Sarah's Transition Diary .. weeks 349 - 352

.... is for those who might want to contact me about my diary.

Day 2437. Thursday 11th August 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

06.10 .. The alarm ..

06.38 .. Time to get up ..

08.19 .. I’m on the road ..

08.56 .. I’m in work ..

17.38 .. I’m on the road .. the M25 is hell .. oh for the best TomTom instead of this old one today .. what no “Live Traffic” .. << sighs >>.

18.46 .. I’m home ..

19.04 .. I get my own dinner together .. it’s a cold chicken salad .. followed by yoghurt with oat granola and Bracknell honey .. lovely.

Evening spent toiling over power of attorney forms for my mother ..

00.35 .. I head to bed .. 

More to come ...

Day 2438. Friday 12th August 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

06.10 .. The alarm ..

13.28 .. I head off for Farnham Royal .. to collect a fish feeder ..

14.22 .. I’m back in the office ..

17.14 .. I’m on the road for home ..

More to come ...

Day 2439. Saturday 13th August  2011.

Memory Joggers ...

06.10 .. The alarm .. time for a snuggle ..

06.41 .. Up and at it ..

It’s the Saturday morning weigh in .. 14st 11lb .. DOH .. that’ll be the week of comfort eating leading up to today .. .

09.40 .. We arrive at my mothers ..

10.16 .. Finally on the road to Juliet’s ..

12.12 .. We arrive at Juliet’s ..

13.20 .. ish .. Lunch .. home made Watercress soup is lovely with some stunning bread .. followed by foie gras and some nice cheeses ..

We go and walk the dogs leaving mum watching TV ..

17.45 .. ish .. “Tea and stickies” .. 

19.45 .. ish .. Dinner .. shredded lamb with 2 different potatoes and different vege’s .. fabulous .. followed by 2 different desserts and more cheese ..

22.16 .. Finally on the road for home ..

00.18 .. We arrive back at mums flat ..

00.45 .. We are home ..

01.32 .. I climb into bed ..

More to come ...

Day 2440. Sunday 14th August 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

09.15 .. ish .. I get up and go sort my breakfast then take tea up to Karen ..

09.35 . Back in the bedroom with the tea ..

10.55 .. I head for Waitrose .. where I’m signed up for their self scanning scheme .. not sure I’m saving anytime at all .. but it wins me a green woven bag .. woopie do ..

12.07 .. I’m home ..

I decide to go do something with our front garden hedge that separates the two houses .. it needs a good trim .. but I can’t reach the top without a step ladder.

The ladder wobbles and I fall to the ground .. luckily the hedge trimmer stops immediately, and the soft lawn cushions my landing from about 5 steps from the bottom, except I’ve caught me left upper arm on the garden waste bin on the way down .. I’m in agony.

Karen drags me in, cold compress for my arm ..

13.45 .. Rather sore .. it’s time for lunch ..

14.25 .. I return to the front garden, assisted by Karen to do what I need to finish the hedge .. dead head the roses and cut the lawn ..

15.15 .. Garden work finished ..

16.10 .. Karen and I are in the tent ..

18.10 .. Karen goes and makes some Pimms, to help numb my arm and left hip that is painful ..

18.25 .. Time to start the BBQ .. which evaporates the Pimms .. Karen refills my glass a couple of times ..

19.15 .. Dinner is BBQ chicken and Toulouse style sausages .. followed by strawberries and ice cream ..

21.15 .. A long chat with Gillian ..

22.40 .. Chat with Gillian ends ..

23.03 .. I head for bed .. 

More to come ...                                   

Day 2441. Monday 15th August 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

06.10 .. The alarm ..

08.18 .. I’m on the road to work ..

08.56 .. I’m in work .. nice trip in ..

Well today is trying to nobble my HTC Desire phone with ARC, Tape Recorder Pro and AndFTP applications. It’s all working, I just need to do some documentation for it, two lots .. a thick one with  all the info for my engineering colleagues .. the other as something simple for the journos. Sounds like it should be easy to knock off quite quickly .. but it’s not. Trying to merge info I’m gleaning from the App’s web sites into a word document, is anything but straight forward. 

12.30 .. I’m hungry .. lunch today is simply an apple and a banana ..

A few minor interruptions this afternoon, at least it broke the monotony of sitting at my desk.

17.30 .. I decide I’m going home .. I’ve got the body of two documents, even if one is only a single page relating to how AndFTP is interfacing with our Dalet FTP server, in terms of individual phones logging into certain folders .. “Simples”!! .. actually for the journos it is.

18.25 .. ish .. I’m home ..

Dinner is served .. cold BBQ meets left over from yesterday with a salad .. strawberries for dessert.

Some serious chilling tonight .. gosh I needed it.

00.30 .. I’m in bed ..

More to come ...       

Day 2442. Tuesday 16th August 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

06.10 .. The alarm ..

08.28 .. Oops .. I’m a little late leaving for work, the bummer is the traffic is a lot worse than yesterday ..

09.14 .. I’m in the office ..

I have to say I’ve been a serious “smart” phone sceptic for a long time, ever since my last company thought it would be a good idea to give the engineers original HTC Touch Pro’s, stupid thing is I went on to buy it from the company when I was made redundant for £40. That one does have a real slide out qwerty keyboard.

However, I’ve started to love the HTC Desire .. I might be tempted to buy one in Canada, as Canadian phones are “sim free” or unlocked, whatever, but comparing prices, they are charging in dollars what we get charged in the UK in pounds, except more than 1.5 dollars to the pound.

The Iphone TRRS 3.5mm 4 pole jack breakout lead arrived today. Karim said an Iphone cable wouldn’t work on an HTC .. wrong .. works perfectly, I go demo it to him.

Well it turns out that the company as decided all the Journo’s should now have their own issued smart phones, to integrate with our Groupwise e-mail system, and Karim has chosen a similar HTC phone. I can see those being rolled out all the apps on too as complete kits with broadcast microphones and mini headphones. 

12.45 .. Lunch .. just for a change it’s BAC today .. an apple and a handful of black cherries and a seriously ripe banana .. yes it’s use up the dregs today

I have to drop the HTC project to dip back into the Viprinet saga. Jon’s asked that before I go on holiday if I can check it out following Seb’s recent difficulties / embarrassment with it at a cricket match.

I power it up and do some tests .. strangely .. it works. However I’ve now got a 4th sim card to go in, so I add that to the empty card in slot 4 .. well the card finds it’s network OK but the module needs configuring .. something to leave for tomorrow morning ..

17.48 .. I head for home .. the traffic is terrible again .. what’s going today.

18.53 .. I’m home .. 

19.25 .. Dinner is served .. it’s pasta .. dessert is a portion of yoghurt with oat granola and Bracknell Honey ..

23.45 .. I’m in bed ..

More to come ...

Day 2443. Wednesday 17th August 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

06.10 .. The alarm ..

07.37 .. I’m on the road for Frimley ..

08.00 .. In with the Physio .. he’s not made a lot of difference in all honesty, so he’s going to refer me up for further investigation by orthopaedics ..

