progress pt2

 Doctors and hospital visits aplenty....

Monday i had blood tests.... a mandatory blood test to see if the statins are bringing my cholesterol down or if they are merely lining the bank account of my GP.  An elective blood test to check PSA levels which can be a key indicator of prostate cancer.... Prostate Specific Antigens, apparently, and i also have a physical examination to follow.....

Tuesday.... hospital..... two appointments.... 

1) A date with the dressings clinic, where we all agree i don't need any more wound dressings.  The nurse also increases the bend in my knee brace to sixty whole degrees.  I've been managing easily with thirty degrees for the last two weeks.

2) A dalliance with the x-ray department....  lacking a little bit of empathy here....  not very helpful staff in this department, and it's an uncomfortable experience that leaves me feeling a bit vulnerable.

3) An experience with a rather harsh doctor and a bulldog nurse.... the doctor tries bending my knee in a couple of unnatural directions and suggests i try putting a little bit of weight on it and shows me how to adjust the bend setting on the knee brace.....  everything looks ok but there's a definite lack of bedisde manner!

A couple of days later and i still cannot bend the knee to the sixty degree allowance.... i'm not far off but it flat out refuses to go further.....  i'll give it another couple of days before i start panicking.

My foot's swelling up and my knee is tingling.... 

The weirdest sensation is finally putting my foot on the floor.... supported by the crutches of course, but a slight amount of weight pressing down on it.... causes fizzing in my knee to let me know when i am pressing too hard..... but the bones and the muscles in the foot feel so weird.... like they're spreading back out to create a platform to walk on rather than an impediment to trip over.

It's progress.... albeit seemingly a little chaotic and unguided and without much care or information to work with..... but it feels like i am getting ..... somewhere?

I think i know what i have to do for the next four weeks before my next hospital visit.

It's quite literally.... small steps.

Here's a little throwback photo..... November 2021 i think...... from the lovely island of Madeira.....  sitting at a beachside bar, drinking Coral (black - which is not so common as the normal lager) and eating lupin seeds which is an art in itself..... you have to sort of squeeze the lupin seed so it pops out of the tough outer skin, straight into your mouth, leaving the leathery husk between your fingers.....  i love them.

progress pt1

 Some progress....

Having not watched a film since being thwarted in my quest to find a specific Ealing comedy called His Excellency..... well, things have happened.

A friend of mine, equally frustrated by the lack of online "copies" of the film, took it upon himself to purchase a DVD of it..... i mean, imagine, a physical copy of something.... an increasing rarity in the modern, digital age!

Even sourcing a copy for retail purchase is quite tricky as this movie seems to be particularly rare and lesser known in the Ealing stables.

Well, no sooner had said media arrived with my friend, and subsequently, kindly donated in my direction, than of course.... the digital version i've been trying to secure for a couple of weeks now, finally completed as well.

Truly, you wait all day for a bus, then two buses arrive at the same time..... no exaggeration.

So, i cued it up and set sail for the island of Arista, the fictitious Mediterranean colony where the film is set, and scratchy, fluctuating soundtrack apart, the film was of good quality despite me constantly having to adjust sound settings.

And so it is.... i've broken me fast, and watched another film, which you'll be able to read about in the usual place.

I can honestly say, when you consider the other Ealing comedies, there's good reason why this one doesn't stick its head above the parapets.....  if it wasn't for the difficulty getting it, and the story behind that, i'd already have forgotten about it.....

Sometimes it's not about the destination as much as it is the journey.....

At least my downloaded copy is helping to complete the myriad of partially downloaded copies that are out there......  sharing is caring!

Here's a throwback photo from when we went to Cyprus..... every day they used to bring a herd of goats onto the lawn in front of the hotel to munch on the nice grass..... it were charming.....

annoyed

 Well, to say "annoyed" is a bit of an understatement....

Today's Wordle #1497 has beaten me.....  it doesn't happen often, but today was particularly painful.

* for reference, using the classic "geocache" spoiler cipher..... today's answer would be "tbsre" - just in case you wanted to know what word evaded me.... and or look back on this in the future....

ding ding.... round fifteen squillion.....

Rinse and repeat....

