Tag Archives: washing

Monday 24th July 2017 – I HAVE JUST MADE …

… one of the best curries that I’ve ever made.

It’s a chick pea and mushroom curry, and I’ve no idea why it should taste so different (or so nice) but it certainly was. And there’s enough for three more days too.

And I’ve been out this morning too. Apparently there was home-made vegan ginger cake being prepared at Roncey so of course Terry needed a hand with the plasterboard in his living room, didn’t he?

So after breakfast I bunged a load of dirty clothes into the washing machine and Caliburn and I hit the streets for Roncey.

I went out there via Intersport. Liz had seen my fitbit on Saturday and was having a play around with it. She asked me if, next time that I was passing, I could pick one up for her.

And it was a good job that I was outside the shop already when it opened its doors, because they only had one left! They don’t have any now!

Terry had fitted the plasterboard but having pulled a tendon in his shoulder, couldn’t reach up to infill the joints. And so I spent a pleasant morning with a pile of pollyfilla (I thought that I had left all of that kind of work far behind me).

There’s plenty of vegan ginger cake left, so I reckoned that the pollyfilla would need a good 20 hours to dry, and I could go back tomorrow morning and sand it down.

Back here, I crashed out for a good hour. Clearly even doing that amount of work was too much for me, but you will be amazed at the lengths to which I will go in order to get my teeth stuck into a slice of Liz’s home-made cake.

So curry for tea tonight, and now a walk. And then a shower (for my nice, clean bedding) and an early night. I need to build up my strength in order to justice to another slice of Liz’s cake.

Sunday 2nd July 2017 – I MIGHT HAVE SOLVED …

… one of the issues with this oven.

And it’s so simple that I could kick myself.

You may remember now that for the last two weeks I’ve been cooking other things in the oven – a pie two weeks ago and a rice pudding last week. But the tray at the bottom hasn’t been strong enough to support the casserole dish that I’ve been using and we’ve nearly had a couple of accidents.

So if it’s not there to use as another baking shelf, then what’s it for? If in doubt, take it out!

And so I did – and in 20 minutes (instead of the usual half an hour) my pizza wasn’t just cooked but overcooked.

So you learn something new every day. The trouble that I have though is that each time that I learn something new, it pushes something old out.

So how was my night last night? I’m sure that you want to know because, for the first time that I’ve been here, I have a curtain in the bedroom and it was nice and dark.

I was asleep early enough and with no alarm I was hoping for a decent lie in too. But after a while tossing and turning in the new dark, I hauled myself out of bed to find that it was a mere 06:50. Even earlier than the alarm.

Mind you, I’d been on my travels though. I was out shopping – shopping for shoes as it happens (and this is something that I need to do before I go to Canada) and ended up at a cheap market type of place (not where I’m likely to find what I want). However I did find a pair of shoes that I liked and as I went to pay for them I noticed something else that I liked too (and I can’t remember now what it was) so I picked that up too. On my way to the cash desk I noticed a third thing – and I immediatle recognised this as the power pack for my laptop (which it isn’t, but never mind) and which was just €4:99. So I asked the girl about it to make sure and she confirmed it so I added that to the pile too. She made some kind of remark – something like “you’re certainly finding some good stuff here!” and I thought that I was too, a power pack at just €4:99.

After breakfast and a little repose for half an hour I cracked on with the blog. I’ve had a really good day and reached early June 2012 (I’ve left off May though because this needs a good clear out seeing as it’s the period when I was in Canada.

Just another 202 entrie to do now and it will be up-to-date – a far cry from the well-over 350 that there were when I restarted this. When i’s done I can continue with the updating of the earlier stuff – which is likewise proceeding apace.

I had the baguette for lunch but ate in here because it was grey and miserable outside.

This afternoon I had a … errr … little repose – the strain of being awake so early is telling on me, and then I did the last of the washing. Now it’s all up-to-date for the next fortnight and that’s fine by me. I pushed on with a little more of the blog too.

So with the pizza out of the way, it’s another early night in the dark again tonight. Tomorrow I have a lot to do. Like booking some more stuff for my trip to Canada and deaing with an item of correspondence that has reared its ugly head.

Saturday 1st July 2017 – I NOW HAVE …

… not only a washing machine but an installed washing machine and a working washing machine too.

And also a pile of clean clothes.

Terry and Liz came round this morning and Terry helped me carry it up the stairs into here. We plugged it in and connected up the water, and Robert is your father’s brother.

Last night was a better night. Still not as good as I would like but an improvement on just recently. And it must have been good too because I was away with the fairies for quite a while.