08.35 .. I’m sitting waiting for a blood test .. I’ve drawn ticket number 98, the wall counter is showing 90 .. so only 8 people in front of me, this shouldn’t take long ..

09.20 .. Frustrated, with the wall counter showing 94, I go and ask how much longer, as people are clearly jumping the queue system ..

09.28 .. I’m finally called in for my blood test .. the woman doing it lectures me about her department .. and it’s priorities .. I bite my tongue .. there needs to be a priority for people who are in employment, most of the others waiting outside look like pensioners !!!

As I leave the room, a woman outside looks at me and says .. “gosh you were quick” .. my reply was that I “think they wanted rid of the trouble maker” .. said with a grin to which she chuckled.

09.32 .. I head for the car park .. full speed ahead. I nip down to M3 J4 and zoom up to the M25. I’ve only just joined the M3 when I get the first of several calls from Karen whose trying to arrange seat reservations for tomorrow.

10.16 .. I’m on site at work, and starving hungry .. I go buy a take away breakfast from “The Canteen” .. sausages, hash browns, mushrooms and baked beans .. something to take my breakfast pills with ..

Just what I need .. there’s a report that Sandhurst is off air .. I do some telephone enquiries, and get Karen to go listen in the car, taking out Skype phone .. yes it’s silence almost .. so the transmitter is on, just without no input audio .. DOH.

A chat with Dave, we go through the recent history, he thinks we should replace the Pace receiver with a Technisat, I agree .. so we set too setting a virgin new one up for the first time .. we me doing the buttons so hopefully I learn.

12.15 .. ish .. I make some calls to Sandhurst to organise access, however they keep a secret from me. However, I can’t leave for Sandhurst till I clear away some of the wreckage I’ve left in our main workshop and on Mick’s desk .. he’s away “Navying” and I’ve got the half finished Viprinet strewn on it ..   

13.05 .. Finally on the road to Sandhurst .. I head for the usual College Town entrance, which is only 150 metres or so from our dish and transmitter. On my arrival it’s closed for a week for refurbishment .. it names another gate, but no directions .. I assume they mean what I’d have called the main gate off the A30 .. I turn around and head for it.

14.20 .. After a detour through the “main gate” into Sandhurst and a drive all the way through the grounds, that is just amazing, I’m at our transmitter.

The problem is the same as before, pre UPS .. the Pace receiver has muted it’s output, flipping it in and out of standby restores the service.

I start the planned work, to replace the Pace tuner for a Technisat one, a brand new one made to BFBS spec .. and as we set it up in the office before I left it should be a doddle .. HA !!

It doesn’t work .. “no signal” .. what !!! The penny drops .. in the office the satellite feed is on a distributed feed .. the LNB needs power and that wasn’t set up on the new box. I sort that, but now I’m getting the wrong services.

Time to call a friend, first of all it’s suggested I repoint the dish .. out with the Promax .. I get a better signal out of the dish .. but alas the wrong signal !! Time to call a friend again .. Seb and Mark are alternating .. the coin drops .. this install has a professional LNB, it’s IF frequency is different, I need to compensate for that on the Promax and the Technisat.

16.10 .. I’m finally getting there .. I’ve got a cracking signal off the dish after some very fine adjustments .. and soon the Technisat is giving me the desired Gurkha Radio .. yippee !!. I do a power fail check to ensure the Technisat will come back after a power outage tuned to Gurkha Radio .. it does .. alleluia << smiles >>. I make a final call to David in the office to give him  the good news .. he says I can go home .. great, so much for my half day. I clear up, lock the cabinet and drag all the bits back to the car.

16.25 .. Sorted .. I head for home .. so much for my half day ..

16.42 .. I’m home .. time for lunch .. bread and cheese !!

17.00 .. ish .. I head upstairs to try and finish my packing ..

19.35 .. Dinner is served .. a mini pork pie and ham salad .. for dessert we share and finish off the big pot of yoghurt .. mine gets oat granola and Bracknell honey.

19.55 .. Back to the packing ..

20.35 .. I need a break, I can’t find stuff and getting annoyed .. I head for the PC .. two aims .. to back up my Thunderbird email client files to the server .. then do a restore onto the laptop. Stupidly I’d left the laptop’s mail client running .. fatal mistake, which means I have to redo it .. DOH. I spend some time dragging a load of out music onto a 2Gb SD card, to play on my Marantz PMD620 tomorrow .. it should play for about 12 hours, with extra rechargeable batteries to keep it going.

21.15 .. I leave the PC backing up the e-mail as I head for another bout of packing .. hunting the needle in the haystack !!

Karen comes and gives me a hand looking for things as she completes her packing ..

00.15 .. ish .. I call it a night on the packing front .. my main case is pretty well there .. and about 0.3 kg under weight .. I’ll sort that in the morning.

Time to do my nails .. I strip off the nail polish and then go and wash myself ready for bed. I nip down to check on the laptop, it’s still chugging away copying email folders from the server.

Once washed, I return to my nail studio and do a little more prep including  a base coat on my toe nails. Karen moans about the smell of nail polish .. so I move my operations down stairs.

I colour my toe nails bright frosted pink .. lovely. A quick check on the laptop shows it’s finished .. I’ll not try the e-mail ill tomorrow. I finish my hands off with a quick coat of Sally Hansen’s triple strength .. for a really glossy finish to my otherwise natural looking nails. They are a nice length for the holiday, if I’m careful they should last out, but I’ll have the “service kit” with me just in case.

01.45 .. I finally climb into bed .. Karen isn’t amused.

More to come ...

Day 2444. Thursday 18th August 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

06.10 .. The alarm ..

06.15 .. Up and at it .. a quick pit stop .. then I go do a weight check .. 14st 9lb .. yes this is now one empty vessel !! .. back up to shower ..

07.05 .. I’m finished in the bathroom .. cue Karen ..

07.25 .. My hair is dry and breakfast has been consumed ( in my undies ) .. time to get dressed .. but what .. I raid the wardrobe .. a purple panelled skirt and floaty top. Time to finish packing .. I put my nail stuff and a few other items of clothing into my big case .. that should have bought it up to 23Kg on my human scales. The free luggage scales that came with her two new suitcases under reads by nearly 2 kg by comparison.

A quick check on the laptop .. I fire up Thunderbird to see if all my e-mail stuff has transferred to the laptop .. it has .. I copy the diary across and shut it down.

I pack my carry on case .. all my meds go in there along with a coat, another pair of shoes and my laptop. Karen’s put the TomTom 950 in her’s .. it’ll be time to test the USA / Canada map package it came with .. if it doesn’t work we’ll have to buy a map .. oh what joy. The little zip flap on the back of mine gets all the travel docs, that Karen hasn’t stuffed in her hand bag.

09.15 .. Just need to do an audit / edit on the contents of my everyday handbag .. I then place that inside an even larger purple travel handbag / small nosebag  << giggles >> .. along with my big camera. I realise my sunglasses are still in Violet .. Karen gets the now hidden keys for both cars and my bike and dares the rain to fetch them in for me.

