How was your day?

[tetsabb]

I went and wandered round le Marché fir an hour and a half. This is Heathfield's French market, held on August Bank Holiday Monday.
There used to be many more French stalls years ago, but for some reason very few now: can't think why.

Many stalls selling foody stuff, but also jewellery, clothing and crafts.
One lady makes charming pictures from pebbles

I came home with some flavoured olives (pepper, rosemary, basil and garlic), smoked mackerel pate with horseradish, a couple of chocolatey pastries, and a helping of biltong for Wendy.

A salady supper tonight, I feel.

There were also many folk with dogs, so I have made many furry friends.

[efros]

First day of my penultimate year teaching. I'm effing knackered. 3 hour meeting to kick off and then a second 90 minute meeting. Finally got to my room at 11:30 and managed to set up most of my stuff, more to do tomorrow though.

[RLDavies]

Another all-nighter with work. Which was entirely my fault, because I knew I had to finish this job but spent the day faffing about instead. Didn't start working until about 3 am, so it came as no surprise that I finally got to bed at noon. Have just got up in time to see the light fading from the sky. I'm hanging around in my pyjamas and having a cocoa and biccies as a "not committed to any time of day" meal.

I have no idea whether this is the end of Bank Holiday Monday, or I worked through Monday night and slept through Tuesday. Hang on... oh, it is Monday! I'm rather surprised.

Both last night and to"night" I've done something to my back in my sleep. I'm used to having the lower left spine and hip area hurting, because I wrenched it badly a long time ago and it spasms up with very little provocation. And I'm used to having a shoulder blade tighten up. But this is a muscle pain straight across both shoulder blades, which is weird as well as painful. When it happened yesterday, it eased up in the shower with the warm water and steaminess. I haven't had a shower today because of the weird timings mentioned above, so have sprayed my back with heat spray and we'll see how it goes.

[jenny]

Sounds unpleasant RLD - hope it feels better soon.

I was supposed to be meeting a friend for lunch, but a last-minute check in with her revealed that she had omitted to put this on her calendar (we fixed it up a couple of weeks ago) so I had leftovers from last night's smoked salmon kedgeree instead. I had a phone call to tell me I'd won a small poetry contest with a poem I haven't managed to get published elsewhere, so that's an acknowledgment I can put in my new ms. I found out about a new. literary review, so I sent them a submission of five other poems that haven't found a home yet.

[amanda]

RLD wrote:

But this is a muscle pain straight across both shoulder blades, which is weird as well as painful. When it happened yesterday, it eased up in the shower with the warm water and steaminess.

Sounds like my permanent fibromyalgia back muscle pain and I've had to train my brain to ignore most of it or I'll go mad. 

[amanda]

Today was the monthly volunteer chat where I work/volunteer, subject of childhood toys.
At least four teddy bears and three dolls were brought in, as we have four, five people who have come from other countries they didn't have anything from their childhood, but one said that in her Malaysian village, a simple tennis ball could provide hours of various entertainment. Those over a certain age also remember those games in the post-war years.

One fellow spoke about a taxidermied bear cub from the former Ceylon that his grandmother had arranged to have brought here to Australia in about the 1940's and brought some photos of his brother aged about 3 playing with it.
The arms straight up in the air remind me of the Berlin bear logo.

[crissdee]

Away with the cowboys again today. Only 40 miles away this time, but too far to travel daily, so camping again. Will be offline till Monday....

[emily]

I have a sore shoulder today.

Well, yesterday, I foolishly hid underneath the table while there was a thunderstorm

What I didn't realise, is that I couldn't actually get up from under the table by myself and had to call for assistance. Apart from disturbing someone's sleep, (which I was very embarrassed about), my grip is.. for lack of a better word, weird. While someone's trying to pull me up to my feet, I'm gripping so tight I'm pushing back the other way (so downwards). My grip is tight, my legs aren't good. If I fall on the floor (or even sit on the floor), I need help up.

Going to rest my shoulder soon. Might lie on my bed. I didn't sleep again last night, no purple light this time, it was mainly because of the thunder

[amanda]

No good, Emily. Hope you rest a bit.

And some hours later, I realise I haven't loaned out the inter library loan that I did today. Was a bit distracted as I was alerted to it while in the middle of moving the books along the shelf and the new computer system still means I'm not used to it.

