I have just been reading Ollie's "blob"! www.allaboutolive.com.au Olive is 108 year's young, and although she has a helper, Mike, to type things out for her, she is an amazing lady and incredible for her age. Just read all about. She speaks for herself.
She puts me to shame, being such a young thing! (70 only). I hope I can do as much as her if I ever reach such a great age. However, I have been doing quite a lot of walking lately with my other half. We went to Llandovery, Wales in our 'van' motorhome for a couple of days. The scenery is spectacular up there and I put on the step counter. We covered over 11,000 steps one day and nearly 14,000 on the other, it would have been a lot more had it not absolutely tipped down with rain and literally soaked us to the skin and through to our underwear. We had to dry everything off in the campsite clothes dryer. Unfortunately, the site was very quiet, there being only three or four other folk there and the amenity block was not heated. When the temperature is below 8 degrees, it is rather cold, so I am afraid that we chickened out and came home earlier than planned to our central heating.
Our club is not doing so well at short mat bowls at present. We lost our last match 0-10! It was a whitewash, so we have to get in more practice and get our newer members up to scratch. We do have two good players on holiday at present, but that's no excuse!!
Today being Remembrance Day, we have watched the Cenotaph Remembrance Service, which is always so moving. I particularly think of a Great Uncle, Walter William Scroggs, who was killed in France in 1916. His memorial is at Gommecourt British Cemetery No 2, Hebuterne. I am doing a lot of family research at present and plan to find out all I can about him. I have information about his death and memorial through the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, but would like more information about the York and Lancaster Regiment that he served with. Any help would be appreciated.
Back to the keyboard!
Sunday, 11 November 2007
Wednesday, 19 September 2007
You've Got to Laugh!
(1) My accountant recently had his 50th birthday party with a Frank Sinatra tribute act to complete the evening! He is also having trouble with his girl-friend. She wants to move in, having sold her house, but he doesn't want her to as she has a 10 year old daughter and no way does he wish to be a 'step-dad' having 'been there and done that already' with two grown-up sons. (I only went to see him to get my tax sorted out - and you don't want to know about the tenants in his converted garage!)
(2) Then on to the chemist to get our prescriptions made up. While waiting for same I needed to look for shoe inserts for other half's painful foot. There were sorbo ones, plastic ones, heel ones, 'memory' ones, odor-eater ones, small ones, medium ones, large ones, extra large ones. One for sore heels, arthritis of the feet, painful arches, aching feet, smelly feet. Other half will have to get his own!
(3) At the check-out of the local supermarket I had to wait while the check-out worker regailed the previous customers about the till breaking down, the card reader malfunctioning and a rude customer which she tried to placate when he ranted on about incompetent workers etc. She offered to send for the manager but he then disappeared. A few weeks after this incident, the tills were again playing up and the card-reader not working properly when who should the next customer be but the very same gentlaman(!). She apologised for the delay and he said 'don't worry, its not your fault' and was as nice as pie!
(4) The same check-out girl then went on to tell us about the morning she was rushing around getting ready for work and thought she should check the house was secure before putting her work uniform on. All the windows were closed, except the one in the bathroom. Check-out girl is small. She has to stand on the toilet to close the window. She has nothing on her feet. The toilet seat that is usually down, is up!!! ..............
Forgot to say - accountant's girl friend is 10 years younger than him!
(2) Then on to the chemist to get our prescriptions made up. While waiting for same I needed to look for shoe inserts for other half's painful foot. There were sorbo ones, plastic ones, heel ones, 'memory' ones, odor-eater ones, small ones, medium ones, large ones, extra large ones. One for sore heels, arthritis of the feet, painful arches, aching feet, smelly feet. Other half will have to get his own!
(3) At the check-out of the local supermarket I had to wait while the check-out worker regailed the previous customers about the till breaking down, the card reader malfunctioning and a rude customer which she tried to placate when he ranted on about incompetent workers etc. She offered to send for the manager but he then disappeared. A few weeks after this incident, the tills were again playing up and the card-reader not working properly when who should the next customer be but the very same gentlaman(!). She apologised for the delay and he said 'don't worry, its not your fault' and was as nice as pie!
(4) The same check-out girl then went on to tell us about the morning she was rushing around getting ready for work and thought she should check the house was secure before putting her work uniform on. All the windows were closed, except the one in the bathroom. Check-out girl is small. She has to stand on the toilet to close the window. She has nothing on her feet. The toilet seat that is usually down, is up!!! ..............
