June is busting out all over

6 June 2007

Good evening all you readers, sorry I have been quiet again but it seems to have been very busy in life at the moment.

At present the local Metro is not working very far & there is a link bus service in operation, to do 10 miles it took nearly two hours this morning.

I have just started to use speech recognition at work, hopefully soon I will be dictating at some great rate rather than making my hands worse than they are.

Well we are now very close to my birthday, but unforunatly some have still not replied so we will wait & see who turns up & how they will be dressed.

The forum I have joined in relation to my ME is proving to be very interesting & helpful, it has helped inspire me in relation to costumes for the party, for myself & others, but also has given me a greater insight into how difficult it is for others with ME just to get through the day.

Sadly yet again despite all my promises I have become hooked by Big Brother, the worst bit is to find out the twins are social work students, I just hope eventually they practice some of their training on the other housemates.

Some More New Adventures Of A Happy Togg

19 May 2007

Well hello all you readers, sorry I have not been in touch for a while but I have been really busy with other things.

Firstly it is now a month to my birthday, but a few extra to my party, so I have sent off most of the invitations & Zorro has already confirmed he had recieved his. I am quite sorry that Hamster cannot make it but after all it is a long way for him to come for one night.

It took me ages to sort out the invitations & I am very grateful to AMO for all her hard work

on the cards. I am sure you are all in agreement about this, thanks again AMO, you will go to the party.

The other thing that I have done is to join in with the local ME group forum, sorry I most probably have not told those of you that do not know that, I have had this condition for at least 15 years.

It has been an interesting experiance, both happy & sad, some people are coping in a very positive way as far as i can see, but sadly & maybe with some good reason others are very angry about the condition & their life since ME.

Tomorrow I am going to see a couple of choirs with Brian, so hopefully will report back to you all.

Back Safe & Sound from Scarborough

8 May 2007

Hello again readers, as you may remember the plan was to trip off to Scarborough this bank holiday.well Brian & I got there saterday morning, despite weather reports the weather was mild & even better no rain, but on the front it was quite windy.

The accomodation was pleasant & there was even a teddy to stop us feeling lonely in the bedroom & the landlady was very pleasant & welcoming so after unpacking we went to the Spa & looked in on a piano accordian competition which was taking place with free admission, so in we went, immediately Brian found £15 which because there were young children there we worried that it could of been one of them that had lost it.

It was agreed that I would take it to the judges to hold in case the owner turned up so, I explained this to them & that we were not trying to bribe them. We then sat & egerly waited for the event that took nearly half an hour. Finally the young children came on, played a tune quite well then left. Because it was nice & warm we decided to wait another half hour & finally another group of children arrived played the same piece then left, we decided this was the time to go.

We then wandered round the town taking photos then went to my favourite chippy for Brian to try their fish & chips & for me to try the sticky toffee pudding with custard, which as usual was really enjoyable.

My back started to ache so off to the digs I went for a lie down whilst Brian continued to to explore, & we met later early evening to take photos of the beautiful sunset, the only problem was it was nearly an hour before we finally got the photos, what do you think of my effort. Sadly as on my last holiday I had started with blisters on my feet which I feel I will suffer from for the next few weeks.

The following day we went off to Cayton Bay which I had memories of from over 20 years ago, suprise suprise it was still as quiet & beautiful as I remembered. It is strange how we travel abroad when there are lovely beaches over here deserted. For a change we spent a fair bit of time taking photos then exploring the rock pools for sea life.

Eventualy as usual I became tired so we made our way back to Scarborough & back to the digs for me to have a lie down for a few hours. In the evening we went up to the castle for some more interesting sunsets which I hope you will agree were worth the effort.

On our last day we went to Peasholme Park looking for dragons, spending a really pleasant few hours there, as did many other people. I was pleasantly suprised at how many young families were content just to feed the squirrels & go on the pedalos as a family with no blasting out of loud music or drunken yobs, ( I realise I am really becoming a Grumpy old Tog) but it wa a beautifully laid out park with interesting little suprises round corners, well done Scarborough. By the way if you are very quiet & look closely you will see one of the heroes of this post above & if you are very quiet yo will see the shy dragons gathering together

Finally it was time to go back so before we left I went to buy some of my favourite cakes ( Little Jacks) Brian said they are just flat scones, but finally off we set, I fell asleep but when I woke up Brian was kind enough to say he had seen a whole new side to me, I did not talk in my sleep so it is possible for me not to speak for an hour.