09.48 .. I don’t believe it .. bags finally done up and we are ready to go ..

Panic .. Karen’s phone suddenly rings .. it’s Barclaycard fraud department .. this is a good start .. not !!!! Seems everything is OK though .. I hope this isn’t a bad omen. My new Santander credit card hasn’t arrived, the post man is late .. so if Barclaycard screw up our joint account, it’ll be down to my own Barclaycard and my AMEX.

10.04 .. Mike our owner/driver from Village Cars has arrived, a tad late .. but the rain is now just spotting as we wheel the cases out and he loads them into his boot.

10.06 .. On the road .. now what have we forgotten !!!

10.32 .. We arrive outside Heathrow T3 ..

At the Air Canada check in, though we are over an 1 ½ hours before check in closes, we end up being given seats, 7 rows apart .. 32B and 39B .. I’m soon into full complain mode. The nice chap sorts out a message to go to the gate, he’s sure they’ll sort us out something better if we get there as soon as the gate is open.

Next onto security .. I take no chances this time and strip all my jewellery off along with hair slides and clips .. the works .. the only metal on my body can only be in bra fittings .. are my wires actually metal or plastic ones .. time will tell.

So into a queue .. when we get to the scanners Karen goes first, straight through .. others bypass me as I sort things into trays .. a ruddy great bag of prescription meds gets me some attention, especially the pump pack of oestrogel .. but I pass through the scanner without a sound, and I’m not taken aside for a deeper delve into my cases .. is the scanner faulty ?? << grimace >> .

No the woman who follows 2 behind me sets of the scanner a couple of times .. I finish repacking,  then we head out .. as we near the exit of security, an American woman says to Karen that she loves he polka dot wheelie case .. Karen quips as we get out of her ear shot “it’s not a case it’s  an American tourist detector” .. LOL.  

Onwards .. through duty free where I snuffle a tiny measure of Pimms from a counter offering samples .. doesn’t take very many steps for me to feel it !!!

Karen tries tomake contact with her friend who is on our flight .. she was going to text her till I suggested phoning .. gets her voicemail .. DOH.

11.35 .. It’s a little early, but we decide to have a sandwich and a bottle of juice .. gosh the prices ..  M&S .. all is forgiven.

11.55 .. Sustenance aboard .. we head for the loo’s then go and stand under an information board waiting for a gate number .. 

12.22 .. We finally get the information we need .. gate 42 .. the furthest gate from the main assembly area .. Karen and I are first out of the trap and it’s a rush to the gate .. where we arrive first .. but even though it’s late, the gate is still a couple of minutes from opening .. at least we are first.

12.42 .. Our documents are checked and I head for the desk. The woman is reading a message from check in and is expecting us .. she’s able to not only move us to be together .. she’s given us 60A and 60C, leaving a seat in the middle that she says won’t be filled !!!

Various announcements are made, including an apology for what will be a late departure, as the inbound was late.

I call my mum to make sure she’s OK .. not that we can do anything now .. then call Seb at work. I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to him yesterday, he’ll be gone before my return. I thank him for his invaluable help over the last year ( 50 weeks ), he’s one knowledge base that we won’t be able to tap into in the future. But he’s coming back for the “copperdom” curry night next month to say goodbye to a few others he’s missing too.

13.25 .. We finally get to board the plane, being at the back, we are the first of the economy seats to be allowed on. We are three rows from the back !! .. bad news is the overhead locker for our three seats is broken, so I help ourselves to space in other lockers which are empty, as we are first to the back !!!

The captain apologises for the delays and announces our arrival time in Calgary is now 22.31 UK, or 15.31 Calgary time .. well I guess the car will now be waiting for us there. So we’ll be about 40 minutes late there.

13.48 .. Push back .. and the engines are started .. it’s lashing down with rain .. then it’s a slow crawl, stop start, in fact we seem to do an emergency stop at one point .. oo er .. 

14.12 .. We finally blast into the sky .. only 58 minutes late ..

14.40 .. Levelled off and through some pretty bumpy turbulence as we climbed above the clouds .. time to get the laptop out. I’m sure the 777 I had to Calgary September last year didn’t have power sockets .. this one has !!! .. so I can do my diary and listen to any of my music .. the whole of my MP3'd collection I copied off my server last week .. << grins >>.

A girl comes around issuing sets of ear bud headphones “for us to keep” .. I try them on my laptop .. gosh they are terrible, mine aren’t good, supplied with a cheap MP3 player I bought ages ago ( cause it could record ) .. so I switch to mine, and give Karen the other pair I’d bought along .. I reeally must invest in my own decent ones, or maybe break out my ancient Sony MDR V4's that I bought ages ago to listen to a walkman on trains after a motorbike was stolen in 86.

Some of my work colleagues swear by the active noise cancelling Bose ones to wear on aircraft .. for sleeping in !! .. I’ll have to investigate. 

After flicking through a couple of different artists, I settle for Enigma .. MCMXC A.D. Special Edition version .. 

15.15 .. We leave Scotland heading for Iceland .. oh for a 4 engine plane that could go straight across rather than the arc we have to follow ..

15.45 .. “Lunch” arrives .. maybe an hour late ..

14.15 .. lunch is being cleared away as we start to fly over Iceland .. back to some music .. Media Player has moved onto another Enigma CD .. I fancy a change .. ERA .. ERA [1998] .. Ameno .. plus ..

16.20 .. They are delivering tea, a steward is serving the row in front when he fumbles a bottle of milk .. pours a lot over the chap sitting in front of me and splashes over the top of his seat onto my keyboard .. grrrrrrr .. luckily it’s just a few drops and nothing appears to have gone to deep into the keyboard.

17.00 .. We start to fly over Greenland .. now into the second ERA CD Dance 2001 ..

18.10 .. As we skim over the eastern coast of Greenland the view is stunning .. Karen, sitting in the window seat takes photographs.

I decide to close the laptop down for a while and maybe snooze .. after my late night last night it shouldn’t be too difficult.

.. I’m not sure if I really slept, with the arm to the empty seat up I could swivel around and with a couple of cushions manage to  get quite comfortable ..

19.35 .. ish .. another snack service .. a small bag of pretzels and a small tube of vanilla ice cream .. I’m guessing this will be the last “service” we will get being less than 3 hours from landing.

I needed the loo, Karen was my prompt .. she went first. Oo-er, a little service needed in there, rear port side .. and some bits are falling off .. hope the wings are in better condition !! 

19.50 .. Back to the laptop .. and some more music ..

20.25 .. I glance up and notice the screen for my seat giving some flight stats .. giving time at destination .. 1.25pm .. so I reset my watch, I’ll start with Canadian time here tomorrow I think.

20.40 .. We’ve given a bit of a shaking turbulence wise for a while, when the seat belt sign is switched on and the captain makes an announcement .. then the buffeting stops .. magic .. << grins >>.

Oh dear .. I’m yarning .. not good, as we’ll have 75 minute drive once we are down.