The world moves on, but i do not.

The sofa sags a little more each day with the weight of my spirit upon it.

What possible delights could i unfurl today?

I think the highlight of my day will be an exceptionally l  o  n  g stage of the Tour De France.....  Dunno if any of you, by which i am addressing thin air, my own stream of consciousness. are into the TDF but i'll tell you this much to try to convince the unbelievers amongst you/me/my-mind - it's like chess.... 

It's obviously nothing like chess, is it?  Well it kind of is.... there are some pretty deep nested subtexts running beneath the whole first-person-across-the-line kind of race that we are most familiar with..... it's quite nuanced.

Here's a brief summary i knocked together to explain all the different competitions that are going on in the race...

 🟡 1. General Classification (Yellow Jersey - Maillot Jaune)

Winner: Rider with the lowest cumulative time across all stages.

Prize: The most prestigious title; overall winner of the Tour.

Jersey: Yellow.

Notable: This is what most people refer to when they say someone "won the Tour de France."

🟢 2. Points Classification (Green Jersey - Maillot Vert)

Winner: Rider who accumulates the most points from high finishes in stages and intermediate sprints.

Favors: Sprinters.

Jersey: Green.

Points System: Flat stages offer more points than mountain stages.

🔴 3. Mountains Classification (Polka-Dot Jersey - Maillot à Pois Rouges)

Winner: Rider who earns the most points on categorized climbs.

Favors: Climbers.

Jersey: White with red polka dots.

Climb Categories: Ranked from 4 (easiest) to HC ("Hors Catégorie" – beyond categorization, the hardest).

⚪ 4. Young Rider Classification (White Jersey - Maillot Blanc)

Winner: Best-placed rider under 25 in the general classification.

Jersey: White.

Often overlaps with: GC contenders who are also young (e.g., Tadej Pogačar has won both yellow and white).

🟡👕 5. Team Classification

Winner: Team with the lowest cumulative time of their best 3 riders on each stage.

Prize: Prestige; riders wear yellow helmets or numbers.

No jersey, but: Leaders' numbers or helmets are often marked.

🦅 6. Combativity Award (Prix de la Combativité)

Daily Award: One rider is chosen each day for their aggressive, attacking style (often breakaway riders).

Overall Award: Super Combatif awarded at the end of the Tour.

Prize: No jersey, but red race numbers.

💶 7. Stage Wins

Each stage: Has its own winner, with prize money and prestige.

Special stages: Like mountain-top finishes or time trials, add variety and specific bragging rights.

🏆 8. Special Awards

Souvenir Henri Desgrange: First rider over the highest point in the race.

Souvenir Jacques Goddet: First over Col du Tourmalet (if included).

Prize Money: Total prize pool is around €2.3 million; overall winner earns ~€500,000.

Confused?

Well here's the route for today.... including a whopping five and a half thousand metres of climbing!!

Today's stage is from Vif to Courchevel Col de la Loze - a mere one hundred and seventy two kilometres (107 miles in old money)

See you at the finish line......

dog

 Dog ate my homework.....  that's MY excuse for my absence.....

Truth is, i've been tinkering with tech.....

I think last time i spoke, i'd been trying to get live sports streams to follow the golf, which resulted in me watching the last hour of the "open" in Spanish, which was good.

Since then, i've been really annoyed to be halted in my Ealing comedy tracks.... i've actually found or rather not-found one of the rarer films in the franchise.  I am trying to get a copy of His Excellency, which was made in 1852 1952 but seems rarer than unicorn poop.  Irony is, it's actually the one film that's about a Yorkshireman!  I have seventy-two percent of it.... but it's stalled.

I've been installing loads of different media streaming software to try and locate the film but they've all let me down.  The flipside of this is that i've been diving into all sorts of different things to watch..... today, i waded through ten or more episodes of the terrific Bob's Burgers (if you don't know, it's an animation about a family that live in a flat above their burger restaurant and the capers that occur).

Other than that i've not been up to very much.... managed a standing-up shower tonight, which is cleansing and terrifying in equal measures.  Just letting my scars dry out a bit before redressing them.  They look to be healing ok.

