aggravated hernia stuff I think. . . couldn't muster the energy to do anything and ended up just sitting around and making trips to the bathroom! . . . slept for an hour . . . TVd/PCd and just sat around all day!! . . . walked and sat for a while over the field. All of a sudden Sally took off towarsd the road??!! Turned out to be a squirrel on the pavement, right there near the entrance to the field next to the road. Blimey - never seen a squirrel there before! Where on earth can it live - no decent trees anywhere near? . . it appeared there was gonna be some kind of party going on at the rugby club building. A large group of youths (kids!) were all sat around near the bushes rolling and smoking their joints. Groups of girls were gathering, many carrying bottles and all of whom appeared to be rather tipsy already, and really far too young to be wearing as little as they were! There is something in the air on such occasions - you just KNOW there is gonna be late night trouble in the streets, somewhere - just luck of the draw whether or not you are gonna be unlucky to suffer in some way as a result! Returned home with a familiar sense of foreboding . . . drank a can of Redbull as I meticulously emptied the particles of dust from all the plastic baggies that I've been picking up whenever I find them over the last few weeks. Didn't amount to much - but I don't need much - so it was enough. :o). . . BB called . . . ate the last of the bananas and a few bowls of corn flakes . . . around 12:30am there was the noise of drunken hassle in the street and the sound of what experience suggests was someones car wing mirror being broken off their car and hitting the floor, and then their car alarm going off. Leapt to the spy hole at the door and peered out but couldn't see anything much and whoever it was seemed to pass on by. I really didn't feel up to leaping out into the street for more hassle and abuse, and as far as I could tell, my car had escaped the assault, so I just prowled around inside the house looking out of darkened windows for a while. Shouldn't have leapt up like that - with the accompanying surge of adrenalin as I looked through the door, I seriously wondered if I was gonna have a heart attack!!! Terrible pounding in my chest! Made me feel quite unwell for quite a bit!! . The poor young couple from down the road who'd had their wing mirror knocked off some while ago (that time I went out and collected up all the pieces) were out in the street. Oh dear - it was theirs again! I could just about hear some of the young guys conversation to another neighbour - about how he was sick of having to live like this - about how he doesn't sleep well because any slight noise will see him leaping to the window, etc etc. Poor guy - I know EXACTLY how he feels. Once upon a time it used to be nice to occasionaly have a nice warm shower and then just sit around in front the TV being all snuggly just wearing a fluffy bath robe - or even losing myself in some music with my headphones on. I daren't any more - I'll usually get dressed again straight away, just in case I have to run out into the street to get hit by a drunk - I NEVER use headphones and mostly have the TV sound only 'just' audible so I can keep an ear out for trouble - I also leave my coat containing camera and mobile phone on the sofa near the front door, for a quick grab and exit as required!!! It's a 'besieged' way of life! And there isn't a damn thing we can do about it - except live in fear and continually have to pay the price of whatever mindless damage we suffer! It's just SO wrong :o( . . . despairingly looked out of darkened windows and TVd until bed around 2am. ps
11 - Woken by BB calling early around 7:45am . . . walked and found 11p . . . PCd this . . .ate big corned beef, grated cheese, mayo, lettuce, tomato sandwiches with two bags of crisps and a banana. . . felt all exhausted and napped most of the day away!! I'm starting to wonder if something is going on with me - being SO tired all the time?!!. . .walked . . . Mum called to touch base and tell me she'd ordered a very expensive new bed . . . touched base with BB . . . PS popped in briefly to pick up a G clamp he wanted to borrow to do work on his motorcycle brakes . . . ate three defrosted cheese and onion pastry rolls, some crisps and a banana . . . TVd till early. p