Time for some Elton John .. what to play .. I go for the classic from1970 .. Elton John - Elton John .. absolutely classic EJ .. Your Song, Sixty Years on .. brilliant.

20.55 .. It’s the captain again .. with 1hr 35 mins to go the crew are doing a final “service” .. we are offered a choice of mushroom or chicken “posh wraps” from “Monty’s bakehouse” .. I go for the chicken. Hot they certainly are .. posh ?!? Welcome to North America .. home of junk food. There was lots of potato wedges inside the tortilla wrap .. and some sort of meaty paste .. allegedly contains 20% meat !!!

21.20 .. The drinks trolley arrives .. I opt for an apple juice .. wish I hadn’t .. Capella it is not, well we are flying economy, maybe they get proper apple juice in First class. !!

21.30 .. Under an hour to go .. the rubbish collection arrives, time for a clear out .. LOL.

21.37 .. A nice man comes around with the immigration forms .. Karen fills it in as a family of 4 can go on one form !!!

21.45 .. I guess I should pack all my stuff up and get the laptop back into my wheelie case. Should be thinking of going to bed .. maybe Jamie will let us go to bed in about 6 - 7 hours time .. << sighs , yarns, grimace >>.

In retrospect ..

22.28 .. Well we got here, on the ground.

23.30 .. Through customs and luggage claim we find ourselves, eventually in the car hire lot just adjacent to the terminal .. where I think they saw me coming ( jet lagged tourist ) and was offered a cheap upgrade to a Dodge Journey .. it’s a sort of SUV, if I’d known I’d have declined.

01.45 .. ish .. We arrived at Jamies house ..

Jamie knocked up a nice chicken curry to feed us while wookie the dog kept us amused ..

04.30 .. ish .. Finally got to bed ..

 More to come ...

Day 2445. Friday 19th August 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

To see my holiday pictures I posted on Facebook click here.

I slept well, though I did wake up a few times ..

07.00 .. ( 14.00 UK ) .. We are awake ..

Facebook status for Sarah Helene:

Morning world, from Canmore Alberta CA. Yesterday was one hell of a day, think I've been conned by Avis, cheap upgrade to a SUV that I didn't know was a SUV till I found it in the car park .. a Dodge what ? Learnt why in US films you drive in straight lines moving wheel side to side .. turning circle is supertanker type .. DOH. Will try for a couple of days then maybe seek a down grade !

07.30 .. Up and at it ..

Jamie makes a cup of tea for us both .. I boot the laptop and see what the world is doing .. chats with Melanie on Skype and Mila on Facebook.

09.10 .. Time to go shower ..

More to come ...

Day 2446. Saturday 20th August  2011.

Memory Joggers ...

Slept really well .. not surprising really ..

07.30 .. Up and at it ..

It’s not the Saturday morning weigh in .. that’s on hold for 2 weeks ..

10.30 .. We finally head off for Calgary, via a quick stop off locally so Alex can say goodbye to a couple of the friends he’s made through Jamie’s charitable work ..

11.45 .. ish .. a stop off at Cochrane Farmers market .. bought some amazing cherries, and met an English jewellery maker who might be able to create something for me .. I’ve got her card ..

12.25 .. ish .. We drop Alex in at the airport, Jamie goes in to say goodbye ..

13.00 .. After a lot of laps of the airport, we finally pick up Jamie again and head off into Calgary.

13.20 .. ish .. We stop at a Tim Horton’s to give Karen a Canadian experience for lunch .. large rolls, drinks and doughnuts !!!

The TomTom is working well ..

14.15 .. We stop off at Long Tall Sally, it’s a big store, but then this is Canada, everything is bigger, except the staff in the store, British LTS branches are staffed by tall girls, not here, short houses one and all. There is a sale on .. I end up buying 2 cardies and another top, plus they are getting some trainer shoes in for me, which I’ll collect on the day we leave en-route to the airport.

I nip into a shoe shop next door .. but they only go up to a US 11 .. I need US12.

We head down town Calgary on the hunt for some artists equipment that Jamie wants to buy for Vic.

Eventually we find the “Kensington” area, it’s a place where the artist fraternity hang out .. Jamie finds the shop, but walks away empty handed .. I find an HSBC bank and raid the cash machine for $300.

We head for some other shopping areas, to find a “Future Shop” where Jamie is hunting for  waterproof camera for Vic, then onto CostCo “cash & carry” that Jamie has a card for, then onto WalMarts and a few other places.

I’m sold a Rogers PAYG sim card for mmy spare phone .. but this proves to be real hard work later .. grrrrrrrr.

I refill the car, down to half a tank .. I hand over my Visa card, it gets swiped, I don’t have to sign or use my pin .. transaction completed .. $46 .. bazaar.

19.55 .. We are in Boston Pizza for our evening meal ..

21.25 .. We arrive at the airport for the second time today, this time to collect Vic whose been doing her regular summer camp job in USA .. now she’s back to run the business with Jamie.

22.05 .. Jamie and Vic appear, after a few more laps of the airport ..

23.25 .. We are back at Jamies place ..

00.45 .. ish .. I climb into bed .. 

More to come ...

Day 2447. Sunday 21st August 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

Facebook status for Sarah Helene:

What a couple of days .. talk about busy, but kicking back now. Whole day in Calgary yesterday, back here at Jamies house 23.25 .. bought some amazing Cherries in a Farmers market. Today been up Sulphur Mountain in Banff, stunning views .. tonight is going to be a BBQ, to celebrate Vic's return yesterday and her birthday belatedly .. tomorrow .. that's another day !!!

10.35 .. We finally head off for Banff .. Jamies playing football ( British type ) this morning ..

11.15 .. Jamie drops the three of us at Sulphur Mountain .. Karen and I take the easy route via the Gondola’s .. Vic is going to run up to the top with Wookie the dog .. madness !!!

11.40 .. We are on the mountain ..

14.20 .. As our Gondola reaches the bottom, Karen spots Vic with the dog sitting waiting for us ..

14.35 .. Jamie collects us and we head for home .. the football match wasn’t good .. his team lost.

22.00 .. Off to bed ..

More to come ...                                   

Day 2448. Monday 22nd August 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

08.30 .. Up and at it, my turn for the shower ..

11.30 .. ish .. Jamie, Karen, Wookie ( the dog ) and I head off for a gentle walk ..

13.40 .. Lunch .. ploughmans Jamie / Canadian style ..

14.30 .. Off to Canmore .. shopping and relaxing ..

16.15 .. We arrive at the gap between buildings where the old school bus ice cream emporium is based .. Jamie buys the ice creams. Opposite the old school bus is a little mobile canteen doing Thai food and drinks .. I spot Iced Chai tea .. I want one. I buy drinks for everyone .. Karen and Vic have mango green tea smoothies .. which are delicious .. Jamie has a Thai iced coffee .. my tea is nothing to write home about .. in fact it’s a big disappointment !!

