Nine Feet Underground

I haven't woken in my own bed on a Sunday morning for quite some time and it feels oddly strange. Nevertheless, I revert to 'old-style' Sunday behaviour fairly easily.  In fact it's not exactly as before, because I should be heading to the south coast after lunch at a time yet to be finally agreed, and so have to pack for a couple of nights away. Mid-morning I have a call during which we agree final timings for the day, meaning I'll have lunch here and then head south around 1:30 p.m. Everything's packed (unless I've forgotten something!) and I'm about to leave shortly, but not before saying goodbye. Great afternoon and dinner before settling down to watch the final episode of 'Trigger Point'.  Didn't manage to watch to the end as we're too tired (it's been quite a weekend already!!) and so bed is beckoning. Low / 'Don't Walk Away' / 'Hey What' [[]]

I got bills, they're multiplying...but first shopping, washing and other chores before I start online banking (which is not, for the avoidance of doubt, rhyming slang!) This weekend isn't going to follow the recent pattern, just shifted by 24 hours or so, all being well. I stopped to make lunch for son #2 and I, though he's yet to emerge into the bright sunlight of a day in full flight. Is spring on its way?  Maybe some signs, though early mornings have been pretty cold the past couple of days. Admin and chores done, it's time to read the papers whilst drinking a cup of coffee, the second of the day. Did some more admin after finishing the papers, this time accompanied by songs from five albums released this year that I've finally got around to hearing.  Really like the new ones from Melt Yourself Down, Spoon, Big Thief and Mdou Moctar (come to think of it that's from last year!). I think all four of these will be joining my collection very soon. Not so taken wi

Wouldn't ya know it, I'm walking in the sun again, third day of walking in a row, though it's bloody cold this morning!  I got chills, they're multiplying. (Actually when the sun's directly upon me, it feels warm - the sun's getting closer!) Work has moved in and won't be leaving until this evening, but once it leaves, it'll not return until Tuesday, which is something, I suppose. I haven't really commented on the situation unfolding in the Ukraine, though it has been on my mind for a few days now.  It is obviously a complex geo-political problem which is perhaps more nuanced than the media would suggest. Nevertheless, I think it's pretty clear that invading another nation and unleashing your military upon another nation cannot be justified, except under the most extreme and rare of circumstances. Beyond that, this is not an appropriate place for comment. The highlights of my day have been conversations with a friend, though no substitute for fac

Another day starts with a walk - I'm on a roll (brioche, if you're asking) this week, though the weather today is rather less pleasant than yesterday. I almost wasn't going to walk given it was raining (I don't want to mess my hair up) but K, the first carer of the day, convinced me it was only spitting (I said I was used to that!) and so out I went. I probably should have queried the phrase 'only spitting' a little further as I don't think I'd describe it in those terms.  Unless I was surrounded by a herd of camels or llamas who I had especially offended. On a positive note, after I got back it started pissing down (I phrase I suspect we could all agree upon), so I was pleased to be inside (!) Work takes centre stage, and once it had emerged from the wings, it refused to take the curtain until early evening. No Idler drinks tonight as the scheduled one has been cancelled, so instead I do some exciting chores and start making dinner. Son # 2 and I watche

Started the day with a walk in the cold, but bright, morning light - just what I needed before a long day in front of the screen. After the fresh air, time to settle down to work for the rest of the day...did the usual things in spare moments, like Wordle and Quordle and then it was the evening and time to make dinner and take the rubbish out. Living the dream! Watched the penultimate episode of 'Screw' with son #2 before doing the bins.  As I shift my brain cell into bed-mode I notice that a long way to the east  a worrying situation is developing. Mordant Music / 'Plant Room' / 'Dead Air' [[]]

Busy working day with the only thing of real note being the fixing of the fan oven. Blazing! Work dominated the day and once over it was time to make dinner, before settling down to watch more of 'The Apprentice' on my Jack Jones. Sad news before sleep, in the form of the death of Mark Lanegan at the age of 57. Guess in many ways it's a miracle he lived that long, but still...Whatever happens the great music remains. Usual shenanigans leading to bed and sleep... Anna von Hausswolff / 'The Mysterious Vanishing of Electra - Live' / 'Live at Montreux Jazz Festival' [[It's Jazz dear, but not as you know it! (It really isn't!!!)]]