10 - Woken by Sally around 7am . . . walked and found 9p. Lot of weird goings on next to the rugby club building – huge numbers of cars, trucks, and old buses all parked in the car park, and people in yellow fluorescent jackets wandering around!!?? Thought at first that maybe a group of travellers had moved in!!! :o( Had to satisfy my curiosity and called out to someone to ask what was going on. Turned out to be the ‘location base’ for a BBC film crew. They were gonna be filming in the neighbourhood for part of the TV ‘Casualty’ series! Blimey. Guess I’d better stooge around and see what there is to see, and maybe get some photos. Asked some of the crew that I’d overheard were jumping in a van to head for ‘the location’, where they were going. Fiveways Junction on Lodge Causeway. Made my way up there with Sally and sat around for ages watching preparations being made for the shoot. A brief sprinkle of rain then mostly hot and sunny for the rest of the day. Spoke to a couple of the crew to get an idea what was going on, and had to speak lots to other rubberneckers who wanted to make friends with Sally. The scenario for the shoot was that an ambulance had developed brake failure and was careering through a busy junction, having a ‘near miss’. All the signposts on the junction were covered over with fake ‘Holby City’ ones. The dialling code of a phone number on one of the shop windows was temporarily covered over. A small scaffolding structure was built on one side of the junction to house the camera and was reasonably well camouflaged with army type camouflage netting and several small shrubs in pots. A larger ‘hide’ was constructed on the other corner in front of the public lavatories with more green camouflage netting and potted shrubs. .(One of the many smaller shrubs had a price tag on it of £15!) This area accommodated another camera up on a high panning gantry and hid the majority of the crew and equipment from the intersecting camera viewpoints. False ‘no entry’ street signs appeared from the back of the ambulance that was to do the stunt, and were carried off and placed somewhere. Small handy cams were attached to the ambulance. The intersecting of all these different camera angles meant that the crowd of onlookers had to be ushered well up the street out of the way, by the security guards so as not to spoil the shot – and for safety in case things went wrong! Someone had been hired to change the traffic lights as appropriate. A team of some half a dozen police had been ‘hired’ in for the day to close off the roads when filming took place. They (everyone!) seemed to like Sally, who was really VERY well behaved and patient with all the sitting in the sun. Took advantage of the circus/party atmosphere and the friendly policeman in charge, and got me a silly photo of her in his hat. :o) One of the crew estimated that the days filming had cost in the region of sixty thousand pounds (getting on for half a million per episode). The on screen final result would likely be seconds! 'Casualty', Episode 5, to air on the 2nd of October 2004. Incredible amount of money, people, organisation, and work going in to SUCH a short piece. He did however make sure I (as a TV licence payer) knew that the series was sold all over the world and makes more than it costs. lol . . . At long, LONG last, the roads were closed (must have caused chaos for miles!) and a rehearsal timing run was done with cross traffic and the speeding ambulance. I think in all, three live takes were eventually done. I got the last two on video on my digital (278kb) by standing on someone’s garden wall. :o) Looked pretty damn close to me!! Checked with a patient crew member where location 3 was gonna be, and then dashed home to unload the camera and grab a couple of corned beef sandwiches, bags of crisps, and a banana for lunch. Back over the field around 2pm only to find all the film crew sitting around in the sun having lunch at their base. Asked one of the poor security guards (jeeze what a mostly boring job!) what was happening on this shoot and was told it would be the run away ambulance swerving into the builders yard, and ‘crashing’ to a soft halt in a pile of sand. Sat on the grass with Sally and drank my tin of Red Bull to keep me awake and waited for things to get going again. Eventually everyone started heading for the Jewsons yard. Passed a police van on the way and knocked on the window and handed in the tax disc I’d found last night. Saves me the hassle of getting rid of it somehow else. At long, long last the stunt was all set up and ready to go. An articulated lorry was parked on the street as if being unloaded by a forklift. The road was closed off. A half speed test rehearsal run up was done by the ambulance across the car park. Damn – the police moved the small crowd of onlookers way back out of the way so that we wouldn’t be in danger and so that we wouldn’t be visible in any of the cameras. That meant we couldn’t actually see the final crash into the sand!! :o( All we saw was the ambulance disappearing at speed across the car park and out of sight