I was living in a commune type of place with loads of people whom I knew – it was round about the station approach in Sandbach somewhere. And at bedtime we all clambered into a variety of big beds – half a dozen or so to each bed. I was lucky in that in my bed everyone else was a female, including Miss Norgain, the lesbian headmistress of Crewe Girls Grammar School. This all worked fine until one of my bed mates started to become very … err … frisky. Not that I minded of course, but I did wonder what Miss Norgain would have to say about it.
Later on, I was taking the short cut into Crewe. For those of you who don’t know the approach into Crewe from the south, it’s rather tortuous around the Gresty area but there is a shortcut down an ancient bridleway that passes under the railway lines by a bridge known locally as “the mucky bridge” for reasons that are self-evident to anyone who tries to take that lane in the wet. So off I went, but instead of being the lane that I have used on many occasions, it became that mountain pass over which we have climbed or skied on many a nocturnal ramble and which regular readers of this rubbish will recall. But halfway down there my way was blocked by a huge shiny metal fence that had been erected right across the pathway. There was a house and office right by the gate and so I enquired. I had to waith in there until the other two or three customers ahead of me were dealt with and had left the room and then I enquired of the woman there to find out what was going on. She replied that they had bought all of the land and had fenced it off, as was their right now that they owned it. I explained that you can’t simply close or fence off a public footpath – a whole process needs to be undertaken and consent is rarely given, but she told me to take it up with the council. I wasn’t allowed to phone but a young girl was, so she relayed the message for me. It had been 20 years since I’d been to Crewe and things hadn’t changed there. The solicitor of Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council (with whom I had many a tangle back in the old days) was doing his best to fob off this girl with meaningless statements and so I told her to tell him that it was Mr Hall who was enquiring. And so she did. You could actually hear the conversation come to a dead stop – if you want to know the meaning of a “pregnant pause” there wouldn’t be any better way of describing it than this – and after about 10 seconds I could hear an “ohhh – Mr Hall. I remember him!” which of course, he most certainly would.

After breakfast I carried on updating the blog and then went out for my baguette. My return saw me start to arrange things around ready for the washing machine, and I’ve still no idea where I’m going to put everything.

We had the machine installed quite rapidly and then drilled holes in the granite to fit the supports for the curtain rails – Terry had remembered to bring his big drill.

As a reward I took everyone off to the bar in the square down the road for a coffee and we stayed there to chat.

The subject of lunch came up, so I nipped to the magasin de presse next door to the bar for another baguette and we came back to make a huge salad. Good job that I bought that sweetcorn yesterday, wasn’t it?

To walk off our lunch we went for a good long stroll around the city walls and then they went home. A job well done.

Standing for a while in the damp hadn’t done the washing machine too much good so I ended up dismantling it and giving it a really good clean as best as I could. And then I set it to work.

I’d been warned about the noise that it makes, which may well be worn bearings, so they reckon. But it made no noise that would cause me any concern. Mind you, I reckon that the bits of metal, screwdriver bits, coins and washers that I retrieved from the innards might be some kind of explanation for all of that.

And so what if it only works on one programme? How many do you need when you are a man?

For tea, I finished off the rest of the salad with a veggie burger and now I’m ready for anything.

Probably bed.

Saturday 17th June 2017 – THIS VACUUM CLEANER …

… that I bought yesterday isn’t half the genoux de l’abeille as they might say around here.

It might be only small, and it might be only cheap but it has the kind of suction for which a Conservative MP would pay good money in a back street massage parlour in Soho.

Yes, I’ve been cleaning and tidying up – well, sort-of_ish anyway. Because I had a brainwave. Self-motivation is not my strongest point, as you all know, and seeing as how Liz is on her own right now, Terry having gone back to The Land That Time Forgot to sort out the health issues of his mother and his daughter, I’ve invited her round for lunch tomorrow.

That means that I shall have to have the place looking at least presentable by the time that she comes round, and that’s not a bad idea at all. And so I made a sort-of start.

If I do another hour or two tomorrow morning it won’t be too bad I suppose. But I do like this vacuum cleaner. In fact, you can say that I’m almost as impressed with it as I am with my galvanised steel dustbin.

The tidying up involved putting away a pile of papers too (and there’s still more to go) and also sorting out my Canadian travel bag. For those of you who are not regular readers of this rubbish, I have a small bag with all of my 120-volt equipment in it – such as an AA – AAA battery charger, a couple of leads for electrical appliances, and all of the ‘phone stuff.

And it’s a good job that I did too because the data/charging cable for the North American phone doesn’t work (I remember that I had this problem last year) and I broke the car charger. And so I am in difficulty here. I shall have to think of a cunning plan.

Another thing that Bane of Britain seems to have done is to mix up the clean clothes that he washed the other day with the dirty clothes that he’s been wearing ever since. And that’s fraught with danger, isn’t it?

We had another struggle to leave the stinking pit this morning, although I was early down at the magasin de presse for my baguette. And with the boss not being there, I ended up with a rather miserable baguette too.

