.... is for those who might want to contact me about my diary.
Sarah's Transition Diary .. weeks
341 - 344
Day 2381. Thursday 16th June 2011.
Memory Joggers ...
06.10 .. The alarm ..
08.23 .. Having located what I needed, I’m now on the road in Violet ..
just for a change and in case my left foot isn’t to happy after this
afternoons “minor surgery ..
09.09 .. I’m in work ..
12.45 .. I get to eat my lunch .. PAB
16.04 .. I’m on the road .. I really need to get a shift on ..
16.51 .. I’m in the doctors .. oo er .. they’ve started the
redevelopment of the surgery .. so half of the building is closed off
and the car park is closed.
16.55 .. I’m called through by the doctor ..
17.15 .. All done and covered .. he does me my repeat prescription
ready for 10 days time and looks at the form I’m holding from the
hospital .. I give him a quick run through of Monday’s appointment ..
again he cringes, he says all they want is specific level guide lines
from the Gynae so they can work with me on that basis .. I suspect they
aren’t going to get them.
He explains that the female doctor in the practice can do the HRT
implants .. no need to go back to the hospital if that’s the path I end
up on ..
17.25 .. I’m in the chemist with my prescription .. the pharmacist ios
all on her own it seems.
17.45 .. I’m home ..
More to come ...
Day 2382. Friday 17th June 2011.
Memory Joggers ...
06.10 .. The alarm .. I was awake for a while, my left foot is killing
me, really burning ..
08.53 .. I’m in the car park .. Tracy pulls up close by and waits while
I unload everything .. anybody seeing me in the mornings must think ..
“bag lady” .. << smiles >>.
08.55 .. I’m in the office ..
The rain !!!
12.45 .. Lunch .. PAB.
More rain .. I’ve a 40 yd walk from our “warehouse workshop” to our
office building .. a trip I have to repeat several times during the day
..
17.42 .. I leave the office, taking a large umbrella from the stand,
it’s tipping down outside .. Once on the road I eventually get
redirected by the TomTom to head away from the M25 and head along the
lanes to Slough, through Datchet and Englefield Greed towards home ..
allegedly saving me 18 minutes. Certainly when I passed over the M25
near Denham, it was stuffed both ways.
18.53 .. I’m home .. it’s hissing down outside still .. I wait in hope
that Karen might open the door .. she doesn’t so after a couple of
minutes I break for it ..
Karen was in the Kitchen .. making dinner .. it’s a M&S special ..
a quiche and a strawberry trifle meal .. but not together .. the quiche
is served hot with a salad first.
19.40 .. My company mobile rings .. it’s DJ Jessie, she’s made a
mistake pre recording her show .. can I dig her out of her hole .. I
try .. but end up having to call boss Jon for a little more education ..
While talking to Jon as he talks me through from an error I’d made ..
DOH .. Jessie is trying to ring back .. 5 times .. but I can’t break
off from Jon.
23.53 .. I head for bed .. nightie night !!
More to come ...
Day 2383. Saturday 18th June 2011.
Memory Joggers ...
08.32 .. Karen gets up to make a cup of tea ..
09.07 .. Up and at it .. a quick comfort stop in the bathroom and I go
do the Saturday morning weigh in .. 14st 9 1/4lb ...
09.18 .. I’m in the bathroom to sort myself out ..
10.15 .. I log into the on call phone divert system for work and set
Marks phone as active ..
10.23 .. I walk out to the car in bright sunshine to go get my hair
done .. leaving extra time cause of the lights in the village there ..
but as it turns out they go green as I approach ..
10.28 .. I’m early and the place is empty ..
Ashliegh starts to put the colour in my hair as she answers some
questions of mine .. in the past there’s been 2 or 3 women working
Saturday mornings .. but now it’s just her and a male trainee. She says
she has three staff working through the week now, and it’s still very
busy, but weekend trade has slowed so she’s taken the decision just to
do it herself.
11.00 .. Karen arrives .. so as I sit and read while my colour cooks,
her hair gets washed by the assistant .. with help from Ashleigh
12.10 .. I’m home .. first job is to go back into the on-call phone
system and set my phone as active .. sorted.
12.30 .. ish .. My company mobile rings .. the voice at the other end
is a Gurkha one .. it’s the main man at Shorncliffe .. he wants to be
able to go live from 13.00 to 15.00 today as something special has come
up. Lucky the laptop is still on .. I log into the PC in our CTA that
controls the programme routing .. though I’m not 100% confident of what
I’m sure I need to do, so at the last moment I call Paul for a little
phone help .. luckily he answers .. my thoughts were correct anyway ..
just needed his help, and his reminding me that this computers times
are always GMT !!! .. phew ..
13.02 .. I go out to the car in the pouring rain to listen to the
Gurkha radio .. I’m close enough to Sandhurst to hear the 1134AM
transmitter there .. the news ends and I hear Nepalese voices .. phew
.. well I think my programme schedule changes I’d made have worked ..at
least it’s not dead air !!!
14.08 .. Karen calls that lunch is ready, as Nanda pops up on Facebook
chat .. I tell her I’ll come back to her.
