Picture test

Some pictures, apropos of nothing, just to test the layout functions.  Which means I need a sight more text than this.  What can I treat you to...

"In his best-known work, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Adams explained the supreme utility of the towel in intergalactic travel:

“…it has great practical value – you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head 

to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you – daft as a bush, but very, very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.”

Adams’ artistic sensibility is both specific and elusive. He can go from distraught to delighted in the space of a modifier. He combines Gary Larson’s irony, Bill Watterson’s wistful idealism, Oscar Wilde’s keen social observation, and Dorothy Parker’s mischievousness. But set in space. In short, he is a genre all to himself."

Excerpt from bookriot.com

Frankly you can never fault a bit of Hitchhikers to keep you amused and educate.  :-)  Ok - I'm just a tad of a geek about Douglas Adams...  :-)

The weather, again!

For the n-th time in the last few months it's torrential rain and the river's up over the paths again.

Seriously bored of all the water now.

Even this duck's had enough and is trying to keep his feet dry!

It's probably my fault for saying I wanted to do things in the garden next week.  *Sigh*

At least we're lacking the snow that's clobbered other areas round the country.  Stay warm and dry folks!

It's been a while...

I haven't posted for ages!  Slack!  All I say is I plead busy-ness.  Got sent to Brighton for work last week for 3 days.  Nice to catch up with some work peeps I haven't seen for ages.  Blimey it was nippy though but at least the sun came out.

Also had a visit home to Dorset for Ma's birthday.  Had a little peek at big sis's allotment and a rather nice meal at The Thimble Inn in Piddlehinton.  A pub with it's own stream round the outside! 
Outside a different pub I spotted this.

I'm intrigued to know what 'pie' pie is I must say!
I'm looking forward to next week as I've booked it off work and have a list as long as at least both of my arms of things I want to get done round the house and in the garden.  Fingers crossed the rain holds off for a few of the days at least!

A different walk to work

It's very misty this morning, and cold.  A cold that chaps my face and makes my cheeks tingle.  It's also kind of magical and a little bit spooky too. 

 The familiar landmarks of my daily journey hide themselves, then briefly loom out of the enveloping mist to vanish again behind a few steps further on.

Soon the sun will burn it all away and the ethereal otherness will be gone; until the next time.

'Tis a little damp here in the south...

The torrential rain of the last 2 or 3 days has caused flooding and seemingly, travel chaos all over the region.  You'd think (and this from a nation of perennial weather moaners) we'd never had to deal with a bit of wet before!  Due to my interminable saga of leg related tedious monotony I am still catching the train for the short hop to and from the shuttle bus for my work.  When I got to the station on my way home last night mine was one of a whole 2 trains on the board that was actually running.  I was glad of that!  Felt for the poor souls in the 100+ strong queue across the front of the station waiting for a replacement bus though.  I think that's why it's like a ghost town here in work today.  Seems like everyone has stayed home and battened down the hatches.  Wish I could have!  The wind is howling and the rain is due to hammer it down some more.  No doubt the river will continue rising - this is it last night at about 6.30pm. 

There should be steps and paths down in that lot somewhere!  The water was absolutely heaving past, you really would not want to fall in when it's shifting like that.  It's always slightly sinister when it's so far from its normal self, I think.  Seems like a much more malevolent force than usual.

There's the odd ray of sunshine and patch of blue sky; or there was this morning anyway.  Autumn continues apace whether we like it or not.

It's 2 months today since I injured my leg and sad to say it seems to be infected again.  I'm back on antibiotics - of 2 kinds this time.  I shall get the results of a test tomorrow to determine which actual pathogen we are dealing with then perhaps I will be given something targeted and we can finally get rid of this thing once and for all!!  I hope so; thoroughly fed up with it now as is everyone around me I'm sure.  The Chap has been brilliant, doing all the cooking, washing up etc.  I'm itching to get back in the kitchen now after so long a forced abstinence but the Chap has dictated that I am not allowed at the moment.  I want to get my Random Recipe for this month done before the cut off date, I want to cook an idea I've been toying with in my head of  'Devon Dodgers' - I'm thinking a cross between these Devon flats I made before and a jammy dodger, primarily because there's 2 full jars of waitrose jam sat at work needing to be used up that I have permission to make something nice from.  I want to feel like I'm doing something for him for a change rather than the other way round too!  I want the house to smell of good things and be able to think 'I did that'.  I think it's the hibernation vibe kicking in; it's dark now in the morning when I get up and in the evening when I leave work, plus it's cold, wet and windy and the mournful wind makes it sound even worse.  And now I am truly wittering away.  I hope you are warm and dry wherever you may be, and that I get to do some cosy baking soon.  :-)

