A Chance Missed

Today I have been doing the work I had promised, the dark wash and the bedding wash. Came upstairs from the laundry room and just sat down to draw breath when the phone rang, and it was daughter calling to invite me over for lunch. At that point, I still had to put the dark wash onto a fast spin, followed by a transfer to a tumble drier and then load the bedding into the vacated machine. It is often quite difficult to find a washing machine free here, so really couldn’t afford to give up this chance (and anyway the dark wash would still take a further hour to dry.

This is a great pity as I very much enjoy my visits to daughter and her family; however we have fixed a date for next Wednesday (her day off from work).

Daughter in fact had been planning to call an hour earlier, but got caught up in reading my blog as she likes to know how I am getting on and what I have been up to!

My ribs (or the “muscles” over them are still painful when I take a deep breath in and also on turning over in bed). However I see no point in doing anything about it, as the most that would possibly be done is strapping and I think I would find that at least as uncomfortable – (can’t hurt that much, then).

Sitting here at my computer I look out and am pleased to see that the weather is dry, although the tree opposite is fairly moving in the wind. The leaves are well turning to their autumn colours, and look so attractive.

Washing finished I went to cook some mince that I took from the freezer last night. Now that it had defrosted, I was able to determine that, while the label (from the farm shop) Said Highland Beef, Beef mince, what was actually there was chunks of beef for making a casserole.

Just to show that anything goes for my famous casseroles(I used to be known as the casserole queen), I looked in the fridge to see what ingredients I could use:

First I tossed the beef in flour in a poly bag and left it to one side.

Then:

half celeriac. chopped (left the other half under water.)
2 carrots, chopped
2 onions, chopped
half a pack of mushrooms, chopped.

Sauteed the onions in a mixture of a flavoured oil (part of a Christmas present) and butter
Added the vegetables (not mushrooms) and stirred around in the pan
Added the floured meat and gave a quick saute.
Poured over a pint of beef stock made using a Kallo beef stock cube
Poured on a bit of red wine (from an opened bottle)

After about an hour added the mushrooms.

Left all to cook for about 3 hours on a very low heat

Luncheon

... well, not so posh, but more lunch

Today has been excellent in my small corner of the blogosphere. I have been delighted with the responses to my tags by mousie and the shrink. Apparently neither had been tagged before, and both (like me) have an innate dislike of that sort of thing, but the fact that the subject was books (and, of course my delightful personality ;-) ) hooked them. It is very interesting to read people’s choices of books in the different categories. Reckon I am somewhat pretentious and a. certainly called my bluff by arranging to send me a Fred Vargas book in French – it has not been translated into English, so I can’t cheat!

Today has been particularly good in that I took L and Mr L out for lunch to a local garden centre. When I called to pick them up, I was amazed to see how much more work they have done in their garden since I last went there.

We enjoyed our lunch then had a good look round the Garden Centre’s Christmas exhibits; they have put on an excellent show, no tat but all good quality stuff, much reminiscent of Austrian and German Christmas markets. I bought a stair of candles (electric) as they look really nice in the window before Christmas and the last set I had lost all its bulbs over the years, with no more replacements to be found. I also bought (not from the Christmas bit) some stems of (artificial) pussy willow, to put in a vase in an unused space in my bathroom. I have been looking for something appropriate to put there, and now reckon I have finally found it.

Okay, from the sublime to the gor blimey. This morning I decided to sort out all my dirty washing as it was overflowing the basket. Turned out to be 3 good loads; one the whites, one the darks and the third the bedding. So, back I came from dropping my friends off and carrying in a gift from them of a lovely bunch of flowers which I have snipped and put in a vase with water and plant food, then I had really no option but to make a start on the washing. We are allowed to use only one machine at a time, so the first load washed, then into the dryer, then put away. Should really do another one, but sufficient unto the day….

See what an exciting life I lead!

Yes!, Yes!, Yes!, Yes!, Yes!

Went to the Bridge Club today and the bridge was on. We had 5 tables (20 players) and so played 20 boards.There were some interesting hands, and in the middle our mentor produced a made-up hand for light relief. This was one of these situations where the opponents won as they were bidding spades and we were bidding diamonds, and spades outranks diamonds. Oh well then, at least it was only a fun one. I particularly enjoyed playing with my partner of this week.