14.10 .. Lunch is served .. bread, cheeses, olives crisps and a dip ..
I save some bread to crack open the honey combe I bought while in
Whitby 6 weeks ago .. it’s lovely, Isle of Man honey, quite dark with a
fairly strong flavour.
14.27 .. Lunch over I head for the PC .. but Nanda is not around ..
Having upgraded my CorelDraw to the latest Win 7 compatible version,
I’ve been getting frustrated by some of the limitations of trying to
work with old WordPerfect 12 .. A little investigation shows I can buy
a “Home & Student” version of the latest X5 version in the USA for
about £80 .. And that’s for a 3 PC licence .. the UK site for
Corel ( current owners of WordPerfect ) want £280 for a single
install full version or £128 for a single PC update .. no sign at
all of the Home & Student package .. Rip Off Britain strikes again
..
So I buy from the US site and download the software .. I soon have it
installed and working on the home PC and the laptop .. << smiles
>> .. what to do with my permitted 3rd install.
18.04 .. I start to talk to Nanda on Skype ..
18.46 .. Nanda hangs up on me .. I think I might have hurt her feelings
a little .. oop’s, sorry Nanda .. I didn’t intend to .. I hope we’ll
stay friends, though it’s happened before sadly.
19.45 .. I order our food from the Chinese ..
20.30 .. The meal has been consumed .. I’ve rationed myself strictly on
the wine front .. incase I need to go to work ..
23.11 .. I head to bed ..
More to come ...
Day 2384. Sunday 19th June 2011.
Memory Joggers ...
08.23 .. Karen gets up and offers a cup of tea ..
Karen hasn’t long returned when Fathers Day morning is disturbed ..
08.39 .. My company mobile starts to ring .. it’s my Gurkha friend from
yesterday .. can I do the same as I did today as I did yesterday ..
except from 12.00 to 14.00 .. there’s some bash on at Sandhurst today
and he wants to do some live stuff from there using a mobile phone pack
.. I head downstairs and boot my company Laptop ..
09.02 .. I return to bed, knowing Druba is happy ..
09.45 .. I head for a shower ..
Post shower, once I’d thought my skin was dry enough, I read the
instructions and put my first Estradot 50 micrograms / 24 hrs patch on
.. doh .. it’s trying to fall off almost immediately.
11.55 .. I head for Waitrose .. shopping list for mother and for us.
13.22 .. I’m in my mums ..
13.43 .. I’m home ..
13.58 .. Lunch is served .. “French bread” with 2 cheeses, olives,
“Dutch onions”, crisps .. I save one hunk of bread for a slice of honey
comb .. lovely .. all washed down with apple and elder flower juice ..
some slices of malt loaf finish the deal.
15.15 .. I head for the PC ..
19.10 .. Dinner is served .. a Sunday roast !! ... roast free range
chicken, roast potatoes and carrots, and some peas .. lovely. Dessert
.. strawberries and ice cream ..
21.13 .. I’m in that position ..
22.05 .. I call time on dilation, happily, it’s gone better today than
for a long time .. I do my cleans and do what I need to do. I inspect
the patch I put on this morning, it now seems to be well adhered all
around the edges .. phew .. I’ll need to change it Wednesday evening ..
3.5 days per patch.
00.03 .. I finally climb into bed ..
More to come ...
Day 2385. Monday 20th June 2011.
Memory Joggers ...
I slept incredibly well .. I don’t know why ..
06.10 .. The alarm .. it does wake me up yet I feel sort of .. great !!!
06.12 .. I’m out of bed .. a girl with a mission ..
06.53 .. I’m back in the bedroom getting dressed to go ..
07.36 .. I’m on the road to Frimley Park Hospital ..
07.58 .. I sign in to the Physio’s touch screen sign in place .. then
take a seat.
08.02 .. Graham comes and finds me ..
Graham reviews what’s happened since our last meeting .. my left
shoulder has a permanent ache now added to the odd fuzzy feeling when
resting.
Physio's need to redesign their benches .. they have a hole at the head
end for your face to drop into when asked to lay down on one's front ..
how about holes for something else too .. I was sure Graham the physio
was trying to dislocate my left shoulder while forcing me through the
bench to the ground .. he asks what made go "ouch" .. it wasn't the
shoulder at that point .. << grimace >>.
Graham comments that my left shoulder blade is slightly differently
placed than my right, then adds that this is quite common, but it’s
also very tight. Once I’m upright he shows me a new exercise that is
supposed to loosen the muscles on that side .. then gives me another
appointment for 9 days time.
08.23 .. I walk out of the Physio’s department ..
08.27 .. I’m on the road .. the TomTom takes me to M3 J4 and points me
at the M25 .. the traffic isn’t good ..
09.20 .. I’m in the car park at work ..
I eventually track down the chuck key to the warehouse workshop drill
.. Callam has it in his bag of bits that is his project .. so I can go
and drill the holes in my box to take the two XLR’s ..
13.12 .. ish .. I get to eat my lunch ..