Shitey day, pretty sky

This is a pretty sky.  A pretty sky to try and ameliorate the effects of a less than pretty day.  There's been a witch hunt atmosphere at work today and thoroughly unpleasant it's been too.  I've felt on edge and frankly; close to tears, for much of the day.  A couple of us feel we can't trust anyone other than each other and the office has been much subdued and quiet.  It isn't nice.  However, I realise that it has re-affirmed my belief in the need to get myself a different job and given me the impetus I needed to get looking again after recovering from my leg accident.  That is what I will choose to see as the silver lining here.  Onward and upward, as my mother would say!

Alt route work

I'm missing my usual walk along the river on my way to work of a morning.  It's different every day and the way I go I can lift my gaze just a little and see green fields and trees climbing a hill to the skyline.  It's lovely and also somewhat calming before plunging into the office for another day.
Due to the injury to my leg which is still healing, I am currently walking a much shorter distance in a different direction to take a 2 minute train journey so I can then hop onto the Uni's free mini bus shuttle service.  So I am missing my riverside jaunt and the lovely scenes it brings.  Although from the dinky station I use you can see over many of the houses and shops.  This is a church just up the road built from the classic red Devon stone. 

Sorry it's not the best shot - the conditions this morning weren't great and it's at the limit of the zoom on my small digi camera plus I then, rather ill-advisedly, cropped it but you get the idea.  I'll try and get something better another time.  It's not quite the same as my previous views though, is it?

 

 



 

Return to work

Well it's half way through my first day at work in 6 weeks and I have cleared all the paperwork from my desk - most of that has gone into the shredder bin!  I've managed to get my unread emails down from a frankly staggering 1207 this morning to a mere 861 so far.  My leg is protesting for sure - roll on 5.30pm!!

Boo!!! Did I scare you, did I, did I??

'Tis All Hallows Eve.  Or Samhain.  Or Hallowe'en. Whatever.  There's a short article here on the names.  I'm not partaking overly, I have popped this sign on my door as the idea of hobbling to and fro all night answering it is fairly non-enticing.  I know that normally little chicks like that aren't overly season appropriate either but you will note that these are not in fact normal little easter type chicks at all but are in fact...Chicks  Of  Doooom!!  They eat brains.  No really.

I'm not particularly a believer in the whole trick or treating thing anyway.  Smacks a little of glorified begging with menaces for stuff kids today (in this country anyway) certainly don't need.  If there was a halloween equivalent to 'Bah Humbug' that is what I'd be uttering right now! 

I have my little 'autumn' themed vase of twig, interestingly curly grass and mini pine cone things that is suitably adorned and that'll do me.

This blog has an entertaining poem about Samhain based to 'the night before christmas' cadence / style. Do check it out.

Cheese - the 'dairy crack' danger in our homes... ;-p

Cheese is addictive!!!  Who knew??!  Well apparently quite a lot of people, just not me. 
Coincidentally I had been wondering yesterday why I had felt so dissatisfied after finishing my lunch and had been noticing this rather more often than normal recently.  I had put it down to the general sitting around I've been forced into for the last few weeks meaning I'm more bored and therefore wanting to eat more - always a danger with me. 

Later for my dinner I made a very simple dish of bulgar wheat; flavoured with a veggie stock cube in the soaking water with a handful of peas, sweetcorn and broad beans added then a generous portion of grated mature cheddar cheese stirred through.  Other than a grinding of black pepper that was it yet it was soooo much more satisfying to me.  I had figured it was the flavour and to a lesser extent, the fats from the cheese as it's not exactly the most inspiring looking of meals right? 

Well apparently dairy has trace amounts of morphine in, plus the casein protein when digested releases casomorphins which also have opiate effects!  Blimey!!  So in fact - you can be 'addicted to cheese', or as that article calls it 'dairy crack' - fantastic phrase. 