It turns out that there was Bridge last Monday, but our mentor was away, and the person opening up didn't get there until almost 1 o'clock (when we are supposed to start playing then.) chiz, chiz, chiz as Adrian Molesworth would say.

Came back in nice time to have a cup of tea with the Scrabble players.

Oh Dear, More About Books

When I got tagged for the meme about books (see yesterday), I felt it was one of these things which should be done quickly, without reflection, in order to indicate the "real" me, rather than the "me" I would like to project, so for everything apart from Authors I will never read again, books I read as a child and 2 of the books I would take on a desert island, I just glanced along my bookshelves for the answer.

BUT…..oh dear, how much I left out!

First of all, it has been so long since I have read books in French that I should probably have included a french/english dictionary!

mikeg reminded me about some other books; I didn’t get into Tolkien until not that long ago as I kept getting stuck near the beginning, but I was told to read The Hobbit first. Following this, I thoroughly enjoyed and have re-read them both. Also in terms of science fiction, I still have Julian May’s Saga of the Exiles, which I pick up every so often and re-read all 7 books. Also, to my shame, I have every book in the Harry Potter series, in spite of disliking the hype around them intensely.

However, much enjoyed in the past were Isaac Azimov and Arthur C Clark plus so many others. Of particular note were the whole of the Dune series, although I didn’t enjoy the film.

I enjoy Conn Iggulden, Bernard Cornwell (starting with the Arthur trilogy and moving on from there, and, too, Mary Stewart’s Arthur and Merlin series.

How could I miss out classic authors like Walter Scott and Jane Austin (not Dickens though). I think they would have to be added to my extended desert island list. In fact that is why the ship sank – from the weight of all my books!

I think the overall pattern for my reading is that it is fairly eclectic, but that once I read a book and enjoy it I feel compelled to read every book that author wrote.

I bet I could come up with much more along these lines, but look forward to seeing other people's lists.

A Meme

I have just been tagged by a. for the following meme about books.

4 childhood books

I read so many books when I was young; in fact I was a voracious reader. By the time I was 10 I had read all the books in the children’s part of the Central Library in Edinburgh. It is quite difficult to remember titles out of that vast number, but these are ones that jumped into my mind.

Emil and the Detectives: a 1929 novel for children written by the German writer Erich Kästner. This is the first book that occurred to me. and is about an 8 year old boy on his way to Berlin who loses his money and joins up with the detectives trying to get it back.
The Adventures of Brer Rabbit and Friends. Joel Chandler Harris collected together these stories from folk tales of people of African-American descent.
Brer (brother) Rabbit is a cunning rabbit who always manages to outwit the others such as Brer Fox. I really loved these stories, but cannot remember at what age I read them , but pretty young I think; in fact they might even have been read to me, but I don’t think so as I was a very early reader.
The Arthur Ransome Swallows and Amazon books of stories of children in the Lake District of England; the books were aimed at an older readership than the Enid Blyton ones, and I remember a lot of sailing on (I think) Lake Coniston. I always enjoyed their adventures, whereas I was never much impressed with Enid Blyton’s books and read the latter only when I was ill as they did not require much concentration.
Winnie the Pooh, and the follow up books – The House at Pooh Corner, When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six. by A.A. Milne, illustrated by E.H. Shepherd. This is a collection of delightful poems about a bear called Winnie the Pooh. I keep catching a glimpse of memory of a book called Strawberries and Cream which I thought might also be Winnie the Pooh, but it is not mentioned on Amazon and I could not find it on a Google search. If anyone knows of this book and can tell me about it I would be delighted to hear. Again these are books I read when very young.

4 authors I will read again and again

Anthony Price who wrote a series of spy fiction featuring David Audley principally with a Russian adversary. Not only were the books very readable, but the characters and the stories developed over time. I also learned snippets of things that were included along the way, such as warships, motte and bailey sites, Catharism and so on.
Iain M. Banks who writes science fiction books. He also writes novels under the name Iain Banks, but it is the science fiction ones I am choosing here, because he created the Culture series. I have already re-read them more than once, (and also re-read his novels in a rather more piecemeal way). The Culture ones have an excellent internal consistency and a good progression from one book to the next. Of the novels, The Bridge has a particular resonance as the bridge is the famous Forth Bridge, and the bulk of the story is about what is going through a man’s mind as he lies in a coma following an accident just approaching the bridge. He therefore has a fantasy about the bridge being a place in which he works and meets other people, only occasionally visualising this patient lying on a bed with a heart monitor beeping away.
Christopher Brookmyre who writes books full of blood and guts and so much humour. His character Jack Parlabane is my favourite character, but there have been others equally well drawn .
Ian Rankin for his Rebus novels. Now that Rebus has retired from the police, I am going to go back to the beginning as it is fascinating to watch the character develop and also to watch the author’s writing develop.