Trouble with a BBC ENPS terminal sees me loose a good part of the
afternoon .. we don’t have admin rights on this equipment .. but we are
still expected to trouble shoot.
17.43 .. I head for home .. the M25 isn’t too bad, but then as I
approach J13 a sign tells me the A30 is closed Westward from the
roundabout at Egham .. the TomTom knows and diverts me through Staines
and Thorpe across to Wentworth towards home ..
18.46 .. I’m finally home ..
18.55 .. Dinner is served .. a cold chicken salad followed by
Strawberries and Cornish ice cream ..
19.55 .. Karen head round to the doctors surgery for a smear test ..
An observation .. 24 hours on from starting my new HRT regime, well
actually it’s as before but now with added 50mg Estradot patch I feel
brilliant. I slept well last night and today I've been bounding with
energy and my short term memory seems to have come back .. maybe to
early to be sure, maybe it's all in my mind << grimace >>
.. but I do know I've not felt this good "in self" for a couple of
years or more <<smiles>>.
20.22 .. ish .. Karen is home .. I put the kettle on .. a cup of tea
and some fathers day chocolates.
20.45 .. I head for the PC after taking a picture of my Estradot ..
I’ll post that on facebook .. << grins >>.
22.15 .. Karen heads off to bed ..
23.05 .. I head for bed too ..
More to come ...
Day 2386. Tuesday 21st June 2011.
Memory Joggers ...
06.10 .. The alarm ..
06.21 .. Up and at it .. I need to wash my hair for the first time post
colour ..
08.22 .. All my bits together, finally .. I’m on the road in Violet ..
and the traffic is bad enough for the TomTom to alter my normal route,
through Egham.
09.08 .. I’m in the car park at work ..
Some more parts have arrived .. so I can continue with the OB kit.
13.30 .. While eating my fruit .. I quickly google for Honda garages in
my works area .. there’s a Johnson’s branch at Beaconsfield .. I call
them .. they can fit me in for a quick “2" service this tomorrow
lunchtime .. it’s only the 25,000 mile pollen filter change .. boss Jon
OK’s me for a late lunch.
14.30 .. I show Callum a trick with a hand drill and 3 strands of 7/0.1
wire ..
17.00 .. I return to the warehouse to find somebodies set the alarm ..
as they do .. around 17.00.
17.38 .. I leave the office ..
It’s so nice to find the M25 driving at 60+ from the M40 to the A30 at
Staines .. on the Egham bypass there is an accident sign up, in an area
with a lot of broken glass, I guess that’s where / why the A30 was
closed last night.
18.25 .. I’m home ..
Karen is still thinking about dinner .. so I go out to dead head the
roses and it strikes my mind I haven’t started the bike for rather a
long time .. doh .. too long. The battery spins it over for a while but
really hasn’t got the necessary. I remove the seat and wonder about if
there’s enough energy left in one of my mothers old scooter batteries
.. to my surprise .. there is. The bike starts .. I leave it running
while I do the roses.
19.10 .. Dinner is served .. a noodle stir fry, rather too much of it
too .. onions, peppers, chicken, mushrooms .. topped with some diced
ham .. it’s lovely. Dessert is yoghurt with oat granola and honey.
19.45 .. I head to the PC for a while .. and do some diary.
20.45 .. I return to the garden briefly to finish the roses .. and
realise how everything has sprung into life .. and now needs loads of
time to reduce it all again.
21.05 .. It’s getting nippy outside .. I’m happy to get into the warm
again ..
21.45 .. Thinks I’m going to head to bed ..
More to come ...
Day 2387. Wednesday 22nd June 2011.
Memory Joggers ...
06.10 .. The alarm ..
09.10 .. I’m in the office ..
17.00 .. Dave the electrician can start on Studio 2 lights ..
18.22 .. Dave is finished, the power is back on and both lights are
working ..
18.32 .. I’m finally on the road .. had hoped at this time the M25
might have been better .. but it’s not ..
19.26 .. I’m home ..
23.10 .. I’m in the bathroom .. time to add / change my Estradot patch
.. I’ve decided to add the new patch side by side with the old one,
leaving a small gap, and I’ll peal of the old one tomorrow morning ..
More to come ...
Day 2388. Thursday 23rd June 2011.
Memory Joggers ...
06.10 .. The alarm ..
06.23 .. Up and at it .. in the bathroom I try and peal off the old
Estradot patch .. this is easier said than done. A lot of my friends
have said they never stay put and often fall off in the shower .. this
takes some teasing to get off, and it hurts as it really tugs the skin
not wanting to peal back.
09.04 .. I’m in the office ..
13.15 .. I eat my lunch .. PAB.
14.18 .. I decide to take Welders Lane to shorten my journey back ..
the road heading east goes up hill .. as I go over the brow there’s a
Moped bearing down on me at speed .. I stop hard against the hedge, he
doesn’t and smashed down the drivers side of the car .. at least he
stops.
Surveying the damage to my car, it might be treated as a write off by
the insurance company .. the last thing I need .. drivers door mirror,
edge of drivers door .. rear offside door stoved in and damage to rear
wheel arch leading on from door.
