Tag Archives: lie in

Saturday 23rd December 2017 – IF YOU’LL TAKE MY ADVICE …

… there’s nothing so nice
as sitting down on the sofa after a nice healthy walk, with a nice hot mug of hot chocolate, home-made with real patisserie chocolate.

Take a small saucepan
add an egg-cup of water and heat very slowly
add four squares of patisserie chocolate
stir the chocolate rapidly as the water slowly heats, so that the chocolate melts into a nice runny liquid (add a little more water if necessary).
just as the chocolate mix is on the point of boiling (whatever you do, DON’T let it boil) very slowly add two mugs full of milk, of whatever flavour of milk you like. I had soya milk, but coconut or almond milk is equally delicious, and even cow’s milk is good too.
Keep stirring rapidly and just as the mixture comes to the boil, pour half of it into a mug and sit down and enjoy it.
Save the rest for when you come back from your walk later in the evening.
Just remember to keep on stirring it while you slowly reheat it

I had a late night last night. And even so, I wasn’t in the least bit tired. 02:30 and I was still awake. It just goes to show about this infection- I must have had it for weeks. And how quickly it has seemed to improve.

By 08:30 I was wide awake though, and I found the bed to be saturated. No, Rhys! Not what you are thinking! All down my back. I must have sweated like a horse during the night in some kind of fever.

But having said that, I managed a proper breakfast for once – without the coffee though. I’m still not up to trying for that right now. And the breakfast made me feel much better too.

And the clementines! I’ve had a good attack on those today. And quite right too. it’s what Christmas is all about – free rein on a tray of the aforementioned.

During my illness I’ve let a few things go and so I’ve spent the morning doing some catching up. One or two important issues have arisen due to the loss of my bank cards the other week and they needed some attention. And someone else wanted a photo of mine.

My photos seem to be in some demand right now. In fact, one of mine of the Mohne Dam will be exhibited in a display in Reculver next Spring in celebration of the “bouncing bomb” of Barnes Wallis.

For lunch, I prepared a litre of this minestrone and olive oil soup that I had bought from Casino yesterday. Half of that went down very nicely too, and I even managed some bread with it. I’m definitely feeling a little better.

Having relaxed, I walked into town to the Carrefour. I wanted some soya milk for my hot chocolate, and I also picked up some falafel and – shame as it is to admit it, a Christmas tree. Well, a lump of log in a pot with a little bushy Christmas tree thing growing out of it.

And once more I bumped into the bank manager, and we had another lengthy chat. My account must be well in credit, that’s all that I can say.

But down in town there was a most unusual … errr … animal roaming the streets.

A giant rabbit was a-wandering around the street, carrying a man in its arms. Stopping to chat to almost everyone who had the time of day to pass, it was an immense attraction with the young kiddies of the area.

It seems that Strawberry Moose
and I aren’t the only ones with esoteric tastes

Back here I set up my little Christmas Tree thing, found the fairy lights that I had bought the other week and I now have Chrsitmas dcorations of some kind here in the apartment. And isn’t this decadence?

Whatever next?

No tea again though. My appetite might be improving, but not to that extent. Instead, later on, I went for another walk. The first evening walk since Sunday. And that made me feel much better too. What was even nicer was the hot chocolate when I returned.

So nw I’ll do the washing up and then go to bed. I’ve decided not to have an alarm until after New Year. Give me a chance to regroup, build up my strength and take it easy for a while.

And I can’t say that I don’t deserve it.

Thursday 21st December 2017 – I’VE FINALLY BITTEN …

… the bullet and I’ve arranged a doctor’s appointment for tomorrow morning.

After last night, I was feeling rather better this morning. But to tell you how bad things really are, it took almost 2.5 hours of film on the laptop before I managed to fall asleep. I’m clearly not well, am I?

I’d been on my travels too – down Coleridge Way in Crewe. And when I say “down”, I mean about 30 feet down because it was all under water. A couple of trips down there at various epochs, comparing the cars that were parked there – like “N” reg Marinas, that kind of thing.