Up early to head home after an unexpected additional overnight stay. Work starts at 9 for some, so I need to leave before then, but first we need breakfast and I need to re-pack.  It's still very windy, but at least dry, but there's one more job still to do: an examination of the roof front and back to see if we can spot where the two slates that have blown down originated. Spotting where the slates have come from is not as easy as we might have hoped and my time is running out. I need to get ready to head northwards on what I imagine will be a lively journey, given that the wind is already picking up and the gusts are getting stronger. Home before 10:30 and time to get back into the things that need doing here. Late afternoon I finally have time to read the papers for the first time in quite a while.  Finished reading the papers, time to clean the oven ahead of the engineer's visit tomorrow! Son #2 and I start making dinner before sitting down to eat while watching 'Sc

The day began with a walk to the bread shop (this could become an addiction!!), to get a loaf and a few other goodies, including something I've never had before called a bostock (blueberry and almond in this instance!) On returning we had a very meaty breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon and pigs in blankets (the Christmas theme continues) washed down with coffee. With the wind gusting and howling around we settled down to watch the end of 'Argo', interrupted by a delivery and a roof slate crashing down in the front of the house, narrowly missing the window. Admittedly I wasn't dahn sarf on Friday, but if anything the gusts seem stronger today. As the curtain of darkness draws to a close I get ready to return home. The wind is still ferocious, so I decide to delay departure until 7 pm.  As my normal 6pm departure time passes, it is suggested that maybe it would be safer to delay the journey home until tomorrow morning, when the winds should have died down a little and the

Up early-ish after a night's sleep undisturbed by brain problems, which is good. I'm re-packing the stuff I had packed last night, and plan to head south as soon as I have everything in order for the day. I'm ready and will be leaving shortly... ...and now, as if by magic, I am on the south coast, and miracle of miracles, the M27 is unexpectedly open. I can hardly believe my eyes. My journey down, especially to the north of Basingstoke has passed lots of tree damage, though nothing like that after the storms of 1987, for those who can remember that far back. I'm now safely on the south coast and try and switch my head into life number 2, beginning with lunch and 'Trigger Point', followed by a shopping trip once the weather had died down a little. After a Christmas-style roast turkey dinner, we settle down to watch the film 'Argo', which we were too tired to watch to the end.  Sleep, repeat... Junk Drawer / 'Tears in Costa' / (Single) [[I prefer c

Another night of interrupted sleep, but perhaps there's a glimmer of hope in that my head felt  slightly better. Instead, however, I was awoken by the early stirrings of Eunice. I have no plans to go out until this evening when, Eunice permitting, I should be on my way south after work. Work and Eunice dominate the day.  Around 10 a.m. Eunice really started to rage and by 11, or thereabouts, I found she'd moved the bench outside our house to the front door.  Given this was next to my car, I took the hint and dragged the bench into the garage. Around midday I noticed that the over the road had lost its fence and the brick posts that it was attached to.  Eunice is reaching peak anger. Sometime after lunch broadband went down, though so far the electricity has remained on, which I'm thankful for as I have washing on and drying in the drier. Yeah, I know, non-stop excitement here from dawn to dusk and beyond. I've spoken to BT who tell me there's a major outage in the a

After a lousy night's sleep waking up with a bad headache, I've decided I can put it off no longer and am off to the GPs at 8 so I can get a phone consultation (at least) today. Back having done a few extra jobs I don't want to leave until Friday, due to Eunice. Work Just as I start work the Physician Associate calls, and after a detailed discussion of symptoms and events, she decides she need s to see me and so makes an appointment for later in the morning.  Given it's my bonce we're talking about, I would have suggested a face-to-face upfront if anyone would listen. More work with a killing headache. Off to the surgery. On the plus side she doesn't think I've got anything seriously wrong with my head, at least nothing I didn't already have.  Could be my sinuses, but she doubts it.  Could be an excess of painkillers, ironically. Or it could be stress. Am I suffering from  stress? Where do I begin????? Sooooo, nasal spray (just in case, but only for two

As a consequence of yesterday's funeral, today is the first working day of this week. I'm still dogged by the headaches that have been plaguing me for several weeks now and have decided to take action, as in action beyond just taking pain killers like sweets. I'm thinking the pain may relate to my sinuses, so I'm taking NHS advice on how to relieve sinus pain/possible infections.  I'll try that until Thursday and if it doesn't work, I'll have to go and see a doctor because it is driving me insane (in the membrane!) Work will dominate the day, so this'll be another of those legendary not-much-to-say-days. Son #1 was supposed to be going back to Birmingham uni today but as the day wore on I felt he was leaving it a bit late and suggested he stay and we'd get additional dinner. He agreed, especially given I suggested pizza from Dominos, and that's what happened. Bin night, but so windy I decided not to put the recycling shizz out until tomorrow morn

Today is the day of my mother-in-law's funeral. I'm up early as we need to leave around 8:30 to 9:00 a.m. to get to Southport in time for the limousine to take us to the crematorium with other family. Sons 1 and 2 are up early too (for them, at least!) and are getting ready as I finalise my suit/shirt/tie combo as well as put the finishing touches to the words I'll be reading.  Son #2 has supplied a memory and some words of his own which I've included too.  It's gonna be a long day! Back now, best part of 12 hours later, which is not bad considering I was driving for close on 8 hours in total. Didn't stop on the way up or the way back - Road Warrior! I'm not going to write much about the funeral here, but suffice it to say it went well. All the arrangements worked liked clockwork, the meeting E's brother and his wife was good and we were warmly welcomed.  I read my tribute, which dovetailed nicely with E's brother's eulogy, and I only got dust in