14.29 .. I’m in the office .. shaken .. I need a cup of tea ..
14.40 .. I phone the number I was given, things seem to check out, the
young girl who answers the phone confirms her brothers name and spells
it for me .. I suggest she rings one of her parents to them know what’s
happened, and that their son is alright physically.
14.50 .. I report the accident to the police ..
20.01 .. I arrive at the newly renamed “Reading Lakes Hotel” ( was
Millenium-Copthorne ) to find Christine in the car park ..
More to come ...
Day 2389. Friday 24th June 2011.
Memory Joggers ...
06.10 .. The alarm ..
Purplesque Projects is born !!!
23.30 .. I finally head to bed ..
More to come ...
Day 2390. Saturday 25th June 2011.
Memory Joggers ...
07.10 .. The alarm ..
07.40 .. Up and at it .. a quick comfort break
It’s the Saturday morning weigh in .. 14st 10 lb .. << sighs
>>.
10.36 .. We head for Alfreton in Violet via the Esso garage in
Windlesham for hopefully some cheap fuel .. but it’s not that cheap ..
though the Waitrose voucher helps ..
10.45 .. As we head for the M25 I call my mum .. to let her know we
won’t be seeing her today ..
11.27 .. We join the M1 ..
13.02 .. We pull into the Donnington Services for lunch ..
13.48 .. We are on our way again .. eta Claire 14.22 ..
14.08 .. My mobile rings .. it’s my mother, the chemist won’t deliver
her prescription today and she’s nearly out of tablets .. “mum we
are 15 minutes from Claire, what can I do?” .. DOH.
14.19 .. We arrive at Claire’s home.
16.35 ..
19.28 .. We are home ..
19.43 .. I order the Chinese .. a strange voice answers the phone ..
23.22 .. I head for bed ..
23.58 .. I finally climb into bed ..
More to come ...
Day 2391. Sunday 26th June 2011.
Memory Joggers ...
I slept well .. the white wine did it’s job last night.
08.22 .. I wake up as Karen gets out of bed ..
08.40 .. Karen returns to bed with cups of tea .. we watch TV, then
Karen gets up and returns to the other side of the bed so we can
snuggle easier .. << smiles >>.
09.20 .. Up and at it .. I sort my pills and breakfast then call my mum
.. allegedly she’s just getting out of bed ..
11.15 .. I return downstairs to sort my hair ..
11.28 .. My hair is dry .. I head for the PC briefly ..
More to come ...
Day 2392. Monday 27th June 2011.
Memory Joggers ...
More to come ...
Day 2393. Tuesday 28th June 2011.
Memory Joggers ...
06.10 .. The alarm ..
14.30 .. I’m in Aldershot, trying to find the right building to find
the head of Telecom’s on the base ..
17.05 .. I’m back in the office ..
01.59 .. I finally climb into bed ..
More to come ...
Day 2394. Wednesday 29th June 2011.
Memory Joggers ...
06.10 .. The alarm .. groan .. what ..
06.18 .. Up and at it, I need to get going and leave soon after 07.30
..
07.32 .. I walk out to the car ..
07.55 .. I book my self in with the Physio department at Frimley Park
Hospital ..
07.59 .. Graham collects me ..
08.26 .. I leave the Physio department, gosh my shoulder hurts now !!
09.06 .. ish .. as I leave the M25 and join the M40, Magic FM start
playing an Enigma track .. from the cd MCMXC a.d. . .how cool is that
at this time of day .. brill!!!
09.25 .. I’m in the office ..
16.30 .. ish .. my Purplesque Project is finished .. screwed together
.. so I set about creating a couple of 1metre tails to create a kit for
this.
17.50 .. I finally leave the office, lugging a Glensound kit with me to
go and check the line in the morning at the Aldershot show ground !!
18.53 .. I’m home .. well that wasn’t fun.
19.38 .. We head for Robert’s place in Camberley .. via the BP /
M&S garage on the way past to collect a few goodies ..
20.03 .. We are in Roberts place ..
21.59 .. We are home .. I start work again on that PC for Christine ..
it’s going well ..
More to come ...
Day 2395. Thursday 30th June 2011.
Memory Joggers ...
More to come ...
Day 2396. Friday 1st July 2011.
Memory Joggers ...
06.10 .. The alarm ..
08.22 .. I’m finally on the road .. but the traffic is terrible for a
Friday ..
09.08 .. I’m in the office ..
10.15 .. ish .. While starting to back the van with the OB kit, I spot
that one of the mains leads for our PA speakers needs to be rewired,
the outer sleeve isn’t in the grip. OMG .. when I open it up it’s wired
with live and neutral swapped .. I take it into the office to show
people before rewiring all the PA connectors. Worryingly .. Neil takes
an age to realise what is actually wrong !!!
13.40 .. Tom and I finally leave the office
14.05 .. We’ve joined the M25 and a mega jam .. at this point I haven’t
got my TomTom on because I assumed at this time the roads would be
clear .. how wrong !!
14.50 .. We arrive at my house to pick up a spade to dig cables in
later .. Tom leaves his car and joins me in the van.