And finally....  with sadness we say goodbye to one of our very best musical characters.....  Rest in peace, Ozzy Osbourne.   massive character and a life of service to the entertainment industry....  we salute you.... i'll definitely have a whisky in your honour tonight.  I'll leave you with a little blast from one of the most influential bands of all time.... Ladies and gentlemen, Black Sabbath......

Ozzy Osbourne : 3rd Dec 1948 - 22nd July 2025

peak

 I think i've settled into  very lazy pace of life.

Got up... on my own.... quietly came downstairs so not to wake Dawn up.....

Straight down to the kitchen and made myself a flask of fresh coffee so that i could carry everything back upstairs to the lounge in a tote bag hung around my neck.... keeping my hands free to operate the crutches, as i clutch the handrail and hop, precariously, step by step.

By the time i was back to the lounge, both Dawn and Sookie were up and about.

I settled down and did my mental exercises.... idoku, and wordle..... and played a bit of Forge of Empires.

'Watched another Ealing comedy.... The Man in the White Suit - a tale of a would be scientist doing experiments in textile factories to develop a new material.  A fabric which is indestructible and never gets dirty.  It's akin to developing a car that runs on water..... and the petro-chemical companies would never allow it to be made, right?  The sound effects of the laboratory equipment are something i always remember from seeing the movie when i was an ankle biter......  pure techno!!

Watched a hundred kilometres or so of bike racing at the Tour De France, which was really good.

Started watching a series..... Bosch.... it's a ridiculous American cop thing.... i was mystified at the liberties they took with some of their policework....very unbelievable.  Don't know how far we'll get with the multiple series of it.....  we're three episodes into season one.

Dialled a curry from Spicy Hut..... i've been dining on their curries for .... maybe thirty years or more.....  I had an aloo ghobi with pilau rice and a Peshwari naan.... there's something about a sugar glazed pistachio naan bread with sultanas that really goes well with a cauliflower curry.... splendid feast.

Now i'm knackered...... i've done naff all, all day, but it's tired me out.

limbo

 A "nowt" of a day....

Treading metaphorical water with my metaphorical working legs.

Spent the morning falling asleep to an Ealing comedy.....  The Lavender Hill Mob to be precise.  I am trying to make my way through all the nineteen Ealing comedies.... so far, i've watched the first eight, and you can, of course, as always, read my lightning film reviews here.

I've seen quite a few of the nineteen films before, and hail many of them amongst my all time favourite movies.....

The Ladykillers

Kind Hearts and Coronets

The lavender Hill Mob

The Man in the White Suit

Whisky Galore

You've probably heard of some of them, maybe even watched them and have fond memories like i do.

Anways.... drifted in and out of sleep to the Lavender Hill Mob, which i've seen dozens of times before.  This marks the thirty fifth film i've sat through since breaking my knee......  and that doesn't include any that i might have watched parts of.

Then i messed about with some technology to try to gain access to the televised golf from Portrush in Northern Ireland.  It's obviously hidden behind a multitude of paywalls, and i don't like paying for stuff.  I'm currently watching it, so that went well......

I've been following the Tour De France quite well this year too, and annoyingly after maybe fifteen years of ITV coverage, this event also disappears behind a paywall next year too.

Mum and sister called round today to take the dog off my hands for a few hours.  Sookie loves it at mum's house and i had a very unstimulating day planned for the two of us, so it made good sense and i am sure all parties will feel the benefit.

In other news, i think my leg is settling down a bit..... feels a bit less "stinging" today..... hopefully desensitising as predicted....  <shrugs>

And, right on cue...... in walks Dawn..... home from work, from shopping, from collecting the dog..... she hasn't sat down since about 7am and it's just gone half seven in the pee emm.  Bless her!!

raisins

 Raisins to be cheerful part one!

ok, enough doom and gloom..... lets give thanks for.....

Thanks:

Dawn - Both the start of the day and my amazing, loving, caring, selfless, steadfast, strong, fabulous partner, without whom i'd be lying on the kitchen floor in a pool of my own juice (as would many others i dare say - by which i mean they'd be on their own kitchen floors in their own juice..... not in mine).

