Gardening

Neglected . . .

/ Tony / 4 Comments

— Ask Italian

That’s my blog, not me. It’s been over a week since my last post, but there has not been much to write about. I renewed my Photocard Driving License, K*** got her 2nd jab and the eldest got the date for his 1st jab. We did actually go out for lunch again. We had been for a pizza at Ask Italian, a local restaurant, after the flower show the week before. That was an interesting part of the day but I did enjoy it. I was, and still am quite wary of being indoors at a restaurant, so when it was mentioned to go to Bar3 in Wetherby for lunch, all the irrational fears resurfaced again. I need not have worried though as everything was well managed and was as safe as possible.

— Bar3

We had the stairwell decorated at the beginning of the week. thankfully, I was working as I usually try and find fault with work(men) people. Ten years ago, I would have had no problems with doing it myself but K*** convinced me that I am too old to be hanging off ladders with various painting implements in my hand. In the end, I had to agree. I paid for it out of my lottery win, so you could say it didn’t cost anything!

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Did a bit of gardening over the week. I refitted my greenhouse with it’s new cover and moved my ‘pallet plant holder’ to a different place. I made some years ago to use as a herb garden, but never really got around to doing anything serious with it. So I moved it to the other side of the garden and it now looks quite effective with the herb seeds I’ve been trying to grow. I have put some bird-netting over my strawberries, but I don’t think it will work too well. I’m not going to waste server space by showing a picture, but suffice to say it’s not a work of art. I have every intention of making cage from the left over lats from when the conservatory was reroofed. I’ve even measured up and drawn a plan. Just got to get my finger out and actually make the thing.

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That’s about it. Next week will be a bit of a trial. Youngest is coming home to see the dentist. He will have to have a swab-test on Thursday and then his appointment is 8am on the following Friday. Fingers crossed it all goes according to plan. Because of his Autism, he would not cope with the procedure so he will have to have a general anaesthetic which is a worry. He knows he is going, and his lead carer will take him for the test and then bring him here, so there is a plan, just got to hope there are no hiccups.

From then to now … a new start …

/ Tony / 5 Comments

Now it gets a little boring as nothing much happened for the next couple of years. K**h had a few jobs which included a vacuum cleaner salesperson. She answered an advertisement in the local free newspaper Kirbyfor a demonstrator and within five to six hours she had become a reseller. Now you may remember from films, the name Kirby. It was/is a huge brand of heavy duty vacuum cleaners from America. It was K**h’s job to follow up on leads, demonstrate the cleaner and convince the householder that their lives would suffer without one.

That job didn’t last very long and she moved on to various other jobs. One was setting up and Safewaysmaintaining houseplants in offices. That got her a large amount of knowledge of gardening and plant care. Other jobs followed before finally getting a job as a cashier in what was then called Safeway. That lasted a while and then got a better job at Marks & Spencer in  Pudsey.

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I didn’t find work straight away and we decided that I should decorate the whole house first. Well I managed the kitchen, the living room and the main bedroom, before the money started to run out. After about eight weeks or so I received a letter instructing me to attend an interview at what was called the Social Security Office (SSO). It was to “Discuss the reasons for me not being employed” and I had to attend on the Thursday morning at 9:30. So ‘suited and booted’ I duly arrived at 9:00 and was told that the interviewer would be late and I should come back in the afternoon. I remember looking at the one of the pin-boards where jobs were posted and spotted one for a “Cook in Charge” at a nearby Aged Persons Home (APH) The counter staffHillside APH rang the number and I was told to go along for an interview straight away.

Finding the place was easy as it was just off the main Leeds & Bradford road. I was shown into the office and the interview began. It was a strange experience and I almost knew that, after explaining the circumstances, the job was mine. It felt like I was interviewing them. Anyway, they told me they would be in touch. I went back to the SSO, knowing now that I had missed the interview I had originally gone for. I was told that the interview would be rescheduled for the following week.

I got home, and at about 5:00pm I had a phone call. I had got the job and when could I start. It was the following Monday when took my first tentative steps in the new job at Hillside APH.

Still tired …

/ Tony / Leave a comment

   Youngest was back from respite yesterday, and he seemed to be in great mood. All set for  an early(ish) night, when he started to be ill. For no apparent reason, Mrs H told me that he looked like he was choking on something. Then he was sick !!!! A bit of a mess. After cleaning him up, he settled down in his own room. Of course, neither me or Mrs H slept well. We both seemed to have that ‘one eye and one ear open’ kind of sleep. However, there were no further incidents during the night. He did wake up at around half two, but as usual, he put his TV on (very quietly), and went back to sleep. Seemed fine this morning, and for the most part, he has been great.

