Booked!

 I've gone ahead and booked us a week's holiday in a cottage - well, a large wing of a farmhouse, in September.  It's just over an hour's drive away and is located in a rural farming area very near where we lived when we first moved down to Somerset.  The last time we went away was in September last year, a 5 day stay in a beautiful lodge on a small holiday park in north Devon.  It wasn't a success, husband was dissatisfied with just about everything and we came home a day early as I was fed up with him complaining.  

Well, I was determined to find nice accommodation in a lovely area, not built up, with rural views and not too far from amenities and nice places to visit, something that gave husband nothing to moan about in other words, I think this place ticks all the boxes.  I showed it to husband before booking and even he was impressed.  The cottage itself is gorgeous, old with exposed beams and stonework, beautifully furnished, large rooms, a nice conservatory, big decking area with plenty of outdoor seating and a huge, secure enclosed garden which Betty should enjoy.  Typically, the first thing that husband asked was what size is the TV and does it have satellite channels 😂😒 Whereas I'm looking forward to sitting on the decking - or in the conservatory if it's raining - with a mug of coffee and a good book, looking out over the fields (it's a working farm) and watching Betty enjoy the garden.  One of the good things about the location is that it's not far from Wells, which remains one of my favourite ever places in Somerset.....in the 2.5 years since we've lived here we've not been there as it's too far to drive from here, it would take over 1.5 hours which is a bit too much for husband, but it's only about 20 mins or so from the holiday place.  Clark's Village (the retail outlet), Wookey Hole and several nature reserves are close by too, so plenty to do.  There's even a tea room not far away, and you all know by now how much I like those! 😁  I'm really looking forward to it and can't wait to go.  With the conservatory and large garden - and the working farmers encouraging guests to walk round the farm and even help feed the animals and collect eggs - there'll be ample opportunity for me to be by myself for a break from husband, if necessary.

There's quite a bit of noise coming from the building site next door but it's not bothering me as much now, I'm obviously getting more used to it.  They're certainly cracking on with the work now, although there's not much difference externally, I assume they're working inside.  They've still got the rest of the scaffolding to erect, still only the one gable end of that done, and then they'll be taking off the roof slates, building up the walls to double height and putting the roof back on, I expect it'll be noisier then.  I just hope they keep the overall character of the building, it's a lovely ancient stone barn.

Bit of a disappointment, and contemplating a holiday

 Husband is having a bad day (which impacts on me), he's already very grumpy and argumentative.  He's also tripped twice, bashing my knee the first time and treading on Betty's paw the second time.  Hopefully, he'll be in a better frame of mind once my lovely cleaner Hayley arrives, he likes a bit of banter with her.

I've got a small list of jobs to do this morning, I like to make sure I've got things to do in the kitchen whilst she's here, to keep out of her way so she can get on with her work.  I've suggested a couple of jobs husband can do in the garden at the same time, which he's moaned about (of course!) - if I don't give him something to do he'll just sit in his armchair watching the TV and talking at Hayley all the time, distracting her.

This low Fodmap diet (I'm still sticking to it) is working wonders with my insides, I've had almost no gut or bowel problems since I've been doing it.  However, having weighed myself I was disappointed to find that I've put on 3 or 4 lbs....not a lot I know, but I need to lose weight, not gain more!  It's not meant to be a weight reducing diet, I know that, and I know why I've put on weight - it's quite carb-heavy.  Somewhat surprisingly, quite a few carby things are allowed on the diet - breads and pasta, providing they're GF and don't contain any other banned ingredients or flavourings.  Rice is allowed, as are potatoes.  All of these carby things are things I know bloat me and thus I don't normally eat a lot of them.  I suppose subconsciously I was so pleased I could eat them on this diet that I kind of thought "ooh yummy" and have been eating them too much.  I found a sourdough loaf (it was recommended on a low Fodmap group I belong to) that is known-irritant free, it's Tesco's own Finest range San Francisco Sourdough, on their instore bakery counter, and it is quite honestly the nicest commercial sourdough I've ever tasted.  I've been eating a slice or two every day, along with GF pasta (which has improved enormously over the years), rice and potatoes, albeit our own new homegrown potatoes.  So that's why I've put on some weight, I expect.  To lose the pounds I'll have to restrict the carbs, so I'm going very low carb for a week or two.  After that I'll try to stick to only one carby meal per day, that should do the trick.

I've had a letter from the opticians saying my eye test is due - the last time I went the optician recommended I have them every 18 months instead of 2-yearly, as the cataracts I have forming are growing quicker than he would have expected.  I've noticed my close up vision in my right eye is getting to be a lot more blurred, I don't know whether that's cataract related but I'll find out when I have the test, I'll ring and book it today.

It's overcast at the moment and we've had a few spots of rain, there's a breeze and it's about 17 deg - not particularly warm but not really chilly either, quite pleasant after the awful heat and humidity of last week.

I'm sort of contemplating possibly booking a holiday for September - last year we went to a beautiful lodge on a small quiet holiday park, I loved both the lodge and the park but husband did nothing but moan from the time we arrived.  We came home a day early because I was so fed up with his complaints and thought it was probably the last time we'd go on holiday....I thought if he was going to complain all the time then we might as well be at home.  Still, I'd like to go away for a change of scenery - not far obviously as husband doesn't drive far nowadays, but I'd be happy to go to a different part of Somerset, probably countryside rather than coastal.  It won't be a holiday park, I'll look for a cottage in a nice area with places to walk nearby.

Am I patient?

 It turns out the food and drink festival is on this coming Saturday, not yesterday, I got the date wrong.  Husband was delighted at that - he always gets dates, appointments and times wrong so gleefully and smugly told me "See, it's not just me!" 😒  I get something wrong once, he does it all the time 😜

Some of you have said I must have oodles of patience.....I wouldn't ever have said before that I was a particularly patient person, the opposite in fact.  But yes, in dealing with husband on a daily basis I have to be extremely patient.  For instance, this morning he was doing his weekly dosette box pill fill up - he does it, at his insistence, with me supervising.  He's actually pretty good at getting all the pills sorted into the twice daily little boxes, with the occasional slip up which I help him to sort out.  What he has trouble with though is actually getting the pills out of their packets safely - he tends to ping the pills around and every Sunday, 2 or 3 end up on the floor, with both of us scrabbling around on the floor looking for them.  Which worries me, as I'm always concerned if we can't find one, Betty might, and I don't want her eating random human pills!  About a month ago, I bought husband a gadget for extracting pills safely from packets, it's a bit like a stapler with a container that the pill falls safely into.  Well, that's the theory, and it does actually work quite well, although is a bit fiddly to use.  Husband can't stand anything fiddly though, so now refuses to use it, nor will he let me do it for him.  He's extremely obstinate, as I've said before, if he doesn't want to do something then he won't, and there's absolutely no budging him.

He asked me this morning what one of his pills is for - it's Dapagliflozin, one of his heart pills, it's a mild diuretic and helps lower blood pressure and ease the heart's load.....it's also a diabetes medication, I take Empagliflozin for my diabetes, it's in the same family as the Dapa.  Well, husband then insisted it was for his diabetes (he's only borderline diabetic and takes no medication for it), I said no, it's for his heart.  So, as is his custom, he then began an argument insisting adamantly that he was given it for diabetes.  No he wasn't, the GP - on the advice of his cardiologist - prescribed it for his heart.....I was there in the surgery with him at the time, so I know!  This is where my patience comes in - husband is so bloody-minded, when he thinks he's right about something he is so scathing and talks down to me, treating me as if I'm an idiot.  It takes all of my restraint and tolerance not to do what I really feel like doing - which is to whack him round the ear with a frying pan and walk out the door.  Instead, I just have to walk away, seething inside.....so yes I guess you could say I'm very patient now.