No alarm, but I was still awake quite early. Not that this meant that I left the bed early of course. More like 08:30 in fact.

It took me ages to summon up the force to leave the sofa for my medication, and it goes without saying that I declined breakfast. I was back on the sofa again.

For lunch, I made a litre of packet soup and managed to drink a couple of mugs. But that’s left a horrible, metallic taste in my mouth that I can’t shift.

There was still the question of picking up my medication so round about 15:00 I crawled into town. A baguette from the bouangerie (to go in the freezer with the other one) and some little bits and pieces from the Coccinelle. And then the medication.

The walk back up here was a nightmare. I fet weak and dizzy and had to sop every couple of hundred yards. Definitely the worst trip that I’ve ever made back here. That was what made up my mind to see the doctor.
“Is it an emergency?” asked the receptionist
I explained the circumstances.
“I can’t fit you in before 10:15 tomorrow” she said.
Imagine that in the UK?

And then I crashed out on the sofa.

Rosemary rang later and we had a little chat. Only a little one, because I’m not feeling so well right now. But by 18:00 I had succumbed, and went to fect the pillow and quilt.

I managed to force down some dry biscuits later, but without any real enjoyment. And now I’m going back to bed.

I wonder what the doctor will have to say tomorrow.

Sunday 10th December 2017 – NOW THAT WAS …

… an exciting football match.

A quick review of the Manche District football website this morning revealed that USM Donville, bottom of the District League Division 3 without a single point, were at home this afternoon against ELS Carpiquet, next-to-bottom with just one point.

The match was to be played on Donville’s seaside pitch in a howling gale (yes, the wind is back), and so that sounded like something too good to miss.

So grabbing my thermos flask (because there’s no pie-hut there) I set off.

They were right about the howling gale, although no-one had mentioned the squally showers (luckily there’s a good raincoat in Caliburn).

And as for the game, it was better than I had expected it to be, even though thewind spoiled the action somewhat. Carpiquet were in fact the better side – more organised and more skilful on the ball, and I bet that, just like me, they were surprisd to find themselves 2-0 down at half-time.

One goal was from a breakaway upfield, and the second was a rather unfortunate wind-assisted goal. A high ball forward, the keeper came out with plenty of time to clear it, but the ball hung up in the wind and dropped shrt. With the keeper miles off hi line in no-man’s land (or “no person’s land” for those of you who remember the legendary Turdi de Hatred) an advancing Donville player was lucky enough to reach the ball first.

Carpiquet pulled one back later in the game, which was no susprise, but they couldn’t push on to find an equaliser. So Donville earned their first points this afternoon.

I’d had a good night last night. Off on my travels down some muddy track on an old industrial estate, where there were several ERF B10 lorries in various states of dismantlement. Not an unusual sight for someone brought up in South Cheshire, you might think. But this was in Canada. And later on, some girl was showing me her red Cortina 2000E – the inner sills, outer sills and floor shuts were rotted away and she wanted to repair them. Having repaired dozens of these (and dismantled hundreds) I started to explain it to her, but she seemed completely disinterested. That surprised me, because to do it properly is a rather complicated process.

No chance of my leaving the bed at 06:45 or whatever stupid time it was when I awoke. 0p:00 was much more like it. A late breakfast and a good relax – what more does anyone want on a Sunday?

After lunch I went off to the football, and when I arrived back here my little furry friend Gribuoille, the long-haired ginger cat, waw waiting on his windowsill. He had a good stroke.

Tea was a vegan pizza as usual, and then a walk in the dark around the headland, just for a change.

Tomorrow I have to do some shopping – I forgot the tomatoes at the weekend.

Sunday 3rd December 2017 – THE ONE PROBLEM …

… about going to bed early is that there’s a tendency to wake up early. We all know this and we are all prepared for it, but even so, being wide-awake at 01:30 is rather an extreme example.

