A Funny Old Year 10 December 2013

As we are approaching the end of the year and its early morning and I cannot sleep, it seemed a good time to give you readers an update on my thoughts and experiances over this last 12 months.

Where to start, maybe a reminder of a couple of good things such as my trip to Scandinavia where I went to Copenhagen with Brian,  then on to my holiday of a lifetime with Mykle and Jean in Norway,  not only did i have a holiday with them but found them to be two lovely kind people who had created a beautiful home out of nothing in such a beautiful setting. It was also a reminder of what i could achieve despite my bad back and other health issues.

The next good thing was that at last I had my TURP operation to help with my waterworks which will help in a number of ways for the future, the other good thong was that the doctors told me there was no underlying cancer which was a relief. Another bonus hopefully out of this was that, due to my complaint to the hospital the quality of the toilet paper will improve on the ward.

For some years I have been looking for different ways to spend my time that are more pleasurable,  I had been aware of the U3A organisation for some time and finally made an effort,  joining earlier in the year, I think I will write briefly now and maybe do a longer blog of my experiances with them another time.

I have been to a number of the main meetings and talks at U3A, which have been enjoyable, meeting new people in a social setting, plus I have joined a recently formed photography group within the branch, which is a pleasant mixture of people and skill levels. I also briefly joined a beginners group with them for Spanish,  but found I did not enjoy the style of tuition, I wanted to order a drink or meal not to know the waiters name, so gave it up.

Updated 12 December

As part of this I have become involved in creating a new database of members to more easily track the membership and their interests using a product called Cardbox, again more of this maybe in a future blog, si seems it was a positive move and has widened the circle social contacts I have.

Out of the blue earlier this year I started with nose bleeds in my right nostril which I have not had for many years. They seemed to get worse over about 10 days ending up in a trip to A & E when it would not stop eventually 3 hours later it stopped at the time we were in the middle of a heat wave. I got outside waited for my lift as it arrived, off it set again, this time they admittef me, put a plug up my nose and kept me overnight, the next day cauterised it and sent me home. Within an hour it was off again so back in for a further four days, I was amazed how many people came in during this time but unlike me were quiclky discharged. Finally they took the bung out and cauterised again, so far no more problems.

I forgot to say earlier in the year I finally bought this tablet which was a great buy, as I can read e mail when have access to Wi Fi, search the internet and do many other things when away from home including listening to my music and doing tasks such as my blog, which am doing in bed again as cannot sleep, oh I forgot I can also read,  I have plenty of reading material on it in fact I would imagine sufficient to last me the rest of my life

I went away with Andy and Brian to Newquay as recorded earlier, think I will look carefully at the length of trips in the future if on a coach or other forms of transport.

One of the things I wanted to do was to see Chorus Line the musical in London, again as I recorded on here I managed that plus to meet up with ex saga friends for a trip down the thames and then across it on the new cable car.

I asked my son what he wanted for his 40th birthday, he said a trip to the Grand Canyon it looks like finally next year we will manage this, together with a brief visit to New York and Las Vegas, I am advised that this will be best carried out in November, since then I have devifef to extend the trip for me after he returns from Vegas,  and then depending on whether my friend in Hawaii is available to visit there, otherwise to go to Australia and finally see Sydney and other places, before travelling on to Penang to meet with my friend from childhood, then possibly to visit Singapore and see the lights before returning home.

The trip may be the last long distance one other than possibly if I finally get to my safari which I have talked about for years, the sad thing for me is that at present I will be on my own, which will be enjoyable but I dont think quite so good as having someone to share the experiences but who knows whats round the corner

Over this year our ME group has created more social activities which I have enjoyed plus I now am assisting on the committee and am an active member of the Facebook group we have,  which has helped people cope with the isolation which is so often part of this condition.

The flat has finally had a coat of paint on all ceilings and woodwork and hopefully in the new year the living room will be decorated, it would of been done much sooner but for the problem of finding someone to fo the work, its odd that when so many are looking for work my trying to find someone to carry out the task has been so hard

Earlier this year I changed my computer and decided to use voice recognition more, its bern a mixed thing due to a number of reasons, I do know it is helpfil and encourages me to sit bettet on my seat improving posture and lessening back pain,  what I should of done was to have further training so I could do even more with it  and lessening the the effects of typing on my hands and arms, one of my resolutioms is to do this in the new year.

One of the other issues, has been the fact that I have been transferring my LPS,  (for those to young to know these are the large vinyl records we all used to listen to our music on in the past, ) onto my computer, part of the problem is that I cannot use both the microphone and input from the record deck at the same time, so have to disconnect the leads and alter the settings on the computer. The task is still not complete, but I am getting there, so far nearly 300 done.  The hope is that I will be more likely to switch off the tv and listen to the music and maybe do more reading instead
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A couple of months ago I joined a course to help people who have long term health or disability issues to cope with the symptoms and pain not as a cure more in becoming better at dealing with it, its run by an organisation called Breathworks and is based on Buddhist teachings but without thr religious aspect, I found it helpful and feel that it will help me to move on in how I deal not only with health issues but also generally in life

So a busy year of such contrasts, some of the things I hoped to achieve have fallen by the wayside but also other doors have opened that I did not expect.