into the builders yard and then a loud ‘crump’ sound. This was shortly followed by a bit of running around from members of the crew so it appeared that something hadn’t ‘quite’ gone to plan. The police held everyone back until some wide angle/long shots had been done by the film crew. Only then was the road reopened and we were able to walk into the car park and see where the ambulance had come to rest in the yard. A fork lift truck was being quickly driven backwards and forwards placing huge bags of sand underneath and around the ambulance to make sure it didn’t topple over. Looked very much as though that stunt very nearly went a bit wrong – but they got way with it! Grabbed a couple of photos here and there and then, very tired of all the waiting around in the hot sun, headed home. Found 2p . . .PCd and looked at the disappointing photos but so, SO tired, couldn’t help laying down and napping for an hour or so at around 5:30pm. Not sure why the day had been SO tiring, but clearly Sally was exhausted too. My arms have caught a bit of the sun. . . walked and found 2p. Mum called telling me of a TV show to watch later. ‘Human Mutants’!!?? Turned out to be not what she’d imagined – a truly horrific program of mostly grossly malformed babies in formaldehyde and animal experiments!! YUK! . . . touched base with BB . . . ate a bowl of muesli and a banana . . . TVd/PCd until around 3am. Added a few of today’s photos, for posterity, to a second Speedwell page on the new site. Uh oh – looks like my homepage website counter has recently been reset to zero again!?? Ray Charles died this day. ps
9 - Woken by Sally earlier and then up around 7:30am . . . bit more cloud and just a little cooler this morning. Walked and found 4p . . . PCd a bit of this . . .realised the Glenside Hospital (and Stoke Park mental hospital) museum was open today so left Sally at home and drove to have a look. Well - it's finally happened - I've ended up in a straight jacket! Couldn't resist asking the attendants if there was any chance of putting one on for an 'amusing' photo opportunity. They seemed eager to please (actually a bit too eager which was a bit worrying) and happily took one off the displays and started strapping me into it. The old guy then had to be instructed how to use my camera because I didn't have any hands free! He did rather well and I got my shot. :o) They seemed a bit too eager to give me a guided tour but I managed to shake them off and wander around mostly on my own looking at the confused collection of exhibits. Actually it was a little bit unsettling looking at everything, including the old electric shock therapy machines, some old photos of mentally ill patients (inmates!), paintings by a patient, surgical equipment including what was obviously a skull saw, etc etc!! Eventually signed the visitor book to keep them quiet and made my escape. Sadly nothing available with any old photos to buy . . . drove to Sainsburys at Emersons Green to do a bulk shop of heavy stuff like coffee, biscuits, sugar, and lots of big bags of muesli and such. Couldn't resist a big fridge pack of Red Bull too - lots cheaper than little high street shops. Spotted a new dent on the car! :o( That'll be from that idiot hitting it the other day. Poor car - really does look all battered and beaten up - and it's nothing to do with any accident. It's ALL from antisocial/drunken/yob attacks in the street!! :o( . . . fried up some potato, onion and garlic and mixed it up with a tin of corned beef for a big plate of hash with some bread and butter for a late lunch. Enough left for more later. . . inevitably succumbed to sleep real soon after and didn't wake until around 5:30pm!! Seems to be no limit to the amount of sleep I need at the moment!? . . . PCd a bit of this. A sprinkle of rain outside - still hot. . .walked and found 56p and a tax disc holder from a moped with two months still to run! Actually wish I hadn't picked that up - guess I'll have to try and make my way to a police station somewhere to hand it in. Long way - hassle! :o( . . .BB called . . .ate the rest of the corned beef hash stuff with four slices of bread and butter. Over full! . . . TVd/PCd till early. ps