Facebook status for Sarah Helene:

Did a walk this morning with Karen Jamie and dog .. mostly down hill to riverside trail and along .. Jamie called Vic to collect us from the road on the way back .. this is at about 4000 ft in Canmore, yesterday at Sulphur Mountain was nearly 9000 ft .. a lot easier climbing steps at this height !! Post lunch shopping trip "down town" imminent .. time to go bang a table in the local Rogers Mobile office .. total disaster with them at moment .. sreknaW !!

Facebook status for Sarah Helene:

A word of advice for anybody travelling to Canada and wanting to put a PAYG sim into there own phone .. DON'T USE ROGERS .. I finally have a working phone, 2 days after I bought a SIM, after 2 phone calls, on line chat help and another visit to a Rogers office .. they don't make it easy for visitors, despite what they might say .. Have a nice day !!!

22.25 .. I head for bed ..

More to come ...       

Day 2449. Tuesday 23rd August 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

I slept quite well ..

07.00 .. Karen gets up for a comfort break, chance for me to role across the bed for a gulp of water .. ahh, that’s better.

08.00 ..ish .. Time for a snuggle ..

08.30 .. Karen gets up to shower .. I log into my laptop, check my 2 Facebook accounts and wonder what we might do today !!

Facebook status for Sarah Helene:

08.42 .. Morning world from Canmore Alberta .. now what are Karen and I going to do today as Jamie and Vic are busy .. finding ice cream somewhere is a probability .. maybe go bear and mouse hunting ( shooting with a camera ) or take the $100 / 15 minute Rockies helicopter flight .. decisions decisions ?1?!

09.00 .. Karen’s out of the shower, but Vic has jumped in, Karen thinks she might have got in the way of Vic colouring her hair .. ho hum.

More to come ...

Day 2450. Wednesday 24th August 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

Facebook status for Sarah Helene:

Morning world .. 09.10 in Canmore, Canada .. listening to BBC World service news cause BFBS Canada isn't streamed .. now wondering what to do today .. thinking about heading to BFBS studio's in Batus tomorrow and maybe an overnight somewhere around there .. time will tell. Did the Kananaskis Country park and the 74Km dirt trail back down to Canmore, Black Dodge is now white !!

Facebook status for Sarah Helene:

Did Lake Louise today .. amazing views but the walking is a little stressful for us old folks .. will definitely starting a get fit campaign for both of us when we get back. So many things here are cheap, so many things are also expensive .. Canada keeps easing me into a false sense of security then turns and bites me on the bum !! Saw our second bear and got pictures .. yippee !!!

More to come ...

Day 2451. Thursday 25th August 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

Facebook status for Sarah Helene:

08.40 .. Morning world .. a quiet day planned for today, Canmore Farmers market this morning then off to Johnson Falls this afternoon. Meal out tonight probably in Banff, then pack an overnight bag tonight ready for our early escape and 400KM+ each way drive then overnight stay in Medicine Hat .. hopefully a fun evening at Ralph's tomorrow

More to come ...

Day 2452. Friday 26th August 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

Facebook status for Sarah Helene:

07.40 .. Alberta CA time .. up and at it .. showering, breakfast, pack overnight bag then on the road to BFBS Batus and overnight in The Medicine Hat Lodge. Dinner in Ralph's then see what happens .. bzck to Canmore tomorrow, Jasper and overnight Monday !!!

More to come ...

Day 2453. Saturday 27th August  2011.

Memory Joggers ...

Facebook status for Sarah Helene:

Had a great night out with Rory and the gang from BFBS Canada at Ralph's last night. The place wasn't busy like it was 11 months ago when I was last there, but we had a good meal and Karen got to meet soe of the folk I've talked about in the past. We were the last to leave, went back to the hotel and made use of our free drinks token .. Karen sadly is a little hung over, we might not be leaving till late.

Facebook status for Sarah Helene:

Saturday 27th .. a day of 2 halves .. 1st half .. left Medicine Hat Hotel at 11.50 .. Karen had left wedding ring in bathroom .. got it back .. phew !! 12.15 .. Karen is feeling better and wants food, stop at Tim Hortons just outside medicine hat .. sorted .. drive 400 off meters car dash board lights up traction control / abs failure !! Call Avis, wait for call back .. limp car 265km back to Avis Calgary airport.

Facebook status for Sarah Helene:

Saturday, PART 2 .. 16.45 .. finally leave Avis with replacement Dodge, a red one, gone from mafia boss / drug dealer to hooker .. exchange of texts with Jamie .. need to race back to go to dinner at friends house. Two nice gay men living in monster of house 2km away .. fabulous evening,nice food, great company in a truly astonishing house .. possibly another hangover tomorrow .. 24.20 .. nightie night.

More to come ...

Day 2454. Sunday 28th August 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

Facebook status for Sarah Helene::

08.35 .. Alberta CA time .. Morning world .. well what shall we do today after shopping in Banff while Jamie plays "soccer" for 2.5 hours, amazingly the sun is still blasting away, not a sniff of rain .. tomorrow we are driving 400+ KM to jasper for another overnight with Jamie, last 4 days of holiday .. << sighs >>.

More to come ...                                   

Day 2455. Monday 29th August 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

08.49 .. We head off out for Jamie’s Breakfast meeting .. he says he needs to go pickup a raffle prize for his Canmore Adaptive Skiing charity and pulls into the Heli flights base. he suggests we come in to for a look .. surprise .. he’s booked Karen and I in for the 09.20, 12 minute Spray Lakes tour ..
“this is your birthday’s Christmas and wedding anniversary presents in one”

09.20 .. After a pre flight safety video we are taken out to the helicopter .. we all pose for  picture .. then I get separated from the others and sat in the front seat next to the Pilot .. WOW !!!!

09.38 .. 108 pictures latter we are on the ground again .. my right ear may take a day or two to recover again, but that was amazing !!! Bck in the office I spend $50 on a special photo presentation kit that come with a USB key that contains loads of shots, including the group picture from the pre flight pose by the helicopter. Sadly, that picture makes me look like a giant, being in the foreground with the cameraman crouching low !! Add another $69 dollars to buy a red “hoody” with embroidered “ Alpine HeliTours” logo’s on it .. we’re going to share it allegedly !!!

10.03 .. We are back at Jamie’s house .. for breakfast and to get off out to Jasper ..

10.27 .. Breakfast .. Jamie was busy shopping while we flew.

Jamie seems to be on the phone for ever ..

12.25 .. ish .. We finally head off, Jamie is our guide .. up West on National 1 to Lake Louise then branch off North to Jasper along Highway 93.

13.35 .. ish .. We join highway 93 .. and it’s a long road to Jasper .. about 250Km .. we are in no hurry.  Sadly we’ve only been going along there for a few minutes when a ground squirrel runs out across my path, I have no where to go .. bump, bump .. sadly it’s motionless in my rear view mirror .. I’m almost in tears .. sorry !!

After the initial sadness of the road kill .. the rest is just amazing. Jamie says that Highway 93 from Lake Louise to Jasper is in the top ten most scenic drives in the world .. shame I’m driving, I can’t take it all in as the road is tricky in places .. but the scenery is stunning, so is the wild life .. so starts a bear fest that by tomorrow will see us not stopping to photograph all the brown bears we see .. 