When we got back the Mero service was suspended so it was nearly another hour, then when we got to the bus station guess what the bus had just gone, so I decided blow the expense so I finally got home at nine thirty at night.

We are off on our next adventure, Scarbourough here we come

3 May 2007

Well what about the location of those interesting photos from Hamster, did you guess well just in case it was I wil l let him describe the location

The near bye town where the KFC is located is called BRINCHANG (BURRR-IN-CHANG) and is in the CAMERON HIGHLANDS, West Malaysia. Once again, anyone who has done this excursion from KL will know this place. BT I did not try the KFC as there was a cracking Chinese Coffee Shop less than a block away where the KFC is, and a hundred other places that would leave KFC wanting.... Even if it does come with Rice as the photo shows ;-)

This bank holiday weekend Brian & I are off to Scarborough for a couple of days, I want to try good old fish & chips followed by jam roly poly & custard, then see a show or just relax. As usual we will try to find some interesting photos for the blog

Well readers here we go again, my health seems to be better, but life seems to of become a bit hectic, so Brian & I went to Heaton Park, there were some interesting local animals so these are some of them i managed to photograph.

The first was a strange sort of animal, that I also captured when on holiday earlier this year, maybe it came over for the warm weather. I am told it is quite a shy creature & prefers to hide amongst the undergrowth, I found it impossible to get a front view.

This next photo was of an even rarer beast that I was lucky to catch because it was ill & a vet known locally as a mechanic had come to make it better.

I am told that again it is a local animal not seen outside the area, also that it has a very unusual name & is called the Number 53 tram but that once they roamed all over Manchester, until as usual progress led to the local authority killing them off apart from a few ones that have been cared for.

Through research I have established that luckily these creatures are thriving in other parts of the world & people have managed to harness them as a form of transport.




Finally when I was just finishing I saw this heron that seemed quite happy & oblivious to all the noise from the people visiting the park, it is hard to think this is so close to a major city

At last things seem to be improving

27 April 2007

Hi readers this week seem to of been very busy, my nose bleeds started again, but we seem to have the answer now, the ENT nurse said it is because I am having showers that are to hot & its increasing my blood pressure causing the bleeds, this is a relief because I was getting fed up of getting out of the shower with a nose bleed & no clothes on & then having to seek help.

The problem I have from this is that my osteopath states I cannot have baths so I will have to become a real dirty old man. This is made worse because if I put smelly stuff on to cover body odours they give me headaches, so I will also be a smelly dirty old man.

I went to the GP to sort out my back, she tells me that I have to go through physio, for a month, painkillers & then finally the consultant may!!!!! decide to do something about the problem.

I have finally got permission to have a new computer, which will work with voice recognition, so beware my posts may get longer & more frequent.

AMO is sorting out a design for my birthday invites so these will be going out in the next week or 2, for those of you who are interested I have put another couple of pictures on my other blog they are quite nice & of Prague, have you guessed where the photo at the top is, well its in Luxor Egypt, not bad an amateur I hope this is just another to finish off this post

Another One of Those Rotten Tog Weeks

Well hello all you readers what a week it has been, on Tuesday I went to submit my divorce papers, I thought it would be a complicated process.

In reality all I had to do was take the papers to court, swear on the bible & give my signature twice, to set the end of our marriage in motion, the solicitor told me by the end of next month we will be divorced.

It seems such a shame after so long but maybe it is the only way we can move on.

The following day I started with a simple nose bleed that got worse & worse, & despite my friend Geoff’s best efforts it would not stop so we ended up at A & E at the local hospital, where I spent the day.

I was triaged very quickly but then left to bleed into a bowl for 1 hour until a nice doctor stuck bungs up my nostrils which was very painful, he then informed me that I was being admitted overnight for observation, so I told Geoff & suggested he go home.

Whilst waiting it was interesting to hear about the problems in A & E with capacity it seems they were on code Amber & a waiting list of 2 hours, but other hospitals wanted them to take their excess capacity, & no hospital appeared to be able to have spare capacity.

Despite all this I waited for half an hour for a porter who never came & in the end a staff nurse had to take me to the ward.

It seemed to take for ever to process me on the ward, then finally I saw the doctor at 3.30pm who cauterised my nostrils & said I could go home in half an hour, in actual fact it was another hour.

This was great but I had set friends off to bring me clothes etc in, so then I had to contact them again to cancel it, lets hope it’s a long time before I have another nose bleed.

As you can imagine I got home & was absolutely exhausted by doing nothing all day & have still not yet picked up.