It's quite upsetting, the man I've loved since I was 21 and married at 23 would never, had never treated me like that up until a couple of years ago - that man doesn't exist anymore, which is so sad.

The oppressive heat and humidity has gone, it's beautifully fresh - and even slightly cool - today.  Such a relief, my body's not built for hot humid temperatures.  Once again, we've got a week with no medical appointments....I said that last week though and we ended up with a last-minute podiatry appointment for husband.  Oh, just remembered, husband's key worker is due to ring for a phone appointment on Wednesday.  I suppose it's nice that they're monitoring his mental state, albeit on the phone once a month, but I really don't think it's much use.  Whilst she's nice enough, seems caring and very earnestly asks questions about how he's feeling and we're both coping, the problem is she insists on speaking to both of us at the same time, on speakerphone.  Which means husband talks over me, as usual, I hardly get a chance to say anything, and in any case I have to be careful about what I say, as if I say something husband doesn't like or disagrees with, it rebounds on me as he has a right go at me later once the call has ended.

Too hot for ice cream!

 Well, no ice cream yesterday, nor the frozen fish I wanted - all of the supermarket's freezers were roped off with notices pinned on them saying the food was dangerous to eat as the freezers were out of order.  A lot of their chiller cabinets holding the fresh food were empty too - same reason, chillers broken down.  A staff member said the chiller and freezer cabinets just couldn't cope with the heat.  Apparently, it was the same with all their freezers in the stock room out the back, they were going to have to discard ALL of their frozen food....that's an awful lot of food to throw away!  Terrible isn't it, but of course they have to be safe, if someone got ill as a result of eating food from a freezer that had broken down, the store would be in big trouble.  At least two other food stores in town had the same problems, according to local social media.  Makes you wonder how other countries that generally have hotter temperatures than ours cope - I guess they're more geared up for it, as the heat is normal for them.  But it looks like these extremes of temperatures/weather conditions are becoming normal for this country too, so it's time to get their acts together I think.

The car journey to and from husband's podiatry appointment in Taunton yesterday afternoon was deeply unpleasant, traffic jams and boiling hot temperatures, 32 deg according to the car thermometer.  And then when we got there, it was a pay and display car park with machines that didn't accept cards, it was a pay by phone thing which I'd never used before, I figured it out though.  It did accept coins (correct money only, no change given) but husband had no cash at all and I only had 40p(!!) as I almost never use cash nowadays.  If husband had been on his own he'd have been completely flummoxed.  I guess that's a lesson to always ensure we have some coins in the car.  Honestly, this cashless society is a downright nuisance at times.  The podiatrist said that husband wears the wrong shoes, almost all his shoes are slip ons which the podiatrist said don't stop his feet from sliding forwards inside them when he's walking, causing his toes to bunch up at the front.  He said he should ideally wear lace ups, which husband finds difficult to do up because bending over causes him to become breathless and dizzy.  The chap did say that velcro fastening ones would be a reasonable alternative.  Incidentally, husband's cardiac nurse told him ages ago that instead of bending over to do up his shoes, he should bring his feet up towards him, i.e. put his foot up on a stool, so he doesn't have to bend over so far.  Does he do it though?  No of course he doesn't, despite me reminding him umpteen times. 🙄

It's noticeably cooler this morning and was a much more comfortable night, thank goodness, it's still warm but not blisteringly hot and humid, breezy too which is nice.  There's a food and drink festival on at the seafront today, basically local food and drink producers selling very nice but also very expensive wares - we'll go and look anyway.  I'd better get some cash out of a machine on the way there, just in case!

We had a phone call from husband's sister yesterday, the one with lung cancer (he has 4 sisters and 3 brothers still living).  She and her daughter are coming down for 3 nights next month, daughter will be driving, they're staying in the Premier Inn less than 2 miles away so will be spending most of every day with us.  Being realistic, it's likely to be the last time husband and his sister see each other - as her illness progresses she won't be coming down all this way (around 175 miles), nor is husband able to drive that distance either.  So we'll have to make the most of this visit.  And then his daughter and son in law are coming down for a long weekend in August, it's always nice to see them.

Aggravation all round

 Last night was the worst one this year, it was incredibly hot and sticky, Betty and I were both suffering.  Poor thing, she just couldn't settle, was very restless and prowling around, panting a lot, throwing herself down on her 2 beds (1 in the lounge, the other in my bedroom), her cool mat, the sofa, my bed, the floors.  I had the fan on in my bedroom but it's only a small one and not very powerful, so in the end we both went in the lounge and I switched the big fan on and opened a couple of windows.  I got out the cloths I'd earlier wrung out in cold water and put in plastic bags in the fridge, I had one round my neck, the other I spread over Betty as she was lying on her cool mat.  Trouble is, she won't stay still for long enough, she was up and down constantly, so the cloth kept falling off.  I lay in husband's recliner chair for a while, then a thunderstorm started up around midnight, which unnerved Betty even more - fortunately, it was much quieter and a lot less violent than the one the other day, just a few claps of thunder, a bit of lightning and a few showers that went on for an hour or so.  Eventually, we both went back to my bedroom and endured a very restless night.  It is a bit cooler so far this morning, although still sticky.  Betty does drink water often, I make sure of that.  She seems ok right now, she's sleeping as she's clearly very tired (I know the feeling!).  She's not eaten her breakfast but that's ok, I'm sure she doesn't feel like eating right now, nor do I.

Husband had a phone call late yesterday afternoon, offering him a cancellation appointment for podiatry for this afternoon (he's had trouble with his feet for years, it's flared up again).  Unfortunately, the appointment is at a clinic in Taunton, so a blinking 45-50 minute drive on a hot day again.  Such a blimmin nuisance, I don't know why they can't hold the clinics in the Minehead hospital, instead of forcing us to go on long journeys - which eventually we won't be able to do.

The upside of having to go out this afternoon is that it'll give us a break from the constant racket going on next door.  The builders arrived early again, there's been a cement mixer going non-stop since 7.30 this morning, along with metallic clanking noises as the scaffolding is going up.  They're not having professional scaffolders, neighbour Mr X bought a vanload of second hand scaffolding and he and his brother are erecting it themselves.  I have no idea if they're trained or experienced at it, I presume not as they took all day yesterday to erect just the gable end scaffolding, whereas professional scaffolders would have the whole lot done in a day.  Let's hope for their sakes it's safe!  And all the blokes are shouting to each other again, to be heard above all the noise.  Before anyone says it, I do know that we could report the noise and flagrant disregard for time starts to the Council, but I'm not going to do that for 2 reasons:  1)  We have to live with our neighbours in harmony for years to come, and 2)  If the Council did put a restriction on their working hours, then the work would take even longer to complete.  So we just have to put up with it, even though it means we cannot sit out in our garden for probably the whole of the summer.  And we thought we were moving to a lovely peaceful retirement community!!

We're popping out to the supermarket now for a top up shop of fresh stuff (and a bit of ear relief!).  I think I'll buy a tub of nice ice cream - not on my low Fodmap diet but I've pretty much stuck to it for more than 2 weeks now, and I think we deserve a treat!