8 - Woken by the noise of the recycling lorry collection out in the street around 8:30am. . .walked in the heat and the sun. VERY warm day. Found 2p. . . TVd and watched a bit of the TV coverage of the 'once in a lifetime' transit of the orbit of venus over the face of the sun. Figured I may as well try and get a real life shot, so experimented in the blazing heat on the patio with - well - everything really! Binoculars, sunglasses, welding mask, camera, tripod, parasol, bits of paper, old towels pegged on an airer for some shade - all sorts of things!! Eventually managed around 11am to balance my best 10x50 binoculars on top of the tripod and project an image through a rip in a towel onto a piece of white paper, held at the correct angle by an old kitchen worktop - and then took a snap of that with the digital!!! lol :o) Been there, seen that, done that. "There's a little black spot on the sun today"<singing> . . .sat in the garden in the sun for a bit. Boy - what a hot day! Poor old Sally seemed to be suffering a bit and ended up sat in all sorts of weird places in the garden trying to stay comfortable. Sat in the sun until I got one of those 'sitting in the sun' type headaches I usually get! . . . fried up bacon, eggs, potatoe and beans for a lunch with four pieces of bread and butter . . . touched base with BB . . . lay down for an uncomfortably hot nap around 3pm. . . woken by Sally around 8pm!! Blimey - musta been tired! Walked and found 3p and a drawing compass . . .hosed the garden and topped the pond up. Brought the handful of frogs all out hunting :o) . . touched base with BB . . . returned Mums ansaphone call about a TV show to watch all about plumbers!! Seems to be theme of the moment! . . . TVd. Ate bowls of corn flakes. TVd and watched the late night program all about the venus transit. Blimey - so that little black dot is about the size of the earth and has huge mountains and valleys and is hot enough to melt lead and, and, - kinda puts our petty little existance into perspective doesn't it! Very hard to understand religion - seems to be mostly at odds with knowledge. Finally to bed around 1am. ps
7 - Woken by Sally around 6:45am . . .walked . . .ummd and ahhd and figured I'd maybe do a trip to Mums. It's hard to just sit here and hear all about her difficulties with the plumbing and stuff, when I know I could do it. Messed around for an hour or a couple, sorting out the network cards and hooking up the laptop to the PC and copied the new Kingswood site onto it, in the hope I could show Mum what I've been up to. Turned out to be a waste of time - that old laptop can't do good enough screen resolution, and the poor old graphics card can't cope with the photos!! Eventually gave up and got in the car with Sally and headed out on the road around 10:45am. Stopped for petrol (23.48ltrs @ £19) . .northbound motorway was all at a standstill after some early morning accident which had closed the road - traffic was backed up as far as Almondsbury but thankfully hadn't 'quite' choked the junction for me heading south. . . clear sunny run down. Arrived around 1pm. Thought Mum was out at first but then heard the lawn mower noise coming from round back. Let myself in through the garage and gave her a scare. . .Mum finished off mowing half of her lawn as I used a little hatchet to chop away at a couple of the tree stumps that she's had cut down, to try and lower them enough to eventually disappear beneath the lawn. . eventually had a look at the bathroom plumbing that's been causing Mum all the concern. I had to confess that although it wasn't all ' Dad's perfect', it didn't look 'too' bad to me, and didn't seem worth getting too upset about. What seemed to be the most irritating to her was how the bath water seems to drain away slower than before. Shoved the garden hose up the waste pipe from outside as far as I dared with the water on, and then brought the hose in through the window and directed the jet down the plug hole. No way is there a blockage, so goodness only knows why it's slower. Mum drew the line at that, so I didn't start taking the bath panel off to look underneath. In fact, despite fully intending to do whatever work was necessary and even start driving to DIY stores for parts and such, it seemed as though there really was nothing I could (or was allowed) to do. I'd also taken my tree saw down hoping to be allowed to cut the big fir tree down that Mum eventually wants removed, but that wasn't to be either. . . suggested she should take advantage of having the car there and maybe I could deliver the chair she'd offered to give to Uncle TJ. The chair I'd got for Dad when he was ill that is now surpluse to rquirements because her nice new little leather one has at last arrived. Mum called Uncle TJ and confirmed that would be cool. . loaded the car up with the chair and managed to cram Sally in behind it and all drove to Uncle TJs after having briefly stopped for a very short walk at Battery Gardens, to ensure Sally was empty and comfy. Dropped Mum and the chair off round the front and then drove with Uncle TJ to show me how to get round the back to park . . . all inside (including Sally) for chats and coffees. Auntie B seemed remarkably ok despite having