I was also distracted by the book being an older one and having to ask if it was ok to loan out - we post them and wrap in bubble wrap so it's well protected anyway.

I've emailed the staff member to say I don't think I loaned it out and hopefully she can find the sheet in the file drawer and do it herself tomorrow.

[Bondee]

Woke up with no feeling in my right arm. Panicked for a moment, then realised that a cat was sleeping across my shoulder. She's only small, but she's a proper little lump.

My stomach feels a bit growly. The suspected culprit is yesterday's ham sandwich.

[emily]

Aug 27, 2024 11:19:30 GMT Bondee said:

Woke up with no feeling in my right arm. Panicked for a moment, then realised that a cat was sleeping across my shoulder. She's only small, but she's a proper little lump.

My stomach feels a bit growly. The suspected culprit is yesterday's ham sandwich.

I don't think I have ever woken up with no feeling in my arm



Numb fingers and toes, sure

[Bondee]

Do you want to borrow a cat?
: )

[jenny]

I went for a swim this morning and managed 46 lengths, which is about ⅝ of a mile in that pool. I'd like to work up to swimming a mile, which I used to be able to swim about twenty years ago, but I'll have to increase a bit at a time.

[emily]

Absolutely exhausted again from lack of sleep

Thankfully, all I have to do today is write a grocery list- and I don't even really need to do that, I can get by with writing it tomorrow before the online order

[amanda]

My day was mostly spent inside sheltering from the wild weather/winds that hit my area. See the weather thread for the record wind gusts that were recorded. Thankfully no major power outages or trees down here.

It's bin collection day tomorrow morning which could prove interesting, if many bins are tipped over by the strong winds. The garbage/recycle truck drivers here don't always get out and straighten it up. There could be a lot of uncollected garbage tomorrow.

Mine is heavy enough and I combined two other neighbours' bins, each with just a single rubbish bag inside and put a bag of my used cat litter in that one to weigh it down.

[jenny]

I have a doctor's appointment in just over an hour, and then I'm out with a friend for the day.

[Bondee]

Done nothing apart from stalk the larger of the two cats in an attempt to give him his flea treatment.

He remains unfleatreated.

[bigmartin]

Awake at 1 am this morning. Feeling like my nose is all bunged up and it's affecting my ears as well. A bit of a lazy day, therefore. I did sit and chop up the faller apples to make a big crumble to keep myself (and the dog) out of the way of the cleaner during the late morning, but a lot of the day was taken up with naps!

[emily]

Bad.

No real reason, but I suppose when you're sat there with nothing to do all day it just drags

[tetsabb]

Well, this is interesting.
We live at number 10. Our neighbours at 11 are lovely.
The people at 12, less so. I think I have mentioned them, the constant noise, and feral children before.
Yesterday late morning I became aware of a fire engine outside 12. Long story short, I think a child had been shut in a car, and adults had been unable to get her out. Fire service had to break A car window to get her out.

This morning we had a knock on the door from a police officer, asking if we had been aware of a disturbance there yesterday evening about 9, to which the Fuzz had been called.
We had not noticed, but then probably had the telly on.

We expressed our disapproval of their behaviour in general (while everyone else clapped for carers in 2020, they did not join in).
The copper nodded, and inferred that he was getting that impression from everyone else he had spoken to.
I did remark that, had the car incident happened at any other house, neighbours would have been out, offering tea etc. Quite noticeably this dud not happen yesterday.

[amanda]

Number 22 or 12?

[RLDavies]

I phoned the GP yesterday afternoon to try to make an appointment, and was told to phone back first thing this morning -- i.e. 8:00 am. Now, the only way I'm going to be awake at 8 am is if I stay up for it, so that's what I did. Got through at 8:30 and made an appointment for ten past noon. Which means I was able to get two hours' sleep, or rather an hour's doze and an hour's sleep, before it was time to get up and dressed and ready to go out.

So I am very tired. Or actually, so tired that I don't feel tired any more, just glazed. Anyway, I'm having some breakfast now at 1:30 in the afternoon, and then I'll be heading back to bed. Generally if I'm tired I'd rather just stay up and have an earlier than usual night, but I can't operate on one hour of sleep.