And so, after a couple of miserable hours of being awake and not being able to go back to sleep, I was resigned to being still there when dawn broke.

Nevertheless, I did manage to go back to sleep, and even managed to go a-wanderding.

We started off in a very rare coach – a “P” (as in 1975)-registered Duple Viceroy-bodied coach but fitted with a MAN diesel engine (in the days when the only foreign-engined coaches on the UK roads were the very occasional Volvo B58s) and how after about 30 years the company was considering upgrading it to a more modern one, and there was I hoping that I would be chosen to drive it.
From there we passed to much more exciting things. Some young guy was arrested for belong to some kind of secret organisation -and these people were possessed of a certain power in that firstly they could fly, and secondly they could change identity with anyone of a similar grade in their organisation. how they did that was to hold up their hads with a number of fingers visible – the number of fingers visible being the grade to which they belonged. Anyone of a similar grade seeing the sign would hold up a similar number of fingers and they would exchange identities. This young guy escaped from police custody and there was a hue and cry, but he succeeded in exchanging identities with several people, including the policean who was chasing him and taking his girlfriend as part of the deal.

It was 09:20 when I finally crawled out of bed. That was much more like it for a Sunday.

However, that kind of behaviour means that a great deal of the morning has gone – and with it my plans for (thinking about) tidying up the apartment. So why is it that when your living accommodation is spotlessly clean and tidy, no-one ever comes to visit; but when your place is like a disgusting tip because you’ve been too ill to clean it for the last three weeks, half of the building comes to call?

After lunch, I had a shower and then I hit the road. It’s Liz’s birthday very soon so we were having a little party. I’d picked up some chocolates for her from the manufacturer in town.

The road were greasy and muddy, and Caliburn is in a right filthy mess now. But we all had a good chat and Liz had made some vegan meat loaf, with enough left over to make a doggy bag for me.

But I didn’t stay too long, because I’m not up to much just now. I came home, clutching a Christmas present. And I can guess what it is.

Back here, I went straight to bed. No walk tonight and no surfing about on the internet. I’m definitely feeling the strain. Let’s hope I have a better day tomorrow.

Sunday 26th November 2017 – AFTER LAST NIGHT’S …

… early night, I was wide awake at … err … 04:50.

But badger that for a game of soldiers. I stayed in bed and tried my best to go back to sleep. And it must have worked because I was off on my travels, as a black boy living in a white family, that might even have been my own. I know that I’m very different from the rest of my siblings, but this is being ridiculous.

09:42 when I crawled out of bed. That’s much more like it. And a 10:30 breakfast – that’s even better.

But here’s some bad news – Altavista, the company that provides me with my Usenet newsreader service, seems to have gone offline. I’m rather lost without that and I hope that it comes back on line pretty soon.

With a late breakfast, it was a late lunch too. And then I went out for a walk. I should have gone out to find a footy match but I wasn’t really in the mood.

We’re having more of these uusual, clear weather conditions again.

Something out on the skyline caught my eye, and the camera and zoom lens told me that it was the marker lights and buoys on the rocks just offshore from the Iles de Chausey. I’ve never seen them as clear as this before.They were quite impressive.

And it was a quiet walk – not very many people around and no-one wanted to chat.

Having had what is becoming my regular afternoon snooze, I made a pizza again. And I dp like this idea of putting pepper on the topping before the cheese. It gives it a lovely kick.

No chance of going for a walk this evening though. It’s absolutely pouring down. I’m going to stay in and have an early night. Make myself redya for the start of yet another week.

Sunday 19th November 2017 – I KNEW …

… that I would suffer for my exertions yesterday, and today was one of the worst days that I’ve had just recently.

And I had a lie-in too. 7:15 when I awoke but badger that for a game of soldiers. More like 08:30 whe I crawld out of bed. I’d been on my travels too, but don’t ask me where because it disappeared right out of my head.