I feel I may be verging on a dairy crack addiction myself.  A quick scoot in the fridge has produced this lot; that's 17 different types of cheese.  That's normal right?

I just stumbled across this information this morning whilst bimbling around on the t'internet and once again, am in equal measures awed, impressed, humbled and slightly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of random factoids and ways to waste your time that are available.  Although I'm also thankful for it given my enforced house bound state recently. 

[Although it's truly silly this still made me smile; then I must admit, full on giggle out loud.]

Right - guess I better think up something to use up some of that cheese huh?

The vexedness of the feline species

Well I had intended to write a short post advocating the joys of pet ownership; how when you're down they know and give comfort, how they entertain us, how they keep you warm snuggling up on the sofa together, and how my Zeke cheers me up in the long dark hours insomnia brings on you.  (Woke up at 4am today- proper 'bing - full awake' styley too.  Pah.)

However, my little furry friend decided that instead of offering comfort and succour to a soul much in need of rest, he would lose the plot; tearing up and down the stairs repeatedly, attacking the kitchen door - no idea what it had done to him but it was a full on claws wide 'Banzai!' moment I can tell you.  Then finally have a go at me by jumping at me from the stairs when I came out of the kitchen door at the bottom - a favourite trick of his when he's in 'wide-eyes-mental' mode.  I now have a bleeding scratch on my knuckle which will be itchy as hell in a few minutes as technically I'm apparently allergic to cats.  Only when they break the skin though luckily.  Or not so luckily right this moment but I can at least breathe in the same room as them, which being a life long cat person is the lucky bit.

Just to remind us what a very sweet little thing he once was; here he is at a minuscule week and a half old.

Now here he is over 2 years later and a master at ruining photos of himself.  Tsk!

As the cat was not obliging on the 'comfort in the wee small hours' front I went to the default position of a hot chocolate.  Although I'm far more of a savoury girl there are only some things that seem right when it's 4am and hot chocolate with a biccie is one of them.  I did have a minor biscuit dunking disaster though.  I guess my motor functions were still waking up...

Stolen Saturday...

Well I didn't get to post my sandwich for this months No Croutons Required yesterday which was the last day for entries.  :-( 
Having made the bread on Friday - a variation on my beer bread with added linseed and black pepper, I had then planned to griddle the halloumi for the filling yesterday morning then submit my post. 
First however the dressing on my leg was due for a change.
I'd noticed a little redness on my skin showing out from under the edge of the tape on the friday evening so I was extra cautious peeling the tape off.  Hmmm - not looking too good.  The area of redness had grown to a couple of inches in diameter overnight, it had been oozing a little and worst of all, a small amount of the top edge of the wound where my leg is still knitting together (4 weeks after the inital trauma) looked like it was breaking down again.  Eeeek!!!!  Having been through this before I shouted the Chap out of bed in a panic and we went *straight to the walk in centre.
(*After he had showered and breakfasted and generally faffed about for ages - or that's what it felt like to the slightly panicking me!)

Luckily enough the wonderful Kathleen the tissue viability specialist who had seen me before was in residence and after a surprisingly short wait, compared to the hour and 15 minutes we were quoted, she was ushering me into her room. After an inspection of the wound she agreed with my intial assessment that the infection was returning but due to the extensive nature of the problems I'd had with it decided to phone the plastics team at the hospital that had done my operations and consult with them.  They requested that I be sent to see them so we duly drove across town and booked in at the reception.  After an hour there I got taken through to a cubicle and issued with wristbands.  'It doesn't mean you're staying in' they attempted to reassure me as they fitted them.  They like to get them on me as I am allergic to a certain drug so the red band warns everyone to ask what it is that I can't be given. 

Another 30 minutes ticked by then a specialist appeared and explained they would do blood tests on me to see if my white cell count was up, which it should be if it was fighting infection, and if some other marker was also affected - I forget what it was called now.  He took the blood, uncharacteristically* gave me an idea of what was happening next by telling me it takes about 45 minutes for the results and vanished off again.  (*I am in no way belittling our wonderful hard working health professionals at all but what I found far and away the most frustrating thing during my recent stay in hospital was the lack of information when you were waiting for things, especially when I was getting admitted.  If you have some sort of end time / goal in sight it makes sitting there doing nowt for 2 hours rather more bearable.)