Lunchtime saw me up on the cliff above the harbour with my butties and book. It was another beautiful afternoon. I was up there for quite a while too in the glorious weather, but was eventually burnt out of my position so I came back here instead.

Tea was more of the curry stuff, but I’ve also prepared a tofu marinade. Tofu is pretty tasteless so it needs to be soaked in stuff. Mine was cooked with garlic, onions, pepper and curry powder (I wish that I had remembered to buy some sage and rosemary) and it’ll sit in that until tomorrow evening. I’ll cook a handful of lentils in the slow cooker too tomorrow morning and that will be the filling for the pie that I’m going to make. I’ll be having the oven on for the pizza, and so I can bake the pie at the same time.

I hope that it will be nice.

Ohhh – and Rhys – talking of cunning plans, if you are on your trips around the Dollar Stores, keep your eyes open for a data cable and a car charger for a Samsung T746.

Tuesday 16th May 2017 – TONIGHT’S TEA …

… was bangers, beans and baked potatoes. The rest of the sausages and the left-over half-tin of beans from Saturday night, and some potatoes from the pile that I bought the other week. A bit of pepper on the beans and some vegan margarine on the potatoes, and it was a meal fit for a King.

Last night I was tossing and turning again and I really don’t know why, and I was up long before the alarm went off.But I had a busy morning, even if it doesn’t seem that I accomplished much.

It was washday today and by that, I started off with me – a nice, long, hot shower and a shave, followed by some delicate clothing that needed hand-washing and which I’d been putting off for quite some time.

Once that was out of the way, I attacked all of the rest of the crockery and cutlery that I had brought from the Auvergne, which I had taken there from Brussels after I had sold Expo. And there were tons of it too. All of the cutlery I left soaking in boiling water for several hours to kill whatever might have been lurking on them.

As for the saucepans, they were almost new so I brought them with me (and two of them work on the induction hob too) so they were steam-cleaned – by the simple expedient of jamming the lids on and weighting them down while some water boiled away inside. Any germs that might have been loitering within them have certainly had their chips now.

This afternoon I had to go back down to the bank, so I took the final load of paper out to put in the recycling as I passed by. And I encountered the bus driver who was taking a short break at a bus stop.We had a chat and she filled me in about the bus service around the town. It’s about 20 minutes from here to the railway station and it costs €1:00 per trip. That will suit me just fine.

And as I was passing the library, with 10 minutes to spare (yes, there are still libraries in Mainland Europe) I popped in and joined. Cost me €10:00 but it’s an unlimited supply of books, CDs and DVDs as well as all kinds of exhibitions and debates.

The Bank hasn’t made much progress in transferring my accounts. And the girl whom I saw asked me for lots of information that I didn’t have (shame that she hadn’t asked me last time to bring it with me today) so this is going to grind on and on. And the amount of paper (in a paperless office) that she printed off for me to sign must run into a respectable forest.

It was hot on the way back so I treated myself to a sorbet – and nice it was too. And when I arrived, I crashed out for a while, to be awoken by Ingrid who wanted a chat. Always nice to talk to friends of course.

And Hannah and Liz chatted to me on the internet too after tea. That was nice too. Hannah has almost finished her course in Madrid now – hasn’t time flown by? She’ll be hitting the rails for a few weeks before flying back to Canada, and she might pass by here.

So now, it’s an early night again. I’ll need to choose another DVD to take with me.

Wednesday 3rd May 2017 – I’VE BEEN TO COUTANCES …

… more times today that I have been in the rest of my life.

Well, anyway I reckon so, because when I was there a couple of weeks ago I didn’t see anywhere or anything that made me think that I had been here before when Nerina and I did out Grant Tour of Normandy and Brittany in 1991.

But last night, once I finally managed to drop off to sleep, I slept the Sleep Of The Dead and it wasn’t until the alarm went off that I awoke.

Terry and I were on our own today after breakfast and I had to go into Countances for the stuff that we needed for today’s exertions – the pipes for the plumbing of the heating in the kitchen, some more metal studding for the walls and a few other bits and pieces too. While I was out at the shops Terry started to fit the wooden bracing supports on the wall where the kitchen units will be.

Upon my return I helped Terry finish off the bracing and then we had a mega-tidy-and-clean-up, which took us up to lunchtime.

After lunch we fitted the insulation and the plasterboard on the ceiling in the hall, and that was quite exciting seeing as there was just two of us. And then an inventory of stock showed us that we were still short of what we needed and so I had to return to Coutances.

While I was there, I noticed that the Intermarché had a couple of small 6kg washing machines on offer at just €199. There’s plumbing for an automatic washer at my new place and so this could be a possibility.

Back here, we finished off the day by installing all of the studding down the wall that runs down the front of the kitchen and the hallway. That took a while as there were many fiddly bits to be done.