Too hot to think, let alone do anything

 We're all suffering the effects of the heat now, well myself and Betty more so than husband, he likes the hot weather but still has to be careful.  I have to remind him to keep drinking water or squash, he doesn't drink enough, especially since he sweats excessively in this heat.  I've also suggested he stays indoors today, since we're on red alert for high temperatures.  Betty had a short walk at 7 am, for the past few days that's been her one and only walk each day, the rest of the time she goes for a wee on the lawn at the front of the house, the paved areas and gravel in our back garden are far too hot for her.  We have the fans going, windows open and curtains closed, it's actually not too bad indoors although it'll probably be much worse this afternoon.  Betty has, for the last couple of days, actually been lying on her cool mat, thankfully.  If it was bigger I think I'd join her 😂.  Thank goodness it'll be much cooler tomorrow, this heat has done me in, when I got up just after 6 this morning I felt like a hot, sweaty, sticky, headachy mess - a cool shower made me feel much better.  Oh, and husband was out with Betty, so no chance of the shower water stopping!  We're forecast thunderstorms late tonight.

One of the good things about having the fans going all day is that it helps to mask the constant noise from the building works next door!

I need some shopping, but might get it delivered for a change, I certainly don't feel like going at the moment.  Actually, it could wait a few days, we have plenty of food in, just getting a bit low on fresh fruit and veggies, and of course it's going to be cooler from tomorrow.  So actually we might go on Sunday morning, the supermarket is usually quiet then.

Nothing else to say, sorry, it's too hot to do anything so therefore nothing to write about!

Standing my ground, and the lovely trellis

 It's exceedingly noisy here this morning, there's a big cement lorry parked right beside our bungalow with the engine running and the cement mixer tank revolving.  The chief builder is riding up and down in a dumper truck thing, collecting several loads of cement from the lorry then transporting it to the building job nearby, his truck beeps loudly all the time.  There are several more builders, plus neighbour Mr X and his brother all standing there watching and shouting to each other to be heard above all the din.  It's bedlam.  Good start to the day 😒

Yesterday evening husband and I had words, honestly that man is the most argumentative and obstinate man I know.  Normally when he's got a bee in his bonnet about something and is determined to insist he's right and I'm wrong, I just give in and walk away - even if I'm right, it's really not worth the hassle to argue about things with him, he will not relent or admit that he may be wrong.  I went for a shower in the evening....the water kept going off, each time I pressed the button it would flow for about 10 seconds and then stop again, we've had this problem before (although it only seems to happen when it's me showering and not husband!).  Every time the water shut off, I could hear husband running taps in the kitchen, which is right next to the bathroom.  The shower water only started flowing properly again once husband had turned off the taps in the kitchen (he was washing up).  When I came out of the shower I told husband what had happened, he immediately said "No, that shouldn't happen", I said well it did.  Once again he insisted it couldn't happen, he said it 2 or 3 times.  As I said, normally I give in for the sake of peace but this time I thought no I'm not going to, he cannot continue to think that he is always right.  So I said whether it couldn't or shouldn't happen was irrelevant, the fact was it WAS happening and that was that.  I invited him to go and run the shower whilst I ran the taps in the kitchen, he just shrugged and wouldn't do it.  I think the next time he's in the shower I'll turn on the kitchen sink taps, just to show him that it DOES happen.  It'll be sod's law that it won't happen then! 😂😜

We've finished off putting up the fence trellis panels, it looks good and gives us a much needed extra 12" of height along the top of the fence.  Once the ivy and other climbing plants grow up onto the trellis, we'll have so much more privacy, I'm very pleased with it.

The trellis panels don't all match, the shop didn't have enough of the ones I liked so we had to buy a mixture of two different ones - doesn't matter to me, I've never been one for having everything perfect and matchy-matchy.  Once they're covered with climbing plants it won't be noticeable anyway.  We're not going outside again for the rest of the day, it's already too hot out there.  Roll on Friday when the temperature comes down to a more reasonable 24 deg.

I'm making a Spanish omelette to have with salad for today and tomorrow, there are some veggies that need using up so the omelette will be perfect for that.  I'll cook it in the Ninja.

Spectacular

 We had the most spectacular thunderstorm late yesterday afternoon, loud thunderclaps and lots of very bright lightning flashes coming literally every few seconds, so the storm must have been (and stayed) right overhead, for about 40 minutes.  Our electricity and internet went off, although came back on quite quickly, some of the TV channels were missing for about 30 mins though, much to husband's disgust.  At least the garden got a good watering and it freshened the air up, albeit briefly.  Betty hates storms and was quite disturbed, her eyes were huge, she was whimpering and kept trying to hide behind my legs or underneath my chair.  I reassure her but don't make too much of a fuss about it, I don't want her to think it's a big problem.  I remember years ago when we were kids, mum used to run round the house in a panic switching everything electrical off and pulling all the plugs out.

Husband realised (too late) yesterday during the storm that he'd left all the car windows wide open from when he went out in the morning.  So the inside of the car, as well as the outside (he almost never washes our car) got a good soaking 😒.  He's got the car doors open now, the seats are still wet from yesterday.

I had a few things to do indoors yesterday morning but told husband we'd go outside to start putting up the trellis panels afterwards.  He wanted to get straight on with it though, so I said I'd be out as soon as possible and told him to be careful and take regular breaks.  After half an hour I went out to tell him to take a break and come in for a cold drink, which he did very reluctantly.  A short while later I saw from the kitchen window that he was leaning against the fence, bent over with his head down, clearly unwell, I immediately went and got him inside.  He insisted he didn't have chest pains but felt nauseous and dizzy, I got him another glass of water and made him go and lie down in his room.  I think he just overdid things, he won't listen to me, goes at everything like a bull in a china shop and forgets that he simply cannot do the same things he did 20 years ago, he's an idiot at times.  He says he feels fine this morning and wants to carry on, I've told him he's not to start until I go out there with him, and we'll only be working for an hour or so.  

The builders were here and banging away at 07.30 this morning, yes it's a bit irritating but it's not like they woke us up, I'd got up at 6 and husband about half an hour later.  Our next door neighbours, however, aren't early risers so I don't suppose they're best pleased.  I just think perhaps the builders want to get finished earlier today before it gets too baking hot this afternoon....and maybe if they get cracking even earlier then the job will be finished sooner.  It's a big job though, converting an ancient single storey stone barn into a 2-storey holiday home, so it's not like they're going to be finished anytime soon.  So far they seem to have dug out all the floor inside and are in the process of blocking up one of the existing doorways and creating a new doorway.  

Right, husband's had his breakfast (he's ready to eat almost as soon as he's got out of bed), we're both washed and dressed, Betty's been walked and had her breakfast, so it's time for another coffee before going outside to carry on with the fencing.

Salads all week

 I've just put washing out and it's already too hot for me out there, thankfully the bungalow stays fairly cool, especially with windows open and curtains shut.  Husband said he was going to the gym this morning but has since changed his mind, he's gone off into town to buy some wood ready for putting up the fence trellis panels.  We'll have to do this work fairly early in the morning this week, to avoid the excessive heat later.  I want the trellis panels put up this week as yesterday we heard neighbour Mr X telling someone that the building work is "all systems go" from now on, which means it'll be noisy.  So far it's been sporadic, with generally only one man doing any work, as the builders are still currently finishing off another building job nearby....that job looks to be almost completed so I guess all of them (3 blokes I think, plus Mr X and his brother doing the labouring on odd days throughout the week) will be here imminently.  If it gets too noisy at any time, then we'll take Betty and go out in the car somewhere - preferably up on the moor where there are lots of trees for shade!

I'm not doing much, if any, cooking during this week's excessive heat - perhaps an omelette or 2 or boiling some of our homegrown new potatoes but that's about it, salads all week.  Husband's having cottage pie tonight, his choice, I suggested he have a salad with it but he wants baked beans.  I'm having a beetroot and feta salad today, tinned salmon tomorrow.  I do love salmon, whether it be tinned, fresh or smoked, it's my favourite fish.