After nearly an hour I enquired gently as to my results and the lovely staff said they'd chase them for me.  Duly the same guy reappeared and told me that according to their blood test my leg isn't infected and he thinks the redness and accompanying 'icky' bits were just due to general healing processes and I was free to leave.  Which should have reassured me but I'm afraid to say, it hasn't.

I'm one of those people that as a general rule has the utmost faith in our health professionals and what they tell me.  Only this time...I think they're wrong.  Now I have no idea how long it takes your white blood cell count to go up in case of infection but as this only started coming on the previous evening I'm wondering if it would show up on a blood test the very next day.  Both Kathleen and the triage nurse who admitted me had taken one look and been convinced it was infected and after I got home from the hospital there was a definite few degrees temperature difference to that area of my leg compared to the rest of it.  Which is still the case today.  Anyway, I shall keep a very close eye on it today.  I am also taking the antibiotics I had left from the first time I

went into the hospital and they put me on IV ones instead.  It can't do me any harm and perhaps will keep this at bay until I can tell whether I need to go and see anyone further about it, or if it really is just the healing process.  Fingers crossed!

All this kerfuffle meant that I didn't get to make my proposed 'Griddled Halloumi on Black Pepper Seeded Bread – with lime and fresh coriander leaves' sandwich for the aforementioned NCR comp.  Tsk!  I did get the bread made though and used my dinky little mini loaf tins for the first time - aren't they great?!  I'm a sucker for miniaturised versions of stuff for some reason and purchased these in TKMax some time ago so was glad to have finally justified them.  So we had bread but not the final sandwich; and I had a Saturday but not the one planned.  Unfinished weekend - oh were did you go?

View from a bed

To be precise; a hospital bed. Yep - that's right - my leg got progressively nastier with first the cut itself becoming infected followed by a haematoma developing that got itself to the size of a grapefruit then also became infected.  Eek!

The long and short of it is that I went for a dressing change on Wednesday, the 'tissue viability specialist' was none too happy with the state of my leg and called the hospital. They agreed I should be sent in and I was told they'd need to operate to get rid of the haematoma; which at this point we didn't realise was also infected.  I'd get done either weds evening or thurs morning, either way I'd be home thursday; having spent my first night since I was born in hospital and had my first ever operation.  My state of calm (or lack thereof) wasn't helped by the knowledge that the Chap was working away so would not be on hand for morale boosting hugs but at least it was just one night and I'd be home by the next day.

So we must ask ourselves why I'm writing this on an annoying touch screen pay as you go contraption hanging from the wall above my bed in the RD&E hospital on a sunny sunday morning?  Welllllllll... 

It took some time to get me admitted, even with them expecting me.  I got assigned my bed at 10pm weds having arrived at 4.30pm.  So no op weds. This was when they first concluded that the grapefruit sized lump in my leg was infected too and swiftly got a cannula - the thing in your hand for drips to attach to; fitted to my left hand and shunted some antibiotics straight into my system.

Thursday morning brought the news that although I was scheduled to be the final procedure of 4 booked in for that afternoon, there was a chance I'd be done in the morning as there was only 1 person booked in then, and of the afternoon's batch; I was the only person already physically on site.  Oh false hope thy crusher of the spirit - it was not to be. After being 'nil by mouth' (which includes water to my surprise - remember I never had an op before) since 7 thursday morning; so in effect since the 2 bits of toast I scrounged on getting to my bed at 10pm the night before, I was taken to theatre at 5.40pm and knocked out at 6.10.  Op went fine but on awakening I found I had a vacuum pump drain thing attached to my leg. It transpires that when the sugeon went in they found the damage was deeper and more extensive than anticipated so had to fit the drain. 
This had 2 knock on effects for me; firstly came the news that I'd have to have a second operation in 3 days time to remove it and close the wound. Secondly, although I was hopeful both friday and saturday mornings of being let home, the extent of the damage and the drain in my leg put the kibosh on that.
So, here I still am and I've just received the news that they have me on the list for theatre today at 12 noon.  Barring any emergency cases coming in hopefully this means I may be able to go home tomorrow.  I am crossing my fingers because no matter how lovely all the staff are that have been looking after me, it's not the same as being in your own home. I miss the Chap and Zeke and I'm looking forward to big hugs with them both.
(I'd also quite like a meal with a texture other than easily-masticated-with-no-teeth sludge but that's another post.)
So, all being well, I'll next post after op #2.
Oh - latest news is it could be earlier; 10/10.30 possibly.  Fingers firmly crossed now blog buddies!