14.30 .. We stop at the Athabasca Glacier, pretty much at the top of the road height wise on this trip, for lunch .. we buy some drinks and eat the sandwiches Jamie had made. The Glacier is amazing and you can special 6 wheel drive monster coach tours across it, sadly it’s retreating fast.

15.30 .. ish .. We arrive at the SunWapta falls, just off of Highway 93 .. 55Km from Jasper. Peter from work who suggested last night on Facebook that we should try and go there was right .. the falls are pretty impressive.

However, standing on aa bridge across the narrow gorge just as it does a left turn is quite worrying to me as an engineer .. the bridge is wobbling while allegedly solidly mounted on massive granite cliffs 30 metres or so above the water. It’s a well cantilevered steel bridge .. the only reason it can be  wobbling is cause the cliffs ( on one of them ) is wobbling too .. I suspect this bridges supports aren’t exactly secured to planet earth .. I move off quickly.  

Karen and I go out to see the wild life and end up in the hotel bar ..

23.35 .. And so to bed ..

More to come ...       

Day 2456. Tuesday 30th August 2011. (  6th anniversary of RLT !! .. how time flies )

Memory Joggers ...

07.30 .. Morning world from a dull overcast Jasper .. ( retrospectively ( on the flight home ) I realise it was 6 years ago today I started out on full transition ) .. what no celebration .. nope .. it’s all becoming insignificant really !! Over 10% off my live now .. need to reach just short off 99 years old to make it the larger portion .. you never know !

09.30 .. Time to go .. the sun is shining ..

19.30 .. ish .. We arrive outside the Chinese take away in Canmore .. we go and order from a rather odd selection compared to Mary’s.

20.17 .. Jamie arrives back with the food ..

Chinese food in Canada is not the same as Chinese food in the UK .. OK .. the steamed rice is .. but what we had was nice. They do have fortune cookies .. mine was “YOUR ABILITY TO PICK A WINNER WILL BRING YOU SUCCESS” .. Karen’s was .. “HUMOUR USUALLY WORKS AT THE MOMENT OF AWKWARDNESS” .. yes I can see that .

After eating we do a picture exchange .. well we try to. Vic’s laptop, a 4 year old HP with Vista on it keeps “overheating and cutting out” - says Vic. I take a look and diagnose the issues immediately ..

1. The rubber feet are all missing, lowering the fan in the bottom of the case close to the surface it’s placed on and restricting airflow ..

2. What doesn’t help is that the visible heatsink in the side vent is full of dust. In a moment of madness I place my mouth over the fan on the bottom and blow .. I’m sitting in a dust cloud and start to sneeze .. DOH.    

Vic’s laptop from that point on seems to run happily when she stands it off the table with something .. surprised, not !!!

23.05 .. I head for bed ..

More to come ...

Day 2457. Wednesday 31st August 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

08.30 .. We are awake .. time for a snuggle

13.20 .. We head of out, first stop Safeways for lunch .. then head off to a couple of souvenir shops in Canmore ..

16.20 .. ish .. We head back up the trail from the back of Jamie’s estate to look for wild life .. 

As we climb through the cloud some of the rain turns to sleet, and the car’s outside temperature gauge plummets to 37f !!

18.40 .. We are back from our drive ..

19.20 .. We head off out to the Wild Orchids, it’s a sushi place that does some meat dishes too .. so I won’t starve. Jamie gives the waitress the low down on Karen and I’s allergies, remembering that Karen’s ok with fish but not shell fish, and that I’m totally NO sea food.

The waitress turns to me and says she’ll warn the kitchen to be really careful prepping my food ..

Given I’m not driving, just for a change, I decide I can tackle the cocktail menu .. I go with Jamie’s recommendation on the first round .. Karen follows suit. I can’t remember the name, but it was pale green in colour and had apple in the name .. it’s absolutely fabulous .. mines quickly gone and I order another .. hic !!

22.05 .. We head for home ..

23.20 .. Time for bed ..

More to come ...

Day 2458. Thursday 1st September 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

05.00 .. Karen’s phone wakes us up as a text comes in from a friend of hers whose just lnded at Heathrow from Canada .. thinking we’d might be there too .. wrong !!!

08.50 .. I get up and head for the loo ..

09.00 .. Back in the bedroom so Karen can shower first .. but somebody else jumps in .. so I boot the laptop and check out my two Facebook accounts ..

09.50 .. ish .. I’m finally in the shower .. I decide to do a double wash on the hair .. soit takes a little longer.

10.20 .. I’m dressed and out on the balcony combing my hair out .. it’s very damp but the mount air is so dry it works a treat.

10.50 .. We head off in the car at Jamie’s suggestion to go get some more mountain photo’s, the over night snow on the peaks should look incredible .. and it does. Running the car aircon on full blast with a little heat also works wonders on my hair .. it’s a photo opportunity when we get back.

11.25 .. We return, Jamie’s just finishing cooking “brunch” .. bagels with ham, bacon, scrambled egg ( for me instead of poached ) and baked beans .. lovely.

Post brunch .. Jamie wants to use our Dodge as transport for some old furniture they want to take down the local “Thrift Warehouse” .. it’s only  couple of Km away .. so I agree. Jamie and Vic load the two vehicles up and I drive the Dodge down there.

12.25 .. We’re making the final preparations to leave, Vic grabs Jamie’s camera and Jamie throws his arm around Karen. At this point I just step back for a moment to see if I’m wanted .. clearly not .. click, click, click .. I’m out of sight, no invite for a group picture. I’m wondering what will be the atmosphere when their wedding happens in a couple of years .. << sighs >>.    

12.40 .. We are finally on the road for Calgary Airport .. a lot later than I wanted .. this proves to be a mistake despite Karen’s assurances.

As we leave I mention the photo scene and what seemed to happened to Karen .. I can see me being on some table near the back of the event well out of the way, with Karen and Jamie’s father ( who she left when Jamie was 2 years old) sharing the key position at the top table. The fact I provided Jamie with a roof over his head through thick and an awful lot of thin times will be forgotten I’m sure .. am I ranting .. I’d better stop, I’ll blame the altitude ( 21.30, 33,000 feet as I write this )and iffy hormone balance ( wearing two patches at moment ).  

13.50 .. ish .. I try some detours to find fuel .. the only garage we find is a “Husky” one selling an ethanol mix fuel. I can’t risk putting the wrong fuel in so head for the airport and risk being ripped off by Avis’s allegedly cheap deal to refill the car if not returned full.

14.05 .. We arrive for the first time, only to be warned off by the chap accepting vehicles back that the fuel charging sign at the Avis desk is very misleading .. it’s not 9cents cheaper than local garages, it’s $3.50 a litre !!! So I reload the car and head off to find fuel .. we head off out on auto pilot .. this isn’t working and reach back for the TomTom.