Forgot to say - accountant's girl friend is 10 years younger than him!
Sunday, 16 September 2007
Sunday is a Day of Rest!!
What rest! I have spent the day trying to sort out my tax for the accountant to look at before I send the forms in. I swear they get more complicated each year!
Then I updated the news for our Short Mat Bowls Club. Several of us had entered a singles competition at the weekend and we all had a very busy time with all the other local bowlers.
We also spent time looking for some good places to stay when we go shortly to Dorset, Devon and Cornwall for a couple of weeks in the van. We hope to use our GPS 'Bessie' - she always takes us down an unexpected road to our destination and so far we haven't finished up in any unexpected place, or stuck down a narrow lane.
Tomorrow I have an early morning swim and then on to a computer class for tracing my family tree. So far I haven't got as far as I hoped. I keep coming up against a brick wall and haven't got further than the early 1800s for any family branch. I now plan just to stick to one name and follow it on and on as far as possibly. One lady in our class has managed to get over 200 names to her tree, but I have only got about 60/70 in mine. Obviously a case of 'must try harder'.
Going back to swimming, which I should do at least three times a week, our local council now allow all pensioners/senior citizens to attend council swimming pools for free, so that it great. I love swimming, don't do it enough and it is very good for me.
Other half has just brought in a glass of wine and called that supper is in five minutes, so cheers for now.
Then I updated the news for our Short Mat Bowls Club. Several of us had entered a singles competition at the weekend and we all had a very busy time with all the other local bowlers.
We also spent time looking for some good places to stay when we go shortly to Dorset, Devon and Cornwall for a couple of weeks in the van. We hope to use our GPS 'Bessie' - she always takes us down an unexpected road to our destination and so far we haven't finished up in any unexpected place, or stuck down a narrow lane.
Tomorrow I have an early morning swim and then on to a computer class for tracing my family tree. So far I haven't got as far as I hoped. I keep coming up against a brick wall and haven't got further than the early 1800s for any family branch. I now plan just to stick to one name and follow it on and on as far as possibly. One lady in our class has managed to get over 200 names to her tree, but I have only got about 60/70 in mine. Obviously a case of 'must try harder'.
Going back to swimming, which I should do at least three times a week, our local council now allow all pensioners/senior citizens to attend council swimming pools for free, so that it great. I love swimming, don't do it enough and it is very good for me.
Other half has just brought in a glass of wine and called that supper is in five minutes, so cheers for now.
Thursday, 16 August 2007
Driving for the Elderly!
I like driving. I know lots of folk don't, but I like to do as well as I can when I am behind the wheel and as I sometimes need drive 600-odd miles (there and back) to visit family and friends, I need to keep my wits about me
Recently I went for a drive check with www.iam.org.uk/drivecheck . As I am coming up to 70 I thought it was about time I checked that I was still safe to be on the road. I am the first to pass comment if I feel that an 'elderly person' is not doing so well and 'needs to get their eyes checked!'. Thankfully my observer said that my driving was ok and that my driving manners were very good. We went out for about 40 minutes - driving on motorway, dual carriageway, town roads and country roads, encountering heavy traffic, tankers, lorries, caravans, a pod of motor cyclists overtaking everything in sight, vehicles parked on the pavement, narrow roads with obscured road signs, etc, etc, all the things that we meet at some time or another while out driving.
I have to admit that I did take my advance driving test in 1992 and even managed to be an observer myself for a while helping others take their advanced driving and passing the test too, so all that has obviously helped me. When you think that there are still some people driving on our roads who have never taken a test at any time, it is worrying that they may not always know what some of the signs mean as presumably they don't read the Highway Code. Mind you I often wonder if anyone reads the Highway Code after they have passed their test. Don't get me wrong most folk are perfectly ok with their driving, its just those driving out of junctions, turning right on to a main road, with their right hand on the steering wheel and their left hand holding a mobile to their ear that frighten me - which hand are they changing gear with .......! Oh, of course, they just bend their head to clutch the mobile between their left chin and shoulder and THEN change gear with their left hand ..... silly me!!
Recently I heard on Radio 4 an article about a 93 year old woman who had decided that she was now too old to drive! This was in America I believe. She therefore joined an agency that would send someone to drive her wherever and whenever she needed to make a journey that she would previously have driven to herself. Obviously this service costs money and the users pay a fee whenever they use it. These fees can be off-set by giving their vehicle to the service, the value of which is then set against their use and they only start to pay when their 'vehicle-worth' has been used up. This seemed to me to be an excellent service. If I was very much younger I would look into setting up something similar over here. I'm sorry I can't give more info on this, and although I have hunted on the net before writing this I cannot find the details. Please let me know if anyone out there can. Thanks.