4 authors I will never read again

Dan Brown I thought The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown was a pretty awful book with so many inconsistencies and can’t understand why it (and the even more awful film) was so successful. At least the book was readable if you applied suspension of disbelief. I am ashamed to say I watched the film but it was only to see Roslin Chapel and The Louvre. I then bought Angels and Demons to take on a short holiday, but gave up on it and chucked it into a waste paper bin largely unread.
Quintin Jardine who writes about an Edinburgh-based policeman. I find his writing to be unbelievable, and intensely boring.
Carl Hiaasen I am sorry to put him under this category as I used to watch out eagerly for his next book, but now I find that each one is just the same as the last. He rants about corruption in Florida politics, about Disney, and about the destruction to the Everglades.
Kathy Reichs whose forensic pathologist books I sought after for a while. I now find they have become increasingly formulaic.

the first 4 books on my to be read list

Giorgio Bassani’s The Garden of the Finzi-Continis. This is one of those classic books made into a film that I have always meant to read.
Di Lampedusa’s The Leopard. This is another classic book set in Sicily which is lurking in my bookshelves. I have now found out that there is a DVD of the film of the book, and I might try that too.
Jo Nesbo’s The Redbreast. This author was recommended to me by a. because she knows of my interest in crime novels from other countries, and this is my first Norwegian one.
Seeking Whom He May Devour by Fred Vargas. This author was also recommended by a. I very much enjoyed the first one - can’t wait to read this, her second one.

the 4 books I would take to a desert island

Tolstoy’s:La Guerre et la Paix (War and Peace) I first read this book when I was on a school exchange to Paris at the age of 16. Because I had a lot of time on my hands, this book kept me well occupied. The interesting thing for me was that the original was written in russian and french because the aristocrats in Russia spoke french, so in the french translation, the parts that were in french in the original were put in italics in the translation. I reckon that re-reading now after 50 years would keep me out of mischief on my desert island.
For the same reason, I would take Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables in French – if only I could find a copy that wasn’t issued simplified for French schoolchildren.
Now, I know this is a cop-out, but I would have to take the Bible in the King James version. I have always meant to read this through (but the road to hell is paved with good intentions!
A good poetry compendium. We had A Poet’s Quair edited by Rintoul and Skinner when I was at school, and I was lucky enough to find one second hand on Amazon, that obviously dated back to the seller’s schooldays.

The last lines of one of my favourite books

From The Bridge by Iain Banks

I sigh.

I really do sigh; I feel the resistance of the tucked-in bedclothes as my chest rises higher than normal. The tube which enters me through one nostril slides across the fabric over my shoulder., then slips back as I relax and breathe out. I sighed!

I’m so surprised I open my eyes. The left lid trembles, gummed up, then clears. Within seconds, though it all looks a bit shaky and bright for a while, everything settles down.

Andrea is sitting less than a metre away, her legs drawn under the small seat. One hand rests on her thigh, the other is holding a small Styrofoam cup to her mouth, which is open, those lips parted. I can see her teeth. She is staring at me. I blink. So does she. I waggle my toes and – glancing down to the bottom of the bed – see the white jacket move up and down as I do so.

I flex my hands; damn rough blankets they have here. I am hungry.

Andrea puts the cup down, leans forward a little, as though she does not believe what she is seeing; she looks from one of my eyes to the other, apparently checking for signs of sense in both (not an unreasonable precaution I’ll admit). I clear my throat.

Andrea’s whole body relaxes. I once watched a chiffon scarf drop from her fingers, and I do not recall that it flowed more gracefully. Her face loses a whole layer of worry, just like that; I – I have remembered my name – am almost embarrassed. She nods slowly.

“Welcome back”, she says, smiling

“oh yeah?”

I shall tag D. and A. who read my blog, but to whom I don't link.
Would the shrink and Mousie care to join in too?

A Quick Update

A quick post to let my loyal reader know that I am still alive even though I still feel as though I have been run over by a truck.

