Call from my friend BJ tonight to say he had settled in Exmouth and to give me his address and telephone number. He did a booking as Chlamydia Rash and has had two further bookings as a result, one is a staff party for a well known supermarket chain. I suspect his star is in the ascendant and Fortuna will look kindly upon him in Devon.
His sister is coming up from Cornwall for a week or two to look for a property in Devon. I have to say I am rather envious. Oh dear, I keep being envious of people doing stuff in Devon. Apart from Trinidad, it is the only place I have always been rather obsessed by.
Perhaps I will let my flat when I retire and rent somewhere in Devon if I can manage this. I would have BJ, my brother and my sister all fairly nearby, but would miss Julian and Dorothy unless they could occasionally force themselves to brave the odd rural exeat. The countryside is so beautiful, but I would need a car again to get around there.
Anyway I fully intend to go down for a visit later in the year. It was nice to hear from him again.
Friday, 31 July 2009
Birthday Call and Hard Times
Had a good chat with my newly found sister in Devon. She rang to thank me for the flowers. Spent her birthday at Anstey's Cove where a ?son has a cafe, and they all had a good time. I was rather envious.
Seems that business is not great in Devon. I suggested getting some younger customers in by providing sixties and seventies stuff to go in their IKEA households since they are not into antiques. Seems that sixties and seventies stuff is not yet popular in Devon. Maybe I should get my friend John to buy some down there cheaply and come and sell it in London expensively.
Anyway, my sister is going for the credit crunch approach, i.e. secondhand being cheaper if you have no money, which is probably quite sensible for young mothers, and anyone else, come to that. I am sure she will have them eating out of her hand, or putting their money in it, very soon, as she is a very determined and sensible woman. I hope so, anyway.
Seems that business is not great in Devon. I suggested getting some younger customers in by providing sixties and seventies stuff to go in their IKEA households since they are not into antiques. Seems that sixties and seventies stuff is not yet popular in Devon. Maybe I should get my friend John to buy some down there cheaply and come and sell it in London expensively.
Anyway, my sister is going for the credit crunch approach, i.e. secondhand being cheaper if you have no money, which is probably quite sensible for young mothers, and anyone else, come to that. I am sure she will have them eating out of her hand, or putting their money in it, very soon, as she is a very determined and sensible woman. I hope so, anyway.
Soda Explosion and No Thermometers
Arm so much better. Almost blew myself up with a new soda syphon today by overfilling it with water. Huge water expulsion explosions all over the room. Sent an email to the manufacturers because I thought the whole thing might go up. However, when I had calmed down a bit and emptied the water and started again, it worked perfectly. I had forgotten to put a kind of plastic neck thing in which stops it from overfilling. Scary. The company were rather sweet and rang me on my mobile just to make sure I was still alive. I may treat myself to a St. Germain and soda later, though it is a bit alcoholic. I shall have a very small one. It's nearly the weekend, after all.
Went to the chemist to buy a thermometer and some hand cleansing gel just in case. Guess what? he didn't have either, apart from some small handbag sized liquid stuff. He says it's the nanny state and everyone's gone mad. I have to attend the quack this afternoon to have my blood pressure taken. What a performance. Nanny state again. They would only give me a month's worth of prescription drugs instead of three months in order to assure my attendance. Must be an item they are paid for. In my day they got £4.50 p.a. for each patient. The practises were always rather large, with a huge population of 'ghost' patients, i.e. those who had moved on, one way or another. But at least they left you alone.
Went to the chemist to buy a thermometer and some hand cleansing gel just in case. Guess what? he didn't have either, apart from some small handbag sized liquid stuff. He says it's the nanny state and everyone's gone mad. I have to attend the quack this afternoon to have my blood pressure taken. What a performance. Nanny state again. They would only give me a month's worth of prescription drugs instead of three months in order to assure my attendance. Must be an item they are paid for. In my day they got £4.50 p.a. for each patient. The practises were always rather large, with a huge population of 'ghost' patients, i.e. those who had moved on, one way or another. But at least they left you alone.
There's More
Here are two I picked up in a junk shop at St.Margarets. The one on the left is a souvenir of Buckfast Abbey in acrylic, and the one on the right is glass and is a lighthouse. I can't read the writing properly.
My First Paperweight
in the sixties was given to me by Dorothy. Here is is on one side to show the clock face in the base.
Thursday, 30 July 2009
Help From Julian and More Purchases
In quite a lot of pain most of the day. Julian kindly came around and brushed Kooky, first putting his harness on which helped keep him still. Julian helped clear the house a bit and made a makeshift sling for me which was extremely useful, forcing me to rest the arm. Because of this I had a much better night and to my surprise the arm is much better today. I think the immobilisation and support approach is the ideal one - seems to avoid months of misery though I may be speaking too soon. We shall see.
My latest craze is collecting paperweights. Bought a few from Ebay. There's a new one on the left and an old one I already had on the right. Haven't yet bought my favourite which is a dandelion seedhead in acrylic, but will do. I also fancy a rather kitsch 'fish tank' one. I am getting a couple of millefiori ones. Trouble is I now have a taste for John Deacon millefiori which are a little more expensive. Unfortunately I have just read an article about an elderly shopaholic woman who was found buried in things she had bought - and it took five days to find her among all the shopping. I must make the effort to stop.
My arm has been much better all day. Probably the sling helped. Because I keep buying things I shall have to do another declutter very soon - tidying up a lot meanwhile. I don't want to become entombed by my purchases.
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
Grumpy Old Invalid
Well, apart from the fatty liver I diagnosed myself as being diabetic on the internet, and will check with GP eventually.
Went to the dentist in fear and trepidation and had a simple filling, to my relief.
Much worse, I am developing a frozen shoulder on the right side which is a total nightmare. I can hardly do anything and spent hours in agony last night until I found a cold patch thing and put it on for a while, just enough to enable sleep. Kooky slept on the bed which was reassuring. Googling frozen shoulder was ghastly - seems it can continue for years.
On the two occasions I have had this previously, fortunately on the left side, it has been cured within weeks by keeping the arm in a sling, particularly at night to immobilise it, and tying a scarf around the pillow to provide good neck support. However the sling idea provides no relief this time and today the advice is not to rest it but to keep mobile and take painkillers. Hmmm. I am a bit dubious about this, as my previous self-treatment obviously shortened the course of the problem,and curing it in weeks.
Getting dressed and undressed is quite a challenge, particularly in the bra department, and getting in and out of the bath, etc. etc. Totally annoying. Rant over.
Went to the dentist in fear and trepidation and had a simple filling, to my relief.
Much worse, I am developing a frozen shoulder on the right side which is a total nightmare. I can hardly do anything and spent hours in agony last night until I found a cold patch thing and put it on for a while, just enough to enable sleep. Kooky slept on the bed which was reassuring. Googling frozen shoulder was ghastly - seems it can continue for years.
On the two occasions I have had this previously, fortunately on the left side, it has been cured within weeks by keeping the arm in a sling, particularly at night to immobilise it, and tying a scarf around the pillow to provide good neck support. However the sling idea provides no relief this time and today the advice is not to rest it but to keep mobile and take painkillers. Hmmm. I am a bit dubious about this, as my previous self-treatment obviously shortened the course of the problem,and curing it in weeks.
Getting dressed and undressed is quite a challenge, particularly in the bra department, and getting in and out of the bath, etc. etc. Totally annoying. Rant over.
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