Having had an early night and a good lie-in, you might have thought that I was fit for anything. But that was far from the truth. It was all that I could muster to get off the sofa and go to eat breakfast. And then I sat around all morning doing very little. I couldn’t even manage the tidying up that I had promised myself that I would do.

Lunch was a struggle and thn in the afternoon I crashed out completely. And when I awoke, I couldn’t even go out for my afternoon walk.

It was a late tea . Another excellent pizza – putting pepper on it doesn’t half improve the flavour. And I managed to crawl out for a walk afterwards. I have to force myself to make an effort.

So now it’s an early night again and I hope that I’ll feel better in the morning. At leasr my head cold seems to be quieting down.

12th November 2017 – I’M DRENCHED.

I was going to say that I’m all wet, and no-one would disagree whatever with that comment.

It’s Sunday today and so I had a good lie-in. I’d been on my travels too. With Nerina in fact, roaming around the streets to the south side of Hungerford Road in Crewe looking for a supermarket calle Macksie’s where we were going for lunch. I had a vague idea where it was – somewhere off to the north of Hungerford Road but I couldn’t think of where it might be and no-one else whom we asked knew either. We ended up in a Court listening to a couple of cases and Nerina was showing her boredom. I could understand that because what we had heard to date wasn’t exactly setting our lives on fire, but there was one case coming up that would be intensely interesting and I was really looking forward to it.

It was about 08:30 when I came to life (such as it is) but more like 09:20 when I crawled out of my stinking pit. A late breakfast which meant that there wasn’t much of the morning left.

Just for a change, I tidied up the shelves a little in the kitchen and made much more space. There’s actually some empty spaces there now and I reckon that I can do even better than that too.

Never mind lunch – at 13:00 I hit the streets. US Granvillaise are playing Vierzon, one division below, in the French FA Cup, kick-off 14:00. Despite the howling gale-force wind I walked up there – and lost half of my biscuits to the gale.

The two teams were quite evenly matched, but the wind made a mockery of the match. Granville scored an early goal, but Vierzon had two corners, two gusts of wind, and consequently two goals scored direct that eluded the entire defence.

Early in the second half Granville had a corner which the defence could only scramble out from under the bar and which was knocked into the net by a lurking Granville forward. And 5 minutes later, a Granville attacker took advantage of a gust of wind to curl a shot in around the keeper.

After that the wind dropped and we had a torrential downpour that soaked all 816 of us in the crowd. We were drenched. And the match petered out into a 3-2 win for Granville.

But Vierzon were panicking and losing their cool, with the result that quite a few of their players found their way into the referee’s notebook. And With a lopsided notebook like that, it’s no surprise that a couple of Granville players found their way in too – and for some quite inocuous offences too.

After the match I dripped my way back home in time to see the second half of the TNS v Queen of the South match on the laptop.

Pizza for tea of course, and the pepper makes it taste even better. That was followed by Apple crumble and ice cream too.

And now it’s an early night again. Back to work tomorrow, if I haven’t caught flu again, that is.

Thursday 9th November 2017 – I DIDN’T …

… go out for a walk today.

For the simple reason that every time that I looked out of the window, it was raining. With my state of health I’m not setting foot outside in that.

And here’s another thing that I didn’t do either – and that is to get out of the bed with the alarm.

Last night was a reasonably-early night and although i took me a while to go to sleep, eventually I dropped off into one of the deepest sleeps that I have had for a while. And it was so comfortable and it had been so long since I have had such a sleep that I ignored the alarm completely.

