What have I been up to in the last week?

Bank Holiday Monday

We never go anywhere on bank holidays. Maybe it’s okay in Yorkshire, but I have terrifying memories of ‘darn sarth’ stuck in traffic jams all the way from Tolworth to Brighton. (Bit of hyperbole there, but hey, this is MY blog). What did we do? I can’t remember, but Monday is normally sacrosanct. It’s tidying, dusting, vacuuming and  mopping day. That’s probably what I did.

Tuesday

Bear with me…. John went deaf suddenly five days previously. He had asked me to put oil in his ear as he thought wax was affecting his hearing, but the oil somehow made it 500% worse. (More hyperbole) ((That’s not my favourite word of the week, by the way. That word is ALEARIC)). Anyway, we have a great relationship, and rarely row, but on the Monday night I was so fed up of not being able to have a proper convo with him, and also concerned about his hearing, that I suggested he made an appt. for the doctor He refused, and we went to bed ‘at odds’ with one another, which rarely happens. Well, in the morning he woke up with a sore throat, and asked me to make an appt. RESULT. AILEEN IS ALWAYS RIGHT. Our doctors’ practice is fab, and he got an appt straight away. In fact, the triage nurse spoke to him at 11.01 and gave him an appt for11.00!!!! We tore down there, John unshaven, me makeup-less. The diagnosis was impacted wax, and J had to make an appt for the nurse to syringe his ears on Friday.

Wednesday

I thought I was getting Alzheimers. Our birding venue was Messingham Quarry, and I’ve always said it is one of my favourite places. I missed it in 2013 – can’t remember why – and missed in 2014 as I was recovering from my knee op. So I was really ready for another dose of heaven. When I got there the car park looked different. Then we walked along a path with a vast expanse of water on the right. I didn’t remember that. Maybe we had met in another car park, or entered the reserve along a different route. Eventually I plucked up courage and told Michael how confused I was. It transpired that I was thinking of another place altogether. My lovely place was Brockadale. I’m sure Messingham Quarry is lovely, but it was a wet and windy day, and wasn’t at its best.

To add to my Alzheimer’s symptoms – I reached into my pocket to get out my mobile for a quick snapshot of some bogbean, only to find I had no mobile. So. It was either in the car or it had fallen out of my pocket in the car park when Anthony and I did a little unrehearsed pas de deux. I thought, if I go back I’ll lose my way, so I decided to carry on with the others. There was no one else around so thieves were unlikely, and the rain wasn’t that heavy. Anyway, to cut a very long story a little bit shorter, on returning to the car park there was my little white iPhone nestling among the gravel, none the worse for wear.

Thursday

The dreaded monthly. No, not that. I’m past that. Church cleaning. I offered to do this when we moved north eleven years ago. It was a way of getting involved in the parish. Heck, I don’t even like cleaning. In fact, we had a good time. I do it now with Kathryn, who brought along her four month old baby. We had a good chat with Fr Neville, Penny, who prints the newsletter, and Anne, without whom the church would fall down.

Friday and Saturday

I’m getting bored with this.

Sunday

Really good time at church. Hilary ‘did’ the children’s liturgy and I was there as safeguarding backup. After Mass Ailsa spoke to me. She said she hasn’t looked at the church website before but she did this week, and she was really impressed with it.Sacred Heart Website. I am the webmistress, dear reader. Then, she said she always loves the colours I wear, down to my shoes. I explained that I wear black, grey, pink and purple so everything is pretty sure to match. Funnily enough I was wearing green and grey on Sunday, but I think she got the general idea.

Monday

That’s today! I went on one of Michael’s ONE OFF SPECIALS to see the birds at Millington Woods. Best birds were the redstarts, but we also saw pied flycatchers. Here are a couple of redstarts.

 

What now? Nearly time for the last episode of Safe House.

In other news, we’ve been dieting, I’ve made jam, nearly finished knitting a top I designed, gardening a bit, resumed reading Middlemarch, carried on watching The Great Courses course on English Literature and generally having a good time.

Oh, and I’ve started sorting the garage!!!!