crutches and having to be a bit careful. Dads old chair seemed perfect for her under the circumstances. I was presented with a 10x50g pack of duty free tobacco they'd got for me when they were on holiday. :o) Embarassingly they wouldn't accept any payment!! . . . Eventually said our goodbyes and getting on for 5pm went in search of a meal. Parked the car and checked out the cafe that auntie/uncle TJ had recommended, situated right on the breakwater beach overlooking the sea. Didn't look over impressive until we saw a sign incredibly saying 'dogs welcome'. That did it - in we went, Sally and all. The icing on the cake for me was that despite a handful of people sat outside, we had the whole place to ourselves! Perfect. Chose a table inside, next to the open windows upstairs. Pleasantly cool with the sea breeze blowing through and the whole beach to overlook for entertainment. Sally WAS welcome despite the waitress and other staff having to step over her when they passed! SO nice to be able to go in somewhere with her. Bet that won't last there - must be some health and safety reason why it shouldn't be. Both ate a huge cod in breadcrumbs, peas and chips and then a desert with coffee. Very excellent meal - all very pleasant in deed. Bound to be a popular place in high season - which of course would probably spoil things. . . sat in the car in the breakwater car park for a while just watching the 'beach world' go by. Much evidence of Britain's growing obesity problem!! . .walked Sally with Mum around Battery Gardens and down to Fishcombe Cove for a paddle and chase of thrown pebbles. Sat on seats for quite a while as the relieving cool of the evening drew in. Eventually back to Mums and fed Sally. Very 'yawny' - left Mum chatting to a neighbour and popped up the local store and bought a can of Red Bull drink to pep me up on the drive home. . sat in the cool of the garden for coffee and chats, and listening to the frogs croaking. Goodbyes and on the road around 10pm . . . smooth quick run home, chain smoking and drinking the Red Bull. Still some trace of light in the western sky around 11pm!!!! Home around midnight. Touched base with Mum. Tried calling BB but just ansaphones . . .coffee and biscuits . . .absolutely exhausted but couldn't sleep and ended up PC/TVing until around 3am! p
6 - Woke real late, going on for 9am! Seems like Sally was all tired too. . . . walked late and found a penny . . .watched a little of the TV D-day commemorative coverage. Impossible to imagine what those people went through. Overwhelming desire to kinda apologise to them all for the way things have turned out!! I can't imagine the hurt they must feel to have lived through all that horror, only to then suffer all the current mindless anti social behaviour that goes on. :o( . . . cooked up a big early lunch of baked beans, two eggs, four rashers of bacon, fried bread and mushrooms. . . somehow ended up sleeping the day away!! Woke around 5pm!!. . . did dishwashing chores . . . walked, bought milk, sat on the grass in the sun, found 2p . . .Mum called to touch base and say all the work the plumber had done had turned bad!! . . . BB called . . . PS popped round for chats till early. Ate corned beef/lettuce/grated cheese/mayo sandwiches with a bag of crisps. A couple of bowls of cornflakes before bed around 1am. ps
5 - Woken before 7am by the sound of something weird in the street, which turned out to be next door washing his car!! . . . walked in the beautiful blue sky sunny morning and found a penny . . . did laundry chores and cut my hair etc. . . PCd briefly and reactivated the school webspace and the old one I've had since I first went on line that I've tried to keep going. Actually - I'm not sure they were deactivated - looks as though the connection files on both were somehow corrupt anyway! Should have checked that first I suppose. Why on earth does that happen from time to time I wonder? . . . left the laundry on the line drying in the sun and headed off with Sally and the tripod and a library book or two. Couldn't resist popping into the little Speedwell Methodist church hall on the way past because they'd put a flyer through the door advertising a morning table top sale and such like. It was nearly midday when it was all due to be over, but I just wanted to ask if anyone there could maybe let me have a copy of some of the old photos of the place that I know exist - somewhere. Turned out some old guy 'may' be able to scan some and e-mail them, so I let them have the new site address so they could see what I'm up to. They gave me some old pamphlet they'd had done back in 1985 to commemorate the first hundred years of the place. Excellent - at least one of the pictures in