I’d been on my travels too. Around Delamere Street in Crewe at the back of the Crosville CLub where there was a marquee on the corner – a Starbucks or something selling branded coffee. Only a small place and there weren’t too many people queueing but there seemed to be some delay in serving. Looking around, I could see that the marquee was full anyway and there was nowhere to sit. Working on the laptop would be impossible and as there was another place across town in Victoria Street where I could sit more comfortably, I decided to go there. By this time it was next morning and I was in bed in a kind of large room on the first floor abve the coffee shop. There were dozens of beds in here scattered all over the room and my bed was in the centre of the room. I had slept half-clothed and as I completed my dressing there were other people in various beds watching me,

It was 08:10 when I left my stinking pit, so it was a late breakfast. And apart from lunch, I’ve not done very much at all. Just sorted out thousands of photos going back over 10 years and more – a task that I had started in 2013 and hadn’t done very much since.

Rosemary was on the phone for 90 minutes this evening And one of the many things that Rosemary mentioned was that this morning she awoke to find that they had the first snow of the winter back in the Auvergne.

Our lengthy chat meant I had a late tea. Oven chips, beans and sausages again. And just as delicious they were too.

And now I’m going to have another early night. It’s a Bank Holiday on Saturday so need to go shopping tomorrow. I hope that the weather will have improved.

Tuesday 7th November 2017 – I’M NOT …

… feeling much better today either.

Despite going to bed early I couldn’t get off to sleep. It was 00:30 and I was still awake. I was still awake at 04:30 too, although I must have been asleep at one point. And I was still awake at 06:00 when the alarm went off.

No possibility of me getting out of bed though. I went back to sleep and it was getting on for 08:00 when I finally crawled out.

During the night I’d been on my travels too. To Oostende where I started off taking a female friend. We went to see a huge cruise ship that had arrived, and although it wasn’t easy to see. There was a tower block in the distance and I was explaining that behind it in the past would have been the huge pile of coal that fuelled the steamships that called here.
From there on, I was with a female partner – it might even have been Nerina – and I was skinning a cat in the same way that you would peel a mushroom. But halfway through the proceedings the cat appeared to recover consciousness. I couldn’t continue and had to pass the cat over to my partner to complete.a

I managed breakfast and then spent the rest of the morning vegetating on the sofa. I did manage to crawl off at one point. I have some Vick vapour rub somewhere – I know that I have because I remember buying it in Leuven – and I wish that I could find it.

Lunch was a struggle. I wasn’t hungry but I do have to eat. It took me quite a while to swallow my sandwich. And then I crashed out again for a few hours on the sofa.

I made tea tonight. I had lentils on the boil for quite a while. In the meantime I made the usual onion, garlic and spice base. In went the mushrooms, the lentils, a tin of mixed veg and some soya cream. I didn’t eat much because I wasn’t hungry. And there’s enough left over for another four meals, all of which went into the freezer.

So now I’m sitting with my feet up. I’ll be in bed very soon if I can clear my nose. A good sleep will do me good, I reckon,

Sunday 5th November 2017 – I’VE HAD A …

… very nice, busy day out today.

I’ve been round at Liz’s for most of the day. We decided a while agos ago to have a bake-in one of these days – an so we fixed on today.

We spent most of the day baking and making soups, and ended up with a huge pile of stuff. There’s –

carrot, coconut and ginger soup
pepper, squash and tomato soup
apple crumble
vegetable piee
coriander hummus
beanburgers

There’s enough here to keep us going for a couple of weeks, I reckon.

We split the proceeds between us but I could only bring a few bits and pieces home as my freezer is, as you know, pretty full right now. And I do wish that I had bought a bigger one.

I can pick up the rest another time.

This morning it’s Sunday and so there was no alarm. And so no-one was more surprised to see when I awoke that it was all of … errr … 05:10. But badger that for a game of soldiers. I went back to sleep until a more realistic 09:10.

I’d been on my travels too. A long complicated voyage but all that I remember of it now is being on a couple of cable-hauled barges going in opposite directions on the Manchester Ship Canal.

After breakfast – and nice fresh muesli too – I had a shower and a clean-up. And then I hit the road in the driving rainstorm. Liz’s two neighbouring kids were there and were in quite a chatty mood. Once they had gone, we could attack the cooking.