This morning, good friend ,M (who lives here too), popped by for a cup of coffee, and this afternoon we got together over a gin and tonic with ice and a slice of lemon (I keep slices of lemon, separated with layering film, frozen in the freezer)

Today the painter came to gloss the front door of my flat, so I had to stay in with the door open for a good six hours. Nice and clean, but the colour scheme is a bit boring....

a . has tagged me in relation to my opinion of books divided into categories. I am working on doing this, but it is taking rather more time and thought than I expected, so watch this space, but don't hold your breath.

Pifflebunk!

This evening I lost my balance in the kitchen and fell. It took me a long time to get out of the
"horizontal on my back" position to being able to pull myself through to the living room on my stomach and then to - eventually - get up to crawl, using the arm of the settee. Once up to a crawl, I had to crawl through to the bedroom to be able to push myself upright. This all took about 15 minutes.

Sometimes the title of this blog is so, so true. Bugges!

A Visit

Yesterday I paid a visit to S. We had a light soup for lunch and then later she cooked a fabulous meal. We started with Farmers' Market chicken livers made into pate, served on oatcakes, then went on to halibut fillets served with a creamy mushroom and onion sauce and baby brussels sprouts fresh picked from the garden and potatoes. We were just about "sunk without trace" with this delicious meal. Served with the meal was a nice Rioja (Muriel).

The halibut was cooked in a very hot oven on a buttered dish and dotted all over with butter. 2 Tablespoons of wine were added to stop the butter "catching", and cooked this way it only took 6 minutes. This would not work with a lighter fish like lemon sole, as that would cook to a "frazzle". It is good to get different fish like that as we get a very limited selection from the fish van that calls to the door.

Breakfast this morning was freshly squeezed orange juice and bacon sandwiches in freshly baked brown bread. Yummy.

The weather yesterday was cold but beautiful with the sun rising from a red arc peeping over the horizon and setting in the same way in the opposite direction.

Sadly this morning was a thick mist, so the journey home involved headlights. There is a nasty road junction where it is difficult to see back over your shoulder whether a vehicle is approaching from the left; it is a bit more fraught when you just know that there will be some idiot out there with no lights on. Unfortunately I drew the short straw, as I was the lead car. At a roundabout, the car behind undertook, and then he found out why I was driving slowly, so I followed his tail lights very happily.

The whole block of flats is being redecorated this week, and just as I was reaching for the door knob to leave yesterday there was a ring at the bell and there was the painter to do my front door; so I asked him if tomorrow (today) would be all right and he said that was fine. As I type this, he is back to do the undercoat.

The weather has changed completely, the mist has dispersed and the sun is shining. The leaves of the trees opposite are starting to change to their autumn colours, but are still mostly green.

OrganicVegetable Box

Today, as well as the usual potatoes, carrots and onions, I got a pumpkin, a celeriac, a turnip (swede or yellow turnip), 4 or 5 beetroot and 2 leeks. I have never had celeriac before, but reading it up it looks quite easy to deal with, possibly in soup or mashed with potatoes and garlic. The leeks are good in casseroles or soups. I love beetroot; in the fruit bag I got 2 oranges, 2 pears and 5 apples; and of course there was a box of 6 eggs.

I think this is really good value for money at £10 for the vegetables, £3 for the fruit and £1.30 for the eggs.

As well as being good value, I find it very interesting eating vegetables in season, and watching the differences as the seasons change. I think I was rather unadventurous when I shopped in the supermarkets, and tended to choose the same things whatever the time of year, and now I am meeting new things.

The farm usually sends an appropriate recipe. I don’t make cakes now, but this sounds delicious and rather like a carrot cake.

300g self raising flour
300g light muscovado sugar
3 tsp mixed spice
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
175g sultanas
½ tsp salt
4 eggs, beaten
200g butter, melted
zest of 1 orange
1 Tbsp orange juice
500g (peeled weight) pumpkin, grated

Topping

200g soft cheese
85g butter, softened
100g icing sugar, sifted
zest of 1 orange and juice of half.