Betty does like to lie outside in the sun but is pretty sensible, after 5 or 10 minutes she either moves into a shady spot or comes indoors.  We do have a cool mat for her but she rarely lays on it, she might sometimes rest her head on it!  

I've been watching the Jilly Cooper series, Rivals, on catch up TV, I don't know why I missed it the first time around....it probably clashed with something husband wanted to watch.  I read all the Jilly Cooper books years ago so I know the story well.  A few things about the series strike me - firstly, I never realised Danny Dyer was such a good actor, I only really know him from Eastenders and appearing on game shows, where he basically just messes around.  David Tennant is excellent too.  And the smoking - my word, seems like virtually everybody was a chain smoker back then.  I smoked myself, although wasn't a heavy smoker, 10 a day usually, and I gave up about 30 years ago.  The rampant sexism is a bit hard to watch sometimes, especially when a young female character was raped (by a clergyman) and then persuaded (by David Tennant's boss character) to cover it up in case it hurt the franchise.  Have things changed all that much nowadays?  I know it's talked about more and there's the 'Me Too' thing, but I think some older men do still have sexist attitudes, as that's how it was back then and some of them haven't changed - the likes of Jim Davidson spring to mind.  It seems also that there's a new generation of young men with a terrible attitude towards young women, fuelled by them watching Tiktok videos put out by that awful man Andrew Tate (seemingly a millionaire but what he actually does I don't know) who's clearly misogynistic, and the equally awful Tommy Robinson, basically a rent-a-gob.

Well, enough of that, I'm off to plan a week's menu of salads!

Fish and chips off the menu, brain scan done

 I can't remember if I was diagnosed with wheat intolerance, gluten intolerance or both years ago, too long ago now to remember.  I guess I've always sort of thought of them both being more or less the same thing anyway.  In practical terms, I don't think it makes much difference, I just assume I'm intolerant to most 'normal' flours and baked goods made of normal flours.

Yesterday evening we had our fish and chips sitting in the car on the seafront - I didn't want to eat outside the car as I didn't fancy being divebombed by seagulls, of which there are a lot there.  I forgot to ring up and order the GF battered fish in advance - you can just ask for it when you're there, but being a Friday evening it was very busy and they said there would be a 15 or 20 min wait for GF fish (which obviously has to be cooked separately), so I just had the ordinary batter.  Betty and I shared my cod and chips, we had half each, although neither of us ate all the batter.  Betty certainly enjoyed hers, as did I, but I did think it tasted rather oily for my liking now, my tastebuds have changed over the past few months.  And, guess what, I had a reaction to the meal, probably to the batter - stomach and bowel upset in the early hours.  So now I know, both pasties and fish n chips are still off the menu for the next few weeks at least.

Husband's brain scan took an awfully long time - 45 minutes, his last one a few years back only took about 15 mins.  I was getting a bit worried and just thinking about asking the receptionist to find out if he was ok when he then came out, finally.  During the time he was in there, around a dozen other people went in, had their procedures and came back out before him.  Mind you, it's a diagnostic centre for all sorts of x-rays and scans, not just MRI brain scans, so the others could have been having different procedures.  Husband said he had 5 scans altogether, by the time he came out he said his head was spinning, the machine is exceptionally noisy, he could barely even hear the Meatloaf Bat Out of Hell soundtrack he'd requested.  We won't be getting the results anytime soon, there's a backlog apparently, as seems to be normal nowadays.

Cloudy and hazy today, not much sun but very warm and humid.  Heatwave forecast from Monday, I would rather it was just plain hot than humid and sticky, humidity makes me feel quite ill.  For the first time in ages, we've actually got nothing on the calendar for next week, no medical appointments for either of us, so at least we don't have to do anything or go anywhere if it's too hot.

One of husband's sisters, the next one down in age from him, has just been diagnosed with a form of asbestosis/lung cancer.  She's said she doesn't want chemotherapy as she doesn't want to lose her hair!  Up to her of course, but personally I'd rather have my life than my hair.  It's not just the loss of hair I know, chemo can make people feel very ill indeed.  I guess none of us know how we'd cope with things until we actually have to.

An 'interesting' experiment

 The bus trial yesterday was very straightforward, I now know how to scan my bus pass, the route the bus takes and where the bus stops are in town, so I'll be able to take myself off to town for solo trips from now on.

I deviated from my low FODMAP diet yesterday, with 'interesting' results.  In town, the smell from the pasty shop's open doorway was just too tempting, so we bought pasties for lunch which, fortunately as it turns out, we ate at home.  Within an hour of eating my veggie pasty I had stomach pains and diarrhoea (sorry, TMI), probably caused by either the pastry or the onion - I suspect the pastry, well the gluten.  I've been following this diet very strictly for about 10 days now, excluding literally all of the listed trigger foods, up till yesterday lunchtime.  During that time I have had no gut or bowel problems, indigestion, bloating or sinus problems, none at all.  So that confirms to me that the diet works, and that it's too early to reintroduce trigger foods to my diet.  You don't have to exclude all of the trigger foods forever, just in the first phase - which takes 2-6 weeks - then it's recommended you to reintroduce one food at a time, monitoring your reactions over 3 days.  Even if you do react to one food, it may be a case of simply reducing the quantity of it - a smaller serving may be tolerated.  I expect that amount of pastry - a whole pasty - was too much, it would have been better to have just half of the pastry, or even less.  I'll remember that for the next time I have a pastry item, which won't be for another 2 or 3 weeks.

We're off out soon to Taunton for husband's MRI brain scan, then we'll pop into Aldi for a top up of the things I like to buy in there.  It's a shame we don't have one in Minehead - there's a Lidl but I do prefer Aldi.  I'm glad we're out this morning, there's a lot of noise coming from next door.

Recipe for June - *Edited later

 Here's the soda bread recipe that June asked for.  It's based on this recipe from a GF blogger soda bread although I've adapted it slightly, for my tastes.  So here's my recipe:-

450g plain GF flour

50g wholemeal spelt flour

1 tsp xanthan gum

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tsp baking powder

Handful of mixed seeds

1 tsp salt

50g butter or GF spread, melted

1 egg

350 ml buttermilk (or milk of your choice with 1 tbsp lemon juice added)

The xanthan gum, which can be bought in most supermarkets in their FreeFrom section, helps to 'stick' the flour together, as GF flour can make baked goods crumbly.  I used the baking powder as my GF flour was plain, not self raising.  I added seeds because I like them in bread.  I didn't have buttermilk (I never buy it actually), I simply add lemon juice to sour the milk and make it a good buttermilk substitute.  I used soya milk.  I didn't add the butter in the end simply because I forgot!  The method is simply to mix all the dry ingredients together, making sure to sieve the bicarb and baking powder in case they're lumpy.  Melt the butter or spread in a jug, add the buttermilk and egg to the jug and whisk together, then pour into the flour bowl and mix together - you may not need all the liquid, depends on what flour you're using, some are more absorbent than others.  Incidentally, I always use a butter knife for mixing up dough, less chance of huge great clumps sticking to it like they do to a spoon.  Don't bother kneading the dough, GF dough doesn't need kneading as there's no gluten to stretch, just draw it together with floured hands and form into a ball.  Place on a piece of baking parchment on a tray in a hot oven and bake for around 45 mins, I'd take it out around the 35 min mark and check it for doneness, knocking your knuckles on the base to see if it sounds hollow, I'm sure you all know that.  I baked mine in my Ninja air fryer, 20 mins at 200 deg C, followed by another 20 mins at 180.  I hope it works for you June.