Valentine's day this year is a little unusual for me, both because I have celebrated it early, but also because it is a reminder of how much love a heart (or whatever organ it resides in) can contain. Past, present and future.  It is an awful cliché, while at the same time being true, but there can never be too much. I've all but dispensed with the idea of having a relaxing non-working day as every time I plan one, something occurs that prevents it happening.  Today I will be mostly organising things for my mother-in-law's funeral tomorrow, especially the words I am going to speak on behalf of E, my sons and I. Somewhere in amongst all this we managed a Valentine's day celebration of sorts, with son #2 having organised a card and some presents on behalf of E.  As her communication has decreased over time, the whole thing has become more and more of a formality: it's kind of nice still, but it has lost something along the way and I do this more because we've alwa

Friday is here!  Start the day with a walk followed by a quick shopping trip before starting work.  I've had a revelation about how I can organise my weekends and can't believe it's taken me this long to come up with the idea. Next weekend, or rather next Friday night to be precise, I hope. Time to get down to work...see you later... [The remainder of this blog has been written after the event!] After work a taxi arrives to take me round to a friends house, for food, drink, conversation and music round a fire pit!  Had a great evening with friends old and new, food was great as was the alcohol and company.  Kippers and I have a lot in common now! Saturday begins in the usual way against a backdrop of packing for my trip to the south coast later in the morning. I get a load of chores done and as soon as the chores and packing are done, I head off. After parking and unpacking, we set about a few jobs that needed doing, including a visit to the office to drop stuff off and a s

For the first day this week I haven't had to go somewhere or do something first thing. I got up early because the cleaner arrived at sparrow's fart (what on earth do sparrows eat? Perhaps someone can worm it out of one?), as usual, followed by the arrival of the first carer. After the carer left, I went for my first pre-work walk in quite a while, and afterwards felt pretty good, no doubt helped by the conversation I had as I walked. Time to get down to work! I've managed to order flowers for my mother-in-law's funeral next week as well as contact the celebrant about the words I will say, or at least my intention to speak at the funeral. Idler again tonight (after missing last week's through other excitements) and the guest is Simon Fairlie. Simon is a very interesting character, a counterculture figure who has worked the land for years (and been editor of The Land magazine) and is someone who tries to live a sustainable lifestyle as a micro-dairy farmer and seller

As visits to the garage are the stuff of dreams, I'm off there again first thing this morning. Again! This time I'm staying while they change the front tyres and I'll be working from the showroom until the job is done. Almost 10 and I'm back now, switching to working from home... Busy day of meetings until 2pm, when I head off for my appointment with the optician. I've had a steaming headache today, so I'm really hoping they can get to the bottom of this. Home again, home again, jiggety-jig! After almost two hours at the opticians, I am home. On the plus front, there is nothing wrong with my eyes, but set against that the optician suggests I need prescription glasses for screen work, and these set me back an eye-watering £400 (give or take).  Whilst there I saw a friend who didn't seem to recognise me despite attempting to catch her eye (!). To be fair I was in disguise in the form of glasses and a mask. As we agreed later of all the places not to recognise

Relaxation is definitely not on the cards today as it's back to work, with a visit to the garage first thing for an important recall and, at last, the replacement of my front tyres. Car dropped at the garage and back home and working. Early afternoon I get a call from the garage to say that they can't do the tyres as somehow that request got missed off the job sheet! So, guess what, I have to go back to the garage tomorrow first thing, this time a while-you-wait appointment! Arrangements for my mother-in-law's funeral are gradually solidifying, with details emerging.  One thing I have requested is that the funeral is live-streamed; this is primarily so I can show it to E after the event. Not sure what she'll make of it. Her reaction when I told her of her mum's death were hard to discern. Damn MS. Made dinner with the help of son #2 then watched more of 'The Apprentice' on my own, before the usual closedown. [I was just reminded of the beauty of the tunes on

I have a few things to do today, but my plan is to have a relaxing day and finally catch-up on the weekend papers. Mind you, that has been my plan for the past two weeks and in each case it's not worked out as intended. I don't know if it's because I've been spending so much time using screens for the past two years of working at home, but I have recently been noticing that I've been getting eye ache, especially in my right eye. It's been bad for the past few days, but I'm off to the optician on Wednesday for an eye test, so hopefully we'll get to the bottom of it then. After the carers left the community matrons arrived to change the water in E's PEG and also give her the once over.  After that I went out and took a bunch of books to the charity shop, minus the whole bunch of computer books they won't take.  Son # 2 and I made lunch and then I got some more minor jobs done. All this took longer than planned and just as I was about to settle down