Karen uses our TomTom to try and find fuel .. the first location it suggests .. no garage !! .. try again .. the TomTom takes off another 7 km away from the airport. The “fastest route” takes through a massive housing area and a couple of schools that seem to be throwing out for the day. We are surprised to see young kids manning the crossings, with reflective jackets and hand help stop signs like large table tennis bats.

The seem quite well organised, two each side of the road, and they hide their stop signs behind their backs when the cars can pass. Unlike lollipop men and women in the UK, they are happy for a queue to form before stopping the traffic .. something they do better than us .. eh what << LOL >> !!!  

14.50 .. We arrive back at the Avis drop off, now filled with 65 litres, that’s saved us $180 or there abouts !!!

However, the Avis check in equipment is faulty in the car park .. so we are delayed yet more while the car return receipt is sorted.

15.15 .. We’ve finally made it to check in .. bad news is we are again 2 rows apart, but with D row isle seats ..

16.20 .. We are at the gate .. we have a cookie each and a sip of water ..

17.35 .. The gate opens, well a bloke turns up .. Karen joins a another couple to try and get our tickets  changed .. she’s called back later to be told it’s impossible ..

There’s an announcement .. boarding is delayed as there are engineers on board investigating an issue .. I’d suggest a reboot !!! .. the women sitting opposite comments to her don nervously “ that doesn’t inspire confidence” and shakes her head.  I comment “loudly” they are probably tightening the wheel nuts .. this doesn’t go down too well with the woman sitting nervously opposite us with her son, she shakes her head in disbelief .. the chap sitting next to her looks at me and grins .. well I thought it funny anyway.

18.23 .. We finally get to board the aircraft .. 18.40 take off yeah right .. but the good news is that Karen collared the chap sitting in the centre seat, and he agreed to swap with me, so we do get to sit together after all .. << big grin >>.

So we settle into our seats. The stewardesses are asking for help .. the mother of a little girl is sitting  rows from her “2 year old” daughter, though it turns out the chap now on Karen’s right is the little girls father, who is sitting across the isle from said daughter.

All ends happily when in the end a row of loners agree to split up and the family of 3 are reunited together. Worryingly for Karen, the woman who replaces the father immediately opens a sick bag on her lap .. lovely .. but she doesn’t use it immediately << phew >>.

18.55 .. ish .. The captain announces they are having “issues” with the push back tractor .. there will be a further delay, but winds are favourable and we should be in London on time ..

19.20 .. ish .. The captain comes on again, we’ve been sitting on the ground so long they need to add more fuel .. another 20 minute delay !! Given that the main engines haven’t been running, just the auxiliary generator .. they must make the fuel load margin .. marginal to say the least !!!

19.55 .. ish .. Do I detect movement .. push back .. yeah ..

20.15 .. We finally roar down the runway .. only 1 hour 35 minutes late .. this seems to be an Air Canada thing, leaving late, our trip out was delayed an hour.  

20.30 .. ish .. the no smoking signs are off and I can boot the laptop .. so I do .. as the cabin crew get ready to feed us. As always .. those with special meals get theirs first .. including the woman on Karen’s right.

20.40 .. As we climb higher we start to  get some buffeting, the captain come on with some info .. due to favourable wind conditions we are likely to only be about 25 minutes late .. I suspect that the tail of Hurricane Irene might be responsible for that, in which case we are in for some buffeting later for sure. Good news is that it’s expected to be sunny and 20C when we arrive .. so we are bringing some good weather home with us.

20.46 .. I need some music .. so I play some music while I type .. I’ve got a favourite list from the flight out .. that’ll do nicely.

21.25 .. I’d better switch off for a while .. dinner is coming !!!

The stewardess arrives a few moments later .. “pasta or chicken” .. I opt for the chicken, Karen goes for the pasta .. to be honest hers looks a lot better than mine .. DOH. When the drinks trolley arrives we both opt for the red wine, Karen comments it’s better than the white on the way out .. “La Petite Forge” 2010 .. I can’t read the small print with these glasses, and having drunk the 187.5ml bottle, but it’s French .. allegedly .. and to be honest I’ve had a lot worse on aircraft !! The best part of the meal was undoubtably the dessert .. a chocolate brownie .. lovely .. shame it wasn’t in a proper Canadian portion size .. << grins >>.

21.58 .. in load all my empty stuff up with Karen’s and put the pile on her side, she said it was ok ..  and I get the laptop out .. back to my music and my diary.

22.00 .. We hit some more buffeting .. there’s a tannoy announcement about it I can’t really hear over my music ..

22.13 .. The stewardesses are back to collect the rubbish from us .. flight wise we’ve now done 1073 miles with 3306 left to do .. outside it’s -58F, travelling at 573mph “ground speed” .. and ETA has now grown to 10.45.

22.18 .. We hit some slightly more serious turbulence .. enough to keep triggering the hard disk protection on my laptop, causing my music to “jitter” .. ho hum.

22.25 .. The drinks trolleys arrive .. Karen gets served from the other isle moments before the trolley arrives in mine .. she’s had a cup of tea, well polystyrene cup, I’m refused it as it’s to dangerous with this buffeting, eh what .. so I settle for apple juice .. ho hum.

22.40 .. ish .. Karen needs the loo .. I let her out ..

22.47 .. She’s back ..

23.10 .. There been some announcement about the turbulence, requesting people to put their seats upright too .. I notice we’ve climbed to 35000 feet too. The turbulence certainly comes and goes .. smooth for a while, then rough enough to make my music unlistenable from the laptop.

23.50 .. I put the laptop away and take a Melatonin tablet Karen bought Wednesday to see what happens .. 

More to come ...

Day 2459. Friday 2nd September 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

08.50 .. ( 01.50 Canada time ) .. Well not a lot happened with the tablet, I only took 1, could have taken 3 .. I did feel quite sleepy, but didn’t sleep much, if at all. In fact I felt more awake initially .. bazaar ..

09.20 .. ish .. Karen needs to escape .. when she comes back, I go too, sort my hair out and use some lip balm .. gosh my lips have seriously dried out the last week or so.

Karen gives me the USB key from the helicopter flight on Monday, the digital version of our photograph does apper to be a full 15MP image .. the quicktime slide show is disappointingly low resolution, as are the “print your own” post card set of images .. I’ll print some of my or Jamie’s images for that purpose. 

10.03 .. Some flight stats .. it’s -61.6F outside, @ 37,000 ft and our ETA is now 10.53. Where’s breakfast then ?!? .. those with special meals got their’s 15 minutes ago .. ho hum.

10.17 .. It arrived, breakfast that is along with an announcement from the captain that we should be on the ground and at the gate about 11.10 .. “depending on local traffic” .. yes local traffic, but not the M25 variety.

10.27 .. A drink arrives as we start to descend .. I opt for the orange juice.

10.32 .. We’ve only dropped 4000 feet and my right ear is killing me .. hopefully I’ll be able to get home and book an appointment with the doctors in Lightwater this afternoon .. time for them to refer me back to ENT at St Peters where they worked on me 6 years ago, the spray isn’t working. If the last fortnight is anything to go by, this will take days to sort itself out .. << sighs >>.