Anyway, the appointment went well. Lovely doctor, one I've never seen before, really nice guy. I've been suffering from an embarrassing under-boob rash, extremely red and incredibly itchy. He says it's a minor fungal infection, and I've been given some cream to put on it, and it'll be fine. So I'll do that as well before I turn in.

[jenny]

Bah humbug. I detected what felt like a cavity at the back of my top left molar so I went to the dentist this morning to check it. It turns out that underneath the crown on this molar (which was root-canaled so wasn't causing me any pain) a cavity had indeed developed and gone down to the roots of the tooth, so it can't be re-crowned but either has to be pulled and left as a gap or have an implant. I'm seriously considering the implant, because the others I've had although very expensive are proving to be solid, so I've now got the first appointment I can with the guy who's done the other implants, which will be in early October.

Having spent a vast amount of money on my teeth already this year (I blew through my entire dental insurance allowance with the first procedure back in February), I really didn't want to have to spend any more, but one way or another that tooth has to come out.

[suze]

Aug 29, 2024 10:07:34 GMT tetsabb said:

While everyone else clapped for carers in 2020, they did not join in.

I'm sure these people are horrid, and I don't even want to know how their child became shut in a cat.

But there is at least one way in which I entirely approve of them.

[tetsabb]

Aug 29, 2024 11:36:13 GMT amanda said:

Number 22 or 12?

Edited!
Fat Finger Syndrome!

[tetsabb]

Aug 29, 2024 16:56:00 GMT suze said:

Aug 29, 2024 10:07:34 GMT tetsabb said:

While everyone else clapped for carers in 2020, they did not join in.

I'm sure these people are horrid, and I don't even want to know how their child became shut in a cat.

But there is at least one way in which I entirely approve of them.

We chatted with Guy at number 11 earlier. He and his lovely wife had to re do their loving room to keep the noise frim upsetting them 
The houses are in pairs of semis, so Guy shares a wall with them.
He has expressed concerns to social services about the well-being of the 6 children they cram into a 3-bed semi. This led to an abusive note through the door.

It sounds like the wife verbally abuses the husband quite a lot.

I don't want to live in a soap opera.

[amanda]

The anti-social, vandal young lass (in about her 20's, I've never seen her and don't wish to) has returned to the religious complex and this time her behaviour and vandalism has escalated.
On Sunday she took a brick from the front gate area, walked the 800 metres up the driveway and lobbed the brick at the stain glass window that's part of the library building. She's determined to get in and doesn't care how she does it. Luckily the lead backing and other things protected the window but it's now cracked.

Apparently she was taken out of the city by some group to a country town where she also now has a criminal record, but must have returned to Melbourne via the train (Probably not paying the fare) and made her way back to the complex.

She gets Legal Aid which has said 'she wasn't in her right mind to know what she was doing'. The centre has now got a lawyer.

[Bondee]

Coco has discovered the great outdoors.

She discovered it at approximately 0430 this morning. I let JJ out and she appeared from nowhere and shot out of the door behind him.

Thankfully she is still governed by her belly so getting her in again shouldn't be a problem.

[jenny]

My cats have always been indoor cats, and on the rare occasions they've made it through an outer door they freeze because they can't work out what the heck is going on around them, so they're easy to pick up and bring back again.

I had a nice swim this morning at our community centre pool, which only costs $4 a swim and even cheaper if you take out membership (which I did of course). I've been trying (not always successfully) to go twice a week, and I'm definitely speeding up a little (a very little) and able to swim further.

Yesterday we booked three properties in France through Vrbo, one a week for three weeks, for our holiday next year. We plan to fly into Paris and get a train down to Limoges, rent a car and stay in the Dordogne area for a week, then drive up to Blois in the middle of the Loire valley area for a week, and then to Normandy for a week. We can leave the car in Caen and get a ferry to Portsmouth and see my offspring and grandchildren in Hertfordshire for a few days and then fly home. Yay!

[Bondee]

The little so-and-so has only just come in!

She'd been out all day and we were really starting to worry. I heard JJ yowling from the side garden so I went to see what was wrong. I was met by a small furry black projectile as she came flying round the corner.

She's now doing what she does best... eating. Poor little thing must be starving.