15.15 .. We arrive on site .. Chris has only just arrived, I spot him
from the road positioning the trailer. Once in, Tom and I help Chris
align the trailer, he uses his front mounted tow hitch .. I think
that’s his favourite toy.
Soon as the trailor is positioned, Tom and I start digging in the cable
for the ISDN .. starting with the cable laid in by the soldiers on
Wednesday, moving the point about 10 metres closer.
I decide to leave our reel under the box, so drag off enough cable,
plus some extra, before digging that in, that’s about another 25 metre
run .. it still takes nearly an hour with two of us doing it.
17.45 .. I try the ISDN, it dials out fine ..
18.10 .. ish .. We finally get to do a two way with the studio ..
18.50 .. ish .. Tom and I head for home, but only after a false start
because I’d left our car park pass for tomorrow inside the trailor ..
DOH.
19.20 .. ish .. I’m home, home alone .. Karen has gone out with a
friend ..
19.40 .. Dinner is served .. a plate of Chicken birriyani left for me
to microwave .. dessert is a portion of bio yoghurt with oat granola
and a spoonful of honey .. did I mention the last of the Ben &
Jerry’s cookie dough ice cream .. comfort food.
22.25 .. Karen is home ..
More to come ...
Day 2397. Saturday 2nd July 2011.
Memory Joggers ...
06.10 .. The alarm ..
06.18 .. Up and at it .. a quick pit stop and then I do a the Saturday
morning weigh in .. 14st 6lb .. eh what ??!!.
07.20 .. There’s a knock at the front door .. Tom is very early .. I
finish dressing as I walk to the back door ..
07.35 .. We are on the road to Aldershot ..
08.01 .. We are on site .. the first to arrive .. it’s really nice here
..
We need to dig in the rest of the ISDN cable left buy the army, and
move the covering box and the stakes guarding it .. once we’ve done the
max on that I real out our long CAT 5 drum to reach the trailer, then
we dig that in too. My 20+ year old ladies shovel saves the day,
Chris’s relatively new spade bends almost immediately .. we need to buy
a decent one for the OB kit.
09.35 .. ish .. I buy breakfast for Tom and I .. cable digging done.
11.00 .. Our live 3 hour show starts .. I do my human microphone stand
act for the guests being interviewed.
14.00 .. With a big feeling of relief, the show ends .. it was good
actually ..
17.05 .. We start to de rig our kit and pack it back into the van ..
pulling the dug in cables out is a doddle ..
18.42 .. We finally leave the site ..
19.10 .. I’m home .. a quick change then head off to take the van back,
collect Red and head for food.
20.02 .. There’s an odd car parked where I want to park the van .. I
soon discover it’s the hire car Seb’s using .. he’s in the office ..
been some issues with the Gurkha service from Brunei .. finger trouble
he is sure.
More to come ...
Day 2398. Sunday 4rd July 2011.
Memory Joggers ...
10.37 .. Up and at it ..
15.33 .. Christine calls .. she’s just left the enclosure at Henley and
is heading for Reading Station where we will meet ..
15.43 .. I’m on the road .. I stop at the Shell garage in Bracknell ..
Sparkle takes 41.12 litres allegedly .. Honda claims the tank only
holds 42 litres .. do I smell a rat!!. Sadly making complaints over
weights and measures is pointless .. as I found with the Shell garage
in Egham a couple of years ago.
16.45 .. After a small tour of Reading’s Station area, I finally find
Christine ..
17.18 .. I’m home ..
17.22 .. I light the BBQ ..
18.50 .. The food is ready .. so we eat in the garden, a glass of Pims
washes down the bbq’d chicken legs with salad and the strawberries and
ice cream that followed ..
20.05 .. I head north to do the drudgery ..
20.45 .. I’m in that position ..
21.02 .. I have to stop .. nature .. !!!
22.04 .. I call it a night ..
22.40 .. I’m down stairs ..
23.32 .. I head for bed ..
More to come ...
Day 2399. Monday 4th July 2011.
Memory Joggers ...
06.10 .. The alarm ..
06.28 .. Up and at it .. I feel shattered ..
07.58 .. Karen drives away .. sob, sob .. I’ll see her again Friday
night ..
08.23 .. I’m on my bike heading for work ..
08.57 .. I’m outside the office parking my bike ..
Time to unload the van .. Tom helps .. then make good some damaged
cables ..
12.45 .. Lunch .. PAB ..
I modify a cable drum .. makes XLR cable storage soo much better .. I
think people can see how neat my idea is ..
17.30 .. Seb, Tom and I hit the “copperdom” trail .. deconnectorising
cables and sorting them into different varieties .. for the scrap value
.. this will pay for a “copperdom” night out .. a curry night probably
..
18.30 .. We call it a day .. I get my kit on and head for home ..
19.15 .. I’m home ..
Dinner is served .. cold chicken ( ex last nights BBQ ), with salad ..
followed by strawberries and ice cream.
A chat with Gaynor .. and an arrangement is made for Wednesday night ..
in London.