Overdue....much!!

I'm afraid this summer has been a bit frantic at work and has led to some serious slackness on my part in the realm of blog posts.  I'm painfully aware that I have yet to write about our jaunt to the Scilly Isles and that was back at the end of May / start of June!!!  Eek!!!  Being a Virgo and thus a little bit OCD in certain respects I also have an irrational dislike of the very idea of posting stuff out of sync which means when I get behind with my posts everything gets backlogged - stuck behind some as yet unwritten so therefore only existing entirely 'in potentia' post.  I am trying to hoof pick (like shoe horn but fittingly it sounds more painful as is this process) myself out of this habit so as to allow some of my sputterings and scribblings out onto the world.  An uncaring world most probably but hey - I just write the stuff (occasionally) - once it's out there it's really not my problem any more.  ;-D
So - a short post this will be but it's purpose is to break the long gap and give you a little smile (hopefully) at the following spotted on the menu of an Italian restaurant in Teignmouth; on the coast about 15 miles down the road from us and one of my favourites of the little coastal towns in this neck of the woods.  I like the 'to the point'edness of the Pizza Mafia.  :-)

 The restaurant itself is The Colosseum and is now firmly on our 'to visit' list as they looked very nice with a good sounding menu.  There were several seafood pasta dishes on the menu including a 'lasagne di mare' I'd like to try so I'll let you know how it is if we go there.

The flag stayed home

Today the Olympic torch left Exeter at 7.25 this morning to continue it's journey round the UK before this years Olympic games in London.  Although I had previously planned to pop along before work to cast an eye over the proceedings (incidentally it's very hard to maintain the pre-requisite level of world wearied jaundiced coolness whilst simultaneously waving a flag, jumping up and down and going 'squee') my ongoing illness prevented this so, as mentioned, the flag and myself stayed home. 
I am attempting to work from home today which would normally be totally do-able.  Unfortunately sitting at my pc at home is not comfortable at the moment so I am struggling somewhat.  Also; having notified my boss this morning I wouldn't be in she started discussing what she wanted me to do today 45 minutes before my normal work start time!  I had hoped to inform her that I would work from home as well as I could and then be able to get a little sleep in after taking this mornings painkillers, before then starting work as I spent nearly all of last night trying to find a comfortable position in which to snatch a few moments of rest.  Tsk...

Anyway - the bit of positive news is that apparently it isn't pleurisy, which can be pretty nasty.  It appears that I have instead damaged my intercostal muscles that are between and around the ribs whilst having at the same time pulled the muscles in my back.  Apparently this can take some time to heal as well as being pretty painful and awkward with your breathing (I can certainly attest to that!) so I have to keep taking the painkillers and rest it to let it heal itself.  We know this as I went to the walk-in centre in town yesterday being sick of still being in pain without knowing what was wrong with me.  The nurse there listened to my chest and sent me to the hospital.  After being seen by the doctor there she called through to check on my x-ray and they reported that it was clear so we finally knew that it wasn't pleurisy.  About time!  She prescribed me codeine to be taken in conjunction with paracetamol and the Voltarol (diclofenac) I've been buying over the counter.  Apparently these 3 in conjunction should give me some relief.  Hmmm - not totally convinced yet I must say.  Hey ho - at least we know what we're dealing with.  I'll just have to wait for the next Olympics to get the flag out again...

Health - it's a worry isn't it?