Lunch was carrot, coconut and ginger soup, and tea was pie and mash with peas. And delicious it all was too. But it was quite exhausting doing it all and I found it hard to keep awake. In the end I had to come home and crash out for an hour.

In view of the weather I didn’t feel like going for a walk. It’s not a good diea too because I seem to have acquired a streaming head cold after my night out last night. I’m going to bed in a moment instead.

Sunday 29th October 2017 – I DON’T BELIEVE IT!

Indeed.

Three days in succession I’ve been to a public event organised here in Granville, and three days in succession there’s been no buvette.

I just don’t know what the world is coming too.

What’s even worse is that today was US Granville’s 2nd XI match against RSG Courseulles in Regional Division 2 and there was a crowd in the region of 120-150 there to watch the game.

And there is a buvette at the Stade Louis Dior – and it was closed!

I’d had a good night’s sleep too – the long walk had clearly done me some good. And I was awake at 09:20 – or 08:20 in real time because the clocks went back today.

And I had been on my travels too. Something of a nightmare the first bit – as I was watching Jai Quitongo play in the Morton – Skint Midden match and score a beautiful swerving free kick from about 30 yards out – for the Skunks!
Later on, my neighbours started to clear their garden and peg out a driveway for concreting. And this meant that I could clear mine of al of the brambles. It only took me half an hour too, and I uncovered an old car, something like the old Cotina that’s lying around on the farm.

It’s Sunday today so I wasn’t in too much of a rush to do anything. I had something of a laze around. Abd my lunchtime butty was very nice too.

After lunch I walked – yet again – to the football. Today though it was at the Stade Louis Dior – a walk of about 3.5 kilometres – or 7 kilomtres both ways.

RSG Courseulles were mid-table but Granville were next to bottom – and you could see why that would be. I have never seen a team attack so much, have so many shots on goal – several of them completely open – and put them either wide or over the top. The attack was more than woeful – it was appalling.

The sad fact though is that they played the opposition off the park. The two strikers of Courseulles offered nothing up front – simply because they were given no service.

Any nother team could have scored a dozen against Courseulles – and so could Granville have done, but their attack really was shocking. We even had one shot on an open goal hit the post, bounce back into play with all of the defence wrong-footed, and a totally unmarked Granville attacker side-foot it wide from three feet out.

Granville in the end won 2-0 – with a free kick after a couple of minutes and a 30-yarder from a defender after a Granville attack had hit a post and rebounded out.

I walked all the way back afterwards.

My route back gave me a good view of the harbour too. All of the gravel is still there so it seems that whoever is coming for it hasn’t arrived yet, And all of the stuff for Grima is still there too.

Marite seems to have disappeared too. She’s not been around for a while. It’s all quiet down at the docks right now.

After having a little … errr … repose, I made my pizza. and the addition of ground black peeper really does make a difference. It was beautiful.

I shan’t be going for a walk tonight either. I’ve done enough today. An early night and an early start will see me right for the forthcoming week.

Saturday 28th October 2017 – BRAIN OF BRITAIN STRIKES AGAIN!

There I was, doing the rounds of LIDL with a bag full of shopping. Just about to put my shopping on the convenyor when I reached into my pocket for my wallet with my money and bank cards in it.

Yes, I’d had my raincoat on last night, hadn’t I?

I had to dump my bag behind one of the empty tills and nip home for my wallet.

It won’t happen again though. I’ve left €50 in Caliburn and another €50 in the secret pocket in my mobile phone case. But what a silly thing to do!

A strange thing happened this morning. It was 08:20 when I awoke this morning. No alarm. For some reason or other the telephone had stalled at 23:49. And so we didn’t have sucj a good start to the morning anyway.