that will be do-able, and should be a neat one. :o) Someone came and thrust his face into mine and said 'remember me' all smiling!!! Bloody hell!! CR - he used to be my boss back when I worked in Mercury House. Small world! Didn't know he'd all got religion! I have to confess, it DID seem like a very happy, friendly group of friends in that place. . . carried on walking to take a picture or two and then somehow rather aimlessly ended up walking all the way down to Fishponds to explore around the old Glenside Hospital campus. Damn - that museum place is only open Wednesday and Saturday mornings. . amazing huge great complex of beautiful old buildings. Sadly too many huge great trees in awkward places to be able to get any decent photos at all! :o( . . .carried on walking and eventually returned home around 3:30pm via the river and Eastville Park. Very hot and sweaty - painful bulging hernia all day - even hotter having to keep pressure on it with a hand in my pocket all the way!! . . .ate corned beef/mayo/onion/grated cheese/lettuce sandwiches with two bags of crisps . . . left Sally at home and walked with the camera and the church pamphlet to try and get a 'now' photo of Belgium House and colliery in Speedwell. Some guy on a push bike with a couple of friends was giving me funny looks as I walked along. 'Remember me?' he said!! I said no and asked him to enlighten me. Turns out he was the guy on the motorbike that was stopped in the street, blocking my path the other day!! His cocky demeanour was that of someone who was proud of his actions!?? I made the mistake of attempting to explain, in a reasonable manner what was wrong with what he'd done. He of course didn't see it that way - there was no reasoning with him at all. Idiot. He carried on with his friends (laughing at me I think) and I carried on with my photo mission, but of course was all shaky with adrenaline and replayed my pathetic conversation over and over. Feels like being trapped in a B movie 'western' - without a gun!! I resisted the very real urge to race home and jump in the car and track him down and knock him off his bike - and maybe even reverse and go forward over him a couple of times!! :o( Found a penny . . . scanned in the pamphlet image (damn - you can see the print through the thin paper) and PCd the photo and added it to the Speedwell page of the new site. Cool - I like that one. . . napped for an hour or so, despite being rather too warm for comfort. Woke around 7pm . . . walked and found a penny. Detoured to the local store and invested 99p in a can of Red Bull to help me feel a bit more awake. I'm tired of feeling so tired all the time. A handful of hot air balloons drifting over to the barking accompaniment of the neighbourhood dogs. Funny how Sally doesn't give a damn about balloons. She DID however run out of the field onto the street, chasing another dog that WAS spooked by them! Grrrrrrr!!!!!! :o( . . PCd this for the first time in a while and put in the hours to get back up to date, while drinking the red bull! It DOES work that stuff. . . BB called . . .PCd yet more until gone midnight! Takes as long to type this, as live it, for goodness sake!! All very boring I'm sure. . . didn't feel particularly tired and ended up PC/TVing until the early hours. Finally to bed with the morning birdsong! Ronald Reagan died this day. ps
4 - Woken by Sally at 7am!! . . . walked and found a penny . . . PCd and messed around with a couple of the building site pictures on the new site. Split em up into Kingswood and Speedwell. Wouldn't you know it - the vantage point for the Speedwell one is gonna be wrong now they are building so close to the road. The front building is soon gonna obscure the rest of the site - just like happened with the Kingswood Heights one!! :o( Funny thing messing around with this new site - it's changed how I wander around. Can't help veering towards any planning notices that are posted up on lamp posts, to see what may be being built in the near future, to see if there may be a picture opportunity!! Sad, mad man! . .Good grief!! What's all this? The spam I keep receiving from that damned old school site has trippled overnight!!!!?? Dunno why they bother anymore. The ISP seems to have mastered spotting them and labels them as '***SPAM***', so I've set my outlook express up to immediately send them to the 'deleted' folder without even having to touch em. Wish I could get the ISP to delete them, rather than me still have to download them all - which costs me dial up charges!! Grrrr. . . . drove with Sally heading to the Lock and Weir to try and polish off a couple of photos I'd not yet managed to do. Stopped for petrol (11.78ltrs @ £10) . . .parked up in the Chequers