*Added - don't forget to cut a cross or some deep slits in the top of the bread before you put it in the oven, otherwise it'll split at the sides when baking.

Annabeth, you mentioned an Italian GF flour, Caputo Fioreglut.  I looked it up....erm yes it is very expensive!  However, the pictures of the breads made using this flour were impressive, in fact they look exactly like normal flour breads.  So I might try one bag of this flour - I suppose I could always try mixing it half and half with my Doves Farm GF flour, to see how that works (less expensive that way).  Thanks for that.

Neighbour Mr X has told us that the builders are today cutting into the stonework on the old barn to make a new doorway, so it's going to be noisy.  I think it'll be a good idea to pop out in the car for a couple of hours (it's showery today), taking Betty with us, once the work starts....they're currently having a good old chinwag sheltering from the rain under a tree.  We appreciate him telling us, it's good of him.

More on the diet, and trying out the bus

 Two of you lovely readers (one via email) recommended recipes by a food writer named Becky Excell, who has written several books and has a website with loads of GF - and other 'free froms' - recipes.  Coincidentally, I'd recently joined a low FODMAP group on FB, they also recommend her.  I've bookmarked her website and had a quick glance through it, it looks really great, so thank you for the recommendations.  Yesterday I made a soda bread loaf using a Doves Farm GF flour and a small amount of wholemeal spelt - spelt isn't actually recommended on the FODMAP diet but it's a flour which is well tolerated by lots of people, I've used it before and it doesn't seem to have a huge reaction for me.  Besides, using such a small amount and spread across the whole loaf which will cut into about a dozen slices, it'll only be a negligible amount in each slice.  I just like the taste of it.  I also put in some mixed seeds and a good tsp salt and pepper.  The bread is lovely, tastes just like a normal soda bread, so I'll be making that from now on.  Incidentally Heather, cornflour is fine on the diet.

I'm finding this diet relatively easy to do, I remember when I did it years ago I hated it and found it really restrictive, probably because back then we ate a lot of takeaways and ready meals, with us both working full time.  Now it seems much easier to follow, it does require a lot of cooking from scratch but that's fine as it's what I do now anyway.  It also includes lots of foods I already eat, such as protein in the form of eggs and fish - plainly cooked, plus meat for the carnivores, cheese in restricted quantities, seeds and some nuts (not all nuts are allowed), and plenty of fruit and veggies.  Again, there are some fruits and veggies which aren't allowed - apples, stone fruits and mangoes e.g., and onions (they always give me a bad reaction anyway), cauliflower and mushrooms, which is a shame as I love both of those.  Apparently, they can ferment in the gut and cause bloating, which is why they're not allowed in the initial phases of the diet.

One thing about this diet is that it can be quite carb-heavy - GF breads and baked goods, potatoes, rice and GF pasta are all allowed.  I'll have to be mindful of that and make sure I don't eat too many of them, as carbs aren't good for my diabetes or my joints.

Right, I think I've bored everyone enough with all this FODMAP diet talk, sorry about that!  It's just that I'm finding my way through it and it's quite important to me right now.

We've got dull and rainy days today and tomorrow, then it's back to sunshine and nice weather from Thursday onwards.  On Thursday we're planning to go into town on the bus, from next week I want to start going into town for my solo respite breaks and need to suss out the route and where the buses stop/pick up.  Husband has been on the bus to town a couple of times, so he's familiar with it, he just can't really tell me exactly where it goes, he gets confused when trying to explain it.  The bus doesn't go what would be the conventional route to town, I know that much, it sort of goes around the houses (well, it would, wouldn't it?!), so I need to have a trial run to check where it goes, where I can get off and, more importantly, where I can get back on again to come home.  Some days I'd like to have a mooch around the shops in town, other days when it's warm and sunny I'll take a book and bottle of water and sit on the beach, or go for a walk to the harbour end of the beach along the promenade.

GF baking, hit and miss

 Still following the diet, I decided to try making toad in the hole yesterday, using GF flour (and veggie sausages for me), I followed a FODMAP recipe.  Actually, it was pretty much just a straightforward swap of GF flour (a Doves Farm mix) for ordinary plain.  Well, it wasn't nice at all, only half rose and was decidedly stodgy, I won't be doing that again.  Baking things is all experimental at the moment, I'll keep trying different things.  Having now had shop bought GF sliced bread and a pack of GF pitta breads, I won't be buying those again either.  I tried GF bread years ago when I was first on the FODMAP diet, it was awful - sandy, gritty and dry.  Well things seem to have improved with the texture nowadays, not gritty or dry, quite soft and moist in fact.  But absolutely no body and no taste.  I shall try making a GF soda bread loaf next, there are plenty of recipes online, I'll use enough seasoning and herbs to ensure it doesn't taste bland.  And if that doesn't work, I'll just stick with rice cakes and corn cakes, both of which I like.

It was a difficult weekend.  Husband has been going through one of his clumsy phases - well, he's always clumsy actually, sometimes it's worse than usual though.  On Saturday he filled a plastic jug with water to put in the fridge and promptly dropped it on the floor, splattering all the cupboards, table and chairs as well as the lake on the floor.  He also squeezed the milk carton too hard and sploshed milk everywhere, knocked over his mug of tea, dropped a paving slab in the garden smashing it into pieces.  He flat out contradicted me when I was talking to our neighbour and was extremely argumentative.  He was using the strimmer in the garden to cut back some plants that had finished flowering, but also managed to chop off some of my lovely flowering plants.  Careless.  He's a walking disaster at times.  He says he's going to the gym this morning, for the first time in ages, I hope he does....it'll do him good and give me a break.

It's possible the brain scan he's having on Friday is preying on his mind - not that he'll talk to me about any worries he might have, he won't, just shrugs his shoulders, says he's fine and walks away.

I'm going to make an aubergine and courgette parmigiana for dinner tonight, there's some bacon left over after the weekend which husband can have with his. Think I'll use up the remaining GF pitta by turning it into crumbs and mixing it with grated parmesan to top the parmigiana.  I need to menu plan for the week.

Garden work, good diet and brain scan to come

 I've been following the Fodmap diet for 5 or 6 days now, quite strictly, and have had no gut or bowel problems or indigestion at all in that time.  'They' say you shouldn't follow it by yourself, only with the guidance of a dietitian.  However, since I was under the dietitian when I initially did it years ago and have 2 up to date books on it, plus an app on my phone from the Monash University, an Australian uni which is the world leading research centre on the diet, I'm confident I can do it on my own.  The books and the app provide everything I need to know, including lists of banned and allowed foods, the 3 phases of the diet (Elimination, Reintroduction and Maintenance) and loads of recipes and meal plans.  Certainly the Elimination phase is strict, but it suits me and I'm finding it relatively easy to stick to.

It's very warm and sunny today, if there wasn't a breeze it would be almost too warm.  I've done an hour of work in the garden, weeding, trimming and deadheading and that's enough for me, I'm now hot and sweaty and my back and shoulder are painful.  There's still more to do in the garden and it's going to be even hotter tomorrow, so we'll have to get out there fairly early before it gets too hot.  Husband can take the heat but I can't.  

I posted the re-done LPA off this morning, I went through it with a fine tooth comb before sealing it in the envelope so am fairly confident it'll be ok this time.  (I hope that's not tempting fate!).