Our Trip To Fistral Beach 21st August 2013

Today was a free day, so we discussed what we should do, I thought a visit to Fistral beach could be a good idea because of the fact it was more popular with the surfers, so we could take plenty of action photos of the surfers and the waves, Andy wanted to go into town for some souveniers also, we debated on the best way to travel and decided we would try with Andy walking for a while but take the wheelchair also. We set off on our travels, it was a pleasant walk in initially, its surprising what you see when you have the time, such as this young lady, she must of been very hungry and I am sure all that salt was not good for her

we continued through the town, stopped for a drink at a lovely little cafe and a rest, then on with the trip, we made steady progress, eventually we reached the beach, err well not quite because there was a steep slope down through the carpark, the cars did not seem to be bothered that we had a wheelchair, there was obviously plenty of surfing they may miss if they slowed down for us. Finally we got to a seating area, Andy and Brian felt they did not want to walk out to the sea(the tide was out) so they stayed whilst I went off to take some incredible photos, there were many surfers but going by how many kept falling off their boards they were still learning, not sure if the lack of large waves made a difference

there were a couple of more skilled people who managed, but nothing like we had seen on films, well it was a long trek back to join the others

they were both pleased to9 see me as you can see by the photo, we then had the trek back up the hill, well no there was a small motorised vehicle we could use, well no as it was to high for Andy to climb on, you would of thought there would be some way to help people withy mobility issues to get back up the hill, instead we slowly climbed to the top and then had a walk into town, where we tried a real Cornish pastie, it seems it was Andys first ever, we had a rest then back to our walk, it was very busy in town, maybe because was the bank holiday weekend, also the sun was shining. We walked back to the hotel, well Brian pushed Andy and I walked along supervising and taking photos

then back for a shower and rest before our evening meal and a further trip after to take more photos

this was a jellyfish some young girls found it was quite large, we also took more photos of the sunset, there seemed to be more people about this evening

there were also a number of surfers out as well, tonight was the first night of Celebrity Big Brother so I said to Brian that I wanted to have a look who was in it this time so we agreed I would go back earlier, I have to say I was disappointed with the people I saw go into the house that night

Our trip home 23rd August 2013

We had an early start,but when I looked out of the window there was a beautiful sunrise so I took a photo, then went out trying to get better ones but the houses obscured it

up at 6am packed then an early breakfast before setting off, finally we were all loaded,  10 minutes into the trip John the driver announced we were turning back because he had forgotten some paperwork,  did this then back off again, the traffic was much worse because it was a bank holiday weekend,  when we stopped it was crowded at the service area, but also the drinks were dearer than on the way down, which seems very odd. I nodded off for a while, the traffic was travelling very slowly,  there was a serious accident on the other side with miles and miles off traffic backed up. We had a further 3 stops before we got to our first drop off and another couple of accidents seen along the way, all the service areas were busy, Andy and I chatted part of the time and I also tried to catch up with my blog as well as reading a little more of the William novel until the battery ran down. The traffic was still busy, eventually we got to Oldham, Andy rang to check about the taxi, finally we reached the centre of Manchester and the street we should of gone down, the only problem was the bottom had been closed off for some reason so I told John to carry on a little longer on main road, we quickly unloaded,  but where was the taxi, finally we spotted him down a side street, we loaded up then off home, first Brian,  then me and finally Andy.  When I got in, back to reality sortede out my case and loaded the washer, looked at the clock it was 8.30pm it had taken over 12 hours for the trip, dont think I will be doing that sort of trip by coach for the foreseeable future, now just need to have a rest and relax over the weekend.

Our trip to Newquay and the Eden Project 19 August 2013

I could not sleep the night before as was worried I going to miss the taxi or not be ready, in the end got up showered packed and had breakfast, Andy texted me to say he was on his way, we picked up Brian then off to town, the roads were clear so we were there for 6.30 although the coach was not until 7.20.so rested in coach station,  at 10 past went out, taxis kept arriving to drop people off, eventually the coach arrived,  err umm no wrong one,  just as well as driver looked miserable and was abrupt when someone asked, he pointed to the sign on his coach, very rude, other coaches came and went but no sign of ours some time later ours came loaded up including Andy's wheelchair at last we were on our way, err uumm no we then went to various other locations to pick people up, we by now realized that we could of had at had another hour in bed and got taxi elsewhere,  at long last we finally set off driver introduced himself as John seemed pleasant, 

We went down M6 to services where we stopped for a break, place was packed,  could not understand why McDonald's was so busy until saw how much more expensive everywhere else was, settled for Cornish pastie and a drink then on coach, pattern continued as we travelled south, 3 or 4 stops later we finally arrived.

I forgot to say earlier the coach was modern,  seats comfortable, air conditioning worked well as very warm out, Brian had decided to sit at the front Andy and had aisle seats opposite each other so chatted about all sorts of subjects along the way but also we had peaceful periods when I slept, lol

it had taken most of the day to get there

The hotel was pleasant we waited for others to book in then realized that another coach had arrived, so joined the queue,   none of the rooms had a seaview Andy and I were on the same floor but on different corridors, Brian was on the floor below, then up in the lift with wheelchair to Andy's room, got him settled then finally to my room,it

was well laid out, plenty of storage space,  had shower so decided would have that first and unpacked, had rest then was time for evening meal, all staff there pleasant good choice of food on menu, service good. After Andy decided that would have rest and go to his room, Brian and I went out to take photos of the beautiful sunset, was out for some time before got to dark, back to hotel for early night as tomorrow we were off on coach trip.