The NHS - unfortunately, and i am sure some of you will identify with this.... as time moves on, i have certainly begun to rely more on the NHS than i did in my previous years!  The last FEW years would have you imagine they'd be naming a wing after me!  Often maligned and complained about, they do an amazing job given the hand they've been dealt.

Perseid meteor shower - begins tonight and runs until August 24th - peaks on the 12th August (in the UK at least)

Forge of Empires - it's a game - not much of a game.... it's a blessing and a curse.... it can take over your life..... but it's kept me sane these past few weeks.

Watermelon - i've always been a fan, but during my convalescence, and the incredible heatwave(s) we've been experiencing, this pink fleshy fruit has definitely kept me cool!

Story tellers.  It's an ancient tradition, innit?  Tales passed down, yadda yadda.... whether it's some ancient folklore, a news report,  a cave painting, a movie, even a blog.....  well done!  Keep it up.  I've been relying on "stories" to keep me awake and connected for a few weeks, and it's something we almost take for granted.

idoku - my brain is active and this fiendish puzzle, every day, has really helped.

Looking forward to:

The day when i am well enough to be able to put the bin out again......  ps, i never put the bin out!

Being able to carry something from one place to another place....  trying to even carry an empty coffee cup while using a pair of crutches is nigh on impossible.

Some more episodes of Dexter: Resurrection (now airing).

60 degrees of bend!

ouch

 Been a miserable day.... the new brace is aggravating the scar from the knee surgery - i am hoping that, over the next few days, it beds in and desensitizes the area......

Ouch!

It's pretty sore and i am pretty miserable!

horse piddle

 Been in t'ospital again today for my bi-weekly checkup......

Got there early.....

Got into the treatment room early and the attentive nurses were great.... a student nurse on placement from endoscopy came and cleaned my wound.  She was very sympathetic and caring.

Another nurse set up my new knee brace and disposed of "old trusty", the knee brace that's served me well for the last four weeks.

Delayed, a doctor finally arrived and gave us a good rundown of what's going on, what the next stage is, and how we're doing.

Knee brace fitted.... knee bending.....

Out of there in an hour!

Three fifty for parking (i am sure they delay you to make sure you get the parking fee to pay the electric bill)

Nought to thirty, in one hour!  

Thirty degrees, that is.... i can now bend my knee up to thirty degrees, no more, but often less.

Feels bloody strange and strangely awkward and a bit on the sore side.

Here's a picture of what a thirty degree bend looks like:

Small step for man..... big bend for a robot!

influence

 Hot damn.....

Anyone know what an influencer is?

They're generally a bunch of people who have a high profile within social media.... they make content that thousands, nay, hundreds of thousands of admirers fawn over.....

It might be make-up tips, or the ability to play a game really  well, or in the case of some of the more nefarious characters, just spouting bile and venom..... and people lap it up.

The internet is a new phenomena in this respect, it allows people of a similar mind to come together and form a group..... i mean, if you've got a niche interest or a kinky fetish that seems obscure.... what you'll probably find is a welcoming group who all have the same feeling as you and you won't have to leave the comfort of your sofa or the safety of your keyboard to find them.

In some cases, such "influencers" use their popularity to help "sponsors" promote stuff......

If i was really great at playing Minecraft, and all i ever drank while playing it was some shitty energy drink, then you could pretty well assume that the manufacturer of that fizzy can of chemicals would happily supply me for the price of product placement or mention in my videos.

It can be a lucrative business.

And so, feeling somewhat like i've finally "arrived".... today i became an influencer.....

You may recall, a few days ago.... i began posting vintage postcards that i'd seen.....

This one in particular!

Well, what should arrive on my doorstep today..... that VERY postcard!!  My Cousin had tracked down the postcard in question, from the Netherlands, purchased it, and sent it to me..... the power of the internet, eh?  Amazing!

Well.... thanks in massive quantities to my sponsoring cousin...... and for any readers out there.... here's a photo of a really nice campervan!!  Sithee!

foot

 You know what.... 

The broken knee.... i can bear it.

The numb arse, the sciatica, from sitting on the sofa with my leg in the air..... it's nothing i can't handle.