Recently it came up during a routine check that I had slightly high blood pressure. It had apparently been this way often enough over the preceding 12 months to flag up as needful of further investigation. Whilst it probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise to those who know me that my blood pressure should be high it caused me some worry – exactly what you don’t really want if your blood pressure is already high! Anyway – they tasked me with keeping track of it (I borrowed a monitor from my boss of all people) and getting it checked again in 1-2 weeks, then another 2 weeks after that if it was high again, then a referral to my doctor if it should still be reading high then. I went and researched food and drinks that can help lower blood pressure and found celery, broccoli (calabrese), low fat dairy, pomegranate juice, cold water fish, beetroot juice and oats amongst others have all been shown to help in various ways.
Well to cut a long story short all my efforts seemed to do little to affect my blood pressure at the clinic although at least some of my home readings were well within the ideal range. There is something called ‘white coat syndrome’ – because you’re stressing about having your bp taken at the docs this very stress causes it to go higher. Whatever the cause may be I ended up in the position this Wednesday of having to see my actual doctor for my bp to be checked as a result of this process. Now I’d managed by this point to get myself in a wee bit of a tizzy over this so as I crossed through the park on the way to the clinic I felt more like I was going to have judgment pronounced upon me for some nameless heinous crime rather than see what she said about that days bp reading. (I know – seems silly and totally out of proportion but as someone who has never been seriously ill, nor broken any bones nor even stayed overnight in a hospital except for when I entered the world I have a vast untapped lake of drama to draw upon in such matters.)  I went through the park and in the morning sun decided to cut across the grass in my flip flops. The grass was wet and as I felt the dewy blades swoop over my feet a smile inched onto my face. It probably helped that this was what seemed like the first sunny not-raining morning we’ve had in what feels like at least 2 months! In fact cutting over the grass made me slightly late as I lost a flip flop 4 different times due to my feet getting so wet but this small thing calmed me immeasurably and made me feel alive in a way that the coldest/wettest April and May on record here in the UK hasn’t done so far this year.
Anyway – the doc seemed a lot less concerned about my bp than the nurses I’d seen for the previous checkups had been and I left feeling much buoyed up. Whilst there I had also mentioned the evil cough I’ve been suffering from for 4 weeks now which has caused me to pull a muscle in my back the previous week then once that had healed something in my ribs was hurting rather. She listened to my lungs and said she thought this could be ‘a small bit of pleurisy’ which I have to admit to being ignorant of at that point. Anyway – back I came through the park snatching a few moments to admire these fresh faced flowers and off I went to work.

At the end of the day I had yet another coughing fit and suddenly felt the pain in my chest worsen sharply and at the same time I felt the muscle in my back go again. Ow ow ow!!!! After an intensely uncomfortable night which garnered a bare 2 hours of sleep and that with the help of varied pain killers, I steeled myself and went into work. This was a very bad idea as even though I was sparing my right side – where both the chest and back pains were sited opposite to each other on my body, it was getting jolted with every step I took. By the time I attained my office I really was in a lot of pain and was instructed by my boss after one look at me to call the docs and NHS direct for advice. I ended up talking to nhs direct first having filled out their on line diagnosis tool. After a lot of questions designed to allow them to rule things in or out she advised me to see my docs or a walk in centre again even though I’d seen my doctor only the previous morning. Her opinion was that it was either pleurisy or the inter-costal muscles (that are inbetween your ribs) and that I could have pulled these in tandem with the muscle in my back. ‘Ace’ think I in an unnecessarily sarcastic manner probably, but I was a bit grouchy and thoroughly regretting going into work by this point.

I called my doctors to be told there were no appointments but that the emergency doctor would call me as he always preferred to triage people over the phone before booking them in. He duly called and did a very good job of appearing pretty disinterested and dismissive. He scoffed at the idea of me having developed pleurisy 'overnight' though I did try and point out that this was what my own doctor had mentioned to me the previous morning. End result was – I was sent to the local hospital for a chest x-ray. Feeling somewhat shunted about now I caught the bus up there, stumbled painfully along the endless warren of corridors and eventually got x-rayed in a truly fetching gown thing. Pah. I was then told ‘that’s it – your doctor will get the results in 5 days.’ Oh – thinks I – so the point of me coming here today was what precisely??? What a waste of time, expense and resources. The dismissive doctor called me back later to see what they had said and I didn’t bother hiding the unimpressed-ness in my voice when I told him they had said nothing to me other than that the results would be with my doctor in 5 days. ‘Ah’ – he reassures me – ‘if there had been anything serious to worry about they’d have had a conflab then talked to you.’ So the upshot is A) I still don’t know whether I have pleurisy – an infection that could be treated with antibiotics and save me all this pain and as of today; time off work or just damage to my muscles in which case keep taking the painkillers and B) I have had a totally unnecessary x-ray at needless cost and rendered useless by dint of the timescale involved needed to get any results. Also C) I am still in considerable pain – even when not moving it hurts constantly and it hurts to breathe and I am unable to determine the best course of action as I don’t bloody know what’s wrong with me! Considering the nhs direct woman told me they could tell if it was pleurisy or the muscles just by listening to my chest and lungs I’m pretty peeved off with the dismissive doctor for not taking this course of action. So – I now have to wait and see. Although the weather has once again gone grey I will continue trying to find some small joy in the little things like these spotted at the hospital and in the park.