On a happier note I decided to sort out my costume for my birthday, I think I may of finally found something thats even topical, but very warm, the man at the shop said what about Elvis, well what abot Elvis, far to easy.

I also have started to sort out invitations so they may be with you quite soon

Yet another new Blog where will it all end

10 April 2007

Well all you readers I have finally done it despite all the pain I have created my new blog which you can view through the link. http://fastfood-francisthefearless.blogspot.com/

This is despite all the pain I am having at present, mainly because it had to be done.

Have you guessed where the location was, it was in fact in Ronda, in Spain.

Further good news, as you will know I have contacted everybody & already Hamster has offered to take up the challenge & provide some photos from an exotic location.

My friend Kath told me today that she has one of her photos on show at Manchester Art Gallery so to save you the trip I hope to show it on my Blog in the near future, fancy me having such talented friends.

Now for the bad news, it is possible that I may be arranging another concert for Bury Shopmobility & possibly have my first act, so you will have to put up with the ups & downs of this as the year goes on.

Even worse I will shortly be building up to finding my costume for my birthday fancy dress, also Brian & I went to check the building for the venue was still there yesterday, I will be keeping you up to date on progress, as we get nearer.

3 Togs Adventures On The Costa Del Sol

18 March 2007

Today we started on our adventure, first dropped the car off then on to the airport, of course needed to make sure we had passports tickets, luggage labels & luggage,

Got to check-in young lady did new computerised check-in through machine sent us to put luggage in , then person at desk decided to go through all off process again, despite the fact we already had boarding cards.

Went back to first young lady who was equally amazed, but then to security, joined longest queue I had ever seen, but finally we made it, in time to waste lots of time doing nothing whilst waiting for our flight.

Flight okay luckily Brian adjusted very well to the situation, when we arrived in Malaga nice & warm, no problems with baggage, went outside only to find no coach & lots of disgruntled travellers all waiting for the coaches which unfortunately did not come for an hour, worst complaint was lack of information about what was causing the delay.

Got to hotel much better than I thought for price, 2 bedrooms but also 2 bathrooms!!!! They must of thought we were very dirty travellers. Now both tired so both went to bed & left unpacking until morning.

19 March 2007

I woke up early & made the worst decision of the whole holiday that of going out to get water & breakfast provisions, asked at desk & informed by reception supermarket nearby not open until 10.30, so set off to find another.

Saw people with bags of shopping but because I was to stupid did not ask where they got them from, kept on walking ( as the old song tells of Felix the cat, if you remember the song you must be old) finally got to a supermarket but still not properly opened so carried on although legs & feet now aching.

Finally totally exhausted got to Lidl of all places, picked up goods and started walk back, saw bus stop but did not know how to tell them where I was going so carried on.
On the way back passed 3 supermarkets that I had not seen all close to the hotel, but at least we could have breakfast.

Well that was the start of excruciating pain from the blisters on my feet but then again never mind I could relax round the pool for the rest of the week. Not quite it was nice & warm so we went to the welcome party, a load of rubbish, but then decided we would go to Fuengerola, by bus & train.

Bus good , as was the train, Brian practised his skills in Spanish, when we got there this was not the place I remembered , I had forgotten to bring a hat & it was very hot so part of the time was finding a suitable hat for me, we spent some time there but my feet were hurting much worse now, so we made our way back, Later went out for meal & had Spanish omelette, so Brian could have local food. That evening saw on TV that parts of Spain having deep snow what a contrast.

20 March 2007

Early breakfast, still very windy but sunny, feet still very painful, went with Brian to meet Zorro on the train, which worked well, so then travelled to Malaga, where Zorro showed us the local sites including a visit to a local tapas bar, the calamari was the best I have tasted, eventually was time to go back, so we parted agreeing to meet the next day for a paella.

Problem with pain in feet getting worse, so agreed I would return to hotel & Brian would continue exploring. Later Brian cooked our evening meal & we relaxed.


21 March 2007

Sad to say still problems with feet, Brian up early & out, I went to shops then sunbathed on & off for rest of Day. Later Brian returned after trip walking to Fuengerola, this was in time for us to get ready for evening with Zorro again. Met as planned finally we went to farmacia for ointment for feet & plasters, then sought shop for maps for Brian.

Finally went for paella which we all enjoyed, then parted from Zorro, I caught the bus & Brian went for another walk

22 March 2007

Had another relaxing day sunbathing Brian off out on another trip this time to Malaga, in the evening went out for further meal.

