What Would You Do?

Yesterday we had some errands in Peel so caught the bus there.  It was a horribly wet and miserable day with localised flooding and standing water. We got soaked just walking to the bus stop.

On the bus back home there were not many passengers, just us, a young woman with three toddlers and an elderly lady sitting behind the driver.

A young teenage lad boarded the bus about halfway into the journey and sat across the aisle from us, one row in front.  That row has seats facing each other rather than all facing the front of the bus.  I noticed, from my window seat position, that he immediately put his feet up on the seat in front of him (his shoes would have been very wet and mucky I would think, given the weather conditions).

I inwardly sighed and rolled my eyes but as soon as P noticed what he had done he lunged across,  tapped the lad firmly on the shoulder, which startled him  (the boy was wearing earphones and looking at his smartphone) and demanded he take his feet off the seat.

The boy glowered but did as he was asked.  I felt very uncomfortable about the incident and was concerned that P may have overreacted. What if he was reported for assault or worse?

In my day, a telling off from an adult was to be expected if we did something wrong.  I really don't know what is acceptable these days.

Profile

It seems that the profile photo I uploaded a few weeks back - when Blogger "lost" my original sunset picture - appears to have caused some perturbation in some quarters.

Not sure why, it was only me at the age of four.

Anyway, I have now uploaded a replacement one which should hopefully not offend anyone.

 

An Autumnal Stroll

For the past couple of weeks I have not felt up to walking further than the Library or the Co-Op store, however,  Sunday morning started off dry and bright so we decided to try our "around town" walk, which usually takes over an hour.

The south shore promenade is just a 3 minute walk to the bottom of the street but we took a short detour first,  around the corner to take a little look at the Church House.  Nearly there.

Walking along the promenade towards the harbour we noticed the lifeboat crew dragging the boat up the beach. I liked the light shining on the scene.

We crossed the harbour swing bridge then walked halfway along the north shore promenade,  ducking into one of the shelters to avoid a short, sharp shower.

A couple of the shelters have been painted by local artists, using a grant from the IOM Arts Council. I preferred this one.

We crossed over the road at this point to walk back through the park, getting caught in another shower along the way. Luckily the witches were wearing their waterproofs...

An hour and a half. I needed a good, strong coffee at the end.

Changes

I have been a little out of sorts for the past couple of weeks.  Probably the result of the pesky cold virus and the ongoing house purchase saga, combined with a sudden change in the temperature.  

Last night P filled a hot water bottle  for me as I suffer from very cold feet when I get into bed.  It did help and I was very grateful, however, I discovered this morning that he hadn't securely screwed the top on so it had been gradually leaking overnight.  I hadn't wet the bed  honest!

As I have mentioned here before, for many years I have been in the habit of taking a couple of glasses of wine every evening with our meal.  About three weeks ago I found that my usual tipple of choice didn't seem to taste as good and I found I didn't really fancy a drink anyway.  I had also noticed at around the same time that my cheeks were looking quite flushed.  Whether this was due to the incipient cold virus or alcohol related rosacea I don't know but I made the decision there and then to give up my usual evening drink.

I haven't missed it really, although I did have a glass of Italian fizz last night.  I am not sure if I feel any different from my abstinence but then I have been a little poorly anyway for the past couple of weeks.

My liver and my bank balance will be very grateful I am sure.

Inching Closer

I had an email this morning from our Advocate telling us that he would shortly be sending out the searches summary report and was almost ready for us to call in to sign the purchase contract.

We are trying very hard not to feel too excited just yet as the vendors could still withdraw from the sale if they are unable to find a property to rent.  The type of property they are looking for is in very short supply.

I keep looking at the photos of the house on the agent's website and planning how each room will look.  Oh, I wish I had more patience. 

My cold has finally gone but has left me quite breathless most days. My walking partner also had a very bad cold at the same time and is still struggling back to fitness. She took a lateral flow test, just in case it was not just a cold,  but she was relieved to find it was negative.  Just a common cold  but a nasty one.

It has turned chilly here this week. The heating is now on for an hour each morning and evening and I had to wade through all the packing cases to dig out our winter duvets.

Inching closer to Christmas.....

Weird Weather

These photos were both taken just now from the side door.

The first shows the view across the road at the front with blue sky and a rainbow.

Turning round,  this is the view from the same spot showing the heavy rain sweeping down from the hill across the back garden .

Strange.

Breathless

I ventured out this morning to walk to the library as I am starting to feel much better now.

I did have to stop for a rest on the way there,  in the coffee shop of course,  and then on the way back  I sat on a seafront bench as I had become quite breathless. 

It was a glorious, cold,  crisp, sunny day and the sight of the waves gently tumbling onto the beach certainly took my breath away.

(I had a go at the Panorama setting on my camera).

I enjoyed my short rest... until the chap in the mini 4x4 pulled up and chucked a bagful of bread out of his window for the seagulls.

I beat a hasty retreat.

Comeuppence

Yes, after poking fun at P's  exaggerated common cold symptoms, I then caught his pesky bug and suffered all over the weekend. Generally a common cold for me is just the usual sneezing and sniffles with a sore throat and mild headache . This time it seemed much worse and I ended up spending the whole of Sunday in bed, mostly asleep.  I don't know if this was a particularly nasty cold virus or whether my symptoms could have been combined with a reaction to my first ever flu jab on Tuesday.

As Tasker commented in my previous post  there are some medical opinions that suggest that a male's reaction to such viruses is worse due to the lack of female sex hormones which apparently offer more protection.  Perhaps as I am now way past child bearing age  my hormone levels no longer offer me the same level of protection. 

Whatever the reason, it knocked me sideways and I certainly don't want to catch anything else.

Man Flu

 

Looks like I need to dust off that nurse's uniform again.

Mid Week Already

My, how quickly time drags.

Fortunately Mr P is back to his usual bouncy self, even after a bout of weekend D&V then a flu jab yesterday. 

This morning was bright and sunny so we went for a two hour walk beside the river up to Glen Auldyn and back.

I had never heard of St Fingan but it seems he may have been one of the 15 or so Irish saints originally named Finnian. 

There are some really lovely houses along the lane, but a little out of our price range - one that we briefly paused to admire turns out to be for sale at £1.1m.  

This one looks more within my budget.

Not Much Fun

Poor P has been poorly for the past few days, and I am not much use as a nurse.  On Thursday he became ill with some sort of stomach bug - thank goodness this rental property has two bathrooms! 

It didn't seem worth cooking a meal that evening just for me so he went to bed early with a hot water bottle and I had a poached egg on toast and scrolled through the few TV channels on Freeview that had programmes available with subtitles.

On Friday he was a little better but couldn't keep much down and I was starting to feel a little bit iffy too, although thankfully that hasn't developed into anything.

This morning - Saturday - started off really wet and windy but I decided to walk into town to get a carton of milk and the Saturday Telegraph, which we like for the crosswords and the TV guide.   P said I should drive but I insisted that I would be OK with my boots, raincoat and the plastic see-through dome umbrella that I used when I was commuting to work.  Ha!   The wind was so strong that the spokes of the umbrella bent and, after seven years of trouble-free wear, my boots have now sprung a leak so, by the time I reached home, my socks were sodden and my feet soaking wet.

After drying off and changing into warm clothes I felt that comfort food was required for tonight so I spent the afternoon making a "proper" cottage pie.  It was pretty good and even P managed to eat a respectable sized portion.. He seems to be recovering - thank goodness as I am certainly no good as a nurse.