Saturday begins on the south coast, but before long (but longer than it should have been!!) I'm driving us north towards Newbury in West Berkshire. [Most of what follows has been written after the event!] After leaving slightly later than intended, I was quite pleased with our journey time, only to discover I had the meet time wrong by 30 minutes, so that in the end we arrived more than half an hour late. The friends we met took the piss out of me, as they should and so rather than relying on my brain, next time I'm going to put the time in my calendar.  Despite our late start, we managed a decent walk around Snelsmore Common taking in Donnington Castle en-route, and even made it to the Bunk-up Inn in time for a lunch booking.  Amazingly the weather was really good until after we all headed for home, when things took a turn for the worse. We watched BlacKkKlansmen in the evening after eating and then retired to get ready for another day down south. Sunday begins with a lie-in -

I wake up on Friday on the south coast. It's a normal working Friday, except I'm working from a different home.  It was a pretty good day at work, with the final Google Meet call ending really socially with the discovery that one of my client contacts lives only a few miles from me (or at least where I normally reside!) Work over we went shopping for some essentials to make tonight's dinner and for some supplies / sustenance for tomorrow's walk. That done, we ate then went upstairs to watch the second episode of 'Trigger Point'.  After that chat then sleep! This is necessarily brief, for reasons! Grimes / 'Shinigami Eyes' /  (Single) [[ ]]

Thursday begins early as usual, but with the added excitement of a visit to the nurse for a blood test, primarily, as I understand it, to check if I have a vitamin B12, iron, or folic acid deficiency. (I know I don't have an iron deficiency as I'll be using it on some jeans (genes?) later. Sorry. I'll get my coat) Blood bottled up and ready to go off to the lab, I head for home and work, via the essential coffee stop. It's a very busy day for meetings at work and consequently the usual applies. I am due to be heading off for the south coast this evening, after the Idler drinks with Professor David Nutt talking about the 'real science of cannabis and health'. Mid-afternoon it looks as if our plans for the weekend are in doubt.  I await news with anticipation and have already formulated a plan B.  Plan A is on!  There's a slight alteration, which means I'll not be able to attend the Idler drinks tonight, so I guess I'll need to find time to watch the r

Working Wednesday with an early trip to the GP surgery.  It seems rather crazy, but in order to get a phone appointment with a doctor, I have to go to the surgery when it first opens and speak to a receptionist, who then books me a phone call with a doctor the same morning. Back from the surgery, via a coffee shop, with a phone appointment scheduled for the morning and, literally as my first meeting starts, the GP calls.  The outcome being a blood test with a nurse tomorrow, and a suggestion that I call my dentist as apparently 'dentists know more about tongues than doctors do'. At the next available opportunity (after the work call) I will call my dentist to see if he'd like to see my tongue. Amazingly I manage to get an appointment with a dentist at lunchtime, on the same day! Back to work... I'm now back from the dentist, who's had a thorough examination of my tongue/mouth and found nothing seriously wrong, which is good news. There are three possibilities:  firs

Back to work, with the usual consequences. The start of my day involved me trying to call my GP to get an appointment.  Unfortunately when I finally got through, after 30 minutes of calling, there were no appointments left for the day. Not only that, the earliest appointment I could book would be the 11th February. Next time I'll plan on being unwell two weeks in advance.  The receptionist's suggestion was that I come in in person tomorrow at 8 a.m., thereby bypassing the phone system. Duly noted. Work dominates the day, so not much else to say.  Only two working days to go! Repeated application of ibuprofen gel to the back of my head and neck seems to be finally ridding me of the pain caused by my foolish back-somersault last Wednesday. Ho hum 😒 I cooked dinner in the evening before watching a bit of TV and then retiring. Baber / Wileman / 'Mondo Profondo 4' /  'Baber / Wileman' [[ ]]

My day starts on the south coast, with breakfast and heading off in different directions: one to work in the home office the other to the dining room table to write and read the papers. After a brief interlude for lunch together, we headed back to our respective tasks. I've now finished the weekend papers - a major achievement for me by this early stage of the week! Mid-afternoon I watch Boris Johnson on BBC parliament and I'm surprised the fire brigade aren't needed to deal with a bad case of pants on fire. Keir Starmer's speech in reply was surprisingly impressive and measured, though Johnson's response was as crass and childish as we've come to expect. As afternoon draws to a close I drive us to a house on the east of the island for a second viewing.  It's a very quirky house layout but with some really strong positive features, and I agree that I like it as well. On returning to the south, I gather up my things and head home, but not before a final appli