The thing that really is grinding my gears, is the weird feelings in my foot.  The tendons, the muscles, the skin..... they're all going rock hard and it feels like my foot is made of concrete.  The foot, raised as it is, feels like it's actually pressing on a floor beneath me.... it's driving me nuts!

I'm trying to roll the foot, bend the toes.... try and ease things, which gives a temporary feeling of it being better.... but not soon after it starts to feel worse..... so it's a bit tiring.

Roll on Tuesday..... let's get a bend in the knee, please!

Had a quick look at some foot anatomy stuff but it makes me feel too weird.

Here's a vintage postcard of the fabled Nont Sarah's public house.... long gone now, but the building remains as a "party house" out on the moors.  I used to work at this pub in my early twenties....

You can click this for a little local history, but beware, the website is the most clickbaity piece of shit you'll ever come across.

otter

 Melting into the fabric of the settee again.

Today was about survival in the heat..... the curtains remained firmly shut, and the lounge bathed in half-light.  A seasonally warm breeze occasionally billowing the calico drapes.

A friend came a calling today.... bearing gifts..... beer!!

Now, this is a coincidence, because last night was the first time i've touched any alcohol since the dog ended my footballing career.

Last night i sipped on a very fine ouzo, on ice.... it was delicious.  Sweet and fiery aniseed.

If i'm honest, i haven't actually drunk much beer since my career in the industry ended abruptly as January turned into February.  If i'd chosen some beer to drink though.... well, my mate did a stand up job in guessing which beers i'd be choosing.... he really did a good job and i am super grateful.

Before noon today we were sharing a can of the imaginatively titled Obi Wan Cannoli from Brew York.

Brew York, as you might imagine is a brewery based in the city of /York, and i've been to their brewery tap and i love their accomplished beers and the well thought out names.  This beer was a 7.5% stout, which has the flavours of the Italian dessert.... chocolate, vanilla, and hazelnut.. it was a superb thing to be sipping pre lunch time!!

We chatted for a while and Sookie joined in the conversation a little too often!

Played a little bit of Pokémon.

After Dawn had finished work and my mate wended his weary warm way back to Leeds.....

Watched a bit of Tour De France

Watched an Ealing comedy

Saturday, boxed off.... might have some rum this evening!

Here's a vintage postcard of Outlane.  I stole the image and badly photoshopped some crap out of to make it look less "stolen",,,, this is showing what was the Wagon and Horses pub and the paper shop, and the old school house.

bit 'ot!

 Who knows where the mercury might stop today.

I'm currently on the sofa, where i've been for the last.....  oh gawd, how long has it been already?  Five weeks..... 

I don't have the world's most comfortable settee.... and i do have a south facing lounge..... but the windows are open, presumably letting all the hot air in, and the curtains are drawn so i can imagine it's not quite so sunny and stifling as it probably is.

I'm melting.... and i don't suppose i am alone in this....

Just missed a phone call from the Department of Work and Pensions..... which is nice.

Anyways.... i'm melting....

The dog's pretty restless and uncomfortable in the heat too.

It'd be a really nice day to head out to a local reservoir and have a dip..... something to look forward to, in a few weeks time, hopefully.

Anyways.... just to keep calm today i've been listening to a little bit of Radio 3 Unwind.....  they played a really nice "song" this morning that put me in a good mood.... i'll see if i can remember what it was and if i can find it.

It was Elgar's Lux Aeterna (a vocal arrangement of Nimrod) and it's pretty nice - not sure it needs the graphics from youtube, but here.... have a sing along.

the road

 I spent a good part of this morning typing a blog entry about our dog.

I went into great detail about how we rescued her, the state she was in when we got her......  

Lots of info about the training packages we used to try nd help her.....

And what sort of dog we ended up with.

Suffice to say it was all very boring.....

All you need to know is:

We got her when she was four months old.  She came from Lurcher Link a lurcher rescue charity.

She's part saluki, part whippet, part greyhound (apparently).  This mix of breeds gives her the privilege of being called a lurcher.

She was 10kg when we picked her up and she was 22kg when she put me flat on my back!

She'll be 3 years old next month (august).

She is a nervous wreck!

Here are the key points about lurcher obedience:

Lurchers respond to commands but often don't obey them, finding amusement in the process.