Liz had done a machine-load of washing for me before she went. I’d found a bag full of dirty washing at the bottom of the pile of stuff in Caliburn and so I’d put it all in an empty black holdall similar to the one that I use for travelling that had a set of clean clothes and stuff like that. And then I’d brought the wrong one with me and left behind in my apartment the one that I should have bought. And so tonight I had a shower in the gorgeous new shower here and a change of clothes to make me smell nice – if that’s at all possible.

The Electrickery Board has changed the time of my re-connection on Friday to between 13:00 and 17:00 so I’m staying here tomorrow to give Terry another day of help, and I can sleep here until Friday morning. That will take me nicely into town on Friday morning to do the essential shopping to start myself off.

The big question is, though, will I have faded away by Friday morning? At this rate I wouldn’t rule it out.

Tuesday 20th September 2016 – BLASTED SEAGULL!

There I was today, at the supermarket buying the baguette for lunch, and when I came out, I noticed that Strider had had a visit. A passing seagull had scored a direct hit, and all over the windscreen too with an accuracy that would put Bomber Command to shame. It was certainly an impressive strike.

Talking of Bomber Command, I do recall my erstwhile neighbour back in Crewe, “Blaster” Bates, telling me that he once witnessed the RAF bombing an oil slick with thermal bombs in order to try to set it alight and disperse the pollution, and deciding that on the basis of what he had seen, if the RAF ever decided to bomb anywhere else at any time, he would flee for safety not into an air-raid shelter but into the epicentre of the target. That was where he considered the safest place to be during an RAF bombing raid.

We had the usual night, as it seems to be developing these days. Straight to sleep almost as soon as I went to bed, awake after thirty minutes or so, back to sleep until about 02:00, a restless half-hour or so and then flat out until the alarm went off at 06:00.

We had been on our travels again too – this time to Derby although it was nothing like the Derby that I know. I had to find an address (the name of the street I have now forgotten although I did know it during the night) and my wanderings took me to a street on the south side of the centre of the city where there were some really big and impressive sandstone houses of the rich Victorian period, all now used as offices. But this wasn’t at all the place where I wanted to be. I eventually found a street map and found that where I wanted to be – right across to the north-east side of the city. My route took me through the central railway station past the taxi rank, and there was an old white Hillman Imp being used as a taxi, passing up the outside of the queue. It had been stripped out inside s if it was planning to be used for the transport of luggage. Where I had to be was a street halfway up the castle mound and I had to pass under a railway line out of the station and onto a footpath that had formerly been the trackbed of an old railway line that had circled the city. The view of this particular area reminded me of the view from the Oak Street car park across to the Mill Street Bridge in Crewe.

And this was where I was when I awoke. I had a light breakfast and then came in here for a relax and ended up chatting to a friend for a few hours. When she went off to do other things, I headed off to the supermarket and my appointment with a seagull.

I made my butties and then headed for the beach. It was grey and miserable when I set off but astonishingly, as I unfurled my chair on the beach the sky dramatically cleared and we had some blue sky. That was totally unexpected.

Right down at the end of the beach somewhere near Beaubassin and Cap Pele was an object that in the distance looked as if a cargo ship had run aground on the beach. As I couldn’t identify it properly I took a photo of it so that I could enlarge it at a later date.

And here it is. It’s not a ship at all but some kind of building on the shore and one day I might have a wander down there to see exactly what it is. But it won’t be today – or tomorrow either.

I wasn’t out there for all that long. The sun went in, the sky clouded over again and the wind got up. I went back to Strider and took myself down to the quayside at Pointe du Chene.

I wasn’t alone there though. We had a coach pull up to disgorge a pile of tourists and they flocked on board the sightseeing boat.

I didn’t mention it before but there is a pleasure boat that does a regular tour around the bay – one of these “three times round the lighthouse for five bob” things, and while that kind of thing doesn’t really interest me all that much, it’s certainly popular with the tourists as you can tell.

And to think that it’s out-of-season here too.

We had loads of fishermen here today as well and I did actually see two of them catch a fish each. That was something!

And there might have been more but I was … errr … having a little rest during part of the afternoon with my eyes closed to protect them from the clouds.

Back here I had a shower and then washed all of my clothes and the towels and everything. I’m supposed to wash the towels before I leave (which is tomorrow) and so I took the opportunity to stick everything else in there too.

I also attacked the food and managed to reduce all of that to manageable proportions. I’m not sure where I’ll be tomorrow and whether there will be a freezer or a fridge there.

And now I’m off to bed. An early night yet again, for tomorrow I’m hitting the road.

I’ve no idea at all where I’ll be tomorrow.

Thursday 28th July 2016 – WHAT A DEPRESSING …

… night that was. I can’t remember now how many times I had to leave the comfort and safety of my stinking pit to go off down the corridor, but it was certainly more than three or four. It’s that kind of thing that’s making me feel so fed up right now, as well as the perpetual coughing and the streaming cold.