Husband's having southern fried chicken for dinner tonight, I expect he'll want chips with it.  I'm having a veggie burger with new potatoes and salad, which is pretty much normal eating for me anyway.  I've made a treat thing for dessert, it's a recipe direct from the Monash app, it's Peanut Butter Chocolate Crunch Bars.  Basically, it's a base made by mixing peanut butter and maple syrup (in measured amounts) with 5 crumbled plain rice cakes, I also added a dessertspoonful of pumpkin seeds.  Press into a suitable shallow dish or tin, then cover with (again a measured quantity) dark chocolate melted with 3 tsp coconut oil and poured over the top.  Put in the freezer for 30 mins to set, then cut into bars - the recipe said 5, but I've cut it into 8 portions, and quite generous ones at that.  Although it's definitely suitable for the elimination phase of the diet, it's also rather high in carbs and sugar, so as I'm diabetic I'm happier having a smaller portion of it.

Husband has his brain scan next week.  He wants to have fish and chips on the prom for our dinner that day, that's fine by me.  Whether or not I'll have the same remains to be seen.....although fish - and even, somewhat surprisingly, chips are actually ok in the elimination phase, provided the fish is in GF batter (which some chip shops do) and it's a small portion of chips, with no sauces, although malt vinegar is ok.  I could always cook a GF battered fish portion myself at home, I guess, wrap it in foil and take it with me, husband could have the chip shop fish and we'll share a portion of chips.  Sorted!

FODMAP diet - have you heard of it?

Following husband's osteo appointment this morning, he's decided he no longer wants to go again, he doesn't want to keep spending £55 on the treatments when he feels they're not working.  I think he was expecting one treatment to cure him - of course it doesn't work like that, both I and the osteopath told him it wasn't a 'one size fits all' thing, everyone is different and husband's particular back problems mean it's going to be a fairly slow process.  Still, it's his money so his choice.  I know he doesn't think so, but the fact is that the 3 (or is it 4?) treatments he's had so far have made some improvement, I can see that and have told him so.  When husband has some kind of health problem, he complains about it constantly, quite literally.  Well, although his back is stiff and sore when he first gets up, it does actually wear off within an hour or so.....I know it does because he hardly complains (well, not about his back!!) for the rest of the day!  Ed (the osteopath) is going to email him some exercises and equipment husband can use at the gym, which is good of him.

I've been having a lot of gut problems lately, which is probably down to stress, there's a few stressful things going on at the moment and stress always hits my gut.  I've always suffered with IBS, generally it's not too bad but does flare up occasionally.  Probably about 15+ years ago, I saw a senior dietitian, she diagnosed me with lactose intolerance, gluten intolerance (not coeliac, just an intolerance) and a mild oral allergy - things like citrus fruits, apples and tomatoes make my mouth, tongue and lips burn, fizz or swell a little.  She said I most likely had a candida infection and gut bacteria imbalance, as well as (or causing) the IBS.  A lot going on there!  She put me on something called the FODMAP diet - I'd never heard of it.  Basically, it's a very strict exclusion diet, eating and drinking only things on a very limited list for the first 2 weeks, then starting to reintroduce one of the 'banned' foods at a time and keeping a symptom diary for 3 or 4 days, then another food, and so on.  That part of the diet took about 8 weeks I think.  It was hard, very hard, but it did work, it kind of reset my gut and I was able to identify certain foods which had a detrimental effect on me.  The diet certainly made me feel better, but was so restrictive (and plain boring!) that it wasn't sustainable in the long term, so over the years I've more or less gone back to eating virtually anything, other than things that give me very pronounced problems - like shop bought bread, cows milk, undiluted orange juice.

I had a look online the other day for FODMAP diets, there's a lot more info nowadays and it appears it's easier to stick to now, the lists of allowed foods are actually quite extensive.  It also seems easier now that I'm mostly vegetarian and have cut back drastically on UPF foods.  So that's what I'm doing now, following (more or less) this FODMAP diet.  Basically, it's very clean, healthy eating and is relatively easy to follow, so long as I'm mindful about things I can't eat, which does include some veg and fruit.  It's all good and I intend to follow it for a few weeks at least.

Betty is fine, back to her normal self now, thank goodness.  I've taken the vet's advice and am splitting her main meal into several small portions which she's having spread out throughout the day.  I've also cut down her treats drastically (much to her disgust) and have told husband we are not allowed to give her anything off our plates.....it's so tempting to slip her a bit of toast with cheese spread on it, or a bite of sausage, but no longer.  She'll still have scrambled egg with a sprinkle of grated cheese for breakfast at the weekend, but no bacon or sausage off husband's plate!

Thank goodness on two fronts

 Betty was being sick again yesterday and was very lethargic, no sickness this morning but still listless, so we got a vet appointment for this afternoon.  Our vet John is a lovely man, so kind and gentle with her, and explains things very clearly to us.  I was worried that she might have some kind of liver or kidney problem, or something else equally serious.  He discounted a liver problem straight away, he said her eyes and gums would look yellow/jaundiced if it was.  Neither did he think it was anything serious - he said as her sickness/lethargy was self limiting and she got better quite rapidly within a day or two, that pretty much ruled out anything serious - he said she wouldn't get better that quick or without any kind of treatment if it was serious.  He thinks it's merely that she's getting old and her stomach is more sensitive, he suggested splitting her main meal, which she has at teatime, into 2 or 3 smaller meals and giving them to her spread throughout the day.  He did request that I keep a diary of all her symptoms if/when she has another episode and let him know.  I feel much happier now, as you all know I have no children and Betty is my baby, I love her to bits and do worry about her.

Husband is off to the osteopath tomorrow morning, he'll be dropping me at the supermarket as I plan to do a big shop, so much easier when I can concentrate on what I want/need without him breathing down my neck, chattering away and putting random items in the trolley.

I did the LPA forms this morning.....easy peasy, it was just a case of ticking boxes online to reuse the previous information - if I'd known it was that easy I wouldn't have put it off!  Took me all of 5 or 10 minutes, printing all 22 pages of it took longer.  We've arranged for a friend to witness our signatures on Thursday, then it can be sent off.  I shall double-check this time to make sure I haven't inadvertently missed a page like I did last time.  Funnily enough, a financial reporter in the paper was talking about LPAs the other day, he'd just done one himself, he used to be a Government minister so said he's well used to filling in forms.  He said LPAs are unnecessarily complicated and should/could be made far easier.  Well yes!!

Necessary but painful

 HH, that hummus of yours sounds good, I'd never thought of using butterbeans, although I do make butterbean mash occasionally.  I guess the hummus is just a looser version of that, I'll give it a try next time I buy some tins.  I suppose we could make a kind of hummus (or spread) using any kind of cooked beans really - and some imagination!

I had my shoulder x-ray this morning, they took 5 images from different angles, including one where I had to sit down and lean sideways with my arm and shoulder stretched out as far as they would go across the plate which was on a table, at the same time I had to press my chin onto my chest with my head leaning towards the opposite side from my shoulder.  Although the radiographer was lovely and very gentle, all this manipulation of my sore and stiff shoulder and arm into positions they don't normally go was very uncomfortable.  Now it hurts like hell and I've just had to take some co-codamol.  I might get husband to do the veggies for dinner, peeling and chopping will be painful probably.

I haven't yet put my new dahlia tubers in pots, or redone the LPA forms online, it won't be today.  Too painful to do the potting up and the LPA I know I'm prevaricating about.....it's not really that difficult, especially since I've got the returned forms to refer to, it's just the thought of having to do all those pages again.  I'll do it tomorrow - promise!

Heavy rain early this morning but it had stopped by the time we went out at 9 am.  Sunshine and blue sky now.  Mixed weather for the rest of the week but another heatwave, albeit not as blisteringly hot as the last one, forecast from Saturday onwards!  Bring it on!