Commands like SIT, STAY, FETCH (unless a squirrel is involved), and DROP are generally ignored.

DOWN is obeyed only if the Lurcher is already tired and preparing to sleep.

HEEL and COME can lead to physical entanglement or impact injuries for the owner.

Lurchers have excellent recall but will only return after they've finished their current activity, which often involves running away or in circles.

please

 Please sir, i want some more!

WHAT?  MORE?

No, honestly, i've had enough, keep it.....

What a different film that would have made!

I've been a bit stressed and i definitely don't want any more of the same "gruel" that i've been "consuming" since the evening of the 8th of June.

More sitting on my numb arse.

More films, video games, reading, writing, eating grapes......

And yet, it's still time to rinse and repeat.

The fly in my ointment this week was the demise of an app i've been using on my telly to watch all the movies and tv series through some dodgy, secret portal.

And so, for the a straight eighteen hours, i was trying to recreate some sort of service that would allow me seamless access to televisual media..... and by George.... i think i got it.

Just nodded off mid-sentence.....

Nodding, as i drift in and out of the final ten kilometres of today's stage of the Tour De France.

Well that woke me up - great finish to the cycling as i take my vicarious holiday abroad.

Well it's now one more week, almost to the minute until my next hospital visit.... counting down to it now rather than counting up.

That's it.... i am off for a sleep.

This isn't my photo but it's one that Dawn took and sent me from the garden today....  bumblebee and a comma butterfly on the sea holly in the garden.

bashing

 Today was a day i was sort of scheduled to go out bashing the Himalayan balsam near Hebden Bridge.

Turns out:

a) it was raining

b) I can't walk

So the bashing date was well and truly "off the cards".

So, instead.....

I lay on the sofa, with my back aching and my knee brace steadily pressing on the scar tissues in my knee.

A day of uncomfortable, mild pain.

Even the self-administered injection in my midriff didn't phase me today.

Don't seem to have had much time or inclination to even watch a half hour tv show, never mind a movie.

Managed an hour or so of the tour de France but it didn't light me up.

Even the lure of Pokemon "community day" could raise a smile.

I'm not sad..... i'm kinda neutral..... nonplussed...... in limbo.....

I have set myself a little technical project to replace the "streaming" software that i used to use to watch all my movies seeing as it packed up this week..... so i've got something going on at least.

Hope everyone had a good weekend......

Stole another nice postcard off a famous auction site.... this time a photo of Scammonden Clough which was probably taken before the valley was flooded and the M62 was built across the dam wall....  I imagine this photo was somewhere between the head of what is now Scammonden Dam, and Deanhead Reservoir.

filums

 Been watching some films... movies.... whatever you wanna call 'em.

Been doing my daily puzzles - the usual suspects: idoku, murdle, wordle...... i'd say i was about eighty percent effective today.... idoku took way too long..... and flunked murdle, but my wordle skills were good.

I've pretty much caught up on my "quickfire" film reviews, which you can read here.

Other than that, i've been rueing the current slew of televised sports.....

Knock knock

Who's there....

<insert any of the following> Wimbledon; F1; Euros; Them new bottles with lids that don't come off.

Eff off!

And here's a little postcard off that auction site that i've stolen again.....  this is a view of Catbells, a lakeland fell (one of the smaller ones), viewed across Derwentwater from Keswick end of the water.... i have very fond memories of walking up that little hill....

untitle

Ok, ok, i missed a day....  not through my own volition, you understand, but things just happened.

A rare day in recent weeks where events were not in my control.... i was definitely a passenger of the day.

So here's a bit of a poem i started jotting to describe the feeling of the moment....

I didn't even think to title it but perhaps Passenger, or Travelling to Stay Still?

Static Motion

Today, i felt like sand.

returning to my dwelling place,

dripping through your open hand

falling in and out of space.

suspended for a while

aware of gravity's force

accelerating while

never leaving home, of course.

and here's another postcard i stole off that auction site of a breaking wave at Bognor..... i think you'll agree it's rather lovely (i mean, imagine receiving this lovely postcard from someone on holiday) and felt.... topical, somehow.

noggin

 scratchin' my 'ead this morning.