car park and wandered around with Sally and library books. Knocked on one of the cottage doors to ask permission to go onto their land as the lock keeper had suggested I should do a week or so ago. No answer. Figured what the hell - if they aren't in they wont know so helped myself to wandering down the private path and onto the river bank. Damn - STILL not the right vantage point!? Wandered back and forth and eventually figured it must be through an old gate which looked very much like someones private garden entrance!! He who dares - opened the gate and wandered in making a show of looking at my books. Weird little area of land with some sort of shack on it!? And I'd thought there was an expensive house behind that fence and the tall trees! The land lead down to a railing next to the river where a house boat was moored up. Tied Sally to the railing and left her behind as I mooched around taking pictures. Dogs on the houseboat blew my cover with their barking and rushing out. The old guy on the boat turned out to be very happy to let me wander around, once I'd done my polite explaining and showing of books. Got my shots as best I could - would have been quicker but I just HAD to wait to get the narrow boat going through the lock. :o) . . sat at a seat next to the river for a while and ended up taking a rather poor panoramic, and then set up a time lapse to get me and Sally in the picture. Encouraged her up onto the table to get her in the shot. Rushed to sit next to her and waited for the timer to go click - and just then she started licking my face - slobber/click!! Ewwwww!! lol :o) . . . eventually drove back home and ate corned beef/lettuce/grated cheese/mayo/marmite/onion sandwiches with two bags of salt and vinegar crisps . . napped but woken real soon by Sally needing the garden again! Spoke too soon about her stomach maybe improving!. . . walked. LB had called leaving an ansaphone message about a frog. Popped up and relocated it to my pond. . . PCd . . . BB called . . . PCd pics until around 10:30pm and modified the Hanham, Avon valley pages and added the River avon pan#5 (big slobbery dog tongue) to the new site. . . ate a couple of bowls of cornflakes . . . TVd until bed around midnight. pa
3 - Up around 7:30am. Excellent - looks as though Sally's stomach IS getting better . . . walked . . . muesli breakfast . . . balanced my accounts etc. SO tired! Asleep again until around 2pm!! . . . loaded up my rucksack with the tripod and walked with Sally around 3:30pm to Oldbury Court. I'd seen the Fun Fair setting up the other day and figured it was maybe worth a look in case of a photo opportunity. Wandered around and around but there weren't many people there and it was all set up in such a way that a decent photo was pretty impossible. . . . . Someone mentioned in my guestbook the other day (or was it feedback? can't recall - but I am grateful for them and DO read them ALL, even though I can't bring myself to EVER reply these days) how they found it strange that I could face going into the Kingswood Church with all those people there and do my photo taking thing, what with my 'avoidant stuff' an all. I don’t see any inconsistency. Importantly for my peace of mind, even though my mindset is poles apart from such people, one can reasonably be assured that they are gonna be kinda ‘nice’ people, and are very unlikely to suddenly beat me up! After all, that’s what pubs are for! I am there entirely by MY choice and am therefore somewhat in control – I can leave as and when I please. In such brief, superficial and controllable social interactions, I automatically slip into my ‘act’, which all being well, will adequately cope with every likely (much mentally rehearsed) eventuality – and which, chameleon, or maybe more ‘mirror’ like, normally gives the impression I am a ‘nice guy’. It’s a well practiced act – after all, I used to work on a post office counter, serving the public didn’t I! ‘Good morning - - blah blah blah –I’m in control of the situation - I have a reason to be here doing this – I’ve done it - now thank you and goodbye.’ That’s do-able. Trouble starts when it’s gotta be more than that. Despite the relative comfort of that church situation, I actively shut down any attempts by anyone to actually start a ‘proper’ conversation. If they’d been too forward in saying anything more than a passing hello, I’d have been too uncomfortable and would have left the minute the getting gone was good. . . . The reason I’m typing all this now, is that the Fair Ground situation felt VERY different to me. Despite the fact that it was almost deserted, it felt dangerous to me. It was all flashing lights and loud with music and machinery and diesel generators, deafeningly droning away non stop, forever! Everything about every side show screamed ‘I’m gonna try and con you and take advantage of you, sucker. You gonna be a victim here!’