Mind you, I did find the time to go on a nocturnal ramble. Firstly, I remember seeing a young black girl walking along the street and we ended up having quite a chat about something although I can’t remember what it was now. From here I went off to my hotel room, which actually had two beds, and the second bed was now occupied by some guy from Eastern Europe. The rooms were small and poorly-furnished but the sheets and the quilt were white. There was one shelf, which was over my bed, to put suitcases and this other guy was going through some weird acrobatics in order to put his suitcase up there – standing on the windowsill, on the foot of the bed, anything except putting his foot on the bedding. I then had to go off to the bathroom but there was quite a queue and I was in something of a rush, so I was very glad when it came to my turn. When the person before me came out, I made some kind of light-hearted comment about having to wait, and of course it was totally misunderstood, as you might expect. As for the bathroom itself, the only word that comes to my mind was “disgusting”. It really was quite poor and I was dismayed by that.

It’s not the only thing that I’m dismayed about right now either. I had a lengthy chat with Hermione this morning. The good news is that there’s no problem with the lymph nodes in my stomach, according to the scan, but there is still plenty of infection in my lungs. And not only that, the treatment that I was told initially would be over by mid-September is the chemotherapy treatment that is too violent for me and which they stopped. This new treatment has quite a different time-scale and they can’t say for how long it will go on.

Not only that, I’m going to have to be followed up by the hospital for the rest of my life. I did ask what she meant by this – did she mean once every six months (which I could cope with without too many problems) or did she mean once per week, which would be devastating for me – but she couldn’t give me an answer to that until she sees how the treatment progresses.

But anyway, it looks as if my idyllic life in my rural retreat is rapidly coming to an end and you have absolutely no idea just how gutted I am about that. I can see my regular voyages to Canada coming to an end too and that will be just about the end.

The hospital seems to be taking it quite seriously too because after lunch I had a visit from the hospital psychiatrist. She wanted to have a good chat to me about my future and unfortunately I wasn’t able to say very much. Without knowing what the hospital has in store for me for the future, I can’t make any plans at all, as I explained to her. We ended up having a desultory kind of chat about not very much, which was finished when she said “well, see you next week”. That sounded rather ominous to me – I’m hoping to be out of here in a day or two.

But it’s not all doom and gloom, no matter what it might sound like. I managed to eat a good lunch and they were so impressed by that that they have taken me off the intravenous drip. Now, I’m not connected to anything at all which is good news for me.

Furthermore, Alison came to see me for a chat. She brought me a couple of packets of vegan crisps and a bag-full of clothes. She had taken the time to do my dirty washing for me, something that I found really nice of her and which I appreciated a great deal. I may not have many friends, but of the ones that I have are the best in the world.

So that’s enough of this rubbish. I’m going to knock off and spend the rest of the evening worrying about my future – if I have one, that is. I really am dismayed by the news today.

Sunday 3rd July 2016 – IF EVER I LAY MY HANDS …

… on whoever it was who came in at 04:20 this morning, went into the kitchen and started cooking eggs, they will spend the rest of their lived eating soup through a straw. To say that I was not very impressed with the noise that they made is an understatement to be sure.

Mind you, I’d already had a good sleep. I was in bed by 22:00 and I dunno how long I was awake but I only saw a few minutes of the film that I was watching, and that was that. And after the interruption in the middle of the night, I was off again – this time until 07:00.

And I was off too – several times down the corridor for a start, and then off on my travels. I don’t remember too much about it but it involved a bright light blue Ford Cortina saloon – either a mark IV or a mark V. But at least it was a voyage, and that tells you something about my bed. As I said the other day, I have slept in more comfortable beds than this, but not for quite a while.

Now, how do I know that it was 07:00 when I awoke this morning?

The answer is that the blasted church bells flaming well started off again, didn’t they? It’s a really good job that I’m going to bed earlier and earlier, otherwise I really would be upset. But when was the last time that I was up and about, breakfasting at 07:10 in the morning, long before the alarm, on a Sunday?

I was early down the road to the boulangerie too which was just as well as I had the last baguette – and that was before 09:00 too. I need to remember this as I don’t want to be stranded.

The bathroom received my attention too – I had a beautiful warm shower today and a good shave. And what with a change of clothes I look almost human now. This led to a visit to the launderette round the corner and for just €4:50 in the washing machine and €1:00 in the drier, I washed absolutely all of the clothes except the minimum that I could wear, and also the bedding from my stay up the road. The bedding is now ready to be taken back to Caliburn, which I can do tomorrow as I’m off to the hospital for 09:10 for my check-up.

Liz made an appearance on the airwaves too so we had a good chat while the washing was doing. Yes, there’s a free internet connection in the launderette and I’ll file that fact away for future reference.