Heat the oven to 180 degree, butter and line a 30 x 20 m baking tray with lined parchment
Put the flour, sugar, spice, bicarb of soda, sultanas and salt in a large bowl and stir to combine
Beat the eggs into the melted butter, stir in the orange zest and juice and then mix with the dry ingredients, stir in the pumpkin, pour the mix into the baking tray and bake for 30 minutes, or until golden and springy to the touch.
For the topping, beat together the cheese, butter, icing sugar, orange zest and 1 tsp of the juice till smooth and creamy, then set aside in the fridge.
When the cake is done, cool for 5 minutes then turn onto a cooling rack, prick all over with a skewer and drizzle with the rest of the orange juice while still warm, leave to cool completely.
Give the topping a quick beat to loosen, then using a palette knife, spread over the top of the cake. The cake will keep up to 3 days in the fridge.

....and it was SHUT!

For those of you who remember Billy Connoly's songs, there was a fairly early one about the Buroo (Glaswegian for Bureau, or Unemployment Bureau in fact, where you signed on to get your unemployment benefit), you will remember that it culminated in the phrase of the title (...and it was SHUT!)

Well, today I got all dressed and ready and drove to the Bridge Club, to find that it too was SHUT, in fact not only was there no sign of anybody, but the front doors were padlocked.

So, back home I came with my tail between my legs. Still I managed to get a game of
Scrabble with a good foursome. I won 2 and lost 1, so live again to fight another day.

Church

It is cold day today (temperature 10 degrees, but little or no wind and dry). Managed to get to Church for the first time in a while. We had the pleasure of a visiting minister, who, after appropriate readings from the Gospel according to St John, preached about Nicodemus, the intellectual Pharisee and senior member of the Sanhedrin . Initially he made his trips to hear Jesus at night, in secret, but in the end he was the person who donated much more than was necessary to anoint the body of Jesus in the tomb of Joseph of Aramathea.

He went on to talk about the difficulties Christians have today in declaring their faith, acting like good Christians and standing up for what is right, talking about peoples’ stance on the war against poverty and conversely their stance on wars being fought in various parts of the world.

Thought provoking, and a none too gentle reminder of how easy it is to go along with the majority view.

Flu Jabs

Today I had my flu jab (I qualify on two counts: being over 65 and having COPD).

The surgery was very well organised. Everyone had an appointment (I had feared it would be first come first served, resulting in long queues), and everyone had a seat in the waiting room. Patients were called in order of their appointment by the practice manager, and if someone was not there their names were called a couple of times subsequently. My appointment was 10am but before I was called the practice manager said he was about to start on the 10 o’clock appointments and was there anyone there who had an appointment for before 10am, and there was one, who duly got ushered through.

I have been before to other flu jab clinics which were almost a free-for-all, with queues stretching outside (and in those circumstances the weather always seemed to be cold and wet.)

The nurse practitioner did the jabs and the details were recorded on the computer by one of the reception staff – who asked everyone re their smoking status; current or stopped or never. I was delighted to say, once again, that I am “stopped”.

The Age of Travel

I wrote last about the really good time I had during my break with younger son and daughter-in-law.

However I did not mention the travelling.

Even with wheelchairs ordered for both airports in each direction, it was still rather stressful. I can’t manage my backpack any longer (which would fit into the overhead locker), so had to take a wheelie suitcase. This meant that I could not check in on line but had to be at the check in desk for 2 hours prior to the flight time. I had to make my way from the car park bus stance to the airport, then to the check-in desk, where – as usual – there were 2 queues and I chose the slower moving one.

After checking in and ridding myself of my suitcase I had to cross the lounge and take a seat till someone came to push me to the plane. They don’t come for 1½ hours, and this is pretty boring – no coffee or shopping opportunities (perhaps a good thing).

The flight was fine (G&T £3.80!!!!!!, and not a nibble in sight).

At the far end son was waiting for me and commandeered the wheelchair to take me to the car. We then set off for what should have been about an hour’s journey. However an accident had closed 2 carriageways, so we took over 2 hours, making it a long day.

On the way home, daughter in law commandeered a wheelchair and took me to check in, then took me back to where I had to wait. She stayed as long as she could but they were getting somewhat anxious about the rush hour.

Flight fine, ate sandwich made by daughter in law with Britvic orange.

Managed the walk to the bus to take me back to the car park, though it took a push and a pull to get me on the bus :-) Back at the car park, there was my car with the engine running and the heater and lights on.

Dislike night driving, but made it home.

