Here goes with news of yet another adventure filled day.
And today, surprise, surprise, there was another lunatic at the
traffic lights, a big white van (we’ve all heard about white van drivers)
crossing traffic lights on RED whilst I’m waiting to turn right on ORANGE.
Sounds a bit mixed up but it is right... I was waiting in correct driving
position to turn right, that is waiting for those turning left to hurry up and
clear the way for me to GO. So, light changes to RED and I set off.... not
realising that the white van was going to zoom round at high speed. How we
didn’t collide is a mystery, solved only by the great man in the sky who must
have hitherto decided it wasn’t my time to visit him.
I was on my way to pay a worth-having cheque into my account at
the bank. I had gone out early to avoid the traffic (joke!) and to get a prime
parking space. I wasn’t so lucky with the space so had to walk back to where I
wanted to go.
En route a guy asked me where the Neighbourhood Office was. He
had the address and directions on his iPhone so he was definitely on the right
road. Spent time with him trying to work
it out before struggling (walking and me don’t go well these days) to the bank.
I was almost there when the young man caught up with me. ‘They’ve moved,’ he
said. ‘The map on the phone is wrong.’ He had, he said, asked someone who lived
in the road and who knew more about what was going on than a mere passerby. But
isn’t that awful? The poor guy could have been walking round for hours, getting
nowhere. I can only surmise that technology isn’t always right!
On I went to the bank and horror of horrors look what I found:
CLOSED FOR IMPROVEMENT
Don’t worry, said the notice, our branch in Erdington will be
happy to see to your needs. Hmm, they provide bedrest? This branch is a couple
of miles away by car plus a decent walk so I decided not to bother. The cheque
will have to wait until the improvements are done which, I gathered from the
many notices pasted on the outside of the boarded-up property, will be in
another couple of weeks. I just hope I don’t starve in the meantime.
Home for dinner, which today being Monday (we’re sticklers for
tradition) was bacon, tomatoes, scrambled egg, fried mushrooms, and a few
chips, followed by a large portion of Greek yoghurt, made in England. But
before all this happened the doorbell rang.
The caller was a man enquiring about our immediate neighbour ...
that was. He had heard that Doug (neighbour) had been admitted to a care home
and since he (man) was an old friend he wondered if we could tell him the name
of the home. This was a Googling job since, although we knew the whereabouts of
the place we didn’t know the full address. At times Google is quite wonderful. I
bet it knew where the Neighbourhood Office was.
It was a
sad case really, I mean about our old neighbour. Doug is 78, coming up 79 and lived
alone. Some months ago he started with the forgetfulness and odd behaviour. For
example, after taking his car to be either serviced or MOT’d strange things
seemed to happen. In the end it was straightforward, he had simply forgotten!
He paid for the car and left without it, ending up going home on the bus. At
least that’s the story I was told! We were kind of worried when we saw the police
car and coppers in uniform and then an ambulance but we learned later that (a)
the cousin is in the force and (b) there was family concern about Doug’s
wellbeing. The car was given away and the family took more interest in Doug’s
state of health and mind. So now he resides in a care home, seemingly for good.
He only went for a month’s trial but that was some months ago. Joe goes to see him on occasions
but I haven’t been since the guy relates to men better than women.
Moving on with my day.
I was in the middle of stacking the dishwasher and washing those
implements that would be ruined if
My afternoon outing was to the hospital where Joe was booked in
for a scan. Okay, that leads me to another topic. Joe’s medical condition.
After a couple of years grinning, bearing and recovering from cancer problems,
heart, and other difficulties, he started to mend. But not for long. In a mad
attempt to scare the squirrel from thieving birdseed without so much as a
by-your-leave, Joe somehow misfooted. Yes, he hurt his foot, but the worst was
that he jarred his left leg (or something) because now he has arthritis. I had thought it would be diagnosed as sciatica, or the trapping of the sciatic nerve. I had that about forty+
years ago, or maybe a bit longer, so I know how painful it is.
Thankfully, an x-ray ruled out that Joe doesn’t have a hip problem and the local
doctor reckoned it was the onset of arthritis. Well, I’ve been there, done that,
and still have the t-shirt it so I know that in time Joe will be reconciled to it. It took
some getting used to at first but then I learned to live with it.
In the meantime it hurts Joe to walk which means that I can get
on and do things in the house without too much interference ... heeheehee. I’ve
even had a go in the garden, removing some overgrown foliage so that I could
sweep the paths. Sweep .... that’s a first for many years. Joe always did it,
starting when I had hip trouble and the resurrection of a back problem. Seems
like we’ve swapped roles but only on a small scale since the gardener, who
comes once a fortnight, does the rest and the cleaner comes every week.
Gosh I just read through that last paragraph. Doesn’t it sound
like the ramblings of an old woman? I must hasten to add that life is
good...... honestly.
Well that’s it for the day’s news, except to say I spent the
evening watching my favourite soap on the iPad ... NO, it wasn’t giving it a
wash ... before retiring with book to bed. I’m pretty sure you don’t want to
hear about that... lol.