Tea was pizza (well, it is Sunday) from the place round the corner and while I’ve had better (under-cooked pizzas seems to be a local speciality), this was the spiciest that I’ve ever had and it was really delicious from that point of view.

But lunch was a bit of a catastrophe. I had a good moan about my housemates yesterday as you remember, but today the kitchen was a disgrace. However, the cleaner told me that most people are here this weekend for the rock festival at Werchter and tomorrow almost everyone will have left the building. There will just be half-a-dozen or so people left.

So now I’m going to sit by the window and enjoy the pleasant evening – it’s not rained for at least four hours. And then an early night for my early start for the hospital.

At least the breakfasts are good in this place. There are no complaints from me from that point of view. You really win with the breakfasts.

Friday 20th May 2016 – AND I’VE BEEN OUT TODAY TOO!

After breakfast I had a few things to organise and then round about 09:30 I hit the road for my place, calling at the Intermarché at Pionsat on the way in order to buy some bread for lunch.

At home I had a little rest of an hour or so and then I started to collect up the stuff that I need for Belgium (and also for Canada, just in case I have the possibility to go there later this year). A few things I couldn’t find, and a few things I forgot, but I’ll call there tomorrow on my way out to the motorway and finish off a few things.

This afternoon, I took it easy. I’ve cut my hair and had a shower – so I’m nice and clean and tidy ready for the journey back home. I’ve done a load of washing too and even as I speak, it’s going round and round in the dryer because there won’t be enough time to dry it properly.

I’ve not planned my food resources correctly because I have some mushroom and lentil curry and also some home-made vegan ice cream left over. I’ll just have to come back another time to finish it off.

And now I’m off for a very early night. There will be no alarm clock in the morning because I intend to have a good sleep if I can. I’ve a long way to drive tomorrow and I’m not really up to it. I’ll have to do my best and see what happens. I can’t expect too much in my state of health.

But what was nice was that I had an e-mail from the Social Services department asking me how I was feeling and whether I’d been able to manage the journey back. That was a very pleasant e-mail – it’s nice to know that they have been thinking about me.

I didn’t catch up on my last night’s voyages, I was off on a different track completely. While I was waiting yesterday for Caliburn to have his contole technique, I was reading the local paper and noticed a story concerning someone whom I know in Pionsat. He’s been fighting a complicated legal battle for the last five years and judging by the news story and his post on his Social Networking site last night, he’s finally been successful.

And so last night, on my travels, I was involved with him in some way. It’s pretty-much a truism to say that there are no winners amongst the civilian population in a lengthy court case because whoever comes out on top, his card is marked and the authorities are hell-bent on revenge. And this was the case last night. This boy was harassed and harassed by the authorities and in the end was carried off and convicted of something or other. He’d left some of his possessions with me while he was away and I discovered a secret compartment in his affairs and the contents of this compartment went to show that maybe he wasn’t as innocent as he liked to appear. But, then again, who is? As you probably know, I have a theory that all humans are pretty much the same in the grand, and some are caught and others are not and that is the big difference.
Later on during the night I went for a walk and came across a huge mansion-type place across a field and lake and through a forest of cherry trees laden with blossom. I didn’t have my camera with me so I went back for it and then walked through the lake (it wasn’t very deep at first but I ended up over my knees by the time I reached the other side) to take a photo but of course my camera wouldn’t work. It turned out that this was some kind of Girls’ Schools something along the lines of Ampleforth College,with the girls wearing red and white checked dresses. This all rang a bell with me because I’d sat on some kind of committee where some novel educational programmes submitted by various schools had been judged, and while the winner was from some kind of mainstream school, one that had particularly impressed the committee was one that had been submitted by a person who had since gone on to become a senior teacher at this school. I was therefore interested to see if any of these novel ideas had been applied at the school and after having presented myself to the headmistress, I was granted research facilities at the school to examine the teaching and the recreational activities. I quickly adopted a committee of three sixth-form girls. I was impressed with the keenness and throughness of these girls, but not so impressed with the fact that when the bell went for the end of the day they immediately deserted and left me to do the tidying up and that sometimes went on for quite a while. One one occasion I went round to their room and “swept them out” with a large-bristled brush. Another thing that impressed me about the school was the fact that all of the food was vegetarian, although I was unable to find out if there were vegan options.

Tuesday 17th May 2016 – I’VE BEEN OUT AND ABOUT TODAY

So having gone to bed quite early last night, I ended up chatting to Alison and Liz on the internet. And then, having dozed in and out of sleep for hours, it was midnight when I switched off the radio and finally settled down for the night.

