You 'Um It Son, I'll Play It
Stress
Moving house. Stress .
Estate Agent shenanigans. Stress. Frustration.
Potentially selling to a friend's daughter. Double stress.
Pass me the Valium.
Fish Bone
Friday's supper was baked cod. As I swallowed my first mouthful I felt a small bone slide down my throat and get lodged halfway.
Lots of coughing ensued but it stayed put. Then I remembered the last time this happened, many years ago now, when staying at a corporate hotel with a group of work colleagues for a conference . I had jumped up from the table and was about to rush out to the nearest Ladies' when the barman called me over and handed me a pint glass full of water. He ordered me to drink it all down in one without stopping. I did so and miraculously the bone had gone.
I did the same last night and thankfully it worked again.
Just a sore throat now this morning.
Darned fish bones. They are sneaky little fellas.
Moving On?
The Turnip Prize
I found something to cheer me up during all the doom and gloom.
I may be a little late to this one but have only just read about it. According to the BBC here ...
The Turnip Prize award, organised by a Somerset pub, is given to the person who has "created something they perceive to be crap art using the least amount of effort possible". Winners of the competition receive a turnip attached to a wooden base.
Some of the current entries.....
Not Going Out
Following the damage to our drive in the storm earlier this year, the DoI gentlemen have arrived to dig out a trench across the top to divert future floodwater away and into the ditch beside our property boundary.
This has now been going on since last Thursday. Those flashing, orange lights on top of the cones look quite festive at night.
I managed to manoeuvre the car out between the cones on Friday morning to get to my volunteering shift but P had to reverse it back in for me when I got home. It involves a sort of S shaped wiggle to get through and although it was OK going forwards, my poor female brain just couldn't manage it backwards!
Anyway, the cones (big, heavy ones) and the half-covered trench are still there today. A large sack of gravel has just been dropped off too, so I imagine that is to reinstate some of the washed away patches on the drive. The workmen are nowhere to be seen, yet.
I may not bother going shopping tomorrow.
The Weekend Is Cancelled
I am not going anywhere!!!
Becoming very windy, giving gusts of 45-50 mph quite widely across the island. Top temperature 13°C. The gale force south-southwesterly wind will ease slightly early tonight, however significant overtopping of sea water and debris is expected around high tide (~10:40pm), with some minor inner harbour flooding also possible in Douglas & Ramsey. Minimum temperature 9°C.
Outlook
Rain will continue to affect the island tomorrow, becoming persistent and heavy at times and accompanied by a strong to near gale force south-westerly wind. Highest temperature around 10 or 11°C, but feeling colder in the wind.
Snortle And Puff
I am very tired today as I got very little sleep last night. My fairly new "bounce-back" pillow seemed suddenly to have been hewn from a block of concrete and my down filled mattress topper had morphed into a sheet of corrugated iron.
Tossing and turning, checking the clock every hour to see how long I had been awake, I only managed a few short dozes here and there.
On the occasions when my fizzing brain eventually began to slow down and all those random, irrelevant thoughts stopped bouncing around and gradually merged into a foggy blur, I was inevitably launched back into full wakefulness by the arrival of my old friends, Snortle and Puff.
These are the noises that P makes in his sleep. He doesn't snore, but his constant nasal congestion (sorry, too much detail probably), means that his breathing is disturbed during sleep and results in sudden, random loud snorts when beathing in and then a heavy puff of air when exhaling.
Ah, but you are deaf, I hear you exclaim. How can you hear it?
Well, yes, I am extremely hard of hearing. Not totally deaf, I do have some residual hearing, and I can get by during the day if I wear my hearing aids. At night, without my hearing aids, I cannot hear sounds such as the ticking clock, water running in the basin, rain on the window, the doorbell, smoke alarm or telephone etc but somehow those snortling, puffing noises seem to be able to get through and annoy the hell out of me when I am desperately trying to get to sleep.