After doing some stuff on the laptop I went off for my trip around the shops and my unexpected return here. But the old washing machine has now gone to the great laundry in the sky – the dechetterie was open this morning which makes a change. The fridge is there too, along with another pile of cardboard boxes that had accumulated

At the Auchan I did the rest of the shopping. Including some frozen sprouts, frozen mushrooms and frozen peppers. What with the mango sorbet and the loaf of bread the freezer is now full. It’s far too small for what I need and I’ve a good mind to take it back to swap it for a bigger one.

Mind you, I thought that the fridge was far too small too, but I’ve managed to rearrange things around in there and there’s plenty of room in there now. I imagine that once I start to attack the frozen food it will be the same in the freezer there too.

After lunch and a bit of tidying up, I crashed out for half an hour or so, and then I caught up with a few other things that needed doing too.

But this evening US Granvillaise’s 3rd XI were playing ES Hébécrevon on the artificial pitch at the Sports Centre. And as it was a reasonable evening, I dressed up warmly and walked all the way there. It’s about 3.5 kilometres up and down hill, and I reckoned that it would do me no good.

Much to my surprise the Sports Centre was closed up, so there was no buvette. How is this possible? In the Auvergne they wouldn’t even consider having a public event without a buvette, and yet here we are, twice in two days, THis isn’t the France that we know and love, is it?

As for the match itself, Granville were bottom of the league without a win and Hébécrevon were 9th. So I was expecting another defeat. But much to my surprise I saw one of the best matches I’ve seen for quite a while.

Granville were much better than their league position suggested and played some beautiful football. Hébécrevon huffed and puffed but never looked likely to seriously trouble the Granville defence, and the home side scored three of the best goals that I’ve seen for a while.

All three of them breakaways, two of which were solo efforts and the third was a cross from the young lad playing left-wing (who had an excellent game) into the centre to the forward who hit it on the half-volley straight into the corner of the net.

I walked back home wfterwards, stopping for a bag of chips. And nice they were too.

Now I’m off to bed and it’s a lie-in tomorrow with an extra hour in bed. We put the clocks back tomorrow – 1 hour if you live in the real world, 50 years if you live in the UK, 120 years if you voted for Brexit and 250 years if you voted Conservative.

Sunday 22nd October 2017 – TONIGHT’S PIZZA …

… was one of the best yet. I think that the addition of some ground black pepper gave it that extra touch. It certainly went down well.

That was more than I did last night. 02:00 when I went to bed, more out of desperation than anything else, and I was still awake at 03:00 reading a book. The bad patch of my skin was itching like mad, even with some of this radical cream that I have, I had a bad itch on my wrist and I had cramp … in my fingers. I was a mess.

Mind you, I did manage to go on my travels though. I was on stage playing bass to a pile of Steppenwolf numbers. And I can still remember them now.

With there being no alarm, it was 09:22 when I awoke, but 10:30 when I left my bed. And it was cold in here too – about 14.5°C. That was the cue to hunt out a sweater. Winter is on its way, without a doubt.

After breakfast I had a shower and then did some more tidying up in here. I even had the vacuum cleaner out.

For lunch I just had a quick snack, and then Liz and Terry turned up. Hence the tidying. Liz had brought with her some home-made vegan apple flapjacks which was very sweet of her. We had coffee and then went for a long walk to the headland, down the footpath into the port where we stopped for coffee.

We returned by way of the town centre, the promenade by the casino and then up the staircase into the old town and then around the walls back here.

it was good to be out and about for a long walk. It’s tired me out again and that’s good news. I might even be able to have a good night’s sleep.

Saturday 21st October 2017 – IT SEEMS THAT FATE …

… is conspiring to be on my side just for a change

I awoke this morning without the help of the alarm clock, and that hasn’t happened for quite a while, has it?

But the bad news about this was that it was light outside. It was actually 08:52 and the alarm hadn’t gone off. The battery had gone flat during the night. So much for my efforts in trying to regulate my day, but at lzeast it gave me a chance to catch up on my sleep and that made me feel a little better.