I had quite a few trips down the corridor, what with one thing and another, but was wide awake by about 06:30, having been off to Stoke on Trent during the night. I’d bought a Land Rover chassis-cab with a crane or winch on the back. It was in good condition but a little scabby but down in the scrapyard we discovered two perfect doors (although of a slightly different colour) so we bought them and fitted them. The next task, as my friend explained to me, was the rear valance and he sorted out his angle grinder and wire brush to de-rust it so that we could paint it over. Zero came over for a chat too, which was very nice because it’s been a good few weeks since she’s appeared in one of my nocturnal rambles.

After breakfast I started to organise myself. I sorted out all of the washing into piles that will either go back home or come with me to Belgium, and then I sorted out the paperwork. I made an appointment with my doctor as I have some paperwork that she needs to see and I need a form signing. That’s for Thursday morning.

Once I’d organised that, I went off out and about.

first stop was the garage. It’s time for Caliburn’s Controle Technique on Thursday afternoon, so I’ve booked him in for a service and a visual check to make sure that there’s nothing about to drop off on the road.

The bank was next. There’s an important bill to pay and if I don’t pay it soon I’ll be transported for life or something so that was urgent. And then I went to the Intermarché for a bit of shopping.

Finally, I ended up back at my house where I dropped off a pile of stuff, stripped out the back of Caliburn and gave him a good brushing out, and now I’ve installed my temporary bed in there for when I go back to Belgium. I couldn’t find the OSB that I use and ended up having to use a sheet of plywood as a bed base. It’s not very satisfactory, bending and creaking in the middle, but it will have to do for now until I can think of something better.

But I’ll tell you something – and that is that I’m clearly not well. Two hours of working on Caliburn, and it wasn’t very hard labour that I was doing, and I was done for. I’ve no idea how I’m going to cope in the future if I can’t summon up the energy for this.

Instead of hanging out there to do more work, I ended up coming back here where I crashed out for three hours – really gone, I was. I’ll have to catch up back at home some other time.

Now that I’ve been to the shops and bought some garlic, I made one of my mega-curries tonight with mushrooms and lentils. But there’s plenty left for the next few days because I couldn’t summon up the appetite.

Now I’m off to bed again and to listen to the radio programmes for a while. I’m ready for a good sleep, even though I’ve already had a good sleep just now.

I can’t keep it up like I used to.

Sunday 15th May 2016 – A GOOD, SOLID, UNINTERRUPTED SLEEP

That was what i was hoping for yesterday. And did I get it?

I was in bed by 22:00 and fell asleep listening to some of the radio programmes that I recorded years ago from www.archive.org. Something awoke me rather dramatically an hour or so later and although I don’t know what it was, I did notice that Liz had been trying to speak to me on the internet. I replied to her but ended up going right back to sleep in the middle of the discussion. I really can’t last the pace these days, can I?

There was the usual trip down the corridor at some time during the night, and I was awake again at 06:30. But badger that for a game of soldiers, I turned over and went back to sleep. Next thing that I remember was at 07:30 and then I really couldn’t go back to sleep. By 07:45 I was up and about, preparing breakfast and looking for my medication which I seem to have left behind me in Pellenberg. Ahhh well!

At least it was a nice, sunny start to the day. The sun has followed me down here, so it seems, and just after breakfast it was streaming down the back of my neck for a while. And that was extremely pleasant.

As for today, I’ve been torn between three stools.

I’ve done two machine-loads of washing. All of the stuff that I had in Belgium with me plus all of the washing that was hanging around back at my house. There’s still plenty left over to do, but I’ll do another load just before I leave, and then everything will be up to date for when I return, whenever that might be.
I’ve been cracking on with the blog, bringing it up to to date. I’ve finished all of February 2011 and now I’m well stuck into March. If I’m not careful, I’ll be catching myself up
I’ve been drifting in and out of sleep too. I’m nothing like as young as I used to be and my health is still quite fragile as you know. It’s hardly surprising that I haven’t caught up with myself yet but I hope that I have done by this evening as I have a lot to do starting tomorrow

Liz had left me a ginger cake that she had made, and a slice of that went down a treat with my afternoon coffee. But there was no garlic – I ended up having to make garlic bread with a shallot and that’s not the same thing. I must buy some garlic if I want to do some cooking here.

So now, I’m going off for yet another early night and I’ll see how I get on. Tomorrow, I have to go back to chez moi and start my plans.

Tidying up Caliburn is the first item on the agenda.

Tuesday 26th April 2016 – I DIDN’T HAVE …

… such a good night last night as I did the previous night. Mind you, having said that, compared to some that I’ve had in the recent past, it was a dramatic improvement and two or three weeks ago, I would have been quite happy with a night like last night.

I didn’t go to bed too early, and didn’t watch a film. I was asleep quite quickly but spent some of the night tossing and turning around trying to find a comfortable position. I had a stroll down the corridor at some time during the night but it didn’t inconvenience me too much and I was wide awake by 07:30.