   So today was gardening day. Just outside the living room window, we had a patch of what was loosely called a lawn. In all honesty, it was a patch of moss and weeds, with a few blades of grass thrown in. I/we managed to get it down to bare, almost weed free soil, over the past couple of weeks. I had collected all the leaves, last autumn, and bagged them up. Mrs H then spent a good few days last week, digging in these leaves, which were now starting to rot down. A couple or three bags of cheap compost on top, and we have the makings of a half decent bed of shrubs. Just got to keep it that way now.

   I also managed to give my car a vacuum out too. Now there’s a challenge !! I am of the opinion, that our Dyson, is the only one that does not utilise it’s famous ‘cyclonic suction’ to its best. Well, it does not do cars well at all !

   So what with the gardening, the car valeting, and the other jobs I got done today, it has been a long day.

Here comes another … just like the other

/ Tony / Leave a comment

I think it was a joint decision. Not to go to the pub. Youngest was no right from the start, and the eldest looked at me as if I was bereft of all intelligence. I did not ask again !!!! I do think I was pushing it anyway.

Quite a few jobs to do today. Mrs H at work and it decided to wash the bedding. Now this new bedding we have has a top sheet as well as a duvet and bottom sheet. This means, that there is even less space to dry inside should it rain ……… which of course it did !! A bit of gardening in between showers, and four attempts at pumping up the bike tyres. So I’m all set for a bike ride tomorrow evening, before dinner (note to ‘one-on-high’ … no rain please.)

I hopefully will get my pedometer this week. It will be interesting to see how many steps I do make in a day. I don’t get it though. One is supposed to do at least 1000 steps in a day, but the nurse insisted that I need to do a 20 minute “brisk” walk to get any benefit. Are both right ? If I do 20 minutes brisk walking does that mean I don’t need to do 1000 or vice versa ?

Eldest stayed down after dinner tonight. That has not happened for a long time. We watched Peter Pan on ITV2. It was okay I suppose, but it had nothing going for it except the effects.

I think I’ll be getting my appraisal next week. It will be the usual thing …… part pat on the back/part where I’m going wrong. There will be no training requirement (again), just a carry on as usual.

It’s been a long week ….

/ Tony / Leave a comment

Work is a ball ache. Nuff said ?

Eldest lad and me went to Scarborough last Sunday (youngest was on respite.) Very ‘man-to-man’ experience. A pint in a pub, then fish & chips on the front, before a couple of games of pool in the arcade. We then went on to Filey, but there was nowhere to park, and we were both feeling a bit tired so we just came home. Took ages to get there, traffic was a nightmare.

I was off on Thursday, and we took the eldest to Beverley to stay with his Uni pal. This is the guy he will be sharing a flat with from August. Only stopped to say ‘hello’ and then we had to leave, but he seemed okay. We then had a day in Bridlington, which was nice. It seemed very strange, just the two of us. Took us back a few years. Is this what we will have to get used to again ??? I am going to pick him up at around 6pm on Sunday.

I have a new friend on MSN. A nice person from ‘chat’. We got into ‘PM’ somehow, and it grew from there. We now chat for a while most nights. No expectations, just pleasant conversation. She is going to Ireland for 5 days, so I’ll be a bit lost chat-wise. I never know when N*** is online, A*** seems to be very stressed at the moment and certain other people can be a bit weird. Some take everything too serious. Lighten up !!

I saw the nurse on Wednesday evening, about my blood pressure. Gave me lots of ‘good advice’. Told me I need to do 20 mins vigorous exercise, at least five days a week. So the walk along the prom at Brid was a start. On Friday, I decided to go for a ‘brisk’ walk at lunchtime. Walked on the footpath toward the M1. It was about 2 miles there and back, so not bad. I will try and do that more often. It’s not the most pleasant of routes, but I’ll put my MP3 player on, and make the best of it.

Gardening today. Hedge trimming and lopping mostly, and the ubiquitous grass cutting. I’m wacked, but you can see what we did.

I need to write more often. Get into a routine. This needs a plan. I may have to make notes during the day…that may be an idea.

That’s it for now.