The trouble with this though is that it ha a kind of domino effect. Getting up late meant that breakfast was late, and meant that going to the shops was late too.

First stop was LIDL of course. I stocked up with a few things there, as well as a ile of grapes. The price has increased today, but only to €2:29 a kilo and that’s still cheap.

A visit to some electrical shops was next on the cards to see if I can better what I saw in BUT the other day. I had a good look round but nothing seemed to compare with what was on offer down the road.

After the food shopping at Auchan I went to bite the bullet and sign away my life at BUT but … ARRRGGGHHH … too late! It’s lunch-time now and the two-hour lunch in France is sacred. The shop is closed.

And so I came back here, unloaded the shopping and had lunch.

After lunch, I did a little clearing up in here. It’s looking quite untidy after I’ve been here for a week – only I can do that – and having had a little snooze (and I’m not sure why) I had a chat to Rosemary on the telephone. And that was a chat that went on for several hours. We have a cunning plan for the New Year.

That took me nicely to tea-time. And just for a change I had baked potatoes, beans and vegan sausages. Nice they were too. And there’s enough left over for a couple of days too.

The weather put paid to my plans to go for a walk. It changed dramatically yet again late in the afternon and we ended up with a howling gale and a terrific rainstorm. I wasn’t going out in that.

But the one thing about having a lie-in and having a crash-out during the day is that it’s evening again and I’m not tired. Another late night, I reckon.

Sunday 15th October – OUR STORY YESTERDAY …

… ended with me creeping off to bed at 20:00 or thereabouts for a lie down.

It restarted at about … errr … 00:30 when I suddenly sat bolt upright again. Wide awake, of course, and that was that.

Interestingly, I’d been on my travels too. Out to sea in a small ship again but I’ve no idea where to.

I wasn’t wide awake enough to do all that much though. I had a mess around on the laptop but couldn’t keep the concentration, and I read a book for a while. By 04:00 or thereabouts I was ready to go off to sleep again.

And go on my travels again. This time we were camping – at one of these steam engine rallies or something like that. We were one of the first to arrive, and we had two tents so we could have had the choice of places. But somehow we had managed to cram ourselves into a tiny corner where there wasn’t much room to move about. It was then that I realised that I had left my sleeping bag and spare clothes behind, and I’d also forgotten to bring the spare tent pegs. The plastic ones that we had were not up to doing the job in this soil.
And then I moved on to being in a restaurant – some kind of posh house-type of place. But I just can’t remember now what was going on there.

09:27 when I awoke (it’s Sunday so there’s no alarm of course) but it was … errr … nothing like that when I finally crawled out of bed. I missed my bed while I was away … "you’ll have to improve your aim" – ed … and so I made the most of it.

Making muesli was the highlight of the morning, seeing as I had run out, but this fridge is finished. There’s an issue with the thermostat which means that it switches off, the fridge warms up, the ice melts everywhere, and the thermostat doesn’t switch back in until it’s too late. Everything inside the fridge is drenched.

After breakfast I went down into town to see if any of the shops were open. But we are now on winter hours of course so the little supermarket down below was closed. But never mind – it was a nice walk and did me good.

Just by way of a change, I had a visitor. My neighbour who looks after my keys came to see how I was doing, which was nice. But not so nice seeing as I had everything out and the place was a total tip. Doesn’t it always happen like this? Still, I gave him and his wife a little present for being so kind.

And that, dear reader, is your lot. I managed to rustle up some food (pasta, veg and tomato sauce) for tea but apart from that I’ve hardly moved. I should be going for a walk but I’ll postpone that for today. I had a little walk at lunchtime as you know.

So tomorrow we’re back in the routine. There’s an alarm set, and I need to visit the shops for just about everything. I tested Caliburn and he started up, which was useful. It’s been nearly 9 weeks since he’s had a run out. A little drive will do him good.

And I’m going to look for some new stuff too. A fridge, a freezer and a washing machine. High time I organised myself.

EPIC HALL

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