21.35 .. Karen calls .. I call her back .. seems Claire’s in a really
up beat mood today .. Karen has hopes for next weekend ..
22.35 .. A cup of tea and a Welsh cake ..
23.10 .. I’m about to head for bed when I flick the TV over and find a
Rambo film on ..
00.21 .. Rambo is finished .. I head for bed ..
More to come ...
Day 2400. Tuesday 5th July 2011.
Memory Joggers ...
06.05 .. Alarm number one goes off .. my cellphone.
06.10 .. The usual alarm goes off .. I put the TV on .. what nobody to
snuggle against .. << sighs >>.
06.21 .. Up and at it ..
07.37 .. I’m on the road .. but the traffic isn’t good ..
08.00 .. I’m in the Physiotherapy department at Frimley Park.
08.03 .. Graham calls me through ..
08.31 .. I’m on the road to work .. gosh the traffic is so bad today ..
09.40 .. I finally arrive at work, and my shoulder is killing me ..
11.58 .. We gather for a meeting in the “small meeting room” to discuss
plans for the Royal International Aero Tattoo ..
12.08 .. The 2 Simons arrive .. so now the meeting gets underway ..
13.02 .. I stop to eat my fruit
17.36 .. I’m on the road for home .. my TomTom takes me on a different
route twice ..
19.17 .. I’m home .. gosh that was a nightmare .. I refill Reds washer
bottle before doing anything else .. it was showing signs of getting
low.
19.45 .. I sit to eat my dinner .. it’s a total repeat of last nights
..
21.30 .. ish .. Karen calls .. I call her back ..
22.35 .. Time to do the washing up then head for bed ..
More to come ...
Day 2401. Wednesday 6th July 2011.
Memory Joggers ...
06.05 .. My phone alarm wakes me .. gosh my shoulder is killing me ..
I’m so tired, if we weren’t 2/3rds down today I’d definitely stay off
work ..
06.52 .. I haul myself out of bed ..
08.16 .. I’m late on the road .. and the traffic is terrible today,
like it was last night ..
09.22 .. I’m in the office ..
13.25 .. I finally stop for my fruit ..
17.30 .. I disappear into our component store in jeans and uniform T
shirt .. to re appear in office in blouse and skirt .. time to put a
face on. Kevin spots me doing my face from the other side of the office
and asks if I’m going anywhere special .. yes !!
17.58 .. I’m on the road ..
18.46 .. I’m at the end of Castlereagh Street, I park up and “Gaynor”
walks across to me. She’s walking with difficulty due to two slipped
disks .. she’s seeing a specialist tomorrow.
18.52 .. We are in Two Point .. the welcome is warm, though it’s been a
while since I’ve been in. “My” table is taken, Gaynor and I go to the
rear prettier part and sit.
20.45 .. I go powder my nose while Gaynor pays the bill .. she was
quite insistent though I though a long time back we’d agreed to go
Dutch on these occasions ..
21.05 .. I drop Gaynor as close to Victoria station as I can ..
22.05 .. I’m home ..
22.45 .. A cup of tea and some squares of Belgian dark chocolate ..
that squares off the day ..
23.45 .. I must go to bed .. even though a programme on ITV1 about
recent sextuplets is gripping .. I need some sleep ..
More to come ...
Day 2402. Thursday 7th July 2011.
Memory Joggers ...
06.10 .. The alarm fails to wake me .. both of them ..
08.20 .. ish .. something wakes me .. I call Phil, he’s not quite in at
work yet ..
12.50 .. I need to eat my lunch, PAB, before going to watch over
“shipwreck” .. sorry I mean Sitrep.
Yes, yes, yes .. The News of the World newspaper is to close .. good
news for all those TS’s taunted by this recycled used toilet paper
excuse for a news paper.
17.58 .. I’m heading for home via Tesco’s in Gerrards Cross ..
19.36 .. I’m home ..
19.48 .. My dinner is made .. a ham salad followed by bio yoghurt, oat
granola and honey.
Lucinda pops up for a chat on Yahoo ..
21.50 .. I call Karen .. the end of week disco has just finished ..
she’ll call me later once her charge is in bed ..
22.17 . .I say goodnight to Lucinda ..
22.50 .. Karen finally calls me back .. she’s in bed ..
More to come ...
Day 2403. Friday 8th July 2011.
Memory Joggers ...
More to come ...
Day 2404. Saturday 9th July 2011.
Memory Joggers ...
06.10 .. The alarm goes off .. I can’t lay here long, I get a quick
snuggle with Karen before she leaps out of bed for a comfort break ..
my cue ..
06.18 .. Up and at it ..
06.52 .. I’m out of the shower, dressed in my undies .. I nip down and
do the Saturday morning weigh in .. 14st 9lb .. it’s sneaking up again
.. I need to start a new approach.
07.16 .. I’m on the road to Chiswick Honda ..
07.47 .. I’m parked up outside Chiswick Honda’s reception .. I store
this position as a favourite in our “new” TomTom ..
07.50 .. I’m inside, no sign of anybody on the car end of the counter,
I’m second in line I guess .. I take seat with the other woman
and break out the laptop ..