. The people running those side shows had a ‘certain look’ and manner about them. Easy to imagine they’d seen every one of the worst sides of human nature whilst they’d been travelling around doing that job – if you were dieing in front of them and asking for help, they’d probably all look the other way, as one. There were families and children because it was early, but here and there were groups of youths and it wasn’t hard to imagine how much worse it would all be after dark and cans of beer and joints of smoke and all else. I hated the place! Went and walked a distance away and sat under a tree on my own for a long while and played with Sally a bit, before forcing myself back into ‘the arena’, just so I could get a panoramic photo as I’d set out to, and not be defeated. Eventually couldn't stand all the noise (god – what MUST it be like to work there day after day!) and the feelings of ‘threat’ any more, so ended up walking down to the safety of the river and trees and then all the way along to the tranquillity of Eastville Park and eventually home by around 7pm. Found a penny. If I’d stayed later until the crowds arrived, or even gone back on Saturday evening, it WOULD have been a good panoramic photo – what with the brightly painted dodgems, and the REALLY dangerous child’s ride that had no safety barriers, and the pink candy floss, and the burger bar with it’s expensive sign writing advertising “bacon rolss” and all – but I just couldn’t, and I don’t think I’ll be going back! :o| . . . touched base with BB . . . PCd disappointing pictures. Looks like a ghost fair with no one there at all! lol . . . cooked up the last of the LB donated chilli sausages with mushrooms and bread and butter. Mmmmmaah :o) . . . TVd until bed around midnight. pa
2 - Woken by Sally at 6am!! She needed the garden. . .blue sky sunny morning. Out of the house walking around 7:15am. Found 8p. Two different chalk written messages had been written by someone on the ground over the field, one by the swings and one on the cycle path. Both of similar content, one read "Lets see how much litter the selfish and ignorent will drop today". Cool. :o) Wonder who did that. I'm not the only one to often spend time picking up litter and walking it to the bin (which is nightly set alight by idiots). I've seen several people do it. There's a crazy old lady who actually carries a plastic carrier for the purpose and picks up lots all around. I figured that despite the irritation and unpleasantness of doing so, I had to do a bit here and there if I'm gonna constantly complain about the pigs who drop it. Seems to me if more people would pick it up, maybe there'd be less people inclined to throw it down - peer pressure like. Anyway - I'm just glad someone (crazy!) wrote that message - good to see that some people around here still care about such things enough to be so irritated. :o| . . Did the long walk down to Eastville and along the Frome valley and back via Fishponds taking various photos along the way. Home around 11:30am . . . PCd pics and padded out the Frome Valley pages a little. . . Mum called to touch base and report on the work the plumber had done and say her long awaited new chair had arrived etc . . . ate a couple of corned beef/mayo/grated cheese/lettuce/tomato/onion sandwiches with crisps . . . napped for a few hours until around 6pm but woke still feeling exhausted. . . walked and found 2p. First signs of Sally's upset stomach maybe getting better. DO hope so - for MY sake! Tired of being woken and having to hose down the garden, and real regrettable/embarrassing not being able to poop scoop when out, etc. . . touched base with BB . . . cooked up a few of the LB donated chilli sausages with mushrooms and ate them with four slices of bread and butter. Different - suprisingly very nice. . . PCd this until late . . .to bed around midnight. pa
1 - Woken by Sally at 7:10am. . . walked and found 3p . . . ate a bowl of muesli for breakfast and then ended up laying back down for more sleep, despite the drilling and hammering next door. Just feel SO tired! . . . woke and ate a couple of corned beef/mayo/grated cheese/lettuce/tomato/onion sandwiches with crisps . . . TVd . . . touched base with BB . . . napped again for an hour or so! . . . walked and found 2p . . . returned Mums ansaphone call and touched base to hear all about her plumber visit. . . BB called . . . TVd . .ate a bowl of muesli . . . PCd until around 3am surfing all sorts of mostly local nonsense. p
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