23March 2007

Still having problems walking so went sunbathing today, Brian went for walk to local park took photos of various animals & birds, later went evening meal.

24 March 2007

Today went to Ronda for the day by bus, it was an interesting drive up the hairpin bends, a number of motorcyclists roared past, but a little later there were problems because one of the riders had collided with a car, some of the people on the bus must of felt it was the highlight of their trip they were happily taking photos of the scene.
We spent some time taking photos of the various scenes in Ronda.

Then as a special treat we went for a McDonalds which has now given me inspiration to create a new Blog based on Fast Food Joints I & others have visited around the world. Finally it was time to return back to the hotel, we went to our last meal out before our trip back. Tonight the Clocks went forward 1 hour.




25 March 2007

Last day, unfortunately we had to leave the room at 10. 30am so went for a walk with Brian to the park, took series of photos then managed to lose him, eventually made way back to hotel & sunbathed, eventually found Brian & we spent time waiting for coach to airport.

Plane was an hour & half late we all queued patiently but nobody explained why until we boarded the plane, now quite late, eventually landed back home after I had problems with horrible child sat in seat in front whose idea of fun was to bounce on the back of the seat which created problems for me & my spinal pain. When I tried to explain the mother had no sympathy neither did the trolley dolly, until later when the child spilt its food all over their seat.

26 March 2007

Finally got home quite late on Monday morning, I had the presence to of taken the day off so spent most of it sleeping.

Well now have to start serious plans for new Blog & my birthday

I'm Off To Sunny Spain

Well all you readers at long last Brian & I are off to Sunny Spain tomorrow, I fact I am am told by Zorro that it truely is sunny over there despite the fact here they are predicting snow over the weekend.

Therefore I have a last few things to pack, my trusty camera for new photos for the Blog, plus pen & paper to record any exciting incidents that I have whilst over there.

This is despite all the pain from whatever is causing all the problems with my spine, the fact I signed my divorce papers this week ironically the day after it would of been our wedding aniversary, as well as the week after I learnt that in the not to distant future I may not have a job.

On top of this some more of my guests have now told me that they are unable to attend my birthday celebrations, at this rate there will soon be just me.

Francis the Fearless is back

12 March 2007

Well, hello readers sorry I have been so quiet but as you will remember I have been having problems with my spine so it has been hard to sit down on my chair at the computer.

I am now on stronger painkillers so should be able to sit for while, because of this I have been able to make a trip over to Ireland for my daughter's confirmation.

It was nice to see the family again, and a very interesting experience going to the church, unfortunately the priest did not look a happy man, but the Bishop looked like one of those priests from the old American films who you could tell anything. Common sense though states that to have become the Bishop he must have ambition which doesn't fit in with a gentle person.

Whilst I was ill I took a week off work and looked forward to listening to my hero Terry Wogan, unfortunately he decided to go on holiday at this time. I have to say that listening to Johnnie Walker at that time of the morning does not help me to get up or to relax.

I have now seen my osteopath four times and he tells me that I have a prolapsed disc and possibly a trapped nerve and I need a scan, at present the most comfortable position to sit is actually lying down on my left side with a cushion between my legs, which severely restrict my walking.

Anyway less of these problems I have spoken to Zorro who had to return to Britain because of health risks in South America, but who has now gone to Spain for another holiday, where I hope to meet up in a weeks time with him. So we may have some more interesting issues on the Blog in the next week or two.

The other week I noticed 100 Best Musicals of all time were on TV which I eventually managed to record, I had a look at parts of the recording, and came across a little bit that said ”all people who watch musicals and enjoy them are camp and gay” which I feel is inappropriate both for people who are gay and for us other people who as far as we are aware heterosexual and very definitely not camp, although romantics, because we enjoy a happy story, good melodies, and a happy outcome, which are the main ingredients of my favourite musicals of all time, such as Singing in the Rain, Calamity Jane and Annie Get Your Gun.

Well the other, sort of good news that I have, is that I am debating on creating a new Blog on the theme that I originally decided my Blog was about.

Although I appear to have lost direction totally. Therefore the new Blog will be about the fascinating things that have happened to me in the course of my life both happy and sad and pinching Melanies idea I will put some of my old photos on including my one and only appearance on stage in my pyjamas, apart from the time when I was wrapped in a piece of carpet as a dead body, in a play that won second prize in an amateur dramatic festival, when I was later complemented on how well I had acted the part.

Well I will close the but look out for the new exciting Blog soon.