mid week update

Friends, I was struck down by a tummy bug, the toilet hugging variety. I am still feeling a bit queasy today and after a recurrence on Saturday night and Sunday. The second Sunday in fact that I spent in bed feeling sorry for myself. I ate dinner yesterday and a snack bag of chicken shaped jelly babies today. I am not often tempted by sweets but who can resit Easter themed jelly babies? Having said that, the chicken shape must be in the eye of the beholder because I sure could not see it. 

Some good news on the TV watching front. This time of year is always good and I am currently enjoying Astrid (series 5) in French, Star Trek: Star Fleet Academy and 999: On the Frontline. The new Star Trek series if fun, I particularly like the barefoot Chancellor, the pacifist Klingon and the Doctor from why back in the franchise. I also discovered (to my eternal delight) that the new series of This Farming Life is now available on the iPlayer. It doesn’t get much better. I am saving that for my train journey to Aberdeen this Saturday. I am excited to spend a couple of days with Annie. I booked us into The Silver Darling restaurant for dinner, the menu looks exciting and it has a sea view. Maybe we’ll see some of the orange man’s maligned off shore “windmills” that provide much of our energy. Or maybe the windows will be battered by lashing rains. I am glad that my train departs from Glasgow Queen Street and not Glasgow Central because that is closed for business after a fierce fire ravaged an adjacent building right on the corner of the train station. The building is partially collapsed. So much of Glasgow’s old building stock is unsafe, this is not the first horrendous fire in the city centre and not the first collapsed building either. Here is a link to a BBC News website for information and photographs. I am holding my breath because I am due to travel to London from Central Thursday next week. 

I continue with my physical MOT, which will be complete at the end of April…. I had my smear test, a dental check-up and a dental hygienist appointment, had a hair cut and have scheduled my HRT prescription review and an eye examination for a new glasses prescription. I continue to have a manicure every three weeks but that’s for the sheer joy of sitting and doing nothing for 40 minutes. My current nail colour is an indescribable green, very similar to the greyish green eucalyptus bunch that I buy regularly, for fragrance and delight. I listened to an interesting podcast the other day, on the importance of oral hygiene and the mounting evidence of poor oral hygiene associated with poor health outcomes in general. I know, association is not causation but it takes little time and effort to take good care of my teeth and there is really no reason why not to do the best I can. The oral health expert made a good point, that if you were bleeding from anywhere else on the body, you would not shrug this off as normal, as we often do with bleeding gums. The podcast by the way was Movers and Shakers, a podcast about living with Parkinson’s Disease. I listen to it every Saturday. And no, I don’t have the condition, just find it interesting, like all neurological disorders. And so many other things. I am like a sponge. Unfortunately not always retaining everything I hear and read but I often surprise myself and friends with randomly remembered nuggets of not always useful information. 

Hot of the press: I booked a cottage up North, near Lochinver for the first week in July. We've never been that for North in Scotland and I am looking forward to exploring the area. This will be a child-free summer holiday but we chose a cottage with an additional bedroom just in case. Richard and I both need something be excited about. We both are also planning an individual trip to accommodate our personal interests. I haven't decided yet but I do fancy another train trip somewhere in Europe. Richard no doubt will opt for France during the later stages of the Tour de France. This is when it is all happening, I am informed. Me, I don't fancy getting up at the crack of dawn to ascend a Col before the roads close ahead of the racers, to then watch them whizz past at the speed of light. 

In case you are wondering why I am showing you a pile of mess and toys, this is Frankie's early morning haul of collectables. My little office, where the cat door is, looks like a typhoon has gone through most days and I spend 15 minutes every day cleaning up. Why bother you may think... I've tried to leave it for a couple of days but the mess drives me mad and the vegetation smells. As do the wet toys. I like to work unencumbered by smells and unidentifiable pieces of garden.

Thanks for visiting 😊