 I am also well aware that there’s a massive proportion of the population of the planet that is worse off than me in all sorts of ways and that this post is essentially one long whinge. Sorry – but hey, don’t forget –it’s my blog eh?! Lol. Just bear with me and hopefully normal breathing service will resume shortly. :-)

Camera come home...

Been playing with my old camera - or really I should say one of my old cameras as I have somewhat of a surfeit of them it seems.  

This is a Sony DSC-U20.  This one I really did get for the looks I'm afraid - totally form over function as even when it came out back in December ’02 the max resolution of 2 mega pixels was pretty low.  Admittedly I didn’t get it then at full price but at least 2/3 years later as a refurbished one from my then employer.  As soon as I saw its brushed royal blue metal body though I coveted it and if only the image quality could have lived up to those looks I’d have been more than happy.  I quickly realised however, that in anything less than good sunlight it wasn't that great so it got fairly minimal use over the years.

Back to now and what with being temporarily camera-less [or as camera-less as you can get when there’re at least 10+ in the house that is] this was one that I’d pulled out to look over.  Setting aside the low pixel count for a mo it actually had an ok spec for a fun young-demographic-base unit.  Here’s a pic taken with the solarise feature that’s now fairly ubiquitous on all phones and digi-cameras but I honestly don’t think I ever used it on this camera before.

Anyway – I am happy as I have a new camera swapped yesterday for my poorly one.  It’s nigh on exactly the same as the previous Nikon – it’s the S3200 with 2 million pixels more and a 6x optical zoom instead of the 5x of the S3100.  So I'm back in business again!!  It was typical that after I got the replacement camera the first thing I did on getting home was manage to stumble across the old card reader I needed to get the pics off the Sony with.  *sigh*  So expect some images of the river exe in full flood mode over the next few days as it's been raining hard here for what feels like a month now!

Camera, oh camera. Where for art thou my camera?

Another random post with some old pics here – still waiting to sort my camera out / remember where in the many piles of stuff in my house I left the old card reader so here’s another odd one I took – though judging by the quality (or rather – lack thereof) it was on my phone.  Which is old and rather poor on the picture taking front!  Anyway – it seemed to me that my Wotsits had been procreating in the bag and this was the resultant offspring when this little tiddler turned up!  Awwww…

On the same Totnes market trip where I spotted last post’s Marmite rat was this 'cup tree' outside an old fashioned café. 

This is from the Food Festival I attended a couple of weeks ago – of which more later.  This is a great sentiment though eh?  J

I do like the ‘Keep Calm’ images although they’re hitting overkill now with versions for everything.  It’s a poignant reminder of times less fortunate though as it was designed for us in the event of an invasion during WW2.  More info here and here.

Feeling a wee bit bereft

My camera has decided to go on the sick!!  I'm lost without having it handy to take my daily snaps.  This was my birthday present from the Chap back in September so no waaaaay should it be failing yet.  It's a Nikon - a brand I've been with for years so I'm disappointed this one should have given up so soon.  Anyway - here it is from my birthday.

Due to the lack of camera I dug an older one out of retirement for the weekend - then realised yesterday I couldn't find the card reader to download that format card!  Doh!  *facepalm*  So I will instead share some random images / memories from the year gone by.
This is a house I see every weekday on my way to work - they have brightened it up with a little spray painting which I for one like though I guess it's not to everyone's taste.  Forgive me if I have posted this one before - I honestly can't remember!

This beautiful lavender bird was a gift from the fabulous couple over at the Cottage Smallholder blog - check the tab at the top for '=Gifts=' and you too can be the proud owner of one of their lovely hand made products.
He brightens up the cupboard in my kitchen where I see him daily.

This sums up about all you need to know about me and my feelings on Marmite.  Personally I'm very deffo a 'hater'!  Love this creative take though.  Saw this at the regular Friday Totnes market.

Finally I'll leave you with a smile from my family get together on my birthday - this was at the rather great 'Railway' in Honiton.  Very good food indeed!