After breakfast (and two cups of really nice coffee again) I came back here but was unceremoniously thrown out of my room for 15 minutes by the cleaner who wanted to give my room a good going-over. I went to the office and gave my notice in for Friday morning when I’m heading back to the hospital for the next session of chemo.

And I’m not looking forward to that in the slightest. That’s because I’m feeling quite well at the moment and the chemo sessions will knock me back again. But as I said the other day, I’ll just have to get used to it.

I bought a token for the washing machine too and did all of the washing that’s been building up. Hopefully it’ll all be dry by Friday morning so I’ll have clean clothes to go into hospital with.

Down to the shops for lunchtime and I did remember the spicy sliced cake. They didn’t have any of the soya vanilla custard substitute but instead I bought a pack of four of these vanilla-flavoured soya desserts. For pudding tonight, I had four slices of the cake and tipped one of these pots of vanilla over the top – and it was delicious. I’ll eat that again. It went down nicely after my stir-fry vegetables and rice. A meal fit for a King, and you can tell that I’m feeling much better with my appetite being back, and in spades too!

As for the house-hunting, nothing happened today. That’s because I’ve been summoned to see the Social Services people tomorrow. After everything that I said yesterday, it seems that they have a couple of possibilities for me and we have to discuss them.

So things might be starting to happen in that direction. Watch this space.

Wednesday 13th August 2016 – NOW, ABOUT LAST NIGHT …

… I was in bed by about 21:30 and it didn’t take all that long at all to drop off to sleep. And the next thing that I remember was that it was 05:35. I can’t have been for a wander during the night and I vaguely remember only the basics of some kind of nocturnal ramble going on during the night. It concerns Renown Garage where my taxi business was based during the late 1980s. They had dug up the petrol pumps and were concreting them, with this huge cement mixer. However, instead of water, they had mixed the concrete with petrol which had infiltrated into the foundations from the old petrol tanks. This had the effect (at least, it did last night) of making the concrete set quickly and super-hard, and they had far too much of it that they didn’t know what to do with it. I immediately seized on the opportunity to offer my back garden as a dumping ground for the concrete – with the aim of course of covering it over as a place to park my vehicles.

I felt quite better this morning, and even had an appetite for breakfast. And afterwards, now that I’ve bought some soap, I went for a shower and sorted out all of my clothes for washing. And this was when I realised that I only have one spare pair of undies and trousers – no socks, tee-shirt or jumper. Nevertheless, I put everything ready to wash.

I had to wait hours for the machine to free itself, seeing as the cleaner seemed to have gone berserk with the cleaning cycle, but it didn’t take long to wash. Meantime, I’d gone round to the supermarket for my baguette, tomato and banana, and as well as that, bought myself a bag of sweets and a bun because I was starving. This is definitely an improvement.

And my relentless thirst seems to have calmed down too, which is a good thing. You’ve no idea how much liquid I’ve demolished this last few days.

This afternoon I had a doze again for an hour or so and later on went out for tea. Thanks to all of the vegan cheese that I have, I went for another pizza and I polished that off quite comfortably.

Yes, definitely feeling a little better.

But you missed all of the excitement while I was out. Some young guy thought that he would be clever by cycling on the pavement around a traffic queue in the street. Instead, he cycled right into a grid in the gutter, his front wheel jammed and he went head-over-heels right over the handlebars.

Yes, I did have to laugh.

But tomorrow I’m back at the hospital. I’m having a blood test at the day centre and that will tell us whether I need another transfusion, or whether the chemotherapy is actually working.

It’ll be interesting to see what’s going on, and I hope that it’s working because I don’t want to go through too much of this under any circumstances whatever. It’s horrible.

Monday 12th October 2015 – IT’S THANKSGIVING.

And with Thanksgiving being a public holiday in Canada, everyone had a lie-in this morning and we ended up later having one of the legendary Taylor Breakfast Brunches, with plenty of toast and hot coffee.

I’ve spent all of the afternoon stripping Strider right out and I’ve disposed of enough rubbish that will surely make Strider go 5 mph faster. I’ve certainly filled both of the 40-gallon incinerator drums.

I’ve found a few things that I’d forgotten about, including the tin opener that I had bought at a charity shop in Moncton. No wonder my bed had an uncomfortable spot in it. And I’ve also pulled out everything that needs to go back with me, such as the Ryobi circular saw, the batteries, the CDs and a couple of books.

There’s a load more room in there now, which should be no surprise. All of the tins are now on the shelf above the bed and all of the loose clothes and papers, as well as the food that’s in packets, has gone into the green tote box that is under the bed. You can actually see the floor now.

Rachel did some washing for me too so that everything is now clean, and when it’s dry I’ll put it all away and that will be the lot.

EPIC HALL

The Poisoned Pen (or Poisoned Chalice, more like) – or my relentless struggle against reality