We have all agreed that this is probably the last time I can manage the journey alone

Back Home

So, here I am back from my short holibags. I had a great time with younger son and daughter-in-law, catching up with all the news and seeing how all the work has been progressing in their house and garden.

On Saturday we went to a very large shopping mall; they had booked an electric wheelchair for me, so I was able to keep up with them and enjoy the shopping. We had lunch there too and I even had a glass of wine (an absolute no-no when I am driving a car, but there seem to be no such restrictions for “driving” a wheelchair.)

Daughter in law made toad in the hole which I haven't had in years - delicious. ps if she reads this, I would love the recipe.....

Son made a delicious chicken dish:

Lemon Chicken

Take zest and rind of 1 orange and 1 lemon, then juice them both.
Spread juice over chicken then press zests and some thyme over it too.
Push the remainder of the orange and lemon into the cavity of the chicken.
Slow roast the chicken until cooked (time depends on weight of chicken).

This gives a lovely moist meat, delicately flavoured with the orange, lemon and thyme.

We went to the cinema to see Ratatouille – it was great fun, and we also made another trip round Waitrose; at least this time we got the whole way round without son’s mobile summoning him back to the hospital :-)

The chicken did very well with salad for two further meals.

Son also made kedgeree in the usual way, but instead of mixing the hard boiled eggs into it, he sliced them and laid them fanned out to the side of the kedgeree, so that it looked more attractive.

I should mention that daughter-in-law is vegetarian, so that two different meals were being cooked each time.

I almost forgot the sticky toffee pudding (not home made) which was nonetheless delicious.

You might very well think that I only go there for the food, but I could not possibly comment.

So, a magic visit.

Holibags

So today is the start of a grand adventure; I am off to visit younger son and daughter in law and not coming back till late Tuesday evening, so it is unlikely I will post again until Wednesday.

After the horrors of Manchester Airport, I decided to try East Midlands, which means flying BMIBaby. They charge £10 for each item of hold baggage (which I paid), and now they won't let me check-in on line because I have hold baggage, which I have done for all my journeys for quite some time. Bugges, this means I shall have to queue at the airport check-in desk - not too clever so soon after I have been unwell.

I am starting to wonder if I am coming to the end of the line regarding travelling alone.

Pifflebunk!

Anyway, the case is packed ready to go.

I am so looking forward to seeing them both again.

Charity Shop

This afternoon I did my stint at the charity shop I have mentioned before. It is only relatively recently that we have kept open through October - this afternoon over 2 1/2 hours we made only £1.60 (and that was made because the other volunteer made a small purchase!)

When I went to the hairdresser the other day and did some shopping, I did not mention that I got a new mobile phone; I did this as the battery on my old one was lasting less than 24 hours. It would appear that a new phone is better value for money than a new battery (if you are careful what you buy). It is a bit like having to regard printers as disposable I suppose.

So, I had to load all my family and friends numbers onto the new phone and notify them all of my new number. I seem to be coping with all the new features fairly well, but will need to have the manual with me for a day or two (RTFM being the order of the day).

After sending a text to everyone with the new number, I started to get a bit paranoid that I had made a mistake, but no, all is well.

China 4 (part b)

I was cut off in the middle of posting China 4, so here is the rest of it now:

Then it was off by train for Suzhou. From Suzhou we took a cruise on the Grand Canal to Zhou Zhuang. As you can see from the above picture, some of the houses we could see from the boat looked so like suburban Britain.

Here we had a magnificent roast pork dish named after a local rich merchant. After lunch and a look round the merchant’s house we wandered off to look at the small tourist shops. Because they left us alone to browse, we actually bought things, whereas at other times we were somewhat overwhelmed. We had a lovely peaceful break sitting in the shade of the trees below.

China (4)

I left you last, having visited the Terracotta Warriors, but it is perhaps also worth while saying a bit about Xian; the region around Xian is very fertile, and is probably the richest part of China. Crops include vines, wheat, pomegranates and persimmons. The scenery is flat, with hills not far away in the haze. Burial mounds were much in evidence and we wondered how much more remained to be found, as the Terracotta warriors apparently did not come from the richest tomb.

Our local guide told us that in 3 years they should be using “their” gas instead of coal, so pollution should improve. Beijing got “their” gas first (sounds just like Scotland’s cry about North Sea oil!)

We left Xian by air for Shanghai.