I have tried putting cotton wool in my ears at night to block the sound but that doesn't seem to help. Sometimes I think that I must be imagining it but that doesn't help me get to sleep.
Luckily, on those nights when I am not suffering from insomnia the noises don't bother me.
At least I no longer have to get up early to go to work.
Tuesday Treat
Sunday's Walk On A Saturday
The weather forecast for this morning was not looking too promising so I decided to do my Sunday walk on Saturday instead; on my own as the others were busy.
P was going into Peel at midday to collect a friend as they were both taking part in one of the Winter Hill League races so he dropped me off at Peel Headlands, about 5 minutes drive away.
From there I walked along the coastal footpath and down onto the Promenade, then along to the swing bridge and across to the causeway, around the castle then back along the marina into town.
The sun had decided to put in an appearance by then, after about an hour, just as I was walking through the back streets of town to reach the coast road.Another Manx Dialect Poem
From Culture Vannin this morning...
Gold
Today has been a very quiet day here. Nothing important to do so just pottering, reading and slobbing out on the sofa, from where I have just watched a beautiful sunset.
My Samsung tablet's camera is not great but the colours were pure gold.
DIY
I had my hair cut last week at the local hairdressers. This time I asked her not to take off too much as it had finally reached the length I prefer and I didn't want it to be too short.
As usual, it looked fine when I left the salon but now when I wash and dry it it just looks like "Lego Hair".
This morning I decided to have a go at "texturising" it (a term I found online) and dug out our very old razor comb that we bought back in the 1980s (similar to this one shown here)
Perking Up
The weather has taken a turn for the better, at long last.
Gale force winds have eased off and the sun is shining in a pale blue sky. Still pretty cold though, with the temperature struggling to reach 8C. I drove to the supermarket this morning and, as soon as my hands touched the steering wheel, I regretted not digging out my gloves from whichever drawer they are hiding in.
Still, it did my heart good to see the sea sparkling in the sunlight as I drove along the coast road.
The supermarket had a special deal on my favourite wine. Too good to ignore so I bought two cases! The gentleman in the queue in front of me turned around as I placed the 12 bottles onto the belt and raised one eyebrow. "Having a party?" he asked. I just smiled back and said "No, this is just to last me over the weekend". He did hesitate for a minute before finally chuckling.
In the garden our silver birch tree has lost most of its leaves now, all blown away by the gales. I remember when we brought it back from the garden centre in the back of the car. It wouldn't fit in there now.
Surprise Soup
After several days of gale force winds and stormy weather, the ferries have not been sailing across the Irish Sea so our supermarket shelves are becoming a little "lacking" in fresh produce.
I decided to dredge the lower drawers of the freezer to see if there was anything interesting.. (in one of those plastic tubs that have been lurking there for a while).. that would be suitable for today's lunch.
There was one that looked promising, although the black marker pen label had faded so it was not too clear what was inside. Anyway, I tipped the contents into a pan and reheated it. It turned out to be some kind of leftover stew comprising mainly courgette, potato and cannellini beans in a beefy flavoured broth. I used the stick blender to turn it into a thick, hearty soup which we ate with some crusty sourdough bread.
Hopefully, our weather is set to improve over the next couple of days so we should be able to stock up on fresh fruit and veg again. If not, there are still a few more plastic tubs at the bottom of the freezer.
Oof!
That's the word I uttered just now as I flopped down on the sofa.
I met up with the girls after breakfast for our usual Sunday morning walk. The rain had stopped but it was still very windy.
Today's walk was two hours, up and down a couple of pretty steep hills. I am not yet used to remembering to use my recently prescribed inhaler (it seems I do have asthma after all) so I struggled with my breathing on the steep sections.
Towards the end of the walk the rain returned so it was good to get to the coffee shop for coffee and cake.
Now back home, a cup of tea and a hot shower. I feel very sleepy.
We are supposed to be meeting friends at our local pub tonight for a meal. Just hope that I can stay awake.