Busy day and week ahead

 I did some washing this morning but was in two minds as to whether to put it out on the line, as it's very overcast and some showers forecast.  In the end, I just put a few bits on the line, with the rest on the clothes horse in the car port.  Similar weather forecast all week really, so getting washing dry will be hit or miss.

I prepped all the veggies for dinner later, husband's having a couple of pork belly slices, I'm just having the veggies.....cauli cheese, roasted carrots, Jersey Royals, tender stem broccoli and peas, yum.  This morning husband fancied a cooked brunch - scrambled egg, mushrooms, beans and hash browns, he said he'd cook it.  I had to help him though as he gets so confused, he was about to start cooking the eggs before the hash browns had even gone in the Ninja.  He has difficulty processing the order in which to do things.

Yesterday I boiled a panful of dried chickpeas to make hummus, so much nicer than shop bought, I love hummus.  I made the hummus this morning, no recipe, it was a case of chuck it in and taste as I went.  I don't buy tahini, it's not something I ever use really, I've found peanut butter is a perfectly good substitute and I actually prefer the taste of it to tahini.  I also put in a big dollop of Greek yogurt, some EVOO, garlic paste, lemon juice, a sprinkling of Aromat and some pesto mayonnaise.  I'd made the mayo yesterday - well, I added some pesto to some mayo as a dip for the chips we had last night, there was about a dessertspoonful left over so I used that up.  The resultant hummus is lovely, I used half the boiled chickpeas and it's made enough for several servings for lunches during the week.  The rest of the cooked chickpeas I've frozen.

I've got the LPA to redo this afternoon, then a video chat with my sister.

It's a busy week coming up, lots on, something every day - my shoulder x-ray, osteo for husband and another dentist visit, we need to go to the tip one day (more garden clippings and the polystyrene packaging from the fridge), and husband's new mattress is being delivered on Friday.

On Wednesday when husband is having his osteopathy, I'll be having a mooch around town, there's a couple of shops I particularly want to go in and it's always a treat to have a look without husband breathing down my neck and exclaiming over the price of everything.

Better!

 I set up husband's new phone for him this morning, if I hadn't he would have been niggling on at me all day.  Since he hardly ever uses his mobile, makes almost no calls on it, nor does he receive many and gets very few texts (and hands the phone over to me to read them out as he forgets how to read them), and has never sent a text in his life, I don't really know why he's so obsessed with the idea of having a smart phone.

Good relations have been restored between husband and our next door neighbour, they sort of kissed and made up yesterday afternoon.....well, obviously no kissing nor apologies, nothing about their spat was even mentioned.  Gifts were exchanged - neighbour gave husband some veg plants he'd grown from seed, and husband gave neighbour the cardboard packaging our new fridge came in,  he wants to use it as weed suppressant at their allotment.  The neighbours are going away for a few days so hopefully everyone will have chance to cool down.

The builders next door haven't been on site for a couple of days, although Mr X himself was doing some banging inside the barn for a while yesterday, no idea what the noise was but it didn't last too long.  We've realised that Wednesdays is always a noisy day on site, as well as the builders, Mr X and his brother (who both provide the labour) have the day off work to help the builders with any labouring work.  So in future I think we'll consider going out for the day (taking Betty with us) to have a break from the noise.

K, I like the idea of a salt moat to stand hostas and dahlia pots in to keep away the marauding slugs, I'll have to try that, we do seem to have a lot of slugs here and the little buggers certainly don't mind crawling over all the gravel.

I've got the returned LPA to get on and redo this weekend, I'll offset the frustration of that by planting all my new dahlias in pots.  Light rain is forecast for tomorrow but Sunday looks to be a mostly dry day, so we might even go out for a drive somewhere.  Mixed weather forecast for next week.  It's definitely a lot cooler.....not that I mind it being cooler than that heatwave we had last week, but a bit warmer and drier would be nice.

Lots of small courgettes being picked now, which is lovely.  Husband has brought in bowls of strawberries a couple of times....but when I was preparing them, tiny baby woodlice dropped out of a few - YUCK!  Put me right off.  We don't seem to have had much luck with our strawberries here, last year as well they were getting eaten by woodlice, slugs or birds faster than we could pick them.  I'm considering getting rid of them altogether and having a few fruit bushes in their place next year.  At this time of year British strawberries are plentiful and cheap in the shops anyway, and at least they'll be pest free.  In a couple of weeks we'll be able to have some of our own potatoes grown in bags, which will be nice, can't beat fresh homegrown little new spuds, simply boiled with a sprig of mint and a knob of butter melted on them.

Look away now

 Well it's been (another) stressful day, so look away now if you're fed up with me moaning (I'm fed up with me moaning 😂 - well it's more a case of being fed up with the things that make me moan!).  

The problem relative has been wittering on about his garden being a mess and very overgrown - well, if he went out there and did something about it, a little every day, rather than merely expecting others to come and do it for him, then it wouldn't get into such a mess.  And then he said he had to go back to bed as his back was hurting....huh, if I went to bed every time one of my body parts was hurting, I'd never get up.

Husband's phone is kaput, it won't even switch on and the battery is a non-replaceable one.  The phone was a cheap basic one bought (secondhand!!) off that auction site, it only cost him £30 some time ago.  He's been going on...and on....and ONNNN about it ever since, keeps looking at more cheap reconditioned ones on the internet and of course calling me over to look at them.  Until I put my foot down and said "Look, let's just go to Tesco and buy one there!".  So we did, he moaned about the cost of course, but I told him it's a brand new phone, less likely to go wrong, and if it does, he can take it back.  I've told him I cannot set it up for him today, my brain has shut down for the day and he'll have to wait till tomorrow.

This lunchtime, he and our next door neighbour (not Mr X the builder one, but our actual next door neighbour) have been having what was building up to be a full-scale argument, until I intervened and said "Come on now boys, enough of that, stop with the verbal fisticuffs!" trying to inject a bit of light hearted humour into the situation.  Husband and next door have been slowly getting on each other's nerves over the past few weeks and it's threatening to erupt.  Looks like I'll have to have a chat with neighbour's other half, who's quite calm and level headed, to see if we can get the two of them (hers and mine) to back off and be a bit more considerate of each other, or else ignore each other.  Blimmin men, they're so pigheaded, even without cognitive impairment.  Always want to get the better of each other, it's like they're having a p*ssing up the wall contest, to put it bluntly.  Husband is argumentative enough with me as it is, I don't want even more arguments to sort out.

Why can't I just have a quiet life?!  I must have been a Very Bad Girl in a previous life. 😉

But....in a garden centre this morning I bought six packs of assorted beautiful dahlia tubers - half price, because it's the end of the planting season.  They're all gorgeous and I'm so pleased, if I get them in pots quickly (I'll do it tomorrow) they may hopefully bloom this year.  If not, I know I'll have the pleasure of them next year, for sure.

Annabeth, you asked about black spot - one of my roses, a gorgeous dark red one, was entirely covered with black spot, last week I cut the whole thing right down to the ground and put all of it into a bag to be taken to the tip.  It's a shame to have to cut it down, but I didn't want to risk the disease spreading to the other roses, which it hasn't done (so far).  Fingers crossed. 

It's not all stress, all the time

 Another frustration - letter arrived yesterday saying that they couldn't process one of the LPAs (the health one) as apparently I'd inadvertently missed out a section.  Bugger!  It said we could either apply to the Court of Protection to have it reinstated (involving a fee, of course) or complete a new application.  So obviously that's what I'll be doing, annoying as it is.  Still, it was my mistake so I've just got to suck it up.