Counting down the timer to 8am is quite usual for me..... it's the point where an event timer ticks over on one of the games i play and we start a new day.....

While i wait for the cuckoo to stick his 'ead out the door and announce the hour, i amuse myself with a string of puzzles.....

First up is Wordle, yes we all know it and we've all played it if not are still playing it.  It was a tricky one today and i do play it on the hard setting where you can't just fire random letters at it.  Took me five today i think.  Hard!

Idoku - it's a soduko... i always say it wrong.... no matter how many years i've been doing them sudoku? soduko? godzilla?  godzuki?  Anyways the one in the "i" newspaper has a pink letter "i" in the grid which also counts as one of the nine-number-boxes..... took me thirty minutes today which is pretty good but i did make a mistake halfway through and have to backtrack quite a bit..... so i am calling hard and/or careless.

Then Murdle.... if you haven't tried it then i suggest you do, it's a good brain stretch..... perhaps today isn't the day to try it 'cos it was excruciatingly difficult for my limited grey matter....  i failed today's puzzle, which is quite rare!  i consoled myself  by easily completing today's mini-murdle which in fairness is strictly for beginners.

And, before you know it..... Dawn's catered for my dietary needs for the day, and buggered off out to work..... just me and the dog, hangin' loose..... eyeing each other suspiciously across the lounge until 6pm when Dawn will walk through the door and we'll all feel safe again.

Here's another cool, vintage postcard off that auction site.

plan

 When you build something up in your mind.... like an event..... and you're so "up for it"  and when you get there it's a massive anti-climax (hyphenated?).

I remember once.... being at a rave..... and a revered DJ was going to be playing a set..... we headed across to the tent where he was playing, stood there for five minutes and promptly went back to the tent we'd  been in earlier because it was better!

Sorry Mr. Sanchez, but you underwhelmed me.

I WOULD, however, like to go see him again and not hype it up in my head beforehand.

And so it was, today at the hospital, and interaction concerning my leg.....

It's now three and a half weeks since i broke my tibia...... and it's two weeks since i had surgery.  Since the surgery i've been bungling around with a knee brace on.... zero weight bearing on that leg, with surgery wounds dressed , inside the knee brace that keeps everything rigid and straight.

First time someone got to look at it and i get to the hospital on time.... check in on a computer screen, to be told to check in at the desk..... go to a waiting area..... get told to go to another waiting area...... get shown into the treatment room.... and they tell me all the doctors have just gone for their lunch but not to worry because they "eat fast".

I'm on a trolley, in the treatment room, and the nurses are all kicking their heels waiting for the lunching doctors.  One of them takes my knee brace off and takes the dressings off.... first time i've seen the wounds from surgery - still pretty swollen but dry and not looking angry or infected.... a good sign.....

And wait....

A full fifty minutes later, a doctor i've never seen before arrives bedside......

Dr: So, what have we done? (looking at leg from yards away)

Me: Tibia plateau fracture.... plated?

Dr: Well it looks like it's healing.... so what do we need to do?

Me: I keep this brace for another two weeks and then i get a change of brace with some knee bend.

Dr: Right, right, so we have a plan......  And are you taking anti-coagulants?

Me: Yes... injections.

Dr: And have you got enough of them?

Me: I picked up a prescription for 6 weeks from the date of surgery.

Dr: Right..... so what do we need to do next?  I don't think i need to see you next week?

Me: No, i come back in a fortnight for a change of brace.

Dr: Right, right, so we have a plan.... do you want a job?

Me: scowls.

Nurse:  You need to make an appointment out at main desk now....

Appointment lasted one hour..... care given, less than one minute.

Trainee nurse takes more time over redressing the wound than the doctor took to "wing it" through my consultation.

<goes to main desk>

Receptionist can't make the computer system make sense and hands me a scrap of paper with my appointment on.

Get home..... received two electronic appointments for the day two weeks hence..... one at 12:00pm and one at 4:45pm.... i mean..... what?

Generally i always have good things to say about the NHS but this was by far the worst i've ever seen.  It was worse than Roger Sanchez!

To calm myself down, i stole an image from ebay, of a vintage postcard for sale - it's lovely, innit?