09.08 .. I’m back in the car heading for home .. the Esso garage on the
Chiswick roundabout is just 131.9, like the Esso garage at Denham has
been for the last few weeks .. so why are the Windlesham ones still
asking 138.9 .. rip off local cartel probably ..
09.41 .. I’m home .. Karen’s waiting for a call back from the home ..
so I head out to Sparkle and put her proper number plates on ..
10.17 .. The phone rings .. apparently Claire is in the homes car and
on her way .. my stomach starts to knot up inside me thinking about the
last 2 or 3 trips home by Claire .. I don’t need this at the moment to
be honest.
10.21 .. We are on the road for Northampton ..
10.56 .. Karen’s mobile rings, it’s one of Claire’s minders
telling us they are at M1 J21 .. half way for them .. we are ten miles
behind them probably ..
11.00 .. As we join the M1, the rain starts ..
11.45 .. We are at .. Northampton services, we pull up behind the homes
vehicle and Claire seems happy and smiling as she looks back at us ..
11.50 .. Claire finally gets into our car .. face like thunder .. we
head for home.
Fiddling with the “Y” split lead that powers both laptop inverter and
the TomTom, it’s a little intermittent at times, there is a pop and the
fuse fails to the cigar lighter. Investigating the Y lead, one end has
got hot and the positive terminal has become detached .. clearly it’s
then shorted out. There’s a lot of heat staining .. this isn’t good ..
I can see an XLR mod coming for the inverter and one leg of the Y split
lead.
12.15 .. Karen pulls into a M&S services to get some goodies for
lunch .. I take this opportunity to look in the fuse box above the
shelf over the drivers foot well .. yep, fuse number 27 has gone ..
15A, will have to find a replacement at home, they are the micro
miniature blade type .. so fiddly.
12.48 .. We rejoin the M25 .. and join a queue .. how rare, the signs
keep changing .. “J20-J16 delays” soon becomes “J14-J12 delays” ..
while travelling slowly towards J16 ..
As we approach J14 the traffic is slowing, Karen takes my advise and
does the “up and over” trick .. another 4 minutes saved at least ..
<< smiles >>.
The TomTom is whingeing about batteries nearly exhausted .. so I turn
it off .. memo to me .. put USB lead in TomTom kit to reach / connect
to laptop for power !!!
13.34 .. We leave the M25 at J13 ..
13.47 .. We are home ..
17.25 .. ish .. I order the Pizza’s .. and go and collect them ..
More to come ...
Day 2405. Sunday 10th July 2011.
Memory Joggers ...
07.01 .. I’m woken by Karen getting up to Claire .. that’s it for
sleep.
Apparently Claire was up once at about 5am for the loo .. now it’s
every 2 or 3 minutes .. I get up to stand guard a few times when
Karen’s voice is raised ..
07.42 .. Karen gives up and goes to make a cup of tea to drink in bed
.. but that is stopped by Claire intercepting her return journey .. so
we all head downstairs ..
08.30 .. ish .. Claire’s had a slice of toast from Karen’s plate .. I
go sort out my own breakfast and tablets ..
08.40 .. ish .. Claire goes upstairs to lay on her bed, Karen goes and
showers while I stand guard .. when she’s finished Claire gets a
dose of Diazipan .. it should calm Claire down ..
09.30 .. ish .. I get to have a shower .. it has to be a quicky
routine, hair will now have to wait till tomorrow.
10.05 .. I’m dressed .. I take over guard duties while Karen phones the
home ..
I’m worried about getting Claire into Violet or Sparkle .. so I go move
the cars around to get Red close to the back door.
10.45 .. The drugs seemed to have worked, we manage to persuade Claire
to get out of bed, she then chooses to go out of the house via the
patio doors .. this will stop anymore damage being done.
10.52 .. We are on the road .. in Red just in case Claire decides
to vent her anger on the car interior .. I’m driving.
12.20 .. ish .. I pull off in to Toddington services .. Karen nips into
the MS to get some items for Claire, and for us later .. it also delays
our arrival.
12.45 .. ish .. Karen phones the home, we’ve not heard from them
despite them promising to let ujs know when the homes car and staff has
departed .. we’re starting to think they haven’t left, but they had, an
hour ago .. looks like we should arrive the same time as them then.
13.03 .. Just as I drive off the M1 at J15a Karen’s phone rings .. it’s
the homes car .. they’ve just arrived .. we are just the wrong side of
the motorway still .. soon there !!
13.05 .. We arrive at Northampton services southbound side .. I park up
adjacent to the homes car .. initially Claire refuses to get out of our
car .. so we move all her stuff first and the homes staff help coax her
out ..
13.10 .. We are back on the road .. I’m driving to Toddington, I pick
up the slip stream of a coach, the overall MPG soars to 61.5 mpg ..
14.12 .. Karen takes over the driving as we head for home, our TomTom
takes us on a wild adventure as it tries to escape various blockages on
the M25.
15.23 .. We arrive at Waitrose in Sunningdale for some essential
shopping. The MPG is back down to 59.8 mpg .. ho hum.