The work is continuing, noisily, next door, dodging the showers.  A reader who I don't recall seeing on my blog before suggested I report them to the Council, and even helpfully supplied the web address.  Thanks, but I'm not going to be doing that, for several reasons.  Primarily, we'll be living here for the rest of our lives (hopefully) and I think it's important to get on with our neighbours.  Having problematic neighbours is bad enough, but add Environmental Health and police into the mix and it becomes hell on earth.  We had a lot of problems with a neighbour years ago when we lived up in the Midlands, we, along with the neighbours on the other side of the offender, involved EH and the police and it all became even more of a problem, the neighbour was even worse after that and caused us all no end of stress.  I have absolutely no desire to get into that sort of scenario again.  However annoying all the noise is at the moment, it's finite, there will be an end to it once the barn conversion is complete (hopefully within a few months).  And the neighbour can actually be quite considerate, on occasion....e.g. yesterday I had washing out on the line and neighbour (let's call him Mr X, it's quicker to type!) came and knocked on the door to say they would be having some work done which would create a lot of dust, so suggested I might prefer to get my washing in before the work started, in 3 or 4 hours time, since it was very windy yesterday.  That was nice of him and I appreciated the heads up.

So we just have to live with the noise for another few months - yes it's annoying and I do come on here and moan about it....but, as always, I'm just letting off steam!  I don't actually live my life in a permanent state of stress and rage, although it might seem like it at times 😂😜

The fridge is working beautifully, I'm so pleased with it.  Been shopping this morning and there's still lots of space in it, it's like a Tardis.

The roses in my garden are doing spectacularly well this year, especially the big white one outside my bedroom window, it's absolutely loaded with flowers:-

(It's a dull, showery day, sorry about the light).  Beside it to the left, and scattered around the garden, we have lots of valerian in shades of deep pink and white.  Some people regard it as a weed, but even though I didn't put it in, it's pretty and I like it.

A fun day....not!

 Thank you for your comments.  Whilst I'm not thrilled with being told it's most likely to be osteoarthritis, at least I know.  I already have OA in my left knee, plus the bursitis in my hips and regularly prolapsing disc in my lower spine, so it's not like I'm not used to pain.  Funnily enough (although it's not funny really), the MSK specialist I saw last year insisted it wasn't OA but rotator cuff injury.  She was an older lady (late 50s I should think) and just seemed jaded and no longer enjoying her job, whereas Daisy, the one I saw yesterday, is probably late 20s, so most likely had more up to date training, and is very enthusiastic and knowledgeable.  I forgot to mention, we discussed corticosteroid injections which she said can be very helpful, although they don't work for everybody.  The only problem is that they're an anti-inflammatory, and I can't take that type of drug, I have an adverse reaction to them.  She said they'd have to discuss it with my GP, if I wanted to have an injection.  Well now I know, I probably won't.  In the meantime, she's suggested heat or ice packs, whichever I prefer.  My shoulder is still really painful today after all that prodding and manipulation she did yesterday, which is understandable, it'll settle down in a day or 2.

Meanwhile, onto the new fridge.....We got the old fridge emptied and cleaned - I do wipe it inside regularly but oh my goodness, the build up of grime and crumbs at the back of the fridge and on the shelf edges was shameful!  Anyway, it's done and has been passed over to the neighbour.  The new fridge arrived on time and is wonderful.  It's an expensive one, a German make, really well made from quality materials, and all eco friendly.  The last couple of years I've decided that after years and years of having fairly cheap goods (mostly husband's choice), I now want quality stuff.....husband exclaimed when I told him the cost but I've paid for it so I'll have what I want.  It's taller and deeper than our old fridge so I'm sure I can get plenty more stuff in it.

And then the frustrations started.....it's got an electronic control panel with a blue display, operated by touch controls.  After plugging it in and putting it in position (no mean feat, it's blimmin heavy and unwieldy, even with husband's sack trolley thing), I then discovered I had to enter the model no./serial no.  Which, according to the manual, was either on the back of the fridge or on a sticker inside.  Well, it didn't appear to be inside which meant it was probably on the back.  So we had to haul it back out of its position in between the 2 kitchen cupboards....nope, not on the back.  Aaargghh!  After doing some searching on the internet, I found something saying it was most likely to be inside the fridge at the bottom.  We found it eventually - yes it was inside, right at the back behind the salad drawer - husband had to lie on the floor, stick his head inside the fridge and take a photo of it with my phone, as he couldn't read the numbers.  For goodness sake!!   Why on earth don't they put them in accessible, easily seen places, or even on the invoice?

Trying to read and understand the instructions for the control panel had me almost screaming in frustration, I'm not very good with written instructions for techy stuff at the best of times, my brain freezes.  It didn't help that only part of the instructions, a brief summary if you will, was in the paper manual - for more detailed instructions I had to scan a QR code and read it online.  How on earth do old people (older than me!!) manage, especially if they don't have a smart phone?  Get a grandchild to come and help them, I guess! 😂😒

I just couldn't get the control panel to even switch on.....but then husband managed it - how, he doesn't really know, just by pure chance I think.  Anyway, now it's set up and working so I doubt I'll ever be touching it ever again 😂😂😂

It got down to operating temperature very quickly so I've unpacked the cool box and put everything in the new fridge - which looks half empty, it's so big (although, to be fair, I had been using up things in the fridge the past few days, deliberately).

....then a not so nice finish

 Sunday morning at 9.30 neighbour next door got on his digger and was excavating more of his garden again, adding to the small mountain of rubble waiting to be taken away.  He was at it intermittently all morning.  Husband was a pain in the backside yesterday, he is so blimmin obstinate nowadays, he just won't be told, it's his way or no way.  I just gave up, there's no point arguing, even if my way is easier, quicker and more sensible.

This morning I got up to find Betty had been sick in the kitchen overnight.  Things can only get better!

And they did....

I had my initial physio appointment at 9.30 am, a lovely young woman called Daisy.  She took a comprehensive medical history, asked about what I'd been told by the musculoskeletal woman attached to our GP surgery, then asked if I'd agreed with the MSK therapist's findings.  I told her no I didn't actually, the MSK lady had said it was another rotator cuff injury, the same as I had previously, but in the other shoulder.  Obviously, she was the expert, not me, but I know my own body and knew that my current right shoulder problems are not the same as the previous ones with the left shoulder.  Daisy also asked if I'd been referred for an x-ray - no I hadn't.  She then did lots of things with my shoulders, arms and neck, testing for strength, range of movement and pain levels.  She explained fully everything she was doing.

Well, to cut a long story short - she said it's not a rotator cuff injury in my right shoulder (she did however say that I do have some residual problems with that in my left shoulder, which I wasn't aware of).  Hooray, I knew it wasn't, it just feels so different to my left shoulder problems, but the MSK woman seemed to have the idea of another rotator cuff injury fixed in her head, seemingly based on my having had it in my left shoulder.  In Daisy's trained and experienced opinion, it's either osteoarthritis (the most likely) or possibly a frozen shoulder.  She said there was also a remote chance that it might be osteoporosis, but thought that was less likely.  She's referred me for an x-ray (finally!), given me another appointment for 6 weeks' time and said we'll discuss the x-ray results together then, and what it means for treatment.  She was very thorough, gave detailed explanations and was happy to go over anything I didn't understand, she also showed me several diagrams on her computer screen to help with explaining things.  What a difference to the previous experience.

Husband's got the appointment through for his brain scan, it's in two weeks, so progress there as well.

And my new fridge is coming tomorrow!