{We had a National guide who came with us for the whole trip, and at each stop we were met by a local guide. The national guide not only knew about the sights we were visiting, but also acted as a trouble-shooter for the whole party, and the more paranoid among us reckoned that he was there to make sure we saw nothing except what we were supposed to see.}

Of all our guides, the Shanghai one was the least successful. He spoke excellent English, but seemed bored by it all and a bit unhelpful (especially crossing busy roads). We were there for less than a day, and saw only the Jade Buddha Temple, then went on to the Bund, a lot of which looked so like Edinburgh’s George Street used to look.

If you look at the building on the left towards the back of this picture, you will see what I mean.

We then saw our first garden, the Yu Garden; it has an artificial mountain and is quite small with a pond, rocks and greenery. After this we were taken to visit an exhibition of paintings and crafts. It was very hot and the guide would not let us stop for a drink; however we were starting to hit our metaphorical stride now, so we all rebelled. To spite us, the guide dropped us at the railway station early, with dire warnings not to leave until the train came.

Of course we ignored that and some of the men went off for goodies, particularly water or soft drinks.

Let it Rain, Let it Rain, Let it Rain.

Today I had a hairdressing appointment in the near by big town; so off I set early to take advantge of this shopping opportunity. There have been a lot of roadworks and road changes to this route, but it all seems to be sorting itself out now.

Got some groceries, some bleach and visited Marks and Spencer where I got a pair of slippers, nice cosy ones. I rather prefer the ones that are more discrete and could pass (at a glance) for a pair of shoes, but sadly, I can never find a pair to fit.

I also bought some pot pourri, a few Christmas cards, some tomatoes and a couple of seeded rolls.

Oh what an exciting life I lead ;-)

Still at least the hair do looks good.

And for good measure the rain has stopped.

The Mail

I really don’t want to go into the rights and wrongs of the Postmen’s current strike, largely because I have insufficient knowledge to do so.

Reading a.’s blog today, I saw she had inserted three different airmail stamps.

This brought me up short as I have a nice little birthday card in its envelope addressed to a distant (in terms of location) boy who is about to become 7. He will not understand why this card does not reach him in time.

October/November is a time of year when I have many family birthdays, and there is a small pile of addressed envelopes containing appropriate cards standing beside the one I mentioned above.

Also on its way to me is a gift voucher from Amazon for one of them and it is currently caught up in a log-jam of mail. Will it reach me in time? I wish now I had settled on an electronic gift voucher, as at least that would have arrived in time. I chose not to do that this year as I feel it is less tangible as a gift, but next time…

For two grandchildren, I am electronically transferring money to their parents as the children are at an age when they really want to choose their presents themselves.

I think what I am trying to say is that everyone talks about the cost to business of this strike, but nobody seems to think about the emotional cost to the man (or woman, or child) in the street.

Additionally another unfortunate ending (for both the postmen and for Royal Mail) is that much business may be permanently lost to other carriers (though currently that option is not open to me.)

Bridge

Today I felt well enough to return to the bridge club. It was a rather quiet session as only 8 of us turned up, but it meant that the senior lady was able to do quite a lot of tuition (well received. There is another new attender who, like me, has been away from the game for a while, and it was expected that we would play together.

As there were only two tables, we played in teams. I don't know the final score yet, but I think we are ahead; we certainly were at the half way mark.

I had hoped to play tomorrow night, but the lady I played with today is not available, and it is rather late to find another partner.

Came back to find the Scrabble session about to finish, so joined them for a cup of tea, One of the people there was wondering about a quotation which he had in his mind, and I was happy to be able to find the whole poem on the internet.

Tea tonight was, once again, a rummage in the fridge, producing some cold, cooked potato, an onion and an egg, leading to an approxmation of a Spanish omelette.

Lazy Day

Had a lazy day today, so lazy that I spent the afternoon watching a DVD of "Murder One"; do you remember that convoluted court case involving two suspects (at least so far), Richard Cross - the one who smiles and smiles and is a villain and Niel Avedon, the pretty boy male film star?

There are some films or TV series that are worth while buying and keeping to watch and rewatch at some interval - such as Jewel in the Crown, Between the Lines, West Wing, Homicide: Life on the Street (to my mind the best ever cop show), and others that are better being rented and watched either for the first time or later. Have to confess that once again I sing the praises of Amazon because they put more former tv series on offer than many other rental sites, who cater more for the film buff.