16.18 .. We are home ..
17.45 .. I light the BBQ ..
18.50 .. Dinner part one is served .. Toulouse sausages in some
“French” bread .. it’s soon followed by the part boned, whole Jerk
chicken with some salad .. gosh that is lovely .. it’s washed down with
some wine.
As we sit relaxing .. the bee’s are enjoying a feast on all the clover
plant flowers that are now covering the lawn ..
19.40 .. It’s getting nippy outside .. we head indoors.
20.10 .. Top gear is on ..
23.12 .. I head for bed ..
More to come ...
Day 2406. Monday 11th July 2011.
Memory Joggers ...
06.10 .. The alarm .. groan ..
08.21 .. I’m on the road, a bit late, but the traffic is really kind ..
09.02 .. I’m in the office ..
13.20 .. Post lunch I head out to High Wycombe .. Halford’s is my
target for fuses and a lamp kit .. I get some fuses but fail on the
bulb kit, I also get a digital tyre pressure gauge and a different
cigar lighter multiway .. sadly it has to be a 4 way .. I can see some
mods coming ..
I head back for work via the Honda dealer in Beaconsfield .. that
proves fruitless, the chap in the parts department informs me that
Honda haven’t made a bulb kit yet for the Mk2 Jazz ( Violet ) .. I’m
stunned .. the appliance of science or just the appliance of stuff the
owner !!!
17.32 .. I head for home .. the traffic is really kind ..
18.23 .. I’m home, just getting my things together when a car pulls
across our drive, it’s the insurance company chap that’s come to
do the business for the damage on Red .. he takes a lot of pictures ..
we talk about what it needs .. apparently a new door skin for the rear
door .. and a large area of paint.
I make it clear, that the colour must match under sodium lighting .. I
suggest they get the paint from Chiswick Honda, who seem to be able to
get a perfect match .. but his company won’t .. I suspect a battle
ahead ..
20.40 .. I head out to the garden for a quick whip around the lawns ..
well all of the front one and about ½ the area of the back one
.. leaving a large area of clover flowers for the bees ..
22.40 .. ish .. A chat with my current Director of Technology on
Facebook chat, he’s a seriously nice guy, can’t imagine having this
sort of chat with my old job equivalent .. even if it’s about work
things. He suggests, what I suggested to the folk at the Aldershot OB
.. about having a pair of microphones outside to pick up “atmos” ..
they weren’t keen at all when I suggested that .. we’ll see what they
say if I add “Quentin wants us to do this” ..
23.10 .. ish .. I head for bed ..
More to come ...
Day 2407. Tuesday 12th July 2011.
Memory Joggers ...
06.10 .. The alarm ..
08.01 .. I call the doctors .. I’m number 19 in the queue .. what !!!
08.08 .. My call has been picked up .. gosh they’ve made some money out
of their telephone system and its premium rate number this morning !!!
10.19 .. I’m in the doctors surgery .. I’m ignored for a moment before
I’m booked in ..
10.20 .. I’ve just sat down when my name is called .. last in .. first
to see a doctor .. the doctor asks what he can do for me today, I tell
him my symptoms and he concurs that I’ve probably got a urine infection
.. he wants a sample, and sends me to the lavatory next door.
I only went just before I left home .. but I manage to squeeze out a
dribble after a minute or so, and take it back to the doctor,
apologising for the quantity. He has to lay the tube to tipping point
to wet all the blobs on his “dipstick”. As he waits for it to do it’s
thing we talk about the other things.
He does me a repeat prescription for patches and also the smaller
Cyclogest and I mention that the patches have improved so many things.
I suggest a blood test might be interesting 24 hours after a new patch
goes on .. a Monday or Thursday morning .. he agrees and puts it
in the computer.
The dipstick is cooked .. he’s sure I have an infection, there’s white
blood cells in my sample, so he gives me a prescription for a weeks
course of 200mg Trimethoprim.
10.32 .. I’m in my car heading for the chemist ..
In the chemist I’m told there’ll be a “short wait” for my prescription
.. I need the antibiotics .. I opt to wait, except the wait isn’t that
“short”.
11.06 .. I’m finally on the road for work ..
11.54 .. I’m in the car park at work ..
12.45 .. Lunch .. PAB.
The afternoon is spent tooing and throwing between my desk, the
workshop and the warehouse workshop .. doing modifications to the OB
kit mixer .. adding an extra mic. input connector to the side of the
case, and wiring the two aux busses out to 5 pin XLR’s .. to save space
!!
17.25 .. I head back to my office desk to pack up before going home ..
18.43 .. I’m home ..
19.05 .. Dinner is served .. cold jerk chicken left over from Sunday,
with a salad .. dessert comes in 2 stages .. a shared M&S fruit box
left from Sunday followed by yoghurt with oat granola and honey.
I do some scanning for Karen .. letters for Jamie and an old picture of
her as a baby sitting in a pram .. her eyes haven’t changed much !!
22.05 .. I head north ..
More to come ...
Day 2408. Wednesday 13th July 2011.
Memory Joggers ...
More to come ...