10.40 .. At 22,500 feet the pressure in my ears is unbearable .. time to turn the laptop off, concentrating is difficult.

11.15 .. We are down, after 4 loops in the stack over the Chilterns .. an hour late ..

We get through security and head for the baggage claim .. it’s going round and around .. after 30 mins most people have left, but there’s still a few bags going around, but not ours .. 

12.35 .. I fill in a lost baggage claim .. they’ve lost my main suitcase with all my clean clothes, 2 pairs of shoes including my brand new trainers and 3 new tops from Long Tall Sally in Calgary, the “hoody” we bought to share from the Helicopter tour people, a couple of expensive souvenirs .. all our phone and camera chargers .. my wash bag .. and the case itself was a “Classic” Delsey case from about 25 years ago .. it’s all going to cost a fortune to replace .. lucky we have travel insurance ..

Bob the taxi man is still waiting for us .. he’s covering the job for Mike of Village Cars .. seems all the local chaps work for each other covering jobs as and when.

Only hassle is he’s parked in car park one .. it’s a long trudge when you’re worn out.

13.28 .. We are home .. phew .. I need the loo ..

13.40 .. I do a weight check .. 15st 1 1/4 lb .. hope that’s an easily removable holiday blip .. actually, given the walking we did I’m surprised, apart from the monster ice creams, most of our meals where not monsters ..

There’s a monster pile of post .. including my new Santander card .. which I manage to register, but I fall over trying to sort out online banking for it .. another call to them ..

19.00 .. ish .. Dinner is served .. pasta and a sauce .. followed by ice cream .. 

Violet retaxed and insurance quotes obtained .. Comparethemarket.com’s Esure quote is £30 cheaper than their direct quote .. so be it ..

21.45 .. off to bed ..

22.23 .. I’m in bed ..

More to come ...

Day 2460. Saturday 3rd September  2011.

Memory Joggers ...

I slept really well ..

08.55 .. I’m awake ..

09.15 .. up and at it .. Karen on the other hand has been awake since about 02.00 .. but now she’s yawning and starts to snore .. I’ll leave be ..

It’s the Saturday morning weigh in .. not today ..

13.15 .. I hear movement upstairs .. I go investigate ..

14.25 .. Lunch ..

15.15 .. I head for the garden to mow the lawns, gosh they’ve grown more in the last 2 weeks than they had in the previous 3 months !!!

18.55 .. I order the Chinese .. 20 minutes says Mary ..

19.35 .. I’m back with the food ..

20.00 .. ish .. Robert arrives to show us his “new” car .. a 9 year old, 1 owner Ford Focus 1.5, with less than 40,000 miles .. smell a rat ? He’s bought it from a dealer for an expensive £2,500, but it has got full service documentation .. it was a mobility car, just hope it’s done all those miles in little short runs .. time will tell. But it looks pretty good apart from a slightly bent top of the passenger front door

22.30 .. I’m in bed .. a cuddle then I quickly fall asleep ..

More to come ...

Day 2461. Sunday 4th September 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

03.00 .. We are both awake, both “hot” so I switch ceiling fan on .. Karen is soon snoring, I can’t sleep ..

07.10 .. I give up and get up ..

I sort breakfast, boot PC .. chat with Melanie ..

09.10 .. I’m yawning .. and head to bedroom as I hear Karen moving ..

We both lay on the bed and snuggle ..

12.15 .. I’m awake again ..

14.20 .. Lunch ..

14.50 .. We head for Waitrose ..

16.00 .. We are home ..

18.45 .. Dinner is served .. cheese and ham salad, dessert is Strawberries and ice cream.

Do list of lost stuff in suitcase ..

23.00 .. Head for bed .. 

More to come ...                                   

Day 2462. Monday 5th September 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

06.10 .. My phone alarm goes off .. my old “pager alarm” doesn’t, Karen swears she set it last night, I take a look .. oh no she hadn’t .. but sometimes the controlling buttons suffer from contact bounce .. been there, but noticed.

09.06 .. I’m in the office .. the pack of “Maple Creams” biscuits soon disappear .. 

17.25 .. I’m on the road home ..

18.23 .. I’m home ..

19.15 .. Post dinner I head north to sort my nails .. this is now a challenge as all the tools I normally use are lost in my missing Air Canada case ..

21.15 .. I’m in that possition ..

More to come ...       

Day 2463. Tuesday 6th September 2011. ( 1 year with BFBS !! )

Memory Joggers ...

06.10 .. Both alarms go off ..

08.31 .. I’m in the doctors surgery waiting room, the receptionist tells me to take a seat.

08.34 .. I’m called into the doctors room, she looks in my ear and isn’t happy, she prescribes me a 3 day course of a more powerful antibiotic .. 500mg Azithromycin .. “this should sort it out” she says.

08.44 .. I’m sitting outside Boot’s chemist in Lightwater ..

09.02 .. The chemists finally opens ..

09.10 .. There’s going to be a delay sorting my prescription .. so I call Tracy at work and get her voice mail .. I give her an ETA. 

09.18 .. I’m on the road ..

10.15 .. I’m in the office, I’m not feeling good . .and put my celebration edibles on the “kitchen” side. Tracy isn’t in, so my earlier message hasn’t reached my colleagues.

10.45 .. Boss Jon comes to see and chats about various things, he can see I’m unwell and sweating profusely .. first he asks me if I want to go home .. I say I have a few things to do and tell him what ..

10.47 .. ish .. Jon returns and tells me to go home, the others will sort what I need to do ..

11.15 .. I head for home .. and not rushing ..

12.25 .. I’m home ..

13.15 .. Post lunch, I go and half strip off and lay in my bed curled up with a hot water bottle under my right ear .. once the heat gets in it does feel easier ..

16.50 .. As I’m refilling my hot water bottle for the third time .. Karen arrives home .. I refill the kettle and she brings me up a cup of tea ..

18.30 .. ish .. I head downstairs ..

20.03 .. Linda and Susan arrive ..

20.10 .. We arrive at the restaurant in Bagshot, Gabby and Erin are waiting for us .. they arrived 30 minutes ago .. << sorry >> .. Linda takes the blame.

22.20 .. ish .. We leave the restaurant ..

22.30 .. Linda and Susan head for home !!!

22.40 .. I’ve taken my meds, including the new antibiotics and wait to see if there is an adverse reaction .. the list of possibilities on the leaflet that came with them lists about everything possible could go wrong !!

So I do some diary while I wait .. my ear post hot water bottle treatment seems a bit better .. << smiles >>.

More to come ...

Day 2464. Wednesday 7th September 2011.

Memory Joggers ...

06.10 .. The alarm ..

13.40 .. I finally head for Gerrards Cross .. my mission .. to replace my missing wash bag and contents ..

14.45 .. I’m back in the office, over £47 poorer .. just for a wash bag and contents, some of that contents is cheaper too .. replacing my amazing £25 eyebrow tweezers is going to take a trip into London .. 

More to come ...