Nine Feet Underground

Quiet Sunday ahead. Reading, washing, present wrapping, catching up with one or both of my sisters - that's what I have in mind. Not very exciting to read, or write, about. The papers are read and I've finished watching 'TS Eliot: Into 'The Waste Land'.  The programme has sent me back to the poem and I want to read more about the letters Eliot exchanged with Emily Hale, the 'Hyacinth Girl' of 'The Waste Land'. Too many things, too little time. There must be an answer! I have done all of the above, but the day seems to have disappeared fast. It's at times like this when I'm really glad I don't work Mondays.  Only one word to go. I made dinner alone, unusually, and son #1 , his gf and I sat and watched a HIGNFY for laughs followed by a chilling (in more than one sense) call to action on Frozen Planet II.  It is hard to imagine what evidence some people need to see to be convinced that climate change is real and something that needs to be a...

So many choices you have to run Because when life is made too easy It's much harder to simply have fun Now you're always on the run You panic when someone tries to unfold you Scream for the dream that seems to hold you You want to give love but only on condition That it's on your terms and that position is lonely This I know The working week begins today and I know I need to focus on getting my one-pager for my architecture level 2 certification completed today, as once other things kick in I'll have less time to focus on it. All the usual things happen, with one minor blip: Tuesday is one of the two days a week my wife is lifted out of bed via the ceiling hoist into her tilt-in-space chair, but today the hoist seems to have some problems and the emergency stop cord snapped.  Luckily the problem occurred before E was hoisted into her chair, because how we'd have got her back otherwise is a challenge we'd rather not face.  Time to call out NRS Healthcare. The usu...

This will be a different entry for a Saturday, as I've been busy 'doing' rather than writing about it, hence not a lot of time to write. Saturday did begin as usual with shopping, accompanied by son #3, however we're rushing this in order that I can leave the house by 9:20 to go to a Thai Buddhist house blessing ceremony, which is called Tambun Baan.  I changed into the shirt from the temple robes one of the carers brought back from Thailand for me, then set off to find out what it entails. Well that was an experience! I'm back from the ceremony which was really special. I was the only English person present for the whole thing (the partner of one of the Thai women joined a bit later) and I felt honoured to be there. All the Thai women were in traditional Thai clothing, which was impressively brightly coloured. There were three monks in robes conducting the ceremony which was in several parts. After the main ceremony the monks were given lunch. Once they'd finis...

Back-to-work Tuesday again, this time with a very early start to do some reading and preparation for my part in our team presentation as part of my 6-week training course.  I'm going to try and walk later but I also make and eat breakfast earlier so that I can devote as much uninterrupted time as I can to building and learning my script. Work from the off, which continues until about 12:15 p.m. when the penultimate lesson in the course ends and I stop to take a breather.  It's going to be a busy day, so I decide now is the time to meditate. Work again The afternoon has three interludes of a slightly different nature, with the first being a call with E's dietitian to discuss her continuing weight gain (apparent) and the damage part of the PEG tube is doing to her skin near the entry site. Back to work Next interlude being hour long session titled 'Talk Yourself Up - How to Overcome Imposter Syndrome'. A really interesting session with some good ideas to try out, thou...

Saturday again, so I got up early in order to go food shopping - this week accompanied by son #1, which is quite unusual, but nevertheless welcome.  One of the benefits of this shopping trip is that we both had a bacon sandwich, which is one of the best ways to start any day. Returned home to the usual set of chores, livened up today by me attempting to blind myself with liquid washing detergent.  I had just filled one of those plastic, open-topped balls with the liquid, and somehow it slipped out of my hands.  It landed base down on the floor, and, in accordance with Newton's law, the liquid responded with an equal and opposite reaction to shoot straight back up into my eyes.  Thanks Newton! Not. After hastily washing them repeatedly in water and removing my contact lenses, things seem to be getting better.  And for my next trick... Saturday is a also catheter flush day, so when the carers arrived for the lunch call I donned the disposable apron and gloves ...

" How will all this affect me "