Former tv series, issued with subtitles in English for the hard of hearing. fit my needs perfectly.

The trees here are still green, but "the nights are fair drawing in" - it is only 18.36 British Summer Time and already outside all colours have been leached out of the scenery.

A Centenary

This is my 100th post since the inception of this blog in June. I never thought way back then that it would still be going strong.

I have made new friends in the blogosphere, friends whom I would never otherwise have met. Many of the comments have been so supportive, particularly when I was unwell.

It has also enabled elder son (who reads me every day) to keep a close check on me and to worry – and take action such as a phone call - when a day or so goes past without a post.

Not only am I getting better, but now I am actively looking forward to my next break, which is a long weekend with younger son and daughter in law; flights booked, car parking booked, wheelchairs for airports booked, son and daughter-in-law reminded of the dread arrival (;-). Memo to remember passport, clean knickers, medicines and toothbrush as anything else can be purchased or done without!

While I felt ill last week, I suddenly felt as though I were getting old, then I looked at the huge pile of unread books, and said to myself I have to keep going until that lot is finished (and there will be more to follow as favourite authors (next one Iain M Banks “Matter”) publish new books, and new authors to discover.

There is also family, as I love my “children” and I want to watch my grandchildren grow up. (Have I put things into the wrong order here?) Ooops!

So, while old age can certainly be a bitch, I have no intention of “going gently into that good night”. There is much too much fun to be had in living.

Must be Feeling Better.....

...as it is back to wash day once more. Of course it all mounts up when you are under the weather. Hope the shrink now has his brand new washing machine. I haven't done family sized hand washes for more years than I care to remember. I have got the white wash and the black wash done (do you think I view the world in black and white rather than in shades of grey - never mind in all its multi-coloured glory?)

My weekly cleaners, who enable me to cope , and who are unfailingly cheerful and helpful) will be here shortly and will change my bed, leaving me with a further wash.......

It is a beautiful day here today with the sun shining and just a little wind in the trees. I love days like this.

On a.'s advice am now reading Fred Vargas "Have Mercy On Us All" - looks promising!

Must get around to taking out shares in Amazon.....

A Better Day

Today my daughter in law (the wife of elder son) came to visit and take me out to lunch. We went to a near by garden centre, and as she could not find a disabled parking bay, dropped me off at the entrance while she went off to park the car. Inside the front entrance I found 2 wheelchairs and commandeered one. (Little did she know that she was going to be pushing me around!) Anyway it was so much easier for both of us and we got our lunches and sat down to eat them and have a good chat.

After that we had a tour of the whole (non-gardening) bit where I purchased some wines, and had a good look round the Christmas (yes, Christmas already) stock. Bought some Christmas cards and a birthday card for an imminent birthday.

It was great fun, and d-i-l found pushing me around no hardship while I found it marvellous. In the short time I had waited for her at the door, I had started to feel light headed.

However over 24 hours of antibiotics seeem to be making an improvement, and the visit has bucked me up no end.

A Close Call!

Well I set my alarm this morning to be up in time to phone for an appointment and got one for 9.40. Decided to drive (another little piece of Scottish meanness), so started off, then had a seat in the lounge just inside the front door, then made it to the car. Driving was fine. Bit difficult waiting at the reception queue, but there was at least something to lean on. When I got called to Surgery 9, it took me so long that the doctor came out to see if I was coming!

Anyway, a good thorough check-up and I have a chest infection, which may be at the bottom of it. Nonetheless, glad I drove, because she was thinking of admitting me to the near by District General Hospital for a number of checks. (Close escape!!) Interestingly she noted a number of bruises when she examined me (which I was sure I would have, but you are never quite sure if the fall (s) were bad enough to cause bruising).

Anyway I gor a prescription for an antibiotic and sent round to see the phlebotomist to have blood taken for a full blood count (FBC in the UK, CBC in the US) and then tottered back home. Feel felled.

Oh well, then

After seeing my GP on Friday and feeling a bit better over the weekend, I had hoped to get to the bridge club this afternoon.

So I got dressed in a pretty jumper (slowly of course) - and all the other necesseties.

Then I tried to walk to the front door of the block of flats, but didn't make it without falling over. Right, that settles it, I shall have to do what I am told and see my GP tomorrow.GP,

Yesterday, S. paid a visit with her (large and growing!)puppy. It was so good to see see both of them.