Safe driving.
Recently I went for a drive check with www.iam.org.uk/drivecheck . As I am coming up to 70 I thought it was about time I checked that I was still safe to be on the road. I am the first to pass comment if I feel that an 'elderly person' is not doing so well and 'needs to get their eyes checked!'. Thankfully my observer said that my driving was ok and that my driving manners were very good. We went out for about 40 minutes - driving on motorway, dual carriageway, town roads and country roads, encountering heavy traffic, tankers, lorries, caravans, a pod of motor cyclists overtaking everything in sight, vehicles parked on the pavement, narrow roads with obscured road signs, etc, etc, all the things that we meet at some time or another while out driving.
I have to admit that I did take my advance driving test in 1992 and even managed to be an observer myself for a while helping others take their advanced driving and passing the test too, so all that has obviously helped me. When you think that there are still some people driving on our roads who have never taken a test at any time, it is worrying that they may not always know what some of the signs mean as presumably they don't read the Highway Code. Mind you I often wonder if anyone reads the Highway Code after they have passed their test. Don't get me wrong most folk are perfectly ok with their driving, its just those driving out of junctions, turning right on to a main road, with their right hand on the steering wheel and their left hand holding a mobile to their ear that frighten me - which hand are they changing gear with .......! Oh, of course, they just bend their head to clutch the mobile between their left chin and shoulder and THEN change gear with their left hand ..... silly me!!
Recently I heard on Radio 4 an article about a 93 year old woman who had decided that she was now too old to drive! This was in America I believe. She therefore joined an agency that would send someone to drive her wherever and whenever she needed to make a journey that she would previously have driven to herself. Obviously this service costs money and the users pay a fee whenever they use it. These fees can be off-set by giving their vehicle to the service, the value of which is then set against their use and they only start to pay when their 'vehicle-worth' has been used up. This seemed to me to be an excellent service. If I was very much younger I would look into setting up something similar over here. I'm sorry I can't give more info on this, and although I have hunted on the net before writing this I cannot find the details. Please let me know if anyone out there can. Thanks.
Safe driving.
Saturday, 11 August 2007
Short Trip
Just a short trip in our motorhome ('the van').
We went off to The Marches, in north Wales near the English border and visited Shrewsbury. Wonderful countryside. Had a fantastic walk of around 5 miles supposedly, but it felt like 7+ to our joints, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. Shrewsbury is a lovely city and we enjoyed our trip on the River Severn. Shrewsbury is a lovely city and we loved all the medieval buildings and narrow cobbled alleyways. Lots of shops for me to visit as well. More and better blogs later.
Monday, 6 August 2007
A Good Night's Sleep!
Do us oldies ever have one? A good night's sleep I mean! Usually the answer is no, but last night I actually had a straight 8 hours! Sex is the answer.
The young are usually horrified to even think that anyone over the age of 35 actually knows what sex is, let alone perform it! During a past married life of 36 years and having 3 children, only goes to prove that I actually had sex at least 3 times, but at that time it was more a duty than anything else. Now I am in a very loving and happy relationship things are very different. The care and willingness to please and thoughtfulness are so much to the fore. More time is taken too, (it has its advantages being retired, with no job to rush off to!). We don't have any inhibitions either. I am not too concerned that everything is so much lower and fatter than it was before and if we don't quite get things right at any particular time, it doesn't matter, we will try something different next time. The fact that 'next time' may be a day, a week, a month or so away, has no relevance either. We care for each other and have love and time for each other and can show that love in so many other ways, that in fact mean far more than actually making love, that a hug, a laugh, a joke, quiet time together take on a different meaning and show that we are completely in tune with one another.
We are very happy together which is the main thing and today we are off in our motorhome for a few days. I will try to keep up with this. We have now gone WiFi - to try to keep up with everything and if I can manage it will put a few photos on here as well.
The young are usually horrified to even think that anyone over the age of 35 actually knows what sex is, let alone perform it! During a past married life of 36 years and having 3 children, only goes to prove that I actually had sex at least 3 times, but at that time it was more a duty than anything else. Now I am in a very loving and happy relationship things are very different. The care and willingness to please and thoughtfulness are so much to the fore. More time is taken too, (it has its advantages being retired, with no job to rush off to!). We don't have any inhibitions either. I am not too concerned that everything is so much lower and fatter than it was before and if we don't quite get things right at any particular time, it doesn't matter, we will try something different next time. The fact that 'next time' may be a day, a week, a month or so away, has no relevance either. We care for each other and have love and time for each other and can show that love in so many other ways, that in fact mean far more than actually making love, that a hug, a laugh, a joke, quiet time together take on a different meaning and show that we are completely in tune with one another.
We are very happy together which is the main thing and today we are off in our motorhome for a few days. I will try to keep up with this. We have now gone WiFi - to try to keep up with everything and if I can manage it will put a few photos on here as well.
Saturday, 4 August 2007
First Blog
Wanting to be up-to-date and not be left behind in my approaching old age (70!) I thought I had better start a blog. Everyone else seems to be doing it.
What should I put? You tell me! Any help would be welcome.
I can tell you about my family, my life, my health, my working life, my children, my grandchildren, my sisters, my Mum, my Dad, etc.
What makes a blog interesting?
I will start off with probably a diary and see how it goes.
Today - Sunday 4 August 2007 - has been memorable for being rather boring. This morning was taken up with checking out our new internet phone and seeing if it was working probably. We (my partner and I) spent yesterday afternoon setting it up. It took us a while as although we feel we are pretty IT literate, we frequently get bogged down with all the technology. Anyway the phone has now been charging up for 24 hrs, so I can phone you all via the net.
As it was raining we then watched afternoon TV (not too many groans please)! Thankfully this was interrupted by a friend calling in for a cup of tea. We were pleased to see her up and out and about as she has recently had a mastectomy, but she is 'fighting'fit and raring to go and although she is not allowed to drive herself just yet, feels well and ready for anything that may be thrown at her when her further lymph node biopsy results come through. She has been deluged with family and friends showing their concern for her which has been a great help and I am sure that anyone else who has been through the same thing will agree that help from any quarter is a wonderful thing. I recently had my own small breast cancer scare recently, but was fortunate to be given the all clear after two biopsies had been checked out.
What next in the day - oh yes - we went out to clean our motorhome and the car! Blissful! A bit of hard graft and getting soaking wet! Lovely!
At last the skies are now clearing and the sun is coming out. My next job is to clean up my bike. Peter and I have been for two proper cycle rides lately. Neither of us has been on a bike for at least the 5 years that we have been together. Our bits had not been so sore for ages. I will let you know how we get on with our cycling as we plan to do some more.
Peter is getting supper tonight and the smell is delicious. I know there will be a glass of wine coming my way shortly so I will close my first blog.
What should I put? You tell me! Any help would be welcome.
I can tell you about my family, my life, my health, my working life, my children, my grandchildren, my sisters, my Mum, my Dad, etc.
What makes a blog interesting?
I will start off with probably a diary and see how it goes.
Today - Sunday 4 August 2007 - has been memorable for being rather boring. This morning was taken up with checking out our new internet phone and seeing if it was working probably. We (my partner and I) spent yesterday afternoon setting it up. It took us a while as although we feel we are pretty IT literate, we frequently get bogged down with all the technology. Anyway the phone has now been charging up for 24 hrs, so I can phone you all via the net.
As it was raining we then watched afternoon TV (not too many groans please)! Thankfully this was interrupted by a friend calling in for a cup of tea. We were pleased to see her up and out and about as she has recently had a mastectomy, but she is 'fighting'fit and raring to go and although she is not allowed to drive herself just yet, feels well and ready for anything that may be thrown at her when her further lymph node biopsy results come through. She has been deluged with family and friends showing their concern for her which has been a great help and I am sure that anyone else who has been through the same thing will agree that help from any quarter is a wonderful thing. I recently had my own small breast cancer scare recently, but was fortunate to be given the all clear after two biopsies had been checked out.
What next in the day - oh yes - we went out to clean our motorhome and the car! Blissful! A bit of hard graft and getting soaking wet! Lovely!
At last the skies are now clearing and the sun is coming out. My next job is to clean up my bike. Peter and I have been for two proper cycle rides lately. Neither of us has been on a bike for at least the 5 years that we have been together. Our bits had not been so sore for ages. I will let you know how we get on with our cycling as we plan to do some more.
Peter is getting supper tonight and the smell is delicious. I know there will be a